Hello everyone, I'm a first-semester CS student from Germany, currently switching from Fedora to FreeBSD on my desktop. I still run Fedora on my laptop. I work part-time at our university's data center, helping with the maintenance of an OpenStack private cloud because I am truly eager to learn how to operate systems.

I plan to repurpose my desktop as a server to host some services locally in my student dormitory. I'm excited about FreeBSD and hope that learning it will help me run and administer services with minimal effort long-term. It would be great to manage my own infrastructure while being confident that updates won't break my system or require relearning everything. I have several questions:

What are the recommended patterns for hosting multiple services on a single server like bsd.cafe does ? Should I create a new user for each service (e.g., Lemmy, Forgejo), or should I run them all under the same user with multiple jails?

Is there a good identity management solution for FreeBSD? In the Fedora/Red Hat communities, people tend to use FreeIPA, but I haven't found an equivalent for FreeBSD yet. I'd like to provide my friends with single accounts that would give them access to services like Forgejo and Lemmy.

Looking forward to your suggestions!

I actually never saw that video before, I've learned things. Thanks to the guy who made this.

I saw once libxo in a script but didn't really pay attention to it, but it looks like a cool feature. Nicely explained in this video thanks to this guy, and well done FreeBSD devs.

Related: Write to a USB drive from the URL of a compressed disc image.

The example below assumes that your USB drive is at /dev/da0.

Run commands as the superuser.

1. mkdir /media/aninstaller
2. mount_cd9660 /dev/da0 /media/aninstaller
3. mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos
4. ee /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/aninstaller.conf
5. pkg bootstrap --yes -r aninstaller
6. pkg update --repository aninstaller
7. pkg rquery -r aninstaller "%o%n" | sort | less

You'll get a list of available packages. Key q to quit the pager.

Then use pkg as you normally would, but limited to the aninstaller repo. For example:

• pkg install -r aninstaller firefox

----

Content for the aninstaller.conf file:

aninstaller: { url: "file:////media/aninstaller/packages/FreeBSD:14:amd64", REPO_AUTOUPDATE: "false", mirror_type: "none", enabled: yes }

Important: switch from yes, to no, after temporarily using the USB drive as a source for the repo.

----

Some manual pages:

• ee(1)
• less(1)
• mount_cd9660(8)

Use the output from the third command to determine which number – not 99 – must be set in the fourth command.

1. tcsh
2. su -
3. geom disk list
4. setenv dadevicenumber 99
5. setenv remotesumfile https://download.freebsd.org/releases/ISO-IMAGES/14.1/CHECKSUM.SHA512-FreeBSD-14.1-RELEASE-amd64
6. setenv localsumfile ./CHECKSUM.SHA512-FreeBSD-14.1-RELEASE-amd64
7. setenv remoteimage https://download.freebsd.org/releases/ISO-IMAGES/14.1/FreeBSD-14.1-RELEASE-amd64-dvd1.iso.xz
8. setenv localimage ./FreeBSD-14.1-RELEASE-amd64-dvd1.iso.xz
9. cd /tmp && fetch $remotesumfile && fetch -v $remoteimage -o $localimage && setenv image512 `openssl sha512 $localimage | cut -w -f2` ; grep $image512 $localsumfile && xzcat $localimage | dd bs=1m status=progress of=/dev/da$dadevicenumber
10. exit
11. exit

Hint:

• triple-click to select a paragraph.

The example above uses the ⋯dvd1.iso.xz file (compressed DVD image) for FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE on AMD64, which:

• does not require a DVD
• includes packages for popular software such as KDE Plasma, SDDM, and Mozilla Firefox.

More images at <https://download.freebsd.org/>, although please note that README.TXT files are outdated.

