FreeBSD 13.1-BETA Headlined By Changes To POWER & RISC-V Architectures

[phoronix]

Phoronix: FreeBSD 13.1-BETA Headlined By Changes To POWER & RISC-V Architectures

Out today is the first beta release of the upcoming FreeBSD 13.1 operating system update...

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=FreeBSD-13.1-Beta-1

[kylew77]

FreeBSD is my second favorite OS. OpenBSD is my favorite but it has too many rough edges to be a daily driver (no wine or Linux emulation). FreeBSD has both of those but is a bit more laissez faire when it comes to security, but according to most of the videos I watch on security is still better secured than the typical Linux distro.

[Volta]

but according to most of the videos I watch on security is still better secured than the typical Linux distro.

Keep dreaming. It was less secure than most of the available OSes. It enabled ASLR recently while Linux and others have it since years.

[kylew77]

Keep dreaming. It was less secure than most of the available OSes. It enabled ASLR recently while Linux and others have it since years.

This video says otherwise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvSPqo3_3vM&t=75s
It says that FreeBSD is the second most secure of the 3 main *BSDs.

[kgardas]

This video says otherwise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvSPqo3_3vM&t=75s
It says that FreeBSD is the second most secure of the 3 main *BSDs.

Second most secure from 3 main *BSDs. That's about right. But it does not tell you anything where Linux distributions are in the mix.

[kylew77]

Second most secure from 3 main *BSDs. That's about right. But it does not tell you anything where Linux distributions are in the mix.

Maybe I misunderstood the video, that is possible, but my understanding of his intro and conclusions were that it is more than a just more eyes problem with Linux vs the *BSDs. That there are fundamentally more bugs found in the Linux kernel than the entire OS of OpenBSD, FreeBSD, and NetBSD. Again, maybe I misunderstood the video's conclusion. I've watched it three times and that was the conclusion I drew.

[kvuj]

Maybe I misunderstood the video, that is possible, but my understanding of his intro and conclusions were that it is more than a just more eyes problem with Linux vs the *BSDs. That there are fundamentally more bugs found in the Linux kernel than the entire OS of OpenBSD, FreeBSD, and NetBSD. Again, maybe I misunderstood the video's conclusion. I've watched it three times and that was the conclusion I drew.

A Linux operating system with deep security customization (heavy SELinux rules, ASLR, PIE & all that jazz, no root access, no GNU userspace, etc) such as Android is probably more secure than the BSD alternatives. One has to remember, no BSD currently has any SpectreV1 mitigations (NetBSD, FreeBSD, OpenBSD).

The problem is that most Linux distros are extremely soft when it comes to security. Most don't even come with a firewall. Flatpak and the AUR also enable an amazingly enormous attack surface. But by fixing these issues, you end up with a lot of usability problems for everyone. Security is a spectrum where usability and control usually take a hit when people become hyper fixated with security.

I personally really like FreeBSD, but I also customize it a bit with a firewall & unbound and I like to stick to official packages. Being careful about what I run and my attack surface is a habit I'm willing to make in exchange for using my favorite OS.