Xorg can now run without privilege on OpenBSD

I still doubt that 'I consider that guy an idiot' is a reasonable thing to write in an article about smtpd filters. And _technically_ I question the example for blacklisting a whole domain, while the 'idiot' is probably just one guy (and for all I know, he might share that domain with friends or family).

If someone says something (arguably) stupid, the reaction isn't to write something utterly braindead in response. At least not among adults. Plus, 'I think BSDs are holding us back' (or even: 'BSDs suck!' if you want to condense that and distill it a bit) is targeting a family of operating systems, that example code/comment targets a person. That's just .. socially awkward at best, if we're friendly.

I dunno, I hear this a lot. Sure OpenBSD has created and implemented some (often very bleeding edge) hardening features, but nothing that hasn't seen the light of day in something like GRSecuriy.

But the lack of other security layers and constructs seem puzzling to me. No RBAC-based system like selinux? No attempt to secure the supply chain until very recently with package signing? Chroot functionality inferior to something like FreeBSD's jails?

Not to mention that many services you would deploy an OpenBSD server for are provided by ports and not the base system, forgoing the strict auditing that OpenBSD provides.

I think for anything besides a standalone router or mail/DNS server you're probably better off looking at other general purpose operating systems like FreeBSD or Linux.

I should note here that I've used various BSD's for various jobs over the years, including OpenBSD. I enjoy using it and never had any troubles with it. I would still consider it for uses that don't require much stepping out of the base system.

"Hey, see this nice smtpd we created? Here's how you blacklist the domain of a Linux guy we like to make fun of/blame for everything wrong in the world" is .. childish. But again, sense of humor is certainly something that is open for interpretation and all..

http://www.opensmtpd.org/manual.html

also, as others have pointed out, not ad hominem

So, we get one more post where the first comment is basically a negative comment with not one word about the submitted story.

That said, even here (mostly OS X/Linux as far as I can tell) there's Lennart bashing everywhere. Check a random systemd thread, you'll find lots of that. Expecting a friendly jab in some random text about the opensmtpd features (not related to _anything_ that is usually blamed on Lennart, funnily enough) is .. unlikely.

My reaction is based on my belief that it is much more likely to see these low punches instead of "Hey, I made a friendly joke about the domain of this Linux dude I'm cool with".

Bottom line: Sure, you might totally be right, I might be the jerk here and take everything the wrong way. So far I still don't believe that and consider that less likely.

What a sad idea..

Software he has been significantly involved with has caused problems for a lot of people in the past. The recent strife and disagreement surrounding systemd surely hasn't helped the situation.

If somebody has had bad experiences with multiple software systems developed by a particular developer/project/organization, it's totally understandable why they'd want to avoid that developer's/project's/organization's software in the future. Nor is it unreasonable to want to protect oneself in such a manner. Furthermore, this can be the case without holding any sort of hateful emotions toward the developer/project/organization in question.

Do you have a better name for such a flag that may not involve his name directly? It does seem like a very descriptive name for what it does, even if some people may incorrectly interpret it as being "hateful" or something like that.

It looked to me like people do this sort of thing all the time? This happens even in non-tech scenarios (e.g. not reading an author's works because you don't like his politics, even when the work itself is non-political etc)

I'm not dismissing all the work, I just decided that I've to move on. The project (we're talking opensmtpd here?) very well might be great. This was just a crappy first impression. No hard feelings, no rage or whatever - it seems people think I feel much stronger about this than I actually do.

I was disappointed, consider this distasteful/low (see elsewhere in this thread: I certainly get that humor's different and context matters), decided that for me, personally, this isn't cool and moved on.

I really feel sorry for sharing this here by now, though. It was something that immediately came back to me when the OpenBSD headline came up, I found it worth commenting/sharing and now I started a big thread of .. noise. I'll make sure to remember this outcome next time I'm feeling the urge to post a rather unrelated/negative piece like this.

It seems that some people won't be happy until all human interaction is mediated through vapid, inoffensive office-speak.