%title: what the heck is a NetBSD?
%author: Nia Alarie

-> # what the heck is a NetBSD? <-

-> ## our plot to make a weird operating system for your computers <-

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-> # a brief introduction to BSD <-

* the 80s: hackers at the University of California forked Unix
	- their fork of Unix was called Berkeley Software Distribution

^
* eventually, they had rewritten a lot of the original Unix code
	- their fork was very popular for features such as TCP/IP
	- so it became one of the first open source projects

^
* ... but AT&T sued over a phone number (Unix trademark)
	- overshadowed by GNU and Linux which was not being sued

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-> # a brief introduction to NetBSD <-

* started as a merge of x86 (and Amiga, etc...) support into BSD sources
	- one of the oldest open source communities (history intact to 1993)
	- one of the first projects developed online (hence Net)
	- not a distribution, but a whole unique OS

* "stable research platform"... meaning:
^
	- we experiment with OS dev ideas and you get to use them in prod ;)

^
* "runs on a toaster"...
	- but more interesting things are relevant today

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-> # why might you want to use it? <-

* some interesting features and design
	- rump kernel architecture
	- pkgsrc, NPF firewall, NVMM hypervisor...
	- really nice security architecture

^
* blend of "retro Unix"...
	- small, understandable, hackable system...
	- rc.d, periodic scripts, man (not texinfo) pages...

* ... with modern features?
	- modern x86 and ARM hardware support (all "mainline")...
	- advanced filesystem stuff, e.g. ZFS...

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-> # what is a pkgsrc? <-

a very versatile package management system from NetBSD

* probably fits your use case
	- can be used as a source package manager or binary package manager
	- high level tools (pkgin) and low level tools (pkg_add, pbulk)...
	- does not require root

^
* supports many platforms
	- primarily NetBSD and Solaris, with NetBSD as "tier 1"
	- also Linux, macOS, FreeBSD... HP-UX?

* popular for scientific HPC (NASA, universities...)

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-> # what is a rump kernel? <-

* run small monolithic kernels in userspace...
	- use filesystem drivers on filesystem images, etc
	- use our audio stack on GNU HURD
	- very useful for testing

* ... or use the drivers in your bare metal application

^
* imagine back alley surgery, but for kernel drivers

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-> # security...? quality assurance...? <-

i think this part is pretty important

* the core OS
	- ... has a big test suite and is very fuzzed
	- ... is entirely reproducible

^
* interesting design decisions, e.g. NVMM hypervisor...
	- small library and small kernel module
	- aiming to reduce attack service of compromised VMs

^
* oopsie mitigations?
	- executable integrity protection
	- restrict capabilities for abuse of root with securelevel
	- very strong PaX MPROTECT, ASLR, enabled by default...

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-> # how i got involved <-

* i wanted to run something interesting on my laptop...

* and then i had a source tree with the whole OS in front of me...
	- i got into scratching itches with audio and input drivers...

* very inclusive, small and helpful community

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-> # any questions? <-

* catch me on:
	- IRCnet: niaa