FreeBSD 14 has been released as the newest major release of the open-source BSD operating system. After a few minor release delays, FreeBSD 14.0-RELEASE is now officially available. FreeBSD 14 is the last series for this OS project supporting 32-bit systems. FreeBSD 15 will drop support for 32-bit hardware platforms although FreeBSD 15 64-bit systems will retain support for running 32-bit binaries. That 32-bit binary compatibility is expected to be supported at least through FreeBSD 16.

FreeBSD 14 also adds a new “fwget” utility for fetching firmware packages. The fwget utility initially can get firmware for Intel and AMD GPUs. FreeBSD 14 goes on to replace sendmail with dma, OpenZFS 2.2 provides the latest ZFS file-system support, Kinst as a new DTrace provider, makefs adding ZFS support, boottrace is a new interface for capturing trace events during system boot and shutdown processes, the kernel TLS offloading handling receive-side offloading of TLS 1.3, initial WiFi 6 support in WPA, sh is now the default shell for the root user, and an updated LLVM toolchain.

FreeBSD 14 on ARM64 and AMD64 now supports up to 1024 CPU cores, up from the current limit of 256 cores. FreeBSD 14 should also reboot faster, ISA sound card support was removed, and there is a new Intel QAT driver with more features and support than the prior FreeBSD QAT driver for QuickAssist Technology. Netflix also sponsored the removal of many other old drivers from FreeBSD.

FreeBSD 14.0-RELEASE is a great step forward for getting this BSD operating system running on the latest hardware and making other improvements as we approach 2024.

More details and downloads for FreeBSD 14.0 can be found on FreeBSD.org.

Source: Phoronix.

Netgate, the provider of pfSense Community Edition (CE) software, has announced the release of version 2.7.1. pfSense CE is an open-source project that has been supported by Netgate since 2008. The source code for the project is available on GitHub under the Apache 2.0 open-source license. pfSense CE can be used on common hardware to build routers and more.

One major change in this release is the upgrade of OpenSSL to version 3.0.12. This upgrade was necessary as OpenSSL 1.1.1 has reached its End of Life and will no longer receive security patches. With the upgrade to OpenSSL 3.0.12, older and weaker encryption and hash algorithms have been removed, and security certificates based on these algorithms have been deprecated. It is highly recommended to review the release notes and Netgate’s blog post on this topic before performing the upgrade.

Another notable feature in version 2.7.1 is the addition of Kea DHCP as an opt-in feature. While basic functionality is present, it is not yet feature-complete. Switching to the Kea DHCP server can be done through the web interface by navigating to System > Advanced and changing the server backend radio button in the DHCP Options section to “Kea DHCP”. It is important to note that switching to Kea DHCP may result in ignored hostnames for devices on the network that were assigned using static leases or rely on dynamic lease registration in DNS.

This release also includes improved support for SCTP (Stream Control Transmission Protocol) in PF for firewall rules, NAT, and logging. Rules can now act on SCTP packets by port number, whereas previously it was only possible to filter on source or destination address. Additionally, the IPv6 Router Advertisement configuration has been relocated to Services > Router Advertisement as part of the ongoing integration of the Kea DHCP server.

Other changes in version 2.7.1 include the upgrade of PHP to version 8.2.11 and the base operating system to a more recent point of FreeBSD 14-CURRENT. The release also addresses various bugs and issues.

Source: pfSense.

Netgate has announced the Release Candidate (RC) of pfSense CE software version 2.7.1. This open-source project, supported by Netgate since 2008, is a widely-used firewall and routing platform. The RC release is an opportunity for users to try out the new version and provide feedback.

The major changes and features in pfSense CE software version 2.7.1 include:

1. Upgraded OpenSSL to version 3.0.12: This upgrade was necessary as OpenSSL 1.1.1 has reached its End of Life and will no longer receive security patches. The upgrade removes older and weaker encryption and hash algorithms, improving security.

