@gourd

If there were a BSDs for Linux users guide, the fact that third-party applications don't get installed in /bin or /usr/bin, or even /opt, would be one of the major points.

Alongside the geom, gpart, and gpt commands; the consistent -h option to ln and mv for acting upon symbolic link targets; pax coming in the box; mtree coming in the box; various system flles being vis encoded, vis itself being the command made famous by the cat -v is harmful people; wsconsole and the number of KVTs being variable; login.conf as the better shell-agnostic way to do things; and many text configuration files being source needing compilation to binary Berkeley DB files.

#NetBSD #FreeBSD #OpenBSD

All right, #NetBSD folks, I need some help.

I just upgraded a Raspberry Pi 3 from 10.1 to 11.0. I'm using the evbarm-aarch64 port, which until today worked just fine. But every time it boots after the upgrade I just get:

init: `/bin/sh' or `/etc/rc' terminated abnormally, going to single user mode

I found the sh.core file in / and ran gdb against it. gdb says that /bin/sh terminated with SIGSYS, Bad system call and that this is coming from /lib/libc.so.12.

Does anyone have any idea what's causing this and how to fix it? Unfortunately this is happening on the device that I run Asterisk on so my phone system is completely out until this gets fixed.

For anyone struggling to set up WireGuard on #NetBSD, I found a script here called wg4-quick that does the basics of wg-quick on NetBSD! :)

Whenever I run a program on #NetBSD with non-ASCII characters like fish shell or the QR code generated by the gurk Signal client, I get garbage question mark characters in their place. Any ideas on how to fix this?

This happens in the VT when X isn't running, xterm, and xfce-terminal.

Alt...

A screenshot of a terminal where once fish is launched, large amounts of "?"s in diamonds are shown.

Alright, serious question for #NetBSD experts: is there any way to mount and access a BTRFS partition in NetBSD?

I have been looking and looking and LOOKING for information about this, but keep finding crappy dead ends. I need some means of being able to mount two BTRFS partitions so that I can migrate the data to something that both Linux and NetBSD will use. Here is what I have found:
1) https://github.com/adam900710/btrfs-fuse A read-only FUSE driver for BTRFS. Appears to be Linux only?
2) https://github.com/rustutils/btrfsutils Buried in here is another read-only FUSE driver for BTRFS. Again, seems to be aimed at Linux only.
3) https://github.com/maharmstone/btrfs WinBtrfs, Windows-oriented... but is willing to relicense to make it BSD-friendly. https://github.com/maharmstone/btrfs/issues/531
4) https://github.com/lkl/linux/ Linux Kernel Library, aka LKL, which allows for using the Linux kernel as a FUSE driver. There is a version for FreeBSD: https://www.freshports.org/filesystems/lkl/ but even I, a complete newbie to the world of the BSD Boys, knows that FreeBSD and NetBSD are completely different operating systems, so I have no idea how portable this is to NetBSD. However if this DOES work with NetBSD, then this would be an excellent solution...

To test the journal (of #NetBSD FFS) resilience in case of "power cut off", how could the Windows process|thread be killed -- without wait & without harming any other processes -- that is running the virtual machine under MS Windows Hyper-V (generation 2) (on a laptop with working battery)?

I forgot to mention that when I was doing my bare metal test of #NetBSD, wpa_gui did work and got my WiFi configured.

https://pkgsrc.se/net/wpa_gui

My issue with #Gvim not showing up in the #Xfce menu in #NetBSD 11 was solved today, likely via the huge Xfce update I just did with pkgin.

Granted this is a VM and not bare metal, but this has been a very successful test of NetBSD.

So, I decided not to use ZFS for my in-home NAS. I checked it in another server with 2GB of RAM and... it works, but any heavy I/O operation resulted in killing spree of NetBSD kernel, OOM-killing the processes to free the memory. And NetBSD ZFS doesn't have knobs to fine-tune memory limits (IIRC they are still in development).