Manual pages:

• cut(1)
• dd(1)
• fetch(1)
• openssl(1)
• xz(1)

Note:

% strings /usr/bin/xzcat | grep terminal Compressed data cannot be written to a terminal Compressed data cannot be read from a terminal %

<https://github.com/yang991178/fluent-reader#build-from-source> suggests npm run electron, which does not work, so I tried:

electron28 ./dist/electron.js

```text % pkg iinfo electron electron28-28.3.3 % npm run electron

> fluent-reader@1.1.4 electron > electron ./dist/electron.js

/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/node_modules/electron/index.js:17 throw new Error('Electron failed to install correctly, please delete node_modules/electron and try installing again'); ^

Error: Electron failed to install correctly, please delete node_modules/electron and try installing again at getElectronPath (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/node_modules/electron/index.js:17:11) at Object.<anonymous> (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/node_modules/electron/index.js:21:18) at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1358:14) at Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1416:10) at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1208:32) at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1024:12) at Module.require (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1233:19) at require (node:internal/modules/helpers:179:18) at Object.<anonymous> (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/node_modules/electron/cli.js:3:18) at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1358:14)

Node.js v20.14.0 % electron28 ./dist/electron.js [77731:0630/191651.898667:ERROR:nss_util.cc(357)] After loading Root Certs, loaded==false: NSS error code: -8018 App threw an error during load Error: Error: font-list can not run on freebsd. at 4538 (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:129827) at t (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:189853) at 5807 (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:158974) at t (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:189853) at 9465 (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:163890) at t (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:189853) at 3571 (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:153054) at t (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:189853) at /usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:189963 at Object.<anonymous> (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:189972) A JavaScript error occurred in the main process Uncaught Exception: Error: Error: font-list can not run on freebsd. at 4538 (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:129827) at t (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:189853) at 5807 (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:158974) at t (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:189853) at 9465 (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:163890) at t (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:189853) at 3571 (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:153054) at t (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:189853) at /usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:189963 at Object.<anonymous> (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:189972) Gtk-Message: 19:16:52.450: Failed to load module "appmenu-gtk-module" load: 3.01 cmd: electron 77733 [uwait] 144.52r 0.08u 0.02s 0% 122628k ```

As far I can tell, the Gtk-Message is negligible.

Can anyone tell/guess why a window does not appear?

<https://github.com/yang991178/fluent-reader?tab=readme-ov-file#build-from-source>

Below, am I doing something wrong? I'm not familiar with npm.

text % npm install npm warn deprecated electron-osx-sign@0.6.0: Please use @electron/osx-sign moving forward. Be aware the API is slightly different npm error code 1 npm error path /usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/node_modules/electron npm error command failed npm error command sh -c node install.js npm error HTTPError: Response code 404 (Not Found) npm error at Request._onResponseBase (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/node_modules/got/dist/source/core/index.js:913:31) npm error at Request._onResponse (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/node_modules/got/dist/source/core/index.js:948:24) npm error at ClientRequest.