OpenBSD Foundation At Risk Of Shutting Down

[BSDude]

By going with the stats that were done years ago, OpenBSD had been more popular than NetBSD. I wonder how the NetBSD camp is doing?

[Cthulhux]

They just don't care, I presume.

[shaurz]

OpenBSD is dead. NetCraft, I mean Phoronix, confirms it.

Really if building for VAX is the only way they can find bugs, that is pretty sad. They will be forced by economic reality to drop obsolete architectures. Do they really need so many build servers that it costs $20K in electricity a year? That seems like an insane amount. How many servers do they have?

[Vim_User]

Really if building for VAX is the only way they can find bugs, that is pretty sad.

Apparently, some specific bugs are usually only found when using a different architecture. Sometimes just a different compiler will do it (one of the reasons why having not only GCC, but also LLVM now is a good thing).

Anyways, can't they go for a Kickstarter or IndieGoGo campaign to raise some money?

[profoundWHALE]

Apparently, some specific bugs are usually only found when using a different architecture. Sometimes just a different compiler will do it (one of the reasons why having not only GCC, but also LLVM now is a good thing).

Anyways, can't they go for a Kickstarter or IndieGoGo campaign to raise some money?

This^

[AnonymousCoward]

Anyways, can't they go for a Kickstarter or IndieGoGo campaign to raise some money?

kickstarter/indiegogo wasn't invented in the 90s, duh!

[JX8p]

Where are their proprietary "friends" now?

Introducing the ignorant anti-BSD troll Pawlerson who is brutally unaware of the fact that not all of the BSDs have "proprietary friends". OpenBSD takes a very hard line on proprietary software -- much harder than the majority of Linux distributions (it's edged out by Trisquel and other distros that refuse to include any sort of binary firmware).

On to the topic. It'll be a shame if the distribution that brought us OpenSSH (yes, that software just about all of you have on your system came from OpenBSD) and Pf amongst many other projects lost its legal entity. I will be donating to them soon, as is the moral duty of all who care about Free Software.

[eidolon]

https://www.freebsdfoundation.org/donate
The FreeBSD Foundation is a 501(c)3, United States based, non-profit organization that is committed to supporting and building the FreeBSD Project and community worldwide . . . US-based donations should be fully tax-deductible on your federal return.

http://www.netbsd.org/donations/
The NetBSD Foundation is a non-profit organization that produces open source software, and has Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3) status.

All donations to the NetBSD Foundation are fully tax-deductible in the US!

http://www.openbsdfoundation.org/donations.html
The OpenBSD foundation exists as a . . . Canadian federally incorporated not-for-profit corporation, which means funds directed to us must be directed towards our stated objects, other than what we require for operating overhead. We endeavour to keep our overhead as small as possible.

We are not a registered charity, in the sense that we do not issue tax deductible receipts. The reporting overhead (accounting and legal costs) to operate a registered charity in Canada is prohibitive without a sizable revenue stream.

Perhaps it's time for the OpenBSD Foundation to consider changing its status. It doesn't really matter for smaller donations, but lack of tax deductibility might discourage larger donation amounts.

[Olosta]

I will be donating to them soon, as is the moral duty of all who care about Free Software.

I would think like you if they nearly litterally didn't burn the money...

I wonder what's the VAX/IA64/SPARC... vs x86/x86_64 ratio on their bill, I suspect that moving the x86/x86_64 load to cloud/hosting would be cheaper and some hoster might even do it freely.

[Adarion]

I am surprised that OpenBSD supports so many architectures. I thought that was NetBSD's special area. Anyway it would be sad to see OpenBSD go, Theo might be a troll sometimes but they made some good contributions to the whole FOSS scene and they care about system security.
Even though I too dislike the one-way license (I understand they had to choose this kind of lic. after the lawsuit) I am tempted to give them some money though it won't be that much for I am quite poor myself.
Anyway, now it would be the time for all the beneficiaries of OpenBSD (e.g. distros using OpenSSH, firewallmakers using it on their HW) to feed and supply their own source.