The OpenBSD project maintains a six month release cycle, with the upcoming 4.2 release officially scheduled for November 1'st. Each release includes a song relevant to current issues faced by the project. For this release the song is titled "100001 1010101", about which OpenBSD creator Theo de Raadt notes, "it is designed to sound like a mid-era Rush song, ie. something from Grace Under Pressure or such. And there's a few easter eggs hidden in the song as well. It also explains the inside sleeve image..." The referenced image shows a marathon between some of the different operating system mascots, running a a race through often hostile looking surroundings, fraught with distractions. Toward the bottom is an obvious reference to the recent issue of relicensing BSD code under the GPL, in which Puffy, the OpenBSD mascot, shows a map to Tux, the Linux mascot, and the latter takes off with it. The OpenBSD lyrics page explains that BSD code is shared with all, even non-open-sourced projects who respect the license and frequently return code, "we fully admit that some BSD licensed software has been taken and used by many commercial entities, but contributions come back more often than people seem to know, and when they do, they're always still properly attributed to the original authors, and given back in the same spirit that they were given in the first place." Theo noted, "that's the best we can expect from companies," going on to add, "but we can expect more from projects who talk about sharing -- such as the various Linux projects." He explained:
"Now rather than seeing us as friends who can cooperatively improve all codebases, we are seen as foes who oppose the GPL. The participants of "the race" are being manipulated by the FSF and their legal arm, the SFLC, for the FSF's aims, rather than the goal of getting good source into Linux (and all other code bases). We don't want this to come off as some conspiracy theory, but we simply urge those developers caution -- they should ensure that the path they are being shown by those who have positioned themselves as leaders is still true. Run for yourself, not for their agenda.
"The Race is there to be run, for ourselves, not for others. We do what we do to run our own race, and finish it the best we can. We don't rush off at every distraction, or worry how this will affect our image. We are here to have fun doing right."
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Every time a new OpenBSD
Every time a new OpenBSD release comes out, I look at the changelog and say "cool, lots of nice new stuff"; then I look at the security record and say "great, still the best security record period"; and then I read something that Theo or one of his minions wrote and think "goodness, what a bunch of shite-spewing arseholes".
And to be honest, the latter's what has caused me to drop OpenBSD years ago even though I used and supported it (with donations, poster and t-shirt and CD purchases, and so on) for the longest time. I've gone back to Linux - OpenBSD may be great, but it just isn't worth putting up with THAT.
Wait a second
You drop quality code because of your personal differences with the developers? I hope you never ever run a critical system.
I totally agree. Its
I totally agree.
Its promotional tour like Microsoft does it.
He is self-touting his work. I am not interested in people's EGO, so I dont care what crap they implemented, I care for USABILITY for me. Every "feature" is a decision, and people with huge EGOs can be hard to work and communicate with. That counts for ALL of them.
And Theo really uses EVERY opportunity to attack the whole Linux ecosystem.
That is why I advertise on NetBSD instead. They have the proper attitude.
Make sure you include OpenSSH too
"And to be honest, the latter's what has caused me to drop OpenBSD years ago [...] I've gone back to Linux [...]"
Better make sure you don't touch OpenSSH too, then. I think it's incredible that people actually stop using an OS just because they don't like its leader. And honestly, I don't think Theo is half as "evil" as you say he is. He called you a bad name? Stop behaving like a little schoolgirl and move on.
Great job! You perfectly
Great job! You perfectly illustrated how juvenile and whiny many OpenBSD users sound.
Every time
Every time I read someone say, without provocation, "Gee that Theo guy, his attitude is a bit harsh", I think "if he is really so bad, why do you need to tell us ? we can surely work it out for ourselves ?"
Personally I find Linus Torvalds, Ulrich Drapper, Alan Cox and the GPL zealots make linux unappealing.
GPL zealots
Makes sense from someone who uses the term `GPL zealots' and feels an urge to tell us about her dislike of Linus Torvalds, Ulrich Drapper and Alan Cox...
As they act like zealots
As they act like zealots they get called zealots, when they cease to act like zealots we shall call them something else.
We do seem to hear a
We do seem to hear a disproportionate amount of aggrieved complaints from Theo about GPL zealots oppressing him or working towards freedom the Wrong Way. The thing about Tux stealing the map could just be poking fun, but with all the animosity the (very quickly resolved) issue generated it comes off like a childish cheap shot.
I generally use Linux, but to me Linus sometimes comes off as arrogant or closed-minded. I imagine he might even agree with that statement, but would qualify it by saying that's because he doesn't mince his words or pull his punches when it comes to the quality of engineering.