Instead, the usual approach - the old^Wmature technology - is in use. With the help of netbsd-users maillist (https://mail-index.netbsd.org/netbsd-users/2026/09/21/msg034895.html) I configured the next thing for HDD with RAIDframe, CGD and LVM:

1) Two identical 1TB disks: /dev/wd0 and /dev/wd1.
2) Both in use in RAID1 /dev/raid0 (as described in this document: https://netbsd.org/docs/guide/en/chap-rf.html, but without any tricks for root FS).
3) /dev/raid0 divided in two parts: /dev/raid0a for root FS and /dev/raid0b.
4) Both disks (/dev/wd0 and /dev/wd1) has installed bootloader via /usr/sbin/installboot -o timeout=10 -v /dev/rwd0 /usr/mdec/bootxx_ffsv2 and /usr/sbin/installboot -o timeout=5 -v /dev/rwd1 /usr/mdec/bootxx_ffsv2
5) The /dev/raid0b was encrypted with CGD, so the /dev/raid0b -> /dev/cgd0.
6) The whole encrypted disk (/dev/cgd0a) was added as physical volume to LVM. The volume group /dev/vg0 was created with this PV and the logical volume /dev/vg0/lv0 was created inside this VG to store the real data.

The LVM allows to add new disk space, just by adding new physical volume to the volume group and then extending the logical volume and resizing the FFSv2. I tested it with a test USB drive and it works and even doesn't led to data loss

And the separate CGD separately encrypts existing physical volume and each new physical volume just in case

One quirk: the underlying physical disks (/dev/wd0 and /dev/wd1) plus /dev/raid0 should use MBR partition scheme or NetBSD disklabel - because the root partition should start from 0 sector - if it started not from zero sector, then the bootloader will be unable to find root FS. I tried to use GPT, but the installer was unable to create root partition not from zero sector, only from 2048 sector

#NetBSD #RAIDframe #CGD #LVM #selfhosting

A bit of internet- and operating system archeology & history: (one of?) the first web server in Regensburg ran on an Amiga with the NetBSD operating system. The file is dated 2003, kernel version hints at a more realistic 1996.

#if #netbsd #www #amiga #regensburg #history #folklore

OK, last mention of #PaleMoon - the build I am using on #NetBSD is not an official build from the project. Here is the output of "pkgin pkg-descr palemoon":

Description:
A customizable, privacy-respecting web browser derived from the independent Pale Moon(tm) codebase....
This package is an UNOFFICIAL build and not to be confused with
official Pale Moon software....
No support is provided from Moonchild Productions - all
responsibility for this package falls on the pkgsrc community.

Day 24

A clock is usually included in a desktop panel, but I'm not using a panel on Openbox. I wanted a clock that would pop up on demand using a key combo, and liked the chunky font look of 'tty-clock' but could not get it to work properly: as the time display refreshed it would accumulate artifacts ('10:99').

I found a replacement in 'clock-rs', which retains the visual style of 'tty-clock' with a few extra features. Works OK!

https://github.com/Oughie/clock-rs

#X11 #40DaysOfNetBSD #NetBSD #RunBSD

Should I add journaling to the filesystem in #NetBSD?

https://www.netbsd.org/docs/misc/index.html#journal-options

#BSD

I've been giving #Palemoon browser a spin for the last couple weeks on my #NetBSD laptop. From the project's website:

"If you’re looking for a fully non-commercial alternative to Chrome that respects your privacy, Pale Moon is built for you.
Pale Moon is... Open Source...[,] built on its own maintained platform and rendering engine (Goanna™), available for various operating systems..., focusing on customization, security, privacy and extensibility."

https://www.palemoon.org/

New link saved:
Running Emacs in microVM - The Emacs Cat
🔗 https://olddeuteronomy.github.io/post/running-emacs-in-microvm/
Running Emacs inside a NetBSD microVM.
#emacs #netbsd

No quedó un registro audiovisual de la charla pero espero poder dejarlo por escrito en mi web personal en unos días.

Alt...

OpenBSD 5.8 en una VAX con terminal vt220

When #apicula generates a version that works on actual hardware, while the vendor IDE produces a non-working version from the same source code, it becomes clear that I must be dreaming.
I think I'll turn my attention to #netbsd on some Pi (not Raspberry :) ) for now.

But my plan is #NetBSD, obviously. After fixing it up a bit. Why?

I'm not loving the fact that the only way to limit my emails being used for surveillance capitalism, slop training, and other nefarious purposes is to submit to vendor lock-in.

