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3 - Obtaining OpenBSD

3.1 - Buying an OpenBSD CD set
3.2 - Buying OpenBSD T-Shirts
3.3 - Does OpenBSD provide an ISO image for download?
3.4 - Downloading via FTP, HTTP or AFS
3.5 - Obtaining Current Source Code

3.1 - Buying an OpenBSD CD set

Purchasing an OpenBSD CD set is generally the best way to get started. Visit the ordering page to purchase your copy: OpenBSD ordering page.

There are many good reasons to own an OpenBSD CD set:

CD sales support ongoing development of OpenBSD.
Development of a multi-platform operating system requires constant investment in equipment.
Your support in the form of a CD set purchase has a real impact on future development.
The CDs contains binaries (and source) for the most popular supported platforms.
The CDs are bootable on several platforms, and can be used to bootstrap a machine without a pre-existing installed operating system.
The CDs are useful for bootstrapping even if you choose to install a snapshot.
Installing from CD is faster! Installing from CD preserves network connectivity resources.
OpenBSD CDs always come with very nice stickers. Your system isn't fully complete without these. You can only get these stickers by buying a CD set or donating hardware.
OpenBSD CD sets come with an assortment of useful and popular packages. The CD set is complete enough to bring up a full work and development environment without any network connection at all.

If you're installing a release version of OpenBSD, you should use a official CD set.

3.2 - Buying OpenBSD T-Shirts

Yes, OpenBSD has T-shirts for your wearing enjoyment. You can view these at the OpenBSD T-shirts page. Enjoy :)

3.3 - Does OpenBSD provide an ISO image for download?

Some other open source operating systems are commonly distributed as CD-ROM ISO images. This is not how OpenBSD is distributed.

The OpenBSD project does not make the ISO images used to master the official CDs available for download. The reason is simply that we would like you to buy the CD sets to help fund ongoing OpenBSD development. The official OpenBSD CD-ROM layout is copyright Theo de Raadt. Theo does not permit people to redistribute images of the official OpenBSD CDs. As an incentive for people to buy the CD set, some extras are included in the package as well (artwork, stickers etc).

Note that only the CD layout is copyrighted, OpenBSD itself is free. Nothing precludes someone else from downloading OpenBSD and making their own CD. If for some reason you want to download a CD image, try searching the mailing list archives for possible sources. Of course, any OpenBSD ISO images available on the Internet either violate Theo de Raadt's copyright or are not official images. The source of an unofficial image may or may not be trustworthy; it is up to you to determine this for yourself.

We suggest that people who want to download OpenBSD for free use the FTP install option. For those that need a bootable CD for their system, bootdisk ISO images (named cd41.iso) are available for a number of platforms which will then permit the rest of the system to be installed via FTP. These ISO images are only a few megabytes in size, and contain just the installation tools, not the actual file sets.

3.4 - Downloading via FTP, HTTP or AFS

There are numerous international mirror sites offering FTP and HTTP access to OpenBSD releases and snapshots. AFS access is also available. You should always use the site nearest to you. Before you begin fetching a release or snapshot, you may wish to use ping(8) and traceroute(8) to determine which mirror site is nearest to you and whether that mirror is performing adequately. Of course, your OpenBSD release CD is always closer than any mirror. Access information is here:

OpenBSD FTP page.

3.5 - Obtaining Current Source Code

The source code for OpenBSD is freely redistributable and available at no charge. Generally the best way to get started with a current source tree is to install the source from the most recent CD and then configure AnonCVS to update it regularly. Information about AnonCVS, including how to set it up, is available here:

OpenBSD AnonCVS page.

Another alternative is to get the source code from the web. You can do that through cvsweb at: http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/.