Editing MirOS BSD

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{{Undue weight|date=September 2020}}
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{{Infobox OS
| logo                   = [[File:MirBSDLogo.png|MirOS Logo]]
| screenshot             = [[File:MirOS hallowe’en.png|250px]]
| caption                = Screenshot of MirOS #10-current/i386
| developer              = Thorsten Glaser, Benny Siegert, Ádám Hóka, others
| family                 = [[Unix]], [[BSD]]
| source_model           = [[Open-source software|Open source]]
| released               = OpenBSD-current-mirabilos #0<ref>[https://www.mirbsd.org/history.htm History of MirOS, eMail to Éric Lévénez]</ref> ({{Start date and age|2002|10|11}})
| kernel_type            = [[Monolithic kernel|Monolithic]]
| ui                     = [[KornShell|mksh]], IceWM, [[evilwm]]
| license                = Mostly [[BSD licenses|BSD]], [[GPL]], [[MirOS Licence]]
| working_state          = Current <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mirbsd.org/|title=MirBSD: Welcome at MirBSD|website=www.mirbsd.org|accessdate=30 March 2023}}</ref>
| website                = {{URL|www.mirbsd.org}}
| supported_platforms    = [[i386]], [[SPARC]]
| updatemodel            = Binary security updates for stable releases
| package_manager        = MirPorts, [[pkgsrc]]
}}

'''MirOS BSD''' (originally called '''MirBSD''') is a [[free and open source software|free and open source]] [[operating system]] which started as a fork of [[OpenBSD]] 3.1 in August 2002.<ref name="origins">[https://www.mirbsd.org/permalinks/wlog-10_e20100828-tg.htm#e20100828-tg_wlog-10 Birthing point for MirOS]</ref> It was intended to maintain the security of OpenBSD with better support for European localisation. Since then it has also incorporated code from other free BSD descendants, including [[NetBSD]], MicroBSD (owned by DamnSmallBSD<ref>https://damnsmallbsd.org/MicroBSD/</ref>) and [[FreeBSD]]. Code from MirOS BSD was also incorporated into ekkoBSD, and when ekkoBSD ceased to exist, artwork, code and developers ended up working on MirOS BSD for a while.

Unlike the [[Comparison of BSD operating systems#Technical information|three major BSD distributions]], MirOS BSD supports only the [[x86]] and SPARC architectures.

One of the project's goals was to be able to port the MirOS userland to run on the [[Linux]] kernel, hence the deprecation of the MirBSD name in favour of MirOS.

== History ==
MirOS BSD originated as ''OpenBSD-current-mirabilos'', an OpenBSD [[Patch (computing)#In software development|patchkit]], but soon grew on its own after some differences in opinion<ref name="origins" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://marc.info/?l=openbsd-misc&m=103065681303974&w=2|title='Re: Initial patch of NetBSD /usr/games/wtf + /usr/share/misc/acronyms' - MARC|website=marc.info|accessdate=30 March 2023}}</ref> between the OpenBSD project leader [[Theo de Raadt]] and Thorsten Glaser. Despite the forking, MirOS BSD was synchronised with the ongoing development of OpenBSD, thus inheriting most of its good security history, as well as NetBSD and other BSD flavours.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://bsdmag.org/magazine/788-explore-netbsd|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090916165125/http://www.bsdmag.org/magazine/788-explore-netbsd|url-status=usurped|archive-date=September 16, 2009|title=MirOS BSD: the peaceful operating system, BSD Magazine, Issue 1/2009 (3), p. 16|accessdate=30 March 2023}}</ref>

One goal was to provide a faster integration cycle for new features and software than OpenBSD. According to the developers, "controversial decisions are often made differently from OpenBSD; for instance, there won't be any support for SMP in MirOS". There will also be a more tolerant software inclusion policy, and "the end result is, hopefully, a more refined BSD experience".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mirbsd.org/MirOS/PR/flyer_en.pdf|title=MirOS BSD Flyer|accessdate=30 March 2023}}</ref>

Another goal of MirOS BSD was to create a more "modular" base BSD system, similar to Debian. While ''MirOS Linux'' (linux kernel + BSD userland) was discussed by the developers sometime in 2004,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mirbsd.org/wlog-7.htm|title=MirBSD: MirBSD Weblog|website=www.mirbsd.org|accessdate=30 March 2023}}</ref> it has not materialised.

