FreeBSD 14.4-Release Announcement

sidkshatriya an hour ago | parent | next [-]

14.4 is a maintenance release. If you're installing FreeBSD today, use 15.0

Why FreeBSD ?

- Well manicured OS, excellent docs. More performant than OpenBSD in every way and approaches Linux performance in some areas (e.g. Networking)

- FreeBSD tends to have fewer features in almost all areas compared to Linux which makes it more approachable and more difficult to mess up.

- Though it has fewer features, it still has a lot of features -- many big companies (Netflix most famously) still use it today for critical functions.

- FreeBSD Kernel and Userland developed together -- it has got that undefined "cohesive" feel

- Has less layers of abstraction than Linux, gets the job done. Because there are fewer layers it's easier to understand what is going on and potentially easier to fix.

- FreeBSD is great if you want to learn pf, zfs, ...

- Worth your while if you are bored of the Linux monoculture and just want to try something a bit different (but not tooo different)

- Changes slowly, so good for setting up on a server that you want to just leave running without too much maintenance

- Will increase your Linux skills because diversity always helps the human brain

- Very simple daemon configuration via /etc/rc.conf

- FreeBSD `bectl` controlled zfs boot environments are just so life changing and amazing. (this is possible via snapper on Linux + btrfs but needs complex installation and is not so integrated). Another thing I like about FreeBSD:

- FreeBSD will accept (smallish) PRs via GitHub if you find a minor bug. Otherwise it uses the decent Phabricator interface at https://reviews.freebsd.org . This is much better IMHO than the mailing list workflow of Linux. The barriers to contribution are lesser than Linux !!

- FreeBSD still has that warm fuzzy small "community" feel which I like

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drewg123 an hour ago | parent | next [-]

If you're installing FreeBSD today, use 15.0

Or just run -current in production, like we do. See https://people.freebsd.org/~gallatin/talks/OpenFest2023.pdf

Or https://papers.freebsd.org/2019/fosdem/looney-netflix_and_fr...

	▲	throw0101d 8 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> Or just run -current in production, like we do.[0] If you develop, it's probably best to do that against current [1], but if I'm running a web, mail, file, database, etc, server there is IMHO very little advantage to doing so. Most folks aren't trying to push >400Gbps. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4TZxj-Dq7s [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ0mvmZtbaY
	▲	craftkiller 29 minutes ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		While I also use -current, I don't think this is good advice to the kinds of people who don't know if they should be running 14.4 or 15.0. There are caveats to running -current (for example, you need to disable the built-in debugging stuff on -current to get decent performance but the debugging stuff is already disabled on actual releases), so I think for new people it's best to recommend they use the latest release (15.0) and they can discover -current when they are more familiar with FreeBSD.
	▲	sidkshatriya an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Yes, FreeBSD current is quite usable. It's fun to start using the new features as they are added to kernel and userland immediately !

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compass_copium 11 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

>Will increase your Linux skills because diversity always helps the human brain

Is this still true, given how much runs through systemd now? I thought about trying out FreeBSD last time I got a new computer, but decided on sticking with Debian to help skill building on other Linux systems

	▲	sidkshatriya 5 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Diversity of programming languages, operating systems, cultures, human languages, countries, music etc. always gives a fresh perspective I've found. You may go back to what you prefer at the end but it gives you learnings that are at a "higher level" :-) > Is this still true, given how much runs through systemd now? Yes, still true. On FreeBSD you will realize what complexity systemd might be hiding from you and what additional features it provides. BTW I don't actually like rc init on FreeBSD that much ! I feel that rc.d can learn a lot from more modern init systems like systemd, dinit etc. I don't like reading highly complex rc scripts !!

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ux266478 36 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's also worth mentioning that FreeBSD lives outside of Redhat's influence. If you find yourself lamenting the direction Linux is moving in, FreeBSD remains an attractive escape hatch. It's not perfect (rc.d is definitely not as nice as runit, it's still focusing on LVM filesystems for the future, last I tried to use OSS4 it had some issues), but I would be straight up lying to you if I implied these weren't kind of trivial in the grand scheme.

	▲	dismalaf 32 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Ish. Most FreeBSD installs still make use of stuff like Wayland and a lot of Linux parts.

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pisikesipelgas an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

I heard, that BSD is dying...

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sidkshatriya an hour ago | parent | next [-]

NetBSD - situation does not seem that good. Project feels less active now.

OpenBSD - has a fanatical band of security obsessed users. Not going away anytime soon.

FreeBSD - It chugs along. Why is FreeBSD worth trying out ? See my reply above.

	▲	user3939382 43 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		NetBSD has their new npf firewall which is quite nice. Of all the options their internal architecture is the cleanest. It gets less fanfare than the others because it has less drivers, although even that is partially due to a commitment against binary blobs. FreeBSD is more practical but for example you find the config files scattered about the file system whereas in NetBSD they’re always exactly where I expect. SDF.org has a great NetBSD system if anyone wants to try it out.

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bigstrat2003 40 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Has Netcraft confirmed it?

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riley_dog 20 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Whenever people use unnecessary commas like this, I hear nothing but William Shatner in my mind.

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fullstop an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Congratulations to the FreeBSD team! FreeBSD will always have a special place in my heart.

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basemi 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> Bhyve virtual machines can now share a filesystem with the host via the new p9fs

Nice!

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jmmv 14 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Huh, in a point release?

But excited to try it out ASAP! I haven’t made the leap to 15 on my server yet (in part because I can’t decide whether to go with pkgbase or not…), but sharing data more easily with VMs will surely be nice.

What’s the performance like?

	▲	throw0101d 6 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> Huh, in a point release? MFCed (merged from current): * https://cgit.freebsd.org/src/commit/?id=e97ad33a89a78f55280b...

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colinhb an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Wild! Fun to see 9p filesystem protocol continue to have a life in this form.

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martinrame an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Yea!, as far as I understand, with p9fs now a simple zfs dataset can be shared with the VM, removing the need of ZVOLs (a ZVOL for the boot disk isn't an issue, but for example a data disk of 1tb is difficult to manage).

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ej31 an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

It's the duct tape of filesystem protocols, in a good way.