Here we go again, #EuroBSDCon! I may have mentioned it, but it's really happening*: I'm giving a talk again, this time titled:

Dirty Tricks: Using #nginx and #Lua to thwart bots and skript kiddies

This talk is specifically for anyone who

• has tried to host a BBS on the Internet,
• is struggling with scrapers and bots,
• lives in the #RetroComputing bubble,
• wants to see an early '90s PC on stage,
• needs a telnet captcha, or
• simply has nothing better to do.

Read more about it here, take a look at the conference schedule, and buy your ticket!

See you there!

#FreeBSD #Security #BSD #RunBSD #DOS #RunDOS #TheDraw #AnsiArt

* I didn't want to post this until I was fairly certain I could even pull this off..

Alt...

Introduction screen from my talk, presented in ANSI art. The words "nginx" and "LUA" in large ANSI fonts in the top left and bottom right corners, with some of the text from the talk description (linked in the post) in the middle.

FreeBSD Foundation Q2 2025 Status Update is now available!

Discover how your support helps power the Project forward: from laptop usability and infrastructure modernization to performance enhancements, security advancements, and advocacy efforts.

Thank you for your continued support. Stay updated and see where your contributions are making a real impact.

Read the full Q2 update here:
https://freebsdfoundation.org/blog/freebsd-foundation-q2-2025-status-update/

#FreeBSD #FoundationUpdate #OpenSource #CommunityDriven #TechProgress

Dear friends of BSD Cafe, I've just approved the 500th user for this instance.
That's right, the 500th friend has just joined the BSD Cafe's Mastodon instance.
This calls for a celebration!

EDIT: 500 users are currently registered, not counting those who moved, left, or started self-hosting.

#BSDCafe #FreeBSD #NetBSD #OpenBSD #DragonflyBSD #RunBSD

If #freetube was available natively on #BSD I would switch to using BSD as sole permanent desktop system on at least one computer. #OpenBSD #freebsd #RUNBSD #netbsd #dragonflybsd

Down the rabbit hole of updating the postgresql database which is still running the older release but won't quite work in some cases because the horse has already left the barn. If you catch my drift. #FreeBSD

Latest 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 - 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱/𝟬𝟵/𝟬𝟴 (Valuable News - 2025/09/08) available.

https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2025/09/08/valuable-news-2025-09-08/

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

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

Advanced Programming the UNIX Environment

Week 1: UNIX History

We cover the early days at Bell Labs, USL vs BSDi, the birth of the BSDs and Linux, and how we got from Ken Thompson playing "Space Travel" on a PDP-7 to Unix running on your phone, fridge, and TV.

https://youtu.be/3H7SQWTR6Dw

Scroll along through it all here: https://www.levenez.com/unix/unix.pdf

#apue #unix #linux #netbsd #freebsd

Democracy is often overrated and abused ... but sometimes it all we got.

Upcoming PKGBASE for #FreeBSD needs important decision.

Pick your poison:

1. One pkg(8) with some 'vital' marked Base packages.

2. Separate pkgbase(8) for Base and pkg(8) for 3rd party packages.

22 days to go!
Why BSDs in 2025?

My perspective and why we moved many services from Linux to the BSDs.

https://it-notes.dragas.net/2025/03/23/osday-2025-why-choose-bsd-in-2025/

#EuroBSDConAdvent #EuroBSDCon #BSD #FreeBSD #OpenBSD #NetBSD #DragonFlyBSD #ZFS #PF #RunBSD

Today is Monday, 1st September. And September means one thing: EuroBSDCon!

23 days to go until EuroBSDCon 2025 in Zagreb!

I’m doing a little “advent calendar” for BSD fans: each day until the conference I’ll share one article from it-notes.dragas.net about FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, DragonFlyBSD, ZFS, PF and more. The dedicated hashtag will be #EuroBSDConAdvent

Let’s start right away with "I Solve Problems" - my EuroBSDCon 2024 (and #BSDCan 2025) talk about migrating from Linux to BSDs:

https://it-notes.dragas.net/2024/10/03/i-solve-problems-eurobsdcon/

If you’re coming to Zagreb, reply to this post - it would be nice to meet up with fellow BSD users!

#EuroBSDCon #BSD #FreeBSD #OpenBSD #NetBSD #DragonFlyBSD #ZFS #PF #RunBSD #EuroBSDConAdvent

Latest 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 - 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱/𝟬𝟵/𝟬𝟭 (Valuable News - 2025/09/01) available.

https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2025/09/01/valuable-news-2025-09-01/

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

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

I don’t usually promote personal projects here, but I’ll give it a try.
Meet Tocaia, a minimalist, cross-platform TUI Gopher client written in C89 for POSIX systems.
It even supports Haiku.
Pull requests and bug reports are welcome! =)
https://github.com/manipuladordedados/tocaia

#gopher #TUI #haikuos #FreeBSD #NetBSD #OpenBSD #smolweb #retrocomputing #programming

More hacking action at the #FreeBSD #Hackathon here in Oslo! Bugs are found, and then more "bugs" are found.

