One major difference that I found between Linux and FreeBSD || How frequently do you install updates ?

[astyle]

Knowing there's a vulnerability is half of the battle. Like I said, sometimes you can take mitigating steps to prevent that bug from becoming a problem. And in other cases the best course of action is to stop using it until it gets fixed.

There's also the issue of actually executing those mitigation steps, figuring out how to do it correctly, and figuring out if it's worth your time. It can be as deep of a rabbit hole as you make it, that's the deep, far-ranging allure of the Digital Ocean

 

[Cath O'Deray]

I don't like email

People can use web browsers, e.g.

Feeds, and the FreeBSD Project home page

Unfortunately, the newsflash <https://www.freebsd.org/news/feed.xml>:

• includes things that would be better in quarterly reports
• omits more important, time-sensitive announcements

Much of what's flashed is not truly news flash-worthy. Critically:

• if every item of news is treated (or mistreated) as flashy, it can become difficult for an average reader to discern, at a glance, things that are of special or critical importance.

 

[Deleted member 30996]

Under Linux I often have the feeling there are many different vast mobs of anarchists and anybody does what he likes, when he's in the mood, or not - chaos!

Every Linux distro I have used seems to have some loose concept of a "base", it's what you got when you installed the system. It might "just" be a collection of third party packages "cobbled together" with the kernel - but that's not so different to FreeBSD where the project pulls in third party packages such as OpenZFS.

I seem to have the feeling neither statement was based on research of documented fact. I'll do a Hermetic Tarot card Celtic Cross spread reading on it later. The Norns willing.

Presently, the precognitive dream directed Debian doc I dug up relative to Debian-based Kali GNU/Linux rolling-release boxen being mine applies:

1.3. What is Debian GNU/Linux?

The combination of Debian's philosophy and methodology and the GNU tools, the Linux kernel, and other important free software, form a unique software distribution called Debian GNU/Linux. This distribution is made up of a large number of software packages. Each package in the distribution contains executables, scripts, documentation, and configuration information, and has a maintainer who is primarily responsible for keeping the package up-to-date, tracking bug reports, and communicating with the upstream author(s) of the packaged software. Our extremely large user base, combined with our bug tracking system ensures that problems are found and fixed quickly.
*snip*
For example, Debian was the first Linux distribution to include a package management system for easy installation and removal of software. It was also the first Linux distribution that could be upgraded without requiring reinstallation.

Debian continues to be a leader in Linux development. Its development process is an example of just how well the Open Source development model can work — even for very complex tasks such as building and maintaining a complete operating system.

The feature that most distinguishes Debian from other Linux distributions is its package management system. These tools give the administrator of a Debian system complete control over the packages installed on that system, including the ability to install a single package or automatically update the entire operating system. Individual packages can also be protected from being updated. You can even tell the package management system about software you have compiled yourself and what dependencies it fulfills.

To protect your system against “Trojan horses” and other malevolent software, Debian's servers verify that uploaded packages come from their registered Debian maintainers. Debian packagers also take great care to configure their packages in a secure manner. When security problems in shipped packages do appear, fixes are usually available very quickly. With Debian's simple update options, security fixes can be downloaded and installed automatically across the Internet.

1.3. What is Debian GNU/Linux?

I can run:
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
upgrade from one Kali Linux version bump to the next and it upgrade all my pkg in the process.

With the installation of the 3rd party programs debsums, apt-listbugs, apt-listchanges, apt-list-versions and needrestart it will alert me during the update process to any programs using old libraries that might need restarted, after it's done tell me that a new kernel being installed and I might want to restart and maintain a database similar to me running pkg audit -F that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside knowing it cares and was unaware of till given a chance to broaden my horizons with a vacation.

Half my boxen now running Kali Linux on metal:

┌──(jitte㉿itachi)-[~]
└─$ cat /etc/os-release                   
PRETTY_NAME="Kali GNU/Linux Rolling"
NAME="Kali GNU/Linux"
ID=kali
VERSION="2022.1"
VERSION_ID="2022.1"
VERSION_CODENAME="kali-rolling"
ID_LIKE=debian
ANSI_COLOR="1;31"
HOME_URL="https://www.kali.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://forums.kali.org/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.kali.org/"
                                                                                       
┌──(jitte㉿itachi)-[~]
└─$

 

[Vull]

I don't like email and if FreeBSD would force me to subscribe to mailing lists, i'd rather use Linux.

Likewise. I simply use freebsd-update fetch and it's worked okay for me for years.

Many people seem to think that their way is the best way or only way, but there's usually more than one way to skin every cat.

Still it can be interesting to compare notes sometimes.

 

[George]

On desktops, updates usually introduce new issues, like program A no longer compiles, program B crashes because dependency issues, program D is not maintained and has an yet unknown issue, driver F no longer supports my old graphics card...

Somehow I gave up on updates.

 

[Cath O'Deray]

… updates usually introduce new issues … Somehow I gave up on updates.

The impact of updates is usually much more positive than negative.

… like program A no longer compiles, program B crashes because dependency issues, program D is not maintained and has an yet unknown issue, driver F no longer supports my old graphics card...

FYI:

Ports Management Team

FreeBSD is an operating system used to power modern servers, desktops, and embedded platforms.

www.freebsd.org

 

[getopt]

Given the pace they ruin firefox and remove useful/working features and add annoying and non-working stuff, usually you DON'T want the latest version. Even ESR is moving way too fast IMHO and is constantly breaking stuff that has been working for years.

So true. I had FF76-esr pkg-locked until a few days ago but was forced now to "upgrade" to FF91-esr, knowing that to revert/disable the old and the new crap (Mozilla calls them features) would cost me hours to spend. FF91 with default configuration ruined performance on i386 to a level no more suitable for work. This is usually the point when users start de-installing and looking for alternatives. But Firefox still is highly configurable and therefore I prefer living with the monster I know good enough for privacy configurations.

 

[getopt]

Most open source projects are under-resourced.

My impression is that FreeBSD is loosing manpower also. If I were good enough in git I could probably prove that port maintainers dropping maintainership are outnumbering those taking maintainership. The timeline would draw a nice chart over time.

 

[getopt]

webrender is still a steaming pile of garbage and beta-quality at best, yet they already forced it even on the 91-ESR branch and completely ruined the performance.
'gfx.webrender.force-disabled=true' and 'layers.acceleration.force-enabled=true' re-enables OpenGL which 'just works'™

While I'm just documenting these findings I stumbled across what is lurking next:

From Firefox 93 onward, Firefox users can't disable WebRender anymore as options to do so are no longer included in that version of the web browser. The only option that Firefox users have when they encounter rendering issues is to switch WebRender to software.

Mozilla plans to enable WebRender in Firefox 92 - gHacks Tech News

Firefox 92 will be the first version of Firefox which has WebRender enabled on all supported platforms.

www.ghacks.net

Perhaps it makes sense to start a new thread. Any suggestions for a thread title?

Making Firefox usable again?