Dale's Weblog » looking back it was easy

FreeBSD + SPF records (update)

Posted by dale on Sat, 23 Oct 2004 15:19:03 EST

Just a quick post.

During the time I haven’t been studying I’d decided to give FreeBSD a go. Linux never worked for me, I don’t like it. It just feels messy. I’ve got a link to a post about it on my other computer so I’ll edited it in later. But yeah, FreeBSD rules.

So far I’ve compiled the latest versions of apache and php. The next step is to recompile the kernel so it supports SMP. So I can finally run phpsysinfo!!!! maahahahhaha. I’m looking a moving a few sites over to the FreeBSD box after I’ve worked it out a bit more. It is just so nice! All command line stuff. I didn’t install XFree86, I want this a server.

Compiling stuff is great because it seems to just work. I’ve never had much luck with linux, always craps out and does weird things. Plus with BSD there is real separation between stuff you install and the core operating system. It doesn’t feel like everything is tacked on, like linux. w00ting so nice.

Anyway I just logged into my domain people, joker.com and guess what!? They now support txt records! Cool. This allows for SPF records etc (http://spf.pobox.com) not that it is much use since I don’t have a static ip address. But it is a start! :) Thanks joker, you did something (anything!) for a change.

I’l post a link to my phpsysinfo page too when I’ve finished playing around. I want to recompile apache too, need to add some more modules.

update

Apache has been recompiled with all the modules needed. I’ve also recompiled the kernel and now SMP is going. Quite a bit faster, nice. Just need to get some form of FTP going, but I’ll do that later.

Linux compared to FreeBSD
http://www.over-yonder.net/~fullermd/rants/bsd4linux/bsd4linux1.php

plus phpsysinfo!!
http://metro.dalegroup.net/phpsysinfo-dev/ (let me know if it working, as it is proxying through my windows box).

This posted was edited: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 17:35:58 EST

Below are the comments for this news item

Dale have you tried Gentoo Linux, it's very bsd based plus it's own package system is similar to the bsd ports system called portage.
It also has a handbook that's similar to bsd
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/index.xml

I've also heard that the Gentoo creator use to be a BSD developer.
It's a suggestion :).

1: Comment by Matthew - Sat, 23 Oct 2004 22:21:01 EST

Thanks for that Mat. Yeah I've heard gentoo is pretty good. Debian is also meant to be better. Although after a fair bit of reading linux as a whole is just a tech demo. It shouldn't be used in production.

Here is a quote from whirlpool and seems to be mirrored by anyone else who has used linux and bsd.

BSDs (OpenBSD and FreeBSD are the ones I use), seem to be more organised and structured logically. Its nice and easy to follow.

I guess it has to do with the focus of BSD and Linux.

Linux is more about the community coming together and attacking a problem without much strict organisation. Its like a bunch of bits cobbled together…Everyone is interested in features and more features (which is a good thing). As mentioned, they lack "cohesion". (which could be a weakness seen by Microsoft).

Very few folks want (or like to) document everything in detail or maintain them. They do benefit as more "cutting edge". Some projects are just plain incomplete and abandoned. I hate that! They offered an interesting direction and then "Poof!", its left to die. (I often think "Why the heck did you start it in the first place?")

BSD is more about giving the user a complete organised setup. Its very well documented (see FreeBSD handbook or OpenBSD's FAQ or pf docs) and in OpenBSD's case, goes through more stringent testing for security and completeness than any other open-source OS.

I have yet to see a Linux distro that has the same standard as OpenBSD.

Adamantix? Nope…They broke a major function with a recent release.
SELinux? Nope…That's a research prototype from NSA. (And you don't put research or development software into production uses.)

All others like "hardened" Debian or Gentoo are just patches tacked on and then tested. If it works, it works…Is its source examined with great detail on a regular basis? That's what I wanna see the Linux side of the fence get the same taste of OpenBSD.

A project where they only exist for security and nothing else. They test, test, and re-test. Everything in the document is up to date with the current version. (A minor error in the manual is considered very critical). You are not expected to compile the kernel (only in extreme cases where you want to have embedded platform or when hardware is not supported).

The hardest part of BSDs is the initial install. If you get past that, you're fine. Their install setups isn't what you call "friendly", if you know what I mean. If you get past it, you're on your way!…And besides…FreeBSD runs Doom III and America's Army quite well…So who's complaining? :)

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=255917

On the topic of installing, FreeBSD was very easy to install. I've heard OpenBSD can be hard though.

2: Comment by dale - Sat, 23 Oct 2004 22:40:55 EST

Your sysinfo page is working without any problems. I'd grab the latest from CVS instead of the release if I were you, just because you can (and it's not really any harder!). Also, assuming you haven't got uberly obscure hardware, go setup sensors and stuff as well (for fans, etc.) – I posted a bit about it on the old version of my blog, found here: http://www.joahua.com/mid04/?page=news&nid=72

I wannnnnnnna new hard drive, so I can test this thing out! Christmas holidays, sometime. FreeBSD, here we come.

3: Comment by Josh - Sun, 24 Oct 2004 12:53:14 EST

Okay I've got healthd working. I tried mbmon but it needed X installed :p

I'm not sure if I need to start this program manually each reboot so I may need to add it to rc.d

EDIT: THe network connection just died, not sure why. Just going out now, will look when I get back.

4: Comment by dale - Sun, 24 Oct 2004 13:24:15 EST

Looks like your interfaces are back up, but you need to setup your rc scripts, yeah. I'm using lmsensors over here–> http://home.joahua.com/sysinfo/ which (IIRC – it was ages ago now) uses kernel hooks, and maybe doesn't require rc stuff.

5: Comment by Josh - Sun, 24 Oct 2004 13:43:50 EST

I don't think lmsensors works with freebsd. healthd died because I had IPv6 enabled (no idea why it was talking to it), but it is a known problem and the program hasn't been updated since 2002 so I think I'll skip it for now.

EDIT: it seems that there is a port that is more up to date than the source code, weird. So I've used that and it is working.

6: Comment by dale - Sun, 24 Oct 2004 14:36:36 EST

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