FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and OPNsense Picks

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Feb 01, 2026

• Vincent Delft ☛ For just my memory here is how I've configure OpenBSD and FreeBSD for a IPv6 Wifi at Fosdem

  Last year I've took notes about the way to connect to FOSDEM's wifi from my laptop doing dual boot OpenBSD and FreeBSD. But this year those commands, were not working. So, here the new method.

• OPNSense ☛ OPNsense 26.1 released

  For over 11 years now, OPNsense is driving innovation through modularising and hardening the open source firewall, with simple and reliable firmware upgrades, multi-language support, fast adoption of upstream software updates, modern IPv6 support, as well as clear and stable 2-Clause BSD licensing.

  26.1, nicknamed "Witty Woodpecker", features almost a full firewall MVC/API experience as automation rules have been promoted to the new rules GUI, Suricata version 8 with inline inspection mode using "divert", assorted IPv6 reliability and feature improvements, router advertisements MVC/API, full code shell command escaping revamp, default IPv6 mode now using Dnsmsaq for client connectivity, Unbound blocklist source selection, an automatic host discovery service, plus much more.

  The upgrade path for 25.7 will likely be unlocked on January 29, which is probably tomorrow if anyone is asking why it is not there yet. We want to ensure the upgrade goes as smoothly as possible so please be patient! :)

  Download links, an installation guide[1] and the checksums for the images can be found below as well.

• Distro Watch ☛ BSD Release: OPNsense 26.1

  OPNsense is a FreeBSD-based specialist operating system designed for firewalls and routers. The project's latest release is version 26.1. [...]

• Vermaden ☛ 150 MB Minimal FreeBSD Installation

  I wrote about many/most aspects of PKGBASE in the Brave New PKGBASE World article … but not the installation size. I checked one of my FreeBSD 15.0 PKGBASE installations and replied right away – 450 MB of disk space … but maybe that can be pushed further?

  What I am gonna share with You today is unsupported – probably unrecomended – you may render your system broken. Only use it in test environment – as I did in a fresh Bhyve VM. You have been warned.