2. Kea DHCP added as an opt-in feature: The Kea DHCP server is now available as an optional feature. While it is not feature complete in this version, users can switch to Kea DHCP by navigating to the System > Advanced menu and changing the DHCP Options to “Kea DHCP”. However, switching to Kea DHCP may result in the ignoring of assigned hostnames and dynamic lease registration in DNS.

3. Improved support for SCTP: Support for SCTP in firewall rules, NAT, and logging has been enhanced. Users can now filter SCTP packets by port number, in addition to source and destination address.

4. IPv6 Router Configuration moved: The IPv6 Router Advertisement configuration has been relocated to Services > Router Advertisement as part of the integration with the Kea DHCP server.

Other changes in this release include upgrading PHP to version 8.2.11, upgrading the base operating system to a more recent point of FreeBSD 14-CURRENT, and addressing various bugs and issues.

Testing of the RC software release is crucial to ensure its reliability and robustness for all users. Netgate encourages users to download and test the release candidate, and provide feedback on any issues they encounter.

To install the upgrade, users can follow the detailed Upgrade Guide available in the pfSense documentation. It is recommended to back up the pfSense CE configuration prior to the upgrade. The upgrade can be performed through the web interface by navigating to System > Update and setting the Branch to “Next Stable Version (2.7.1-RC)”.

The release candidate for FreeBSD 14.0 has been made available as the developers work towards the stable release in early November, reports Phoronix. FreeBSD 14 will be the last series to support 32-bit systems, with FreeBSD 15 dropping support for 32-bit hardware platforms. However, FreeBSD 15 64-bit systems will still be able to run 32-bit binaries. It is expected that 32-bit binary compatibility will be supported until at least FreeBSD 16.

FreeBSD 14 includes several notable changes, including the addition of a new utility called “fwget” for fetching firmware packages. Initially, the fwget utility can retrieve firmware for Intel and AMD GPUs. Other changes in FreeBSD 14 include replacing sendmail with dma, Kinst as a new DTrace provider, makefs adding ZFS support, boottrace for capturing trace events during system boot and shutdown processes, kernel TLS offloading for receive-side offloading of TLS 1.3, initial WiFi 6 support in WPA, sh becoming the default shell for the root user, and an updated LLVM toolchain.

One significant improvement in FreeBSD 14 is the increased support for CPU cores. On ARM64 and AMD64 architectures, FreeBSD 14 now supports up to 1024 CPU cores, up from the previous limit of 256 cores. This is particularly notable with the release of the AMD EPYC Bergamo CPUs, which allow for 128 cores and 256 threads per socket. FreeBSD 14 will now allow users to take advantage of these high core count servers.

In addition to the increased CPU core support, FreeBSD 14 also brings faster reboot times, the removal of ISA sound card support, and a new Intel QAT driver with more features and support compared to the previous FreeBSD QAT driver for QuickAssist Technology. Netflix has also sponsored the removal of several old drivers from FreeBSD.

The release notes for FreeBSD 14 provide more details about the upcoming release. The recent FreeBSD 14.0-RC1 release announcement highlights updates to the Linux KPI, various WiFi updates, and a race condition fix as some of the changes in the release candidate. It is expected that there will be at least two more release candidates before FreeBSD 14.0-RELEASE is made available around November 7th.

Source: Phoronix.

The HAMMER2 file-system from DragonFlyBSD continues to see new improvements and developments, according to Phoronix. Known for its support of online deduplication, clustering, multiple mountable file-system roots, snapshots, compression, encryption, extensive checksumming, and other features, HAMMER2 has evolved over the past decade and recently received further enhancements.

Matthew Dillon, the lead developer of DragonFlyBSD, has been working on refining HAMMER2 for the next release of the operating system. In the past few days, there have been notable updates to HAMMER2, including improvements to its CPU performance and the addition of a new “hammer2 recover” directive. This recover support allows for the recovery or undoing of single files and provides preliminary support for recovering entire directory structures.

Overall, it’s interesting to see development of alternative file-systems such as HAMMER2.

Source: Phoronix.