Void Linux likely dead

lebarondemerde said:
I never got why people do insist in using initramfs, that is not needed at all (just got the things more complicated) unless for some very specific software like plymouth.
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Useful on a rolling-release, almost bleeding-edge distro: if anything goes wrong (like 4.16 kernel line rewuiring crc32c for ext4fs), you can just sort it out by including/blacklisting this or that module in initramfs.

PS: on Slackware I didn't use a inutrd either! =P
 
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SirDice said:
Besides not using systemd what was it that made it interesting?
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Some of the stuff that I particularly like about Void Linux is:
  • xbps, the package manager. Package managers in Linux land are... well, they're not very sane, for some reason. xbps is a very welcome exception.
  • Mostly vanilla package set. Few (if at all) distro-specific patches, everything is as close to upstream as possible.
  • I didn't use it, but it has an actively-maintained musl-based version, too.
  • Independent, community-driven. You're not enrolled to do beta testing for any Enterprise distribution ;). And the community is friendly and knowledgeable.
It's somewhat like a combination of Slackware and OpenBSD I guess. It's quite refreshing.

In all honesty, though, not having systemd is a pretty compelling reason to look at it. I'm not in the systemd-hating crowd but I prefer to avoid it for home use. After eight hours of doing Linux stuff at work, the last thing I want to do is come home and see what broke this time.
 
Since this thread is about a non-FreeBSD OS (I know, off-topic and such), would you gentlepersons please take one or two swings at the subject and then we send this thread on it's way?
 
-Snake- said:
It is what has to use a license that basically says "violate my code as you want as long as you say that that is my code" that everyone will violate it, like nintendo, playstation etc....
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I have no problem with FreeBSD's generosity.

Sensucht94 said:
Some other cool stuff in Void:
...
Great support for ARM and especially i686 (which many distros are dropping)
...
Personally I installed it on my Rpi3 for a mini-server
...
One of their main developers Greg Fitzgerald, is also a FreeBSD port maintainer
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Thanks - I may have to try it (I can deal with different types of licenses - no problem at all).
 
drhowarddrfine said:
LibreSSL is slow compared to openSSL.
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I would take slow over buggy, incorrect, full of security holes, and mostly undocumented (or inadequately documented) any day or night. I know FreeBSD is never going to use LibreSSL, vanilla OpenSSH, or God forbid updated version of PF due to the bad blood between the camps and I am at peace with it. However, I would never put FreeBSD machine as a perimeter firewall or such. My FreeBSD file servers in terms of security are treated just like Red Hat Linux (I don't have Windows machines). Means they need protection of OpenBSD servers to survive the Internet.

I am familiar with the love story between FreeBSD and BearSSL and I am not buying it for a second.
 
Oko said:
However, I would never put FreeBSD machine as a perimeter firewall or such.
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Are there any flaws with using a minimal FreeBSD + pf for such a gateway machine? I'm just about to create a firewall for my home (as a bhyve vm with two NICs assigned by PCI passthru, I planned to use them as a lagg(4) device with vlans on top) and if FreeBSD isn't suitable for that purpose, I could of course have this vm run OpenBSD ... anything I should read about that topic?
 
Zirias said:
Are there any flaws with using a minimal FreeBSD + pf for such a gateway machine? I'm just about to create a firewall for my home (as a bhyve vm with two NICs assigned by PCI passthru, I planned to use them as a lagg(4) device with vlans on top) and if FreeBSD isn't suitable for that purpose, I could of course have this vm run OpenBSD ... anything I should read about that topic?
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Depends on your risk averse level. Don't get me wrong there are people running ISP businesses of FreeBSD. Your lost me when you start taking about virtual machines and perimeter firewall. Virtual machines including OpenBSD's vmm and security are mutually exclusive concepts.
 
Oko said:
Virtual machines including OpenBSD's vmm and security are mutually exclusive concepts.
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Bad news for all these cloud service providers then ;) Well, alright, that's a whole different level you're talking about if the possibility to break out of a VM is to be considered. Definitely makes sense for an enterprise network -- not so much for me at home ;) So I guess I'll just stick to FreeBSD for simplicity.
 
The more I think about it, the more I would like a small howto about pf.
 
I have an ancient one that some folks at work found useful. http://srobb.net/pf.html

However, it's not been updated in years,but has links to useful sites.
There is a handbook article, as I'm sure you know, which includes contributions by Mr. Hansteen, who, at least for me, writes the best and most understandable stuff on PF.

I'm too lazy to go through the thread to see how something about Void Linux's creator being unreachable got into a disussion about pf, but I would guess it had something to do with someone saying Linux/BSD is more secure.

We sure like to argue on these forums. :) (I'm as bad as anyone else).
 
Never a good thing when people go off of the radar screen w/o explanation. I went to the Void forum, and a member there indicated that Void's creator had not used any of the social media haunts he was known for using, for about the same length of time as the Void AWOL - going on five months. Hopefully, the guy is OK. This has been happening with some projects lately, where only one person holds the keys. On a forum, they've even talked about hiring a PI to find the guy, so that they can sort out any legal IP situations.

Void looks interesting (if you're into Linux anyway). Read about their pkg system equivalent that runs in containers, w/o root. Musl is interesting too - I've touched it a little on Alpine.
 
Crivens said:
The more I think about it, the more I would like a small howto about pf.
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Seriously speaking, what the advantage of PF over IPFW?
I mean,I've always found IPFW so damn good,featured,understandable and easy to use that never felt the necessity to explore something else, outside DragonflyBSD's IPFW3 (which I sugesst you to check out if you haven't already ;) )

After having faced the nightmare of learning iptables because of the Void Linux Rpi3 server, I just came to the conclusion that IPFW/IPFW3 was the best I could get for both desktop and home server.
So my question (driven from curiosity and sincere interest) is: where does PF fare better than IPFW , in terms of security, performance, features, versatility, documentation, sintax,maintainance, integration wirh other base system utils like natd, or 3rd party siftware like squid, etc..?
 
Sensucht94 said:
Seriously speaking, what the advantage of PF over IPFW?
I mean,I've always found IPFW so damn good,featured,understandable and easy to use that never felt the necessity to explore something else, outside DragonflyBSD's IPFW3 (which I sugesst you to check out if you haven't already ;) )

After having faced the nightmare of learning iptables because of the Void Linux Rpi3 server, I just came to the conclusion that IPFW/IPFW3 was the best I could get for both desktop and home server.
So my question (driven from curiosity and sincere interest) is: where does PF fare better than IPFW , in terms of security, performance, features, versatility, documentation, sintax,maintainance, integration wirh other base system utils like natd, or 3rd party siftware like squid, etc..?
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@admins This is probably got point to fork the thread as the previous and this message have nothing to do with Void Linux.

TL:TW but in short the answer to your question about advantages of PF over IPFW is yes and no:) Not quite what you wanted to hear. PF is the native package filter of the OpenBSD while IPFW is the native package filter of FreeBSD. PF on FreeBSD is (from my vintage point) obsolete, unmaintained and for all practical purpose a pseudo fork of real PF. However it is still widely used on FreeBSD by people like me who prefer it over IPFW due to familiarity and simplicity. Both product are very formidable, however only one of them PF is the package filter of OS X and Solaris 11 (traditionally Solaris package filter was Daren Reed's IPFilter which is still available on FreeBSD and used by Juniper networks).

I will stop here as the question is too broad and too technically demanding to be addressed in comprehensive fashion on the forum. I encourage you to do some reading about PF and IPFW and little experimenting and make up your mind. If you going to play with PF please use OpenBSD as otherwise you will be comparing an ancient version of PF with current IPFW implementation.
 
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