OpenBSD

Not to be confused with FreeBSD.

OpenBSD
Puffy, the pufferfish mascot of OpenBSD posing in the official logo.
Free, Functional, and Secure
OpenBSD 7.0 default desktop with various utilities: top, xterm, xcalc, and glxgears
DeveloperTheo de Raadt et al.
Written inC, assembly, Perl, Unix shell
OS familyUnix-like (BSD)
Working stateCurrent
Source modelFree software
Initial releaseJuly 1996; 28 years ago (1996-07)
Latest release7.6 (8 October 2024; 45 days ago (2024-10-08)) [±]
Repository
Package managerOpenBSD package tools[1]
PlatformsAlpha, x86-64, ARMv7, ARMv8 (64-bit), PA-RISC, IA-32, LANDISK, Loongson, Omron LUNA-88K, MIPS64, macppc, PowerPC, 64-bit RISC-V, SPARC64[2]
Kernel typeMonolithic
UserlandBSD
Default
user interface		Modified pdksh, X11 (FVWM)
LicenseBSD, ISC, other permissive licenses[3]
Official websitewww.openbsd.org

OpenBSD is a security-focused, free software, Unix-like operating system based on the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). Theo de Raadt created OpenBSD in 1995 by forking NetBSD 1.0.[4] The OpenBSD project emphasizes portability, standardization, correctness, proactive security, and integrated cryptography.[5]

The OpenBSD project maintains portable versions of many subsystems as packages for other operating systems. Because of the project's preferred BSD license, which allows binary redistributions without the source code, many components are reused in proprietary and corporate-sponsored software projects. The firewall code in Apple's macOS is based on OpenBSD's PF firewall code,[6] Android's Bionic C standard library is based on OpenBSD code,[7] LLVM uses OpenBSD's regular expression library,[8] and Windows 10 uses OpenSSH (OpenBSD Secure Shell) with LibreSSL.[9]

The word "open" in the name OpenBSD refers to the availability of the operating system source code on the Internet, although the word "open" in the name OpenSSH means "OpenBSD". It also refers to the wide range of hardware platforms the system supports.[10] OpenBSD supports a variety of system architectures including x86-64, IA-32, ARM, PowerPC, and 64-bit RISC-V.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference faq15-pkgs was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference plat was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference policy was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference coremail was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ OpenBSD Project (19 May 2020). "OpenBSD". OpenBSD.org. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  6. ^ "Murus App, Apple PF for macOS from OpenBSD".
  7. ^ "Android's C Library Has 173 Files of Unchanged OpenBSD Code". Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  8. ^ "LLVM Release License". Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  9. ^ "OpenSSH for Windows". Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference infoworld_new_years_resolution was invoked but never defined (see the help page).