So #OpenBSD is the only #BSD that does not depend on the US?

[pu@ieji.de]

So #OpenBSD is the only #BSD that does not depend on the US?

[joel@gts.tumfatig.net]

@pu how surprising given the meaning of the B 🤭

[nathanael@exquisite.social]

@pu what do you mean with "depend"? funding?

[pu@ieji.de]

@nathanael I'm in the EU, so anything that would make the OS become unavailable in the EU if the US administration decides so. It's an important criteria for critical infrastructure.

[nathanael@exquisite.social]

@pu you probably mean updates for the os

[jdebp@mastodonapp.uk]

@pu

That's difficult to answer without a concrete idea of what a dependency is.

If it's who develops it, then #GhostBSD's major developers are in Canada, and #MirBSD's major developers are in the E.U./Switzerland.

If it's which BSDs would be unaffected if Microsoft-owned GitHub decided to pull the rug out from underneath them, then the answer is rather different.

Financial dependencies, and WWW/mail/other hosting dependencies, are different again.

#FreeBSD #OpenBSD #MidnightBSD #DragonFlyBSD #NetBSD

[pu@ieji.de]

@nathanael Updates are just one aspect, others could be source code availibility, access to patches, funding, political position of the project, even tariffs (in the specific case of RHEL). Again, anything that may impede or block the use in the EU.

[pu@ieji.de]

@JdeBP All of them. Anything that would make it difficult or impossible to use it in the EU.

[nathanael@exquisite.social]

@pu openbsd gets funding from google, meta and microsoft

[pu@ieji.de]

@nathanael In OpenBSD's case, I think that many core developers are outside the US, so development could probably continue even if the US pulled their funding. But I might be totally wrong.

[chazh@mastodon.social]

@pu @JdeBP
If “some of the donors are American companies” presents a problem, then I think none of them would work. If open development and an ability to fork are sufficient, then I would say it’s time to invest in EU teams that monitor the open development process and maintain forks/distros.

It’s still a good question, mind you, and as an American I think it’s a good time to invest in independence from the US.

All that said: OpenBSD’s great and simplicity is probably more auditable.

[paradegrotesque@mastodon.sdf.org]

@pu

You may need to explain further.

All BSDs have developers all over the place, and mirrors all over, including in the EU.

Both NetBSD & OpenBSD have cute (and probably outdated) little world maps showing where their developers live.

All of them are supported by foundations that collect money & hardware for their devs.

I suspect that if the current US government was to bar access to BSD repos and mirrors, a lot of the foundations would move at least partially to better places.

[paradegrotesque@mastodon.sdf.org]

@pu

This being said, yes, OpenBSD is mostly based in Canada and Theo de Raadt has always had a very uncompromising stance on nonsense coming from the US. Even got in trouble with the US government before.

So OpenBSD is probably your best bet if you want stuff that is "independent" from Trumpolino. And the OpenBSD Foundation is also based in Canada.

Make of that what you will.

[faraiwe@mstdn.social]

@ParadeGrotesque @pu it's kind of a off-the-kilter question, since most BSDs, albeit that *B* , are open sourced, rather well documented, with people coding for and maintaining them all over the world.

Even if the US were to go Gilead NOW, tonight, src, docs and people all over would keep xBSDs going, no issue beyond horror and a hiccup.

Legalities are a two way road. If a rogue regime claims to rely on rule they do not honor, who gives a fuck. Nobody listens to DPRK and Iran on such claims.

[pu@ieji.de]

@ParadeGrotesque My thoughts exactly.