Originally posted by me to CapBUG.org:

As reported on The OpenBSD Journal, a Linux kernel developer removed the BSD License text from Reyk Floeter’s Atheros wireless driver.

As Theo de Raadt wrote in a comment to The OpenBSD Journal article:

The other files in the driver, written by Reyk, are the replacement for the HAL. This basically is the hidden register access code which Sam (basically employeed by Atheros) refused to release. This code was placed by Reyk under an ISC license, something our project prefers to use since it is so simple that even a grade 5 student cannot misunderstand what it says. It translates to “You can do anything, but not delete the text”.
Only Reyk could change that copyright notice, since he is the author.

At this time, Slashdot does not consider this news (even though a story has been submitted). This must be a too negative reflection of their beloved Linux.


OpenBSDAs seen in the comments from a previous post, recent ssh changes caused Yaifo’s sshd server to stop working. The fix was very simple: include an /etc/login.conf in the Yaifo image file.

I just bought a Soekris Net5501. I was hoping that Yaifo would provide a convenient method for installing OpenBSD on the CompactFlash card I’ll be using in my new Soekris firewall. After a few tweaks, it does!
(more…)


GNU ScreenA friend (hi, dwc) mentioned to me a few weeks (months?) ago that screen can be used as a serial terminal (like minicom or cu(1) or tip(1)). Up until today, I hadn’t had a chance to try it — I’d been using minicom from MacPorts.

Today, using my nifty osx-pl2303 driver for my Tripp-Lite U209-000-R USB-to-serial adapter and screen, I was able to get a serial console to a server in my office. Specifically, I typed:
screen /dev/cu.PL2303-0000101D 38400
When I was done, I typed: ^a^k to kill the terminal session. Since screen(1) is part of the base OS X install.


OpenBSDFirst things first: Yaifo is now available via CVS. And (obviously) I set up a SourceForge Project, but I haven’t done much with it yet.

I also set up a new category on my website for Yaifo so that it has its own page. I haven’t decided yet, but I think I’ll just have the SourceForge Project Homepage redirect to the page here.

I will still generate tarballs for downloads, but you can get the latest and greatest from CVS:

cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@yaifo.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/yaifo login
cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@yaifo.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/yaifo co -P yaifo

(more…)


LaptopsYou may not have noticed it yet here, but I love OpenBSD. I keep that pretty close to the vest, I know.

I just finished upgrading my Thinkpad T42 to the latest OpenBSD 4.2-current snapshot and thought I should share my upgrade process. Over the past few releases of OpenBSD, the process has gotten steadily easier. Marc Espie has almost single handedly overhauled the ports system (here, here and here to cite a few examples) into a robust, easy to upgrade system. And I especially like the clear distinction between the system base and add-on packages.

And, at this point, it’s only slightly more work to create a port for new software instead of running make install to just install something into /usr/local/foo. The whole system has seen improvements, but I only pick on ports and packages because they’d been traditionally been more difficult to upgrade (you used to have to remove all packages and install the new ones). Even with the new packaging enhancements, though, on a production server it’s a good idea to spend time comparing old configuration options to new configuration options to make sure the new versions of your applications do what you expect.
(more…)