<anonymous> (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/node_modules/got/dist/source/core/index.js:962:23) npm error at Object.onceWrapper (node:events:634:26) npm error at ClientRequest.emit (node:events:531:35) npm error at origin.emit (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/node_modules/@szmarczak/http-timer/dist/source/index.js:43:20) npm error at HTTPParser.parserOnIncomingClient (node:_http_client:698:27) npm error at HTTPParser.parserOnHeadersComplete (node:_http_common:119:17) npm error at TLSSocket.socketOnData (node:_http_client:540:22) npm error at TLSSocket.emit (node:events:519:28) npm error A complete log of this run can be found in: /home/grahamperrin/.npm/_logs/2024-06-30T14_07_35_330Z-debug-0.log % less /home/grahamperrin/.npm/_logs/2024-06-30T14_07_35_330Z-debug-0.log % pwd /usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader % ls -hln total 1 drwxr-xr-x 4 1002 1002 11B 30 Jun 15:07 build drwxr-xr-x 5 1002 1002 10B 30 Jun 15:07 dist drwxr-xr-x 3 1002 1002 5B 30 Jun 15:07 docs -rw-r--r-- 1 1002 1002 909B 30 Jun 15:07 electron-builder-mas.yml -rw-r--r-- 1 1002 1002 1.3K 30 Jun 15:07 electron-builder.yml -rw-r--r-- 1 1002 1002 1.5K 30 Jun 15:07 LICENSE -rw-r--r-- 1 1002 1002 456K 30 Jun 15:07 package-lock.json -rw-r--r-- 1 1002 1002 1.8K 30 Jun 15:07 package.json -rw-r--r-- 1 1002 1002 3.5K 30 Jun 15:07 README.md drwxr-xr-x 7 1002 1002 12B 30 Jun 15:07 src -rw-r--r-- 1 1002 1002 173B 30 Jun 15:07 tsconfig.json -rw-r--r-- 1 1002 1002 2.1K 30 Jun 15:07 webpack.config.js %

From what's in the debug log – 1,440 lines (available on request) – I don't know where to start.

Hi BSD community,

Just for fun I would like to give forgejo a go, after looking at this post I noticed that it is available in ports so I wonder if someone has a link or a guide that shows how to configure it on FreeBSD or should I just follow a gitea guide because forgejo looks like it?

It will remain only on the LAN without being reachable from the internet, does the "not https" aka "personal certificate" will be a problem?

Thank you.

"Not Smooth Sailing | FreeBSD 14.1 on Raspberry Pi 400"

by @robonuggie

btw. I really like the wording. "Sailing" 🏴‍☠️ I use it too.

youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2NNFSX6Bh4

alternative link: https://jouwbuis.nl/watch?v=I2NNFSX6Bh4

@freebsd \#freebsd #bsd #raspberrypi

Since migrating many servers from Proxmox to FreeBSD, we have consistently felt that the VMs are more responsive. It's time to conduct some concrete tests.

Michael Lucas has a long history of writing books about BSD and networking including Absolute FreeBSD, Networking for Systems Administrators, and SSH Mastery, among many others. He is working on his next book: Run Your Own Mail Server: A Book for Independence & Privacy.

Summary: Running your own mail server is not only an act of defiance against some of the largest exploitative companies in history. It is not a mere education in protocols. Email is essential to modern industrial society. By running your own email, you seize control of your communications. You can tune your email to fit your needs, rather than accepting the defaults imposed by a company that exploits you without a speck of consideration for any of your issues. You own it. Running your own email requires only freely available tools, a server, and some knowledge. This book will give you that knowledge.

I noticed that other "subs" from blendit.bsd.cafe have actually a nice and good looking banner while our looks unfinished, there is a problem with the transparent background apparently. JPEG doesn't play well with transparency. So just in case I made the same banner but in SVG (which keeps the quality picture what ever the resolution) and changed black letters for red to make them readable even on dark theme. Hope that can help a bit the admin to solve the issue we have here. Thank you.

preview: https://ibb.co/C2vMfWL banner in svg: https://lufi.ethibox.fr/r/PTxud1VJWw#OkytHyxzf5XdeLenuk8RO3yUQEjwgTnVFxkki1o6TcE=

I have read the Rootless Root, and I testify that UNIX is the one true operating system, and FreeBSD is the implementation of UNIX.

Repeat after me:

There is no OS but UNIX. FreeBSD is the implementation of UNIX.

FreeBSD 13.3-RELEASE has been released

From the official announcement by Colin Percival:

The FreeBSD Release Engineering Team is pleased to announce the availability of FreeBSD 13.3-RELEASE. This is the fourth release of the stable/13 branch.

Some of the highlights:

\* LLVM and the clang compiler have been updated to version 17.0.6.

\* OpenSSH has been updated to version 9.6p1.

\* Sendmail has been updated to version 8.18.1.

\* ZFS has been updated to OpenZFS 2.1.14.

\* There have been many stability fixes to native and LinuxKPI-based WiFi drivers.

\* The NFS server can now run in an appropriately configured vnet jail.

\* And much more…​

