This simple OpenBSD setup post relates to the recucing over software and hardware thread and specifically[1]. It is my intent to work through my own re-familialarisation with OpenBSD - no matter how simple or obvious, so this will save me from any unecessary processing or decision making in the future or equally work for anyone starting out for the first time. I may well be frequently stating the obvious. We'll assume this is OpenBSD on a server. Then we'll start from the point you have created a non-root user and probably setup 'doas' (which is basically sudo). In my case all of the following is with OpenBSD 7.5. First lets get vim on the server. This should be really straight forward, but surprisingly it will make you think for a moment (or at least make a choice). At your prompt run: YOUR_MACHINE$ doas pkg_add vim You will probably be prompted for a password - supply it. Output is something like: mbiguous: choose package for vim a 0: <None> 1: vim-9.1.139-gtk3 2: vim-9.1.139-gtk3-lua 3: vim-9.1.139-gtk3-perl-python3-ruby 4: vim-9.1.139-gtk3-python3 5: vim-9.1.139-no_x11-lua 6: vim-9.1.139-no_x11 7: vim-9.1.139-no_x11-perl-python3-ruby 8: vim-9.1.139-no_x11-python3 9: vim-9.1.139-no_x11-ruby You'll want to choose 6 in this case because you'll be running vim in the shell. Next lets get git setup. I've had enough of Github and its BS AI and anything else Microsoft may be doing with it and my code and data that I've either not heard about yet or don't have the time to research. The likes of Sourcehut is appealing but I don't want to pay to host repositories. Why not a bare bones install of Git on my brand new OpenBSD server then? At your prompt run: YOUR_MACHINE$ doas pkg_add git YOUR_MACHINE$ doas mkdir -p /home/git YOUR_MACHINE$ doas user add git YOUR_MACHINE$ doas chown -R git:git /home/git YOUR_MACHINE$ doas chsh -s $(which git-shell) git We'll assume you end up with a verion of git that is 2.44.0 or a little later (2.44.0 specifically requires a number of commands below to be precisely copied - e.g. maintenance related tasks). Then append the following to /etc/ssh/sshd_config with config for the git user: YOUR_MACHINE$ vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config Paste: Match User git AllowAgentForwarding no AllowTcpForwarding no X11Forwarding no PermitTTY no Create a repository: YOUR_MACHINE$ doas -u git git init --bare /home/git/YOUR_REPO.git Output from this will likely warn you about 'master' branch as a name being subject to change - we can deal with that later. Change directory into the repository you created (e.g.): YOUR_MACHINE$ cd /home/git/YOUR_REPO Now start git maintenance: YOUR_MACHINE$ doas -u git git maintenance register Output from this can be found in /home/git/.gitconfig. Now run the maintenance once so relevant crontab entries are created (ensure you are in the directory for the repo you created): YOUR_MACHINE$ doas -u git git maintenance start Output from this will likely give you some info indicating 'no crontab for git'. You can ignore this - the crontab entries wlil have been created - you can check them. YOUR_MACHINE$ doas -u git crontab -l Finally back on your own machine clone your repo (or add it as a remote to a freshly created local repo) - however you'd like to work with it. Don't forget to add your public ssh key to the git user on your OpenBSD server for scp style clone or remote add syntax. [1] https://r0ss.me/notes/20240421-reduced-os-openbsd.htmlPublished :
About me
I'm Ross McDonald. Geek, thinker, Open Source committer, calisthenics practitioner, Italian and Spanish language learner, gamer, Sci-Fi fan, comic/Anime/Manga consumer, coffee and wine lover, husband and father. Exploring the web of knowledge across multiple protocols - gemini and http.
Latest tech notes
I got into the idea of reducing over software and hardware before, initially touching on protocols[1] then community and ecosystems[2] and finally reading[3]. This time I'm going a little deeper under the stack - down to the bottom to look at the OS. If you can choose a protocol that is simpler and a medium (like text) that is simpler, why not an Operating System that is simpler. I've decided I'm going to get back into OpenBSD after many years away. After forking from NetBSD many years ago OpenBSD has favoured a security driven approach ever since. This means removing everything that should not be along for the ride whether that be programs or simply lines of code. Without getting into the details (which it would be hard to verify) - it is generally accepted that OpenBSD is smaller than both NetBSD and FreeBSD. The latter two are generally accepted to be smaller in size (where we are looking at the dimension of LoC usually) than Linux which is itself smaller than Windows. Correspondingly (and this is my experience too) most hold a view that Linux is more secure than Windows and OpenBSD in particular is more secure than Linux. On the one hand it is probably unfair to point at Microsoft and accuse them of being less secure than *nix flavours of OS... but... well... look in the news. The incidents involving government level security are particularly terrifying. Another benefit of the approach taken by the OpenBSD community and their freedom of choice in terms of the direction they take with the OS is that it can be very stable and slow to change (you could point to this and generally be right in surmising that the interfaces, protocols, code conventions and culture are well designed and nicely functional. I'll write a few entries on OpenBSD over time but thought I would start with the first choice on the way to getting the OS up and running - where and how to host it. The community at zaibatsu.circumlunar.space have been very helpful in pointing me at a few options in the US, Germany and the Netherlands with good OpenBSD compatibility. Options I considered were: ramnode (US), hertzner (Germany), openbsd.amsterdam. I don't have experience with any of them myself (but will report back when I do). For now I have opted for openbsd.amsterdam for the following reasons: it is hosted in the EU (and right now the rule of law and government is saner there than most other places), vps and cloud hosting orgs in the Netherlands are often sustainable powered or on the way to it (I do not know if openbsd.amsterdam is), it is pretty affordable and they send some of the money to the OpenBSD community. I'll talk a little about initial setup next time. [1] https://r0ss.me/notes/20240307-m1cr0punk-mininalist-net.html [2] https://r0ss.me/notes/20240310-sundog.html [3] https://r0ss.me/notes/20240317-on-reading.html
Published :I was at my local Hackspace on Wednesday night building a bat detector. While I've been interested in electronics for a while I've never tried soldering, or surface mounted soldering. I've never really played with individual capacitors, resistors, LEDs in a meaningful way either. We used a Pistrelle Bat detector electronics project[1] which includes a Raspberry Pi Pico. For sure I was the slowest in assembling pretty much every bit of it, struggled to see what I was doing, but it was fun. The moment of truth was heating the board for the surface mounts to do their thing... there was a little popping but someone experienced was on hand to quickly flip any components back over that popped off in the heat. I was very pleased with the outcome, the detector passed all its tests afterwards and now has its battery pack temporarily soldered on. I took it out to the garden last night but sadly no luck bat hunting yet. Now I come to think of it I can't remember the last time I saw dark flitting shapes in the garden in the evenings... I hope they are still around. [1]: https://www.omenie.com/pipistrelle.html
Published :