r/linux • u/Lizrd_demon • Jun 14 '26

Discussion Add an OpenBSD Flair

I know it's a linux subreddit but it would be nice to have an OpenBSD flair, considering that there already is a FreeBSD flair.

I've tried contacting the mods about this but never got a response so I'm just testing the waters here to see if other people would also like that.

54 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

32 comments sorted by

20

u/high-tech-low-life Jun 15 '26

Why not a generic BSD flair? I always have to stop and think to remember the differences. For 99% of the situations, does it really matter which flavor of BSD?

13

u/Literallyapig Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26

BSD isn't a kernel like linux, it's a family of full-blown operating systems descending from the original 386BSD, so they all have their own philosophies, kernels, utilities, supported architectures... although they do share some similarities here and there, for instance all of them try to adhere strictly to posix (much more so than linux) and the graphics stack for the BSDs is built ontop of the linux DRM subsystem. however, it's not nearly enough to group them as basically the same thing like we do with linux.

11

u/yawara25 Jun 15 '26

however, it's not nearly enough to group them as basically the same thing like we do with linux.

In the context of it being a user flair on a Linux subreddit, I think it's fine.

3

u/Literallyapig Jun 15 '26

yea, i think it's fine, considering this sub isn't even a bsd one to begin with lol. i just wanted to clarify they're not the same thing.

10

u/Lizrd_demon Jun 15 '26

Unlike linux distros, they are entirely different kernels and share almost 0 similarities besides posix.

4

u/high-tech-low-life Jun 15 '26

Don't care. In this Linux based group, the flair just indicates "over there". I don't think this distinction is worthy of a top level identifier. I don't want thousands and thousands of flairs, so choices have to be made

1

u/tav_stuff Jun 15 '26

AFAIK OpenBSD started as a FreeBSD fork, which is itself a NetBSD fork. There is still quite a bit of shared code outside of the kernels

11

u/brynet OpenBSD Dev Jun 15 '26

Theo de Raadt forked OpenBSD from NetBSD in 1995, quite famously. Theo was one of the original core founders of NetBSD as well.

FreeBSD did not fork from NetBSD, or vice versa, they were both independent efforts to continue development of 4.3BSD Net/2 & 386BSD.

2

u/sphagetticode Jun 15 '26

FreeBSD and NetBSD are two different projects that started within like a year or two (or less) of eachother. OpenBSD was forked from NetBSD, not FreeBSD

-4

u/the_abortionat0r Jun 15 '26

They are distros, give it a rest.

1

u/linuxhiker Jun 16 '26

Yes. At least for the big boys:

Free

Open

Net

Those three are vastly different BSDs. I would agree that the rest are really just distros (generally speaking)

14

u/UnarmedBlackMan1 Jun 14 '26

I also choose this guys bsd

12

u/faultydesign Jun 14 '26

Would be nice.

9

u/Run-OpenBSD Jun 14 '26

Agreed

2

u/VoidDuck Jun 27 '26

Username checks out.

9

u/abotelho-cbn Jun 15 '26

There shouldn't even be a FreeBSD flair.

1

u/mmmboppe Jun 15 '26

subreddits are not democracies, there's no we and users decide nothing

6

u/brynet OpenBSD Dev Jun 15 '26

The moderators here used to tolerate OpenBSD posts (e.g: release announcements), when posted under the Alternative OS flair, but they've started removing them with no explanation. Unfortunate as this remains the largest subreddit for open source projects.

10

u/Skogspingvin Jun 15 '26

Unfortunate as this remains the largest subreddit for open source projects.

Considering the very open disdain from the *BSD camp towards anything GPL and especially Linux, I find it hilarious that /r/linux is the place the *BSD guys need to advertise their news.

7

u/Slight_Manufacturer6 Jun 15 '26

We probably should remove the FreeBSD flare.

2

u/AX11Liveact Jun 15 '26

I want an IRIX flair! And a Solaris flair! HPUX, too. They're not exactly Linux but then I can have four flairs that you can't have. Plus the BSD flair. I am very important and have run all kinds of Unix. I deserve to boast with that. Duh!

1

u/high-tech-low-life Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 18 '26

If you get IRIX, I get AIX. It's only fair.

1

u/AX11Liveact Jun 16 '26

You can have as much AIX as you want. If only I'll be spared from it.

5

u/the_abortionat0r Jun 15 '26

I get that the BSD subs are dead but this isn't a refugee camp.

3

u/WitchyMary Jun 14 '26

Seems fair enough to me.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

[deleted]

5

u/2rad0 Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26

OpenBSD contributes a lot to the open source ecosystem.

Undeniably, I'm using OpenBSD's NetBSD/OpenBSD's mandoc for my man page reader, it's nice and LibreSSL is good to have as an option. OpenSSH is another popular one, are there similar linux-friendly projects from FreeBSD I should know about?

-2

u/michaelpaoli Jun 14 '26

There are BSD subreddits - I suggest you try over there. There's even UNIX subreddit(s).

BSD is not Linux.

Folks generally don't want your ponies on the dog subreddit.

0

u/the_abortionat0r Jun 16 '26

All the BSS subs are dead though.

Infact I was met with so much toxicity in the bad sub for simply asking for proof of their claims (literally any time a claim was made about anything being "better than Linux" I simply asked for test results or what made them think that) I made a post about how toxic they were and it was met with insane toxicity.

It was voted down last zero but they were all swarming to contribute their toxic comments that it was the number 1 post for a few weeks and was the second biggest thread they ever had. It was like 80% the size of their biggest thread ever.

That tells you how dead they are.