Have you ever heard of OpenBSD? If your answer is “yeah, that one with OpenSSH and firewalls,” sit down — because this story goes way deeper.

Back in the ’90s, when NetBSD was the darling of portability, Theo de Raadt, one of its founders, split from the main group and created OpenBSD in 1995. Why? Because he wanted a system obsessed with security, clean code, and flawless documentation.

The result was an operating system that behaves like a zen monk wearing a leather jacket — silent, minimalistic, and lethally efficient.

At LuxBSD, FreeBSD and NetBSD often take the spotlight, but now it’s time to hand the mic to the rebel of the family: OpenBSD — the most punk BSD of them all.

💀 Why OpenBSD Is Different

OpenBSD isn’t just a “firewall distro” or “security-focused system.” It’s a philosophical statement disguised as an operating system.

🧩 Security First

Every line of code is audited by hand. Vulnerabilities like Heartbleed are almost unheard of — because it was the OpenBSD team itself that rewrote OpenSSL and gave birth to LibreSSL. As of 2025, OpenBSD 7.8 (or the current release, check openbsd.org) remains the OS with the fewest known critical flaws in the world.

🧩 Radical Simplicity

No bloatware. No nonsense. The base system is lean, elegant, and complete: PF (Packet Filter) for firewalling, sndio for audio, httpd as a native secure web server. Everything integrated. Everything documented.

🧩 Monastic Consistency

While other systems constantly break APIs and compatibility, OpenBSD stays focused on stability and predictability. It’s the opposite of modern haste — it prefers being trustworthy over “innovative.”

🧩 Punk Community

Theo de Raadt and crew never chase trends. They care about quality, not popularity. They don’t follow the crowd — they define the standard.

💽 Use Cases Beyond Firewalls

🖥️ Minimalist Desktop

Run OpenBSD as a desktop? Absolutely. With cwm (Calm Window Manager) or even XFCE, it’s light, secure, and distraction-free. Perfect for pure C coding sessions with the real vi (not vim, please).

🎧 Multimedia Server

Using httpd and relayd, you can serve streams or small sites. Tested with sndio and mpg123 — pure retro charm.

🧪 Security Lab

Want to learn pentesting safely? OpenBSD is the perfect sandbox for tools like nmap, tcpdump, or Wireshark — no system corruption, no clutter.

🔩 IoT and Embedded Devices

Yes, it runs on small hardware too, including ARM and RISC-V. Ideal for DIY projects that value security and reliability.

⚙️ Quick Tutorial — A Minimal Web Server on OpenBSD

Want to see OpenBSD in action? Here’s a short tutorial using the native httpd — no Nginx, no Apache, no drama. Tested on OpenBSD 7.8 (adjust for your version).

Step 1 — Install OpenBSD

Download it from openbsd.org, write it to a USB stick, and follow the installer. It’s minimal, direct, and surprisingly human.

Step 2 — Enable httpd

sudo rcctl enable httpd

Step 3 — Edit the configuration file

Open /etc/httpd.conf and add:

server "default" {
    listen on * port 80
    root "/htdocs"
    directory index "index.html"
}

Step 4 — Create the home page

Create /var/www/htdocs/index.html with:

<h1>Welcome to My OpenBSD Server — Example</h1>
<p>Running on native httpd with PF enabled. Minimalism with purpose.</p>

Step 5 — Start the service

sudo rcctl start httpd

Now open http://localhost in your browser. If you see “Welcome to My OpenBSD Server — Example,” congratulations — you’ve just built a monastic, unbreakable web server.

💡 Tip: Use PF to limit access to your internal network only. (man pf.conf is essential reading for anyone serious about security.)

💡 Why OpenBSD Deserves More Love

In 2025, while Linux and FreeBSD dominate servers and NetBSD rules embedded systems, OpenBSD stays quiet — secure, consistent, and unapologetically itself.

It doesn’t try to be everything for everyone. It simply aims to be the best at what it chooses to be: secure, simple, and lucid.

“OpenBSD is the only system that doesn’t try to impress you. It just works — and does so perfectly.”

🧠 LuxBSD — where lucidity is still allowed.