OpenBSD is, I understand, a great system and the only reason I don't use it is that it doesn't fit my usecases. However, I still wish Theo would quit stirring things up and seeing badwill everywhere - then creating more badwill by attacking everyone in sight in his attempts to "defend" what he believes is right. I'm sure he's a strong technical lead, which is good, but his political rants and cheap personal attacks can't possibly be good for the project.
hypocrits
>but his political rants and cheap personal attacks can't possibly be good for the project.
Read Linus and then *think* about your saying. I only say 'interface-Nazis' and there are a lot more harsh, personal words towards developers of opensource applications or other operating systems!
Read Linus and then *think*
Already read, and thought about! I think Linus talks a load of garbage sometimes, he's brash and rude and sometimes his opinions don't even make sense to me. I certainly don't think everything he does or says is good for Linux.
But I certainly get the impression that he's less liable to launch into a highly abusive, personal attack directed against an individual developer (or worse, a user) than Theo. Theo also seems rather determined to see bad faith in the actions of others who take a different viewpoint to him, regardless of what is actually said or done. Part of my impression of Theo most likely results from his being rather highly political since he provides an ideological lead to his project as well as technical. I'd say Linus is less of an idealist, which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on preference.
Basically I'm saying that Linus is technically brilliant but rude and infuriating, and that Theo is also technically brilliant but even more rude and infuriating and he sometimes seems to blow up over little provocation.
That said, one thing that's good about both leaders is that both of them provide a strong direction to an otherwise loosely organised project. Also both leaders are prepared to back up their words with actions: when Linus flamed the GNOME guys, he followed up the "show us the code" responses with some code and an explanation of his code. Whilst Theo flames Linux developers for being less free and open, he does put real efforts into attempting to open up specs of various hardware devices - for the good of all.
The Leaders & Morals
I don't think Linus actual chimed in on this one. I do believe, however, he stated his opinion on the whole 'but I can legally do XYZ so screw the author's wishes' attitude quite clearly with regards to the whole Philips webcam issue:
http://lwn.net/Articles/99617/
I don't always agree with Linus, however, I do admire his respect for other's work.
Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Theo. Having now seen him rant and rave at great lengths on both sides of the argument, each time with a great air of moral superiority (i.e., at the bcm43xx guys for complaining about their code being appropriated and at the ath5k guys for appropriating code), leaves me with the opinion that he really has none.
The consistency I see in Theo is "its right (in every sense of the word) because it is best for my pet project". While I understand this, and it certainly makes his actions and responses easy to predict, I don't particularly admire it.
The thing is, where does
The thing is, where does Linus attack OpenBSD?
Theo does so on every occasion. Its his tactic.
A very cheap one. Shame on the OpenBSD folks who run behind the dictator.
About Linus, you dont have to care at all about him. :)
But why would anyone care about Theo?
It simply is a disagrace to OpenBSD, and it is the reason why I recommend people to use NetBSD or FreeBSD instead. (Sorry Dragonfly guys, I think you are too small ;>)
M$
Hey with that attitude, welcome to windows !
How about a name change ...
Since Theo loves to rant, I vote he changes his name to deRant - all in favor, don't post anything.
I think Theo just loves being flamebait so he poo-poos everyone working on the Linux kernel even though it's obvious from the lkml posts that many people favor keeping BSD/ISC code as such and just dropping the bullshit about dual license. Most people are writing original code and the proportion of code in Linux that comes from *BSD is actually very small. The source alterations that Theo keeps whining about never even made it to the public kernel partly because people did look at the changes and ask "what's this bullshit?" I still think it's largely a non-issue, but at least now the SFLC has issued some statements that might help educate the rabid license-changers (which are such a small minority amongst kernel hackers that you can probably count them all on one hand).
He probably has some
He probably has some disorder, like ADHD, or something.
Cant be. People with ADHD
Cant be. People with ADHD arent that arrogant normally.
I even dont think it is a bad childhood.
It *must* be with EGO+work. Its now as if you run behind him shouting
his ideas are the best, all the others suck. Disgrace to OpenBSD, i
think they dont WANT people to use it :)
Take it from someone with
Take it from someone with adhd... adhd and arrogance got nothing in common :P
well.... i WANT to use it
well.... i WANT to use it and i do the point is making jokes doesnt change the point about the wifi driver (it was wrong to adopt them in the way linux dev team did)
raise stink->release->repeat
"The participants of "the race" are being manipulated by the FSF and their legal arm, the SFLC, for the FSF's aims, rather than the goal of getting good source into Linux (and all other code bases). We don't want this to come off as some conspiracy theory,"
Last thing I heard from the SFLC they researched and published a complete heritage tree of all the contested code in record time, a lot more substantial than just the hot air from the OpenBSD camp, so the SFLC must be "manipulating", because obviously OpenBSD is never wrong, just the world en large.
Is all this recurring aggravating behaviour by OpenBSD developers just a to have a subject for a title song for a new release ?