Re: My thoughts on OpenBSD

To be fair, I think XLibre's position on DEI doesn't
make much sense. They say there is no DEI
and immediately follow up saying
everyone is allowed to contribute...

But technically yes, there are a ton
of cases of big companies misusing DEI.

And for example, if someone refers to such
annexed land as "Crimea", intentionally,
you do technically have a stance that can
support whatever the reader's perspective is.

I am not aware of OpenBSD moderating
small email providers other than
graylisting them in some cases.

I was also never integrating DEI into OpenBSD,
merely just replacing some language.
In fact, the specific "DEI" diff is simply just
a vulgar word that probably should be removed
if it wasn't simply in a wordlist.
It is like removing F bombs.

Some things I do could be considered lefty
but I am definitely not far left.

Oct 6, 2025 11:17:51 AM UDENIX <[email protected]>:

> 
>> The OpenBSD operating system itself is pretty good, my main issue is
>> just that the /usr partition size can be really small in a lot of
>> cases.
>> I do largely agree with some of the legal related goals of the
>> project, https://www.openbsd.org/policy.html
>> But my main issues with OpenBSD is on the mailing lists...Read on if
>> you'd like to read a story.
>> ~~~
>> About a month ago I submitted a diff to tech@ removing a word from the
>> web2 / words file.
>> Theo rejected it with a harsh reply and it put a pretty bad taste
>> in my mouth.
> 
> I just read Theo de Raath's response and laughed out loud for quite a while. I love that this project has no place for people who take offense at everything.
> 
>> Yesterday I submitted a sort of issue/problem (not really a glitch) to
>> misc@ and got a pretty blunt reply from a random
>> Gmail...not from an OpenBSD member and I didn't really care.
>> Just deleted it and moved on.
> 
> I think that if they are going to moderate small email providers such as cock.li, they should do the same with large email providers such as gmail.com.
> 
>> Then a developer sent me an email with a diff to fix the issue,
>> but I don't have commit access. Why they sent it to me I don't know,
>> maybe for me to forward it but I'm not sure. I ended up replying.
>> It was only today that I learned about one of OpenBSD's goals
>> which is to not be political. Such progressive changes are
>> definitely not technical and now I've learned it doesn't
>> make any sense under their goals.
> 
> Social life inserts us into networks of power (politics) and systems of meaning (religion). Even the attempt at neutrality is already a way of taking a stand. Therefore, being 100% apolitical or areligious is, in practice, impossible.
> 
>> And to be clear, I am not out here to make OpenBSD some
>> communist far-left project.
> 
> Thank you, there are already too many open source projects like that. Just look at the position some Linux distributions have taken on X11Libre simply because the lead developer recognizes that "DEI" or similar policies inevitably lead to discrimination against heterosexual white men and, when it comes to choosing people, they prioritize a person's race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, age, culture, class, or religion over their skills.
> 
>> And yes, my first diff was definitely pretty surface-level
>> like some replies said, looking at fortunes-o it is pretty
>> offensive. By that old logic I'd have to empty basically
>> the entire file.
>> ~~~
>> I do like OpenBSD as a project. The correctness approach
>> from OpenBSD really changed how I wrote code, ever so slightly.
>> Keep doing what you're doing. Especially the actual coding work.
>> _Maybe_ enforce the harrassment and bullying rule of the list a
>> bit more.
>>