I've been trying out both Proton and Tuta for a while. Proton on Debian is mildly annoying, due to needing to install and run their bridge to access my email in Thunderbird. Tuta is even more annoying, due to having to install and run a separate email client.

But now that I'm moving to NetBSD and Gentoo, even those annoyances are not available. I just have their websites. I don't want websites, I want my email on my hard drive. I miss the 90s...

#noAI #NetBSD #gentoo #email

If you create a symlink to a symlink to a symlink ... at some point your system will return ELOOP.

A reasonable system has that value defined in sys/param.h as MAXSYMLINKS or as sysconf(_SC_SYMLOOP_MAX).

On Linux, the value of MAXSYMLINKS in sys/param.h is 20, but the kernel actually uses 40:
https://elixir.bootlin.com/linux/v7.2.8/source/include/linux/namei.h#L14

The sysconf(3) man page on Linux documents _SC_SYMLOOP_MAX, but then fails to actually retrieve that value.

Good job, Linux. You illustrate why I use #NetBSD to teach this class.

*cough*

#NoSlop / #NoAI / #AInt / #NeverSlop folks, it's time to put our money where our mouths are. (As you're able)

https://www.netbsd.org/donations/

#NetBSD

Happy #WorldHeartDay! 🫀

Small healthy choices today can make a big difference tomorrow. choose #NetBSD 🚩🧡

#NetBSD #WorldHeartDay2026 #OpenSource #UNIX #noai #nollm #runbsd

New #passgen release! It works on #NetBSD now, and the portability changes will probably improve support on other systems too. If you're on a platform with `bash`, I'd appreciate you trying this out and reporting how it fares on your computer. I suspect it'll work on any BSD at this point, at least.

If you're on Linux, you do not need to upgrade. Prior versions are perfectly fine permanent software for your use case. You can if you want though, and even review the contents - it's still, by design, a sub-hundred-line bash script, with no room to hide anything up its sleeve. If anything, the word separator logic is now a bit cleaner and easier to follow.

https://git.sr.ht/~maddiem4/passgen/commit/bdb073ec2312545ffb3d9779d868a96529b208d8

Day 23

After exploring NetBSD on spare hardware, I've moved Linux (LMDE with Cinnamon desktop) off my main desktop (ThinkCentre M720q) and replaced it with NetBSD and Openbox.

I think its a keeper!

#X11 #Openbox #40DaysOfNetBSD #NetBSD #RunBSD

Alt...

Screenshot of the Openbox window manager. Background image is a ramen-eating cat under a red sun. In the foreground is a terminal window with system information outputted by the 'fastfetch' command, and a second window with the NetBSD logo displayed by the 'viewnior' image viewer.

Need to find a way to silence the last message that repeats incessantly ...

acpibat0 at acpi0 (BAT1, PNP0C0A): ACPI Battery
acpibat0: ACPI 4.0 functionality present
acpibat0: autoconfiguration error: failed to evaluate _BIF: AE_ERROR

#netbsd #acpi

In today’s episode of "You can’t pronounce the hostname but you can hopefully read the content", an overview of the two #ThinkCentre that I recently got, centered towards power consumption when running #FreeBSD, #NetBSD and #OpenBSD.

TL;DR: not bad at all!
https://www.tumfatig.net/2026/what-about-thinkcentre-m710q-m720q-and-bsd/

Okay, while I've stubbed my toes on a few corners, this attempt at installing and using #NetBSD has gone a lot better than the last time I tried this.

GUI is up and running X with the default window-manager (#ctwm though I'll replace that with #Fluxbox).

A few common packages installed so it's time to go kick the tires on the install.

Great news to finish the day. I just sucessfully compiled & installed #ChiPass in #NetBSD 11. ChiPass is defined as "A cross-platform password manager for people with extremely high demands on secure personal data management" . They also refuse #LLM ❤️ . Good night, everyone!
https://codeberg.org/ChiPass/ChiPass
#privacy #noAI

Alt...

