The BSD Operating Systems Dave Tyson Computing Services

The *BSD Operating Systems Dave Tyson Computing Services, The University of Liverpool

Outline • • Background history Birth of 386 BSD O/S The Free. BSD project The Net. BSD project The Open. BSD project Comparison with Linux/Solaris Application software Choosing what to run

Background History • • 1969 Unix created at Bell Labs 1977 Berkeley Development starts 1986 4. 3 BSD released 1990 Net/2 Release distributed – asserted to be freely distributable • 1992 AT&T lawsuit • 1994 4. 4 BSD-lite released – clean base - all suspect code deleted

386 BSD • • • work done by Bill Jolitz published in Dr Dobbs Journal Based on Net/2 distribution Machine dependant code written for i 386 Development hindered by poor i 386 info Availability – Release 0. 0 Feb 1992 – Release 0. 1 July 1992

386 BSD • Minimum system requirements – 386 processor – 2 Mb RAM – 40 Mb Hard disk • supported various ethernet cards • distribution – base system about 30 floppy disks – source code 13 floppy disks

386 BSD • lots of interest in unix community • lots of bugs found! • Bill Jolitz unresponsive – interested parties produce patches – ad-hoc patch kit released • Bill promises a book and fixed release – After 6 months inaction no-one believes him – separate projects Free. BSD Net. BSDi

The Free. BSD Project

The Free. BSD Project • • Take 386 BSD base and improve it Concentrate on PC systems only (Later decide to support Alpha also) Aim to support all common peripherals Use Walnut Creek for CDROM distribution Funding from sales of CD’s etc Good project organisation

The Free. BSD Project • • Core team - decide project direction Developers - write the code Initial release Free. BSD 1. 0 Dec 1993 Available on CD / via the net Project forced to move to BSD-lite base Much boot code had to be rewritten Free. BSD 2. 0 shipped Nov 1994

The Free. BSD Project • unified source code tree • branches for development/stable base • Latest stable version Free. BSD 4. 2 – IPV 6 – support for gigabit NIC’s – ATM – SCSI raid controllers • development version Free. BSD 5. 0

The Free. BSD Project Strengths • Easy installation • Good documentation – Free. BSD Handbook • • • Support for multiple processors Widely use for “large” servers Native threads => wine etc Most popular *BSD system commercial support from BSDi

The Net. BSD Project “Of course it runs Net. BSD”

The Net. BSD Project • Formed at the same time as Free. BSD • Aim to support different platforms – follow original Berkeley Philosophy – split machine dependant/independent code • Emphasis on clean, well structured design • Code portability for new platforms • Good project organisation

The Net. BSD Project • • Core Team - decide project direction Portmasters - head up platform teams Developers - write the code initial release Net. BSD 0. 8 Apr 1993 – I 386 only • BSD-lite release Net. BSD 1. 0 Oct 94 – I 386 Amiga HP 300 M 68 K SPARC

The Net. BSD Project • Unified Source Tree • Production/Development branches • Latest Version 1. 5 – IPV 6 – VLAN support – Strong Encryption – new VM system – 15 supported architectures

The Net. BSD Project Strengths • • Available for a wide range of systems Easy to port to new platforms Used in several commercial products Good USB device support Excellent support for non-native binaries Reliable and secure Commercial support from Wasabi Systems

The Open. BSD Project

The Open. BSD project • • • A spinoff from Net. BSD in 1995 Idealogical split in the ‘core’ team Focus on improving security CDROM distribution funds development Canadian Base sidestepped export regulations Similar platform support to Net. BSD

The Open. BSD Project • General goal is to be ‘most secure O/S’ • Current record – 3 yrs without a remote exploit (default install) – 2 yrs without a local exploit (default install) • Security achieved by: – extensive source code audit – provision of cryptographic interfaces – Support for hardware cryptography

The Open. BSD Project • Unified Source Tree • Latest version 2. 8 – IPV 6 – Over 500 prebuilt packages – Open. SSH /SFTP server – better hardware crypto support – console mouse support on i 386

The Open. BSD Project Strengths • Security • Available for a wide range of platforms – but not as many as Net. BSD • Excellent support for non-native binaries • Reliability • Commercial support available

Comparision with Linux • Licensing issues vs Linux – BSD license for kernel code – BSD license for most utilities – Can be used as commercial base • Long Term stability – NFS code very reliable – good memory management • Each BSD has a single distribution • Each BSD has a single bug/security repository

Comparision with Linux • Less hype • Trackable code base • Negative points – not as well known – fewer commercial applications – BSD religion sometimes unhelpful – no BSD documentation project ! – Installation may frighten unix newbies

Comparison with Solaris 2. 8 • Better performance on i 386 • more public software applications • more supported hardware on i 386 – ISA legacy kit • Sun 4 C support • However Solaris has: – NIS+ – more commercial software

Application software • Easy installation of software using package system – Precompiled Binaries – Auto build from source code • Wide range of Public Domain software • Some commercial products for Free. BSD • Can run Linux and other binaries

Choosing what to run • Choice of platform dictates O/S • On PC’s Free. BSD is very good – SMP support etc • Net. BSD/Open. BSD also work fine • Other Architectures – Choice is Net. BSD or Free. BSD

The Future • All the projects have strong teams • lots of cross fertilisation of ideas • New Mac O/S ‘Darwin’ based on *BSD code