On 2012-06-06 15:05, Jerry wrote:
On Wed, 06 Jun 2012 12:49:53 -0400
Daniel Staal articulated:
I don't believe at this point FreeBSD has any intent one way or
another, really. It's not an immediate problem for any platform
supported by the FreeBSD project, at least for a technically-inclined
user who's willing to check out their BIOS. (Even if they are using
the latest hardware, the x86-derived platforms aren't going to
require
this code signing yet.) So it'll probably be a 'wait and see if it's
something the FreeBSD community needs a solution for' at this point.
But this is just my impression.
I totally agree with you. Unfortunately that speaks to the sad state
of
affairs that FreeBSD appears to be in. When it comes to supporting
the
latest technologies, it tends to be behind the curve when compared to
other operating systems. Wireless networking and USB support are only
a
few examples.
That was not my intended message with the above. :) FreeBSD supports
several server-class hardware platforms. ARM is not currently a
server-class hardware platform. (It's a very interesting platform for
mobile and small devices, but it has not seen any significant use that I
am aware of in the market that FreeBSD is primarily aimed at.) Secure
Boot - if even a part of the platform - can easily be disabled on those
platforms. So it is not a current problem, and there is a fair amount
of bad feeling about the technology, so it may not ever be a problem.
RedHat is facing severe backlash from the community because it
supported this technology. A 'wait and see' approach to whether it
needs to be supported at all - especially as it doesn't appear to need
support at present - is a reasonable course.
I don't know of any user personally who purchased a new PC and then
threw FreeBSD on it. Most users that I have come into contact with
use
2+ year old units that have been replaced by shiny new Windows units.
I
don't see that changing anytime soon.
*Raises hand*. I did this with two boxes within the past year. One
turned out to be to new for FreeBSD - but Linux didn't have support for
it yet at that point either. Now either does.
In slight defense of RedHat: They do a lot of worrying about
enterprise and government customers, many of whom don't really care
what platform they are running on - as long as they can get 'support'
and it passes their security/operational tests. In that environment,
I can easily see some middle-manager decreeing that disabling the
signed-boot process is verboten, without any understanding of the
meaning or the consequences, and enforcing it on the whole
company/division, to the point where any non-signed OS would be
thrown
out the door. FreeBSD has probably already been thrown out the door
at those types of locations, as there is no 'official' support
channel. (Yes, for my sins, I work at one of these...)
What sin? You use a product and want it properly supported. You have
an
absolute right to that. Posting a message on a forum and hoping that
someone can answer it is not the type of support a business would
want.
I'm not sure what sin I committed to be consigned to this place, but it
must have been heinous.
(And in many cases 'official support' appears to be 'post a message
about it on our forum, so we can ignore you more efficiently'.)
Daniel T. Staal
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