FreeBSD 15.0-BETA2 released, OpenBSD adds VA-API to Chromium and secures WPA3 funding, and more.
Releases
FreeBSD 15.0-BETA2 Available: The second BETA build for the FreeBSD 15.0 release cycle is now available. ISO images for the amd64, armv7, aarch64, powerpc64, powerpc64le, and riscv64 architectures are FreeBSD mirror sites.
BSDSec
No security announcements. As always, it’s worth following BSDSec. RSS feed available.
News
VA-API Support Added to Chromium Browsers in OpenBSD -current: OpenBSD’s -current branch now includes VA-API (hardware-accelerated video decoding) support for Chromium, Iridium, and Ungoogled-Chromium. The update, contributed by Robert Nagy, follows a ports@ discussion and requires Intel GPU users to install intel-media-driver or intel-vaapi-driver. While Firefox lacks VA-API in OpenBSD’s port due to sandboxing constraints, AMD64 binary packages are beginning to roll out. Note that a commenter flagged temporary build issues disabling the feature post-announcement. This enhancement aligns with OpenBSD’s ongoing multimedia and hardware compatibility improvements.
NLNet Foundation Funds OpenBSD WPA3 Wireless Security Implementation: The NLNet Foundation has granted funding for implementing WPA3 support in OpenBSD’s 802.11 wireless stack, led by Stefan Sperling and Chirpy Software. This project will deliver the second open-source WPA3 implementation, enhancing Wi-Fi encryption standards for OpenBSD and potentially other operating systems. Work began in October 2025, aiming to improve global IT ecosystem diversity and resilience. The initiative aligns with OpenBSD’s focus on security and modern wireless protocols. Results are expected in future OpenBSD updates.
BSD Now 633: Magical Systems Thinking: ZFS Features, Roadmap, and Innovations, Magical systems thinking, How VMware’s Debt-Fueled Acquisition Is Killing Open Source, OpenSSH 10.1 Released, KDE Plasma 6 Wayland on FreeBSD, Unix Co-Creator Brian Kernighan on Rust, Distros and NixOS, Balkanization of the Internet, GhostBSD 25.02 adds ‘Gershwin’ desktop for a Mac-like twist, and more.
Tutorials
Enterprise-Grade ZFS Storage for Proxmox: Performance & Control Without Lock-In: This article explores how ZFS serves as a high-performance, enterprise-grade storage backend for Proxmox, offering snapshots, replication, and self-healing - key features typically locked behind proprietary solutions like vSAN or Pure Storage. Unlike Ceph, which excels at hyperscale but introduces complexity, ZFS provides simpler operations and predictable performance for smaller clusters (3–10 nodes).
Introducing FreeBSD’s fwget(8) for Firmware Management: The article discusses the fwget(8) tool in FreeBSD, introduced to manage firmware for hardware components like WiFi and GPU. The author encountered WiFi issues after upgrading to FreeBSD 14.3-RELEASE, discovering that the Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 required firmware not included by default. Running fwget(8) automatically detected and installed the missing iwlwifi-QuZ-a0-hr-b0-77.ucode firmware, restoring WiFi functionality. The tool scans hardware devices, identifies missing firmware, and installs necessary packages (e.g., wifi-firmware-iwlwifi-kmod-22000). The author notes the lack of official documentation in the FreeBSD Handbook, though a bug report (#286402) addresses this gap.
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