PC-BSD 9.1 - An Initial Look, Packages and Jails

 v 0.2

29 Jan 13

I think I've found the system I want to use on my computers, and the basis for servers.  The more I look into what I can do with PC-BSD, the more I like it.   This time, I'm having an initial look around my PC-BSD installation, and then talking about a few issues and concepts I've had to get my head around.  Don't forget, of course, to refer to the PC-BSD forumns, wiki and handbook.  I've found the handbook very helpful, though wrong in the case of the Grub2 bootloader.

After logging in, and looking at your preferred desktop (mine is Gnome2 in this case) it is time to see just what we have been able to install.

• First place for me to look is in the "Internet" menu.  Depending on your initial selections, you will have up to four web browsers installed, email client, graphical "wget", newsreader, rss aggregator and a bittorrent application.  Firing up Konqueror and going to Youtube, you find that the Adobe Flash plugin is already there and that playing of videos and sound works well.  I plugged in USB headsets and they worked fine.  There are a number of tools in the "Development" menu, the Education section has the normal KDE applications, including the KStars planetarium and the Marble virtual globe.  The Games section has an extensive array of different games, even some Strategy games.  There are several more extensive games available for download.
• Graphics has an extensive suite of tools, from Painting, Scanning, Viewing, Photo Albums and up to Panorama and the Hugin 360 deg immersive Panorama maker.
• Multimedia covers Audio and Video players, an audio recorder and Burners.
• The Office section has the Calligra suite, the KDE PIM, email, calendar, pdf viewers, Planning and many more.

All I can say, is explore and have fun.  There is a lot of stuff here.


Flash Blue

The Adobe Flash plug-in has a known issue in web browsers.  We have an attack of the Smurfs.  People are BLUE!!!  Turns out that this is a "feature" of this Flash plugin when combined with the nVidia 3d acceleration.  Right click on the video, go to "Settings" and uncheck the hardware acceleration box.  Fixed!!


PBI - the Push Button Installer

As you may, or may not know, the traditional BSD package management is via "Ports" where you download the source and compile it on your system.  For the average user, this can be a little challenging - certainly until you understand the process.  Instead, PC-BSD has developed a system whereby installing packages onto the system is more in line with what you would expect if you used a Windows system.  AppCafe allows you to scan the contents of a "PBI" repository and then install what you want with the click of a button.

So, how do you make a "PBI" ? .. The EasyPBI application allows you to create a "PBI" package from a "Port".  The downside is that you need to know a little bit more than just how to push a button.  The advantage of this is, though, that as people create PBI packages from Ports, the number of packages in the PC-BSD package repository increases.


Ports and PC-BSD

Yes, you can still use the Ports system in PC-BSD - after all, it is just FreeBSD under the hood.  BUT.  Should you install a Port onto your system, you run the risk of having it deleted during a system upgrade.  The answer is to use a "Ports Jail".  Install your Ports into such a "Jail" and you can transparently use your ports and keep them secure.


Jails

The Jail is in my view the "Killer Feature" of BSD.  A Jail is a semi-virtualised sandbox that lets you run a separate instance of BSD or Linux at what is effectively native speed.  You can have a "Ports Jail" where you run your Ports on their own protected BSD system, a BSD Jail where you can install a server (or even multiple BSD Jails for separate servers), or a "Linux Jail" where you can run a Linux system and the appropriate applications.  All with their own IP addresses and userspace.

What happens if an attacker compromises a server or system within a Jail?  That is why it is called a Jail.  The attacker is corralled within that userspace.  Neat.

Finally, given that the "Jail" feature is incorporated into BSD, you can use it knowing that a company such as Oracle or VMWare do not hold you at their mercy.  Next time, I want to explore Jails in more detail and learn how to use them - I already have several tasks I want to achieve with them and I'm keen to find out more.

Package Observation ..

In closing - the ONLY package system that is guaranteed immune from deletion during a system upgrade is the PC-BSD "PBI" package system.  Both the normal BSD packages and ports should be installed using a Ports Jail.


Later...