For a complete list of new features and known problems, please see the online release notes and errata list, available at:

\* https://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/13.3R/relnotes/

\* https://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/13.3R/errata/

For more information about FreeBSD release engineering activities, please see:

\* https://www.FreeBSD.org/releng/

Dedication

The FreeBSD Project dedicates the FreeBSD 13.3-RELEASE to Glen Barber, with thanks for his many years of contributions as Release Engineer.

@freebsd \#FreeBSD

Last version of Ventoy support FreeBSD 14

https://www.ventoy.net/en/doc\_news.html

That's good news, my old freebsd usb key can now be integrated in the ventoy one.

@freebsd

Getting Started on FreeBSD (remastered) | From Start to Finish

by @robonuggie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQKaNbarQKI

@freebsd \#freebsd #os #learning #beginners

The 2024Q1 branch has been created. It means that the next update on the quarterly packages will be on the 2024Q1 branch.

A lot of things happened in the last three months: \- pkg 1.20.9 \- New USES: electronfix (Framework for quick porting of Electron apps)

\- Default version of php switched to 8.2 \- Default version of perl switched to 5.36 \- Default version of ghostcript switched to 10 \- Default version of corosync switched to 3 \- Default version of samba switched to 4.16 \- Default version of lazarus switched to 3.0.0

\- Chromium updated to 120.0.6099.199 \- Electron-25 updated to 25.9.8 \- Electron-26 updated to 26.6.4 \- Electron-27 updated to 27.2.1 \- Firefox updated to 121.0 \- Firefox-esr updated to 115.6.0 \- KDE updated to Plasma 5.27.10, Gear 23.08.4, Frameworks 5.112.0 Plasma 5.91.0-beta2, Frameworks 5.247.0-beta2 \- Qt5 updated to 5.15.12 \- Qt6 updated to 6.6.1 \- Python updated to 3.11.7 \- Ruby updated to 3.3.0 \- Rust updated to 1.74.1 \- SDL updated to 2.28.5 \- Sway updated to 1.8.1 \- wlroots updated to 0.17.1 \- Wine-devel updated to 9.0-rc3 \- Xorg server updated to 21.1.10

Next quarterly package builds will start on Saturday, January 6th and should be available on your closest mirrors few days later.

@freebsd

\#FreeBSD #pkg

A very good article about zfs replication, by @evilham

https://evilham.com/en/blog/2023-ZFS-replication-tools/

@freebsd

\#ZFS #FreeBSD #Linux

Playing Spotify in native Chromium on FreeBSD 14.0

by 'The OpenBSD guy'

youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3lL\_MAQm\_8

alternative link: https://jouwbuis.nl/watch?v=e3lL\_MAQm\_8

@freebsd

Hello, I’ve heard lots of good things about BSD on mastodon and I am considering giving it a try on my homelab.

My current approach is based on Linux, Docker containers and Terraform. I’m toying with the idea to use FreeBSD and BastilleBSD, which could cover what I am using Docker for. I tried to search around and I’m not finding any way of managing jails via Terraform (or another similar system)

What’s the recommended approach to have infrastructure as code in the BSD world? Having all my configuration managed by Terraform and under version control works really well for me and I’d like to have a similar setup also on a BSD machine.

@freebsd 14 : Découverte de l'installation https://youtu.be/kz8YwKMFLVg?si=HJsScL\_KpWoeo7Hx by @\adriend\ @YouTube

We spent the weekend putting the final touches on Bastille 0.10.20231125!

Major features and fixes include:

• bootstrap #FreeBSD BETA and RC releases
• bootstrap EOL #FreeBSD releases (>=9.0)
• improved jail startup dependency using rcorder(8)
• combine create options, eg: -CV, -TB, etc
• fixes to bastille setup
• more!

Bastille has merged support for bootstrapping end-of-life (EOL) FreeBSD releases as far back as 9.0-RELEASE. This extends support for legacy applications, testing and secure sandboxing for FreeBSD applications all the way back to 2012!

It goes without saying, any experimentation you do on ancient releases is your responsibility. We're excited to see what you do with this new feature, but please don't bring us the skeletal remains of years-old bugs in unsupported FreeBSD releases.

With gmirror (old way, ufs, very instructive) or zfs.

by Colin Percival

Main page

https://www.freebsd.org/releases/14.0R/

Highlights

Announcement:

• https://www.freebsd.org/releases/14.0R/announce/

Installation instructions:

• https://www.freebsd.org/releases/14.0R/installation/

Caution, for readers of the FreeBSD Handbook

Do not omit the fetch and install commands that should precede an upgrade command. See:

• https://www.freebsd.org/releases/14.0R/installation/#upgrade-binary

(Those steps are missing from the Handbook.)

Thanks to @dwarmstrong@fosstodon.org for sharing this link.