FreeBSD 14.3-BETA2 release, Post-Quantum Cryptography on NetBSD, BSD Fast FileSystem history and more.
Releases
FreeBSD 14.3-BETA2 Available: The second BETA build for the FreeBSD 14.3 release cycle is now available. ISO images for the amd64, i386, powerpc, powerpc64, powerpc64le, powerpcspe, armv6, armv7, aarch64, and riscv64 architectures are FreeBSD mirror sites.
DragonFly BSD 6.4.2 Release Tagged: The annotated tag v6.4.2 for DragonFly BSD has been created, replacing v6.4.1. Key updates include fixes for virtio block devices, improvements to fdisk(8), and a kernel fix addressing panic and user process corruption.
BSDSec
No security announcements. As always, it’s worth following BSDSec. RSS feed available.
News
Post-Quantum Cryptography on NetBSD: Quick instructions to set up Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) on NetBSD using Open Quantum Safe and BoringSSL.
A brief history of the BSD Fast FileSystem: The article discusses the history and development of the BSD Fast FileSystem, also known as UFS, which was created by Marshall Kirk McKusick in the early 1980s. It highlights the significance of UFS as it remains the default file system in several BSD-based operating systems, including NetBSD, OpenBSD, and FreeBSD (alongside ZFS). The article references a 2007 survey by McKusick that outlines the improvements made to BSD file systems, many of which have been incorporated into other file systems. The content is noted for its historical relevance and ongoing impact on modern file systems.
Valuable News – 2025/05/12: The Valuable News weekly series is dedicated to provide summary about news, articles and other interesting stuff mostly but not always related to the UNIX/BSD/Linux systems.
NetBSD Foundation Joins Google Summer of Code 2025: The NetBSD Foundation is participating in Google Summer of Code 2025 with three projects: Enhancing Support for NAT64 Protocol Translation in NetBSD, Asynchronous I/O Framework, and Using bubblewrap to add sandboxing to NetBSD. The community bonding period will last for 3 weeks, during which mentors and contributors will familiarize themselves with the code and adjust deliverables.
Optimisation of Parallel TCP Input Enhances Performance: Alexander Bluhm has committed changes to optimize parallel TCP input by caching the socket lock, reducing contention. This update improves performance by 12% to 22% with 10 parallel TCP streams and up to 100% with a single stream. The changes involve temporarily moving TCP packets to a per-thread queue, processing them under a shared lock, and reducing socket lock contention. This enhancement builds on previous work and contributes to significant performance gains in TCP processing.
BSD Now 610: OpenBSD 7.7, ZFS Orchestration Tools – Part 2: Replication, Switching customers from Linux to BSD because boring is good, Graphed and measured: running TCP input in parallel, Introducing an OpenBSD LLDP daemon, Hardware discovery: ACPI & Device Tree, The 2025 FreeBSD Community Survey is Here, and more.
Maintaining FreeBSD in Commercial Products: Why Upstream Contributions Matter: Upstreaming FreeBSD changes is a strategic choice for commercial products, as it reduces technical debt, streamlines upgrades, and ensures long-term sustainability. By contributing to the upstream project, teams can lower upgrade friction, simplify security audits, and share maintenance efforts with the community. This approach also improves developer productivity and reduces the risk of regressions. Common barriers to upstreaming, such as perceived slowdowns or code quality concerns, can be overcome with incremental contributions and collaboration with maintainers.
bpflogd(8) Added to OpenBSD for Packet Logging Needs: The bpflogd(8) tool has been introduced into OpenBSD, offering enhanced packet logging capabilities. Unlike pflogd(8), it supports logging on any BPF interface and multiple interfaces simultaneously. It uses libevent for non-blocking operations and captures full packets by default. This tool aims to assist in debugging network issues by logging packets from multiple sources. Developers are encouraging user feedback on its performance and usability.
LLDP Daemon and Tool Added to OpenBSD -current: David Gwynne has committed lldpd(8), a daemon that acts as an LLDP agent on Ethernet interfaces, to OpenBSD -current. This daemon uses AF_FRAME Ethernet sockets to efficiently listen for LLDP packets across all interfaces. Additionally, a companion tool, lldp(8), was committed to interact with the daemon, allowing users to fetch and display LLDP packets. Both tools are now linked to the build, and further development and testing are encouraged.
DSA Signature Support Removed from OpenSSH: OpenSSH has officially removed DSA signature support as of May 2025. The change, completed by Damien Miller, involved modifying and removing several files related to DSA in the OpenSSH codebase. This update aligns with ongoing efforts to phase out outdated cryptographic algorithms. Users are encouraged to verify the removal and adapt their configurations accordingly. The move is part of a broader initiative to enhance security and modernize the OpenSSH ecosystem.
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