Having Level 3 support in our offices is something we could certainly get used to! ;-D

There's been documentation work, installer work, chasing down pf issues, trying to add architecture number 58 and 59 to #NetBSD (the #486DLC and #NexGen 5x86), discussions about FreeBSD pkgbase, preparing of release notes, and much else.

After a long day, restitution is again offered in the form of #Retrogaming, #beer and food. Today seems to be #MonkeyIsland day.

Alt...

"Look, we found a bug!" Two developers seem to have just discovered a bug in some code. A table with several laptops and charging cables, two persons sitting on far side, and three pictures on the wall depicting credit card-themed satire.

Alt...

Four people sitting in front of a screen showing a scene from Monkey Island 1 (for DOS). Two of the people being the same ones as in the other picture. One developer pointing at the screen as if to point out a bug.

A bug!!! Provost & Reuschling reaching for the swatter! #Hackathon #FreeBSD #RunBSD #Oslo 🪰🪰🪰

But of course it can.

Alt...

Picture of two unnamed FreeBSD developers playing Doom. One on real period-correct hardware, the other running #GZDoom on a MacBook.

Alt...

Video showing a Roland SoundCanvas SC55mkII and an MT32 playing the Doom game music. Sound effects are from the Gravis Ultrasound.

Latest 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 - 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱/𝟬𝟴/𝟮𝟱 (Valuable News - 2025/08/25) available.

https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2025/08/25/valuable-news-2025-08-25/

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

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

It doesn’t occur often, but when it does, it brings a smile to my face. This is my error page served from the proxy when the backend can't process the requests (or is unavailable).

#manpageblog #devops #nginx #proxy #backend #linux #freebsd #tux #beastie

#RunBSD #dragonflybsd #FreeBSD #NetBSD #OpenBSD #Linux

Latest 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 - 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱/𝟬𝟴/𝟭𝟭 (Valuable News - 2025/08/11) available.

https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2025/08/11/valuable-news-2025-08-11/

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

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

So why does #FreeBSD pkg-updating(8) require the ports tree to be installed and updated? Is there really no other way to get at the information in that file, which is by the way absolutely critical if, say, upstream just switched default #PostgreSQL version and my pkg upgrade just wiped out the old version? Asking for a friend who keeps using the -y option..

If anyone were to ask me, I'd say this is at least as important/interesting as whatever is presented in pkg-message after a package upgrade, since that (pkg-message) is usually mostly interesting to new installs.

Unless I'm missing something absolutely obvious, this is pretty terrible from a user's perspective. And if I did miss something, then it's quite possibly too easy to miss? With the most common web search completely broken these days, a "quick google" probably won't give anything useful either -- but I wouldn't know, I don't google anymore.

In the same downsizing place the slide rule was, I found 2 laptops. One had Windows 2000, the other W7. The former has an IDE drive! The latter now has #FreeBSD on a 1 tb ssd. Hoping to boot something from USB stick or drive on the other to have it functional again.

https://chaos.social/@jspath55/114978186007829198

In this FreeBSD Journal article, Randall Stewart and Michael Tüxen walk through how SYN segments are processed during TCP’s three-way handshake—crucial for establishing reliable connections.

Learn how FreeBSD handles the client-server exchange and what happens behind the scenes during SYN, SYN-ACK, and ACK.

Read the full article:

https://freebsdfoundation.org/our-work/journal/browser-based-edition/downstreams/the-handling-of-syn-segments-in-freebsd/

#FreeBSD #Networking #TCP #OpenSource #SystemInternals #FreeBSDJournal #TechInsights

Sorry if none of this makes any sense but that's just how I roll. 😂

🎙️ BSD Now: Behind the Mic of a Long-Running BSD Podcast

Earlier this year, the BSD Now podcast celebrated its 600th episode—a major milestone for one of the BSD community’s most enduring shows. In this FreeBSD Journal article, Benedict Reuschling takes us behind the scenes to explore the show’s origins, growth, and lasting impact.

📖 Read the full article:

https://freebsdfoundation.org/our-work/journal/browser-based-edition/downstreams/bsd-now-and-then/

#FreeBSD #BSDNow #OpenSource

Added 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝟭 - 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵 𝗛𝗼𝗽𝗲𝘀 to 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘂𝗽 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 article.

https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2025/05/28/failed-backup-server-build/#high-hopes

#freebsd #nas #zfs #lowpower #nvme #ssd #tiny #small #backup #fail

#FreeBSD recommendations for #monitoring #alerting #observability sought. I have a much loved collectd + riemann that needs an upgrade.

Target is about 10 servers and 200 jails.

No apache2 /php, nagios or clones thereof please. I don’t have these in my stack today, and my expertise in managing them is about 20 years out of date. I prefer to avoid JVM stuff but I’m not violently against it.

Doesn’t have to be in ports yet ( like https://sensu.io/ server) if it’s in a friendly language.