The initial screen of ChiPass password manager running on NetBSD in a CTWM window manager. The text is in Spanish matching my locale settings "Bienvenido a ChiPass 2026.09.01" . Options to open a database, create a new one or import a file. There is a another terminal emulator below, showing the uname command result: "NetBSD tolstoy 11.0 NetBSD 11.0 (GENERIC) #0: Thu Jul 30 15:23:12 UTC 2026 mkrepro@mkrepro.NetBSD.org:/usr/src/sys/arch/amd64/compile/GENERIC amd64"

woohoo, I was pretty certain I had one last remaining unused SSD somewhere around, but I'd been unable to find it in any of my usual locations. Just stumbled across it. Not sure whether it will receive #NetBSD or #HaikuOS but either way, there's fun to be had tomorrow. 🎉

My #ctwm configuration moved from #NetBSD to my laptop's base #linux system. Let’s see if the config holds up outside the sandbox.

Alt...

A CTWM screenshot with Firefox running and two terminals

🚨 It's is happening!! 🚨

Some people might have seen the EuroBSDCon closing, either in person or the video, where it was announced there would be BSD-NL Late / Autumn edition.

It's all true!! And... we are looking for speakers. If you have something to share with a small group of like-minded people, please add your submission. First time speakers are very welcome!

https://events.bsdnl.nl/late2026/

All the other details:

📅 2026-11-07 @ 09:30-end
📍 Utrecht, NL
🌐 https://bsdnl.nl/
🎫 https://tickets.bsdnl.nl/bsdnl/late26/

The moment at EuroBSDCon ... https://exquisite.tube/w/xkUjYkVYdcKWwq8Jnr1aMz?start=52m41s

#RUNBSD #BSDNL #OpenBSD #FreeBSD #NetBSD #HardenedBSD

Alt...

"My brain is full" meme. It has a picture of Jackie Chan holding is hands up near his head, with a "my brain is full" expression on his face. It has the text: What is happening?

@rl_dane

OS: #NetBSD and Mac OS X 10.4
Editor: vi
Audio editing: Reason on Mac OS X 10.4 and Techno Motor on Sega Saturn https://washbear.neocities.org/techno-motor/
Browser: #PaleMoon
Image editing: Photoshop CS2 and GIMP 2.10. Never upgrading.
Password Manager: kpcli https://kpcli.sourceforge.io/

Surfing the Fediverse with 'surf' browser & #NetBSD. Sheer joy to embrace simple, performant, elegant, human-made ethical computing ❤️
#noAI

Alt...

Screenshot the surf browser displaying a post of two happy dogs around a swimming pool. On the left the CTWM menu in NetBSD

Did not think #NetBSD "/usr/pkg" would have file collection which could compress enough to matter, but ...

zfs list -o name,used,avail,mounted,compress,compressratio,mountpoint pool/usr/pkg pool/ pool/var/log
NAME USED AVAIL MOUNTED COMPRESS RATIO MOUNTPOINT
pool/usr/pkg 965M 16.7G yes gzip-4 4.60x /usr/pkg
pool/var/log 168K 16.7G yes gzip-4 4.32x /var/log

#ZFS

Latest 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 - 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲/𝟬𝟵/𝟮𝟴 (Valuable News - 2026/09/28) available.

https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2026/09/28/valuable-news-2026-09-28/

Past releases: https://vermaden.wordpress.com/news/

#verblog #vernews #news #bsd #freebsd #openbsd #netbsd #linux #unix #zfs #opnsense #ghostbsd #solaris #vermadenday

Latest 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 - 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲/𝟬𝟵/𝟮𝟴 (Valuable News - 2026/09/28) available.

https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2026/09/28/valuable-news-2026-09-28/

Past releases: https://vermaden.wordpress.com/news/

#verblog #vernews #news #bsd #freebsd #openbsd #netbsd #linux #unix #zfs #opnsense #ghostbsd #solaris #vermadenday

@NASA btw fun fact #NetBSD logo on moon inside USB

https://mail-index.netbsd.org/netbsd-advocacy/2021/02/07/msg000849.html

Man, I need a table of commands of #Git or #Mercurial equivalent in #CVS!

Has been ages since I last used the latter ... might have been c late 1990, when I switched to Subversion.

Any news on when #NetBSD be switching to Mercurial|Git?

NASA has released these new photos from the surface of Mars 🔭
@NASA #NASA #NetBSD #RunBSD
Look closer you might find something familiar 😁