== Features ==
* Development snapshots are [[Live CD|live]] and [[El Torito (CD-ROM standard)|installation]] CD for x86 and [[SPARC]] architectures on one media, via the DuaLive technology.
* Latest snapshots have been extended to further boot a [[grml]] (a Linux-based rescue system, [[x86]] only) via the Triforce technology
* ''mksh'' (MirBSD Korn shell): an actively developed flavour of KornShell and heir of [[pdksh]]
* The base system and some [[MirOS BSD#MirPorts.5B11.5D|MirPorts]] store "[[dotfile]]s" data in ~/.etc. directory in user's home to avoid cluttering the root of the home directory
* Application packages from the [[NetBSD]]-derived [[pkgsrc]] repositories were configured for use in MirBSD starting in 2011.<ref name="FOSDEM2012">Siegert, Benny.[https://archive.fosdem.org/2012/schedule/event/849/111_pkgsrc-on-MirBSD.pdf] "pkgsrc on MirBSD", FOSDEM 2012 Conference, 5 February 2012. Retrieved on 20 May 2012.</ref>
The most important differences to OpenBSD were:<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mirbsd.org/about.htm#why|title=MirBSD: About MirOS|website=www.mirbsd.org|accessdate=30 March 2023}}</ref>
* Completely rewritten, [[GNU GRUB|GRUB]] [[multi boot]] compatible, [[Booting#Second-stage boot loaders|boot loader]] and boot manager without an 8 [[GiB]] limit and with Soekris support
* Slim base system (without NIS, Kerberos, [[BIND]], i18n, BSD games, etc.), Bind and the BSDgames being available as a [[MirOS BSD#MirPorts.5B11.5D|port]]
* Binary security updates for stable releases
* ISDN support
* IPv6 support in the web server software
* wtf, a database of acronyms
* Some of the GNUtools (like gzip and *roff) were replaced by original UNIX code released by [[Caldera International]] (SCO) under a BSD licence
* 64-bit time handling routines (time_t)
* Correct handling of leap seconds
* Full GCC 3.4 support: C, C++, Pascal, Objective-C
* Current versions of the GNU developer toolchain (rcs, binutils, gdb, texinfo, lynx etc.)
* GNU CVS 1.12 with custom extensions
* Improved random number generator
* Uses sv4cpio with/without CRC instead of tar archives as its [[package format]]; support for new formats in cpio
* Improved support for [[UTF-8]] and the [[Mapping of Unicode character planes|Unicode BMP]], including wide character support for [[ncurses|libncurses]] ("libncursesw") and friends
** In fact, MirBSD only supports the BMP, so the "UTF-8" support is limited to the part common between UTF-8 and [[CESU-8]].<ref>{{cite web |title=RTFM optu8to16(3), optu8to16vis(3) |url=https://www.mirbsd.org/htman/i386/man3/optu8to16.htm |website=www.mirbsd.org}}</ref>

== Cooperation ==
Aside from cooperating with other BSDs, submitting patches to upstream software authors, and synergy effects with [[FreeWRT]], there was an active cooperation with Grml both in inclusion<ref>[https://www.mirbsd.org/permalinks/news_e20090108-tg-g10002.htm Next Grml to come with bsd.rd (now called MirOS bsd4grml)]</ref><ref>[https://www.mirbsd.org/permalinks/news_e20091031-tg.htm MirBSD ISO contains MirGRML]</ref> and technical<ref>[https://www.mirbsd.org/permalinks/wlog-10_e20090526-tg.htm grml to use MirOS manifold-boot CD technology]</ref> areas. Other projects, such as [[Debian]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://qa.debian.org/developer.php?login=tg@mirbsd.de|title=DDPO: mirabilos -- Debian Quality Assurance|website=qa.debian.org|accessdate=30 March 2023}}</ref> are also fed with MirSoftware.

== MirPorts ==
''MirPorts'' was a derivative of the OpenBSD ports tree and was developed by Benny Siegert. MirPorts does not use the package tools from OpenBSD written in [[Perl]], but continues to maintain the previous [[C (programming language)|C]]-based tools. New features are in-place package upgrades and installing a MirPorts instance as a non-root user. Unlike OpenBSD ports, MirPorts are not tied to specific OS versions and even on stable releases using the newest version was recommended. ''MirLibtool'' was a modified version of GNU libtool 1.5 installed by MirPorts to build shared libraries in a portable way.

Multiple platforms are supported "out of the box":

* MirOS BSD (-stable and -current)
* OpenBSD (-stable and -current)
* MidnightBSD
* [[Mac OS X]] (10.4 and newer) / [[Darwin (operating system)|Darwin]]

Following the MirOS BSD policy of faster software availability to the user, many ports removed for [[OpenBSD#Open source and open documentation|political reasons]] in OpenBSD (e.g. all the DJB software or the [[Flash Plugin]]) have been kept in MirPorts and can continue to be used. MirPorts was intended to be a place for unofficial or rejected OpenBSD ports.

== See also ==
{{Portal|Free and open-source software}}

* [[Comparison of BSD operating systems]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{official website|https://www.mirbsd.org/}}

{{Berkeley Software Distribution}}

[[Category:Berkeley Software Distribution]]
[[Category:OpenBSD]]
[[Category:Software forks]]
[[Category:Rolling release Linux distributions]]