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Comment by stock_toaster | Hacker News Reader

I really have to hand it to the OpenBSD folks. They really have their release and deprecation cycles nailed down pretty well. I also enjoy the fact that they seem (to me at least) to rip some of old and clunky bits out sooner than others.

It would actually be pretty interesting to see a timeline of all the things OpenBSD has removed over the years.

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They remove things like rlogin/rsh/telnetd and give you OpenSSH, or BSD window(1) and give you tmux. Or LibreSSL instead of OpenSSL (not an OpenBSD subproject).

https://www.openbsd.org/innovations.html

The various plusXX page give you a changelog style, but also the individual release pages are good at highlighting removed and replaced software. Also, the hackathon, t-shirt and release song artwork is great at showing what was going on at the time in the project.

https://www.openbsd.org/lyrics.html

https://www.openbsd.org/hackathons.html

https://www.openbsd.org/tshirts.html

This one is surprisingly relevant: https://www.openbsd.org/images/tshirt-9b.jpg

OpenBSD can do this and get away with it since its use and deployment is minuscule compared to other systems.

No they can "get away with it" due to:

- Having a regular and well tested release model.

- Having a clear policy of supporting only the current and previous release.

- Being a BSD style OS where the kernel, libc, and base programs are developed and released as a whole.

- Not making promises about binary compatibility across releases.

..which insures a miniscule install base. Zero compatibility guarantees and constant depreciation is anathema to enterprise at least.

I took issue with the previous comment as the wording "get away with" implies the user base has the release and deprecation cycles forced upon them. Whereas it is quite welcomed by the user community. OpenBSD has never targeted those wanting long term support style releases.

Not really, because as mentioned the entire system is the release. They don't release kernels on their own and the userland is upgraded in lockstep with the kernel with each release.

That said, they'd be the first to tell you that if their model doesn't suit your needs, you're free to use another OS. They build and support what they want. If you want something else, they'll ask you to get involved and do the work.

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