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There are a number of BSD operating systems, the most notable being FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD. They are descended, directly or indirectly, from some version of the original BSD operating system. Most of them are available under the BSD License, a notable exception being Mac OS X.

Names, Logos, and Slogans

The names of FreeBSD and OpenBSD refer to the fact that they are free, as in you don't have to pay to download them, and open source. The name of NetBSD is a tribute to the internet, which brought the developers together.

The original BSD mascot is the BSD daemon, named after a type of software common in unix-like operating systems, which FreeBSD still retains. The NetBSD flag is based on a World War II photograph, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima. The OpenBSD mascot, Puffy, is said to be a pufferfish, but looks more like a porcupinefish. It is a reference to the puffer/blow/porcupinefish's strong defensive capabilities and to the blowfish cryptography algorithm.

Philosophies

FreeBSD strives to be usable for any purposes. The FreeBSD team wants FreeBSD to run a wide variety of applications, be easy to use, contain cutting edge features, and be able to handle heavy-load servers. FreeBSD is, of course, free and open source, and they prefer the BSD license. However, they do sometimes accept NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreements) and include closed-source binaries in their source tree in order to support the hardware of companies who prefer not to publicly provide good documentation about their products.

OpenBSD focuses on security, correctness, and being as free as possible. Security includes full disclosure (hoping friendly people will find security holes before those who would exploit them), code audits (thoroughly checking code for bugs and formatting, and fixing things regardless of whether they are proven security holes), various security technologies/methods, disabling all non-essential services ("secure by default"), and integrated cryptography (which is possible due to Canadian export laws). As far as freeness goes, OpenBSD prefers a BSD or ISC license, with GPL acceptable as a last recourse (as with gcc), and NDAs never acceptable. This has lead to a number of projects being founded by OpenBSD to replaces less free alternatives, including OpenSSH and CARP, as well as campaigns to get hardware vendors to release better documentation. In keeping with the philosophy of its parent, NetBSD, OpenBSD also strives to run on a wide variety of hardware.

NetBSD strives to be highly portable, running on many hardware systems, and to interoperate well with other systems. NetBSD also prefers the NetBSD license, wanting to avoid encumbering licenses when possible. NetBSD also seeks to be well-designed, stable, and fast, and to conform to open standards as much as they can.

Table

See Also

• Comparison of operating systems
• Berkeley Software Distribution
• BSD license
• FreeBSD
• OpenBSD
• NetBSD

• Unix
• BSD
• Free software operating systems