NetBSD 最近似乎正蓬勃发展：在 Linux 世界走向专业 AI 的同时，一些厌恶 AI 的人转向了这个明确无 AI 的项目。NetBSD 项目的 Mastodon 动态报告称，上个月收到了创纪录的 120 笔捐款，且远超其目标：“我们共收到 120,282 美元。自然，这已经完全填满了设定的 50,000 美元捐赠目标栏。是时候为一些项目提供资金了！”
NetBSD seems to be thriving of late: as the Linux world goes pro-AI, some of the AI-averse are turning to this explicitly AI-free project. The NetBSD project’s Mastodon feed reports that it received a record 120 donations last month, and it has far exceeded its target: “We received $120,282 USD in total. Naturally, this has completely filled up our donations target bar which was set at $50,000. Time to fund some projects!”
这与通常的开源软件项目经费不足的故事形成了受欢迎的对比，也紧随我们在阅读的开源 Unix 组中关于 NetBSD 的询问量明显上升的趋势——自从企鹅帝王 Torvalds 在七月表示 Linux 并非反 AI 项目后，随后一个月，Debian 项目对其开发者进行 AI 使用调查，结果他们选择允许 AI 生成的贡献。这是一种温和的中立立场。
It’s a welcome contrast to the usual stories of under-funded FOSS projects, and it follows a visible uptick in people asking about NetBSD in the FOSS Unix groups we read, ever since Emperor Penguin Torvalds said that Linux was not an anti-AI project back in July, and the following month, the Debian project polled its developers on AI use, and they chose to permit AI-generated contributions. This is the moderate, centrist stance.
最近的 Ubuntu 峰会则充斥着 AI 气息。Red Hat 全球工程部门的负责人发出备忘，提出转向代理式软件开发生命周期。但一旦进入内核，任何发行版都无法完全规避它。这一立场对那些偏好手工编写代码的人来说极具排斥感。上周，Reg FOSS 工作台参加了在布拉格举行的 Open Source Summit Europe。该活动反映了日益主流的开源世界的趋势：Linux 几乎是唯一被提及的操作系统，尽管许多与会者携带（并在现场展示）MacBook，微软和 Windows 也同样可见。
The most recent Ubuntu Summit was heavily AI-flavored. The heads of Red Hat Global Engineering sent out a memo about transitioning to an Agentic Software Development Lifecycle. But once it’s in the kernel, then no distro can totally avoid it. This stance is profoundly offputting to those who prefer hand-crafted code. Last week, the Reg FOSS desk attended the Open Source Summit Europe in Prague. This event reflects the tendencies of the increasingly mainstream open-source world: Linux is pretty much the only OS in evidence, although many attendees tote around (and present from) MacBooks, and both Microsoft and Windows were visible.
活动与 Embedded Linux Conference 重叠，因此 Zephyr 实时操作系统也出现在一些机器人和其他小工具上。Open Source Summit 给人的整体印象是，Linux 是唯一的通用开源操作系统。
The event overlaps with Embedded Linux Conference, so the Zephyr RTOS was also visible on some robots and other gadgets. The Open Source Summit gives the overall impression that Linux is the only general-purpose FOSS OS.
我们完全没有看到任何关于 BSD（Berkeley Software Distribution）项目的提及；事实上，当我们提到 NetBSD 时，Let’s Encrypt 的一些工作人员显得很困惑，他们问我们：“‘NetBSD’到底是什么？”遗憾的是，这或许真实反映了 NetBSD 在该活动以及开源软件（FOSS）主流中的地位。对我们来说，演讲、宣传资料、展位，甚至 T 恤上的主题几乎都是关于人工智能（AI）的。
We saw no mention at all of any of the BSDs; indeed, when we mentioned NetBSD, some of the folks from Let’s Encrypt looked puzzled and asked us “What’s ‘net bee ess dee’?”Sadly, this is probably a reasonably fair representation of its presence at the event and in the FOSS mainstream. For us, the single most dominant theme in the talks, the materials, the stands, and even the T-shirts was AI.
人工智能无处不在，每个参展商都热衷于讨论自己如何使用、部署、扩展或管理人工智能技术。然而，人们对人工智能的关注度越高，那些希望避免使用人工智能的人的反感也就越强烈。
It’s everywhere, and every exhibitor was keen to talk about how they’re using AI, deploying AI, scaling AI, or managing AI. The louder the noise about AI gets, the stronger grows the aversion of those of us who actively wish to avoid it.
NetBSD 项目在这方面表现得非常“坚决”：早在 2024 年（该项目成立 30 周年之后），它就禁止使用由人工智能生成的代码。我们参加了当年 FOSDEM 大会上关于 NetBSD 的演讲，演讲的主题是“NetBSD 10：三十年依然强劲！”与以往一样，关于不同 BSD 项目之间，以及 Linux 与 BSD 项目之间的区别的问题再次被提及。
The NetBSD project, on the other hand, came out early and strongly: it banned AI-generated code back in 2024, just a month after the project celebrated its 30th anniversary. This vulture attended the project’s talk at that year’s FOSDEM: NetBSD 10: Thirty years, still going strong!. As ever, the question of differentiation between the BSDs, and between Linux and the BSDs, came up.
NetBSD 的口号是“当然可以运行 NetBSD”，但在 2024 年，它的竞争力似乎受到了威胁——Linux 的表现同样出色；FreeBSD 则凭借其与 ZFS 的紧密集成、兼容 Linux 的 Podman 容器等功能而备受关注。不过到了次年，FreeBSD 15 发布后，它不再支持 32 位的 x86 和 POWER 架构。Debian 13 也放弃了了对 32 位 x86 架构以及 MIPS 处理器的支持。
NetBSD’s slogan is “Of course it runs NetBSD,” but in 2024, its ubiquity was looking threatened: Linux is comparable, and FreeBSD boast close integration with ZFS, Linux-compatible Podman containers, and more. The following year, though, FreeBSD 15 appeared, dropping support for 32-bit x86 (and 32-bit POWER). Debian 13 dropped x86-32 too, as well as MIPS CPU support.
同年，RHEL 10 的发布要求系统必须使用 64 位的 x86 架构（具体来说是 x86-64-v3 标准），这一要求导致许多老旧设备无法继续使用 RHEL。
That year, the RHEL 10 release went further: it not only requires 64-bit x86, it demands x86-64-v3. This cut off so many older machines, it forced CERN to start switching to Debian.
从 BSD 系统内部来看，各个项目之间的差异其实非常明显：NetBSD 的系统设计非常简洁、可移植性极高，并且以其友好、热情的社区而自豪。我们对此深有体会——在测试 NetBSD 11 的过程中，我们尝试安装其自带的 CDE 桌面环境，但未能成功；不过 NetBSD 的开发者们在邮件列表中提供了极大的帮助。
From within the BSD world, the differences between the various projects are fairly clear. NetBSD is minimal, highly portable, and takes great pride in its very friendly, welcoming community. We can personally attest to this: in the course of our review of NetBSD 11, we tried to install the veteran CDE desktop.
虽然 OpenBSD 也拥有非常广泛的平台支持，但其重点在于安全，甚至为了安全而放弃了整个蓝牙子系统，因为它达不到要求。其社区的容忍度要低得多：事实上，当这只秃鹫最新的 OpenBSD 评测被发布在 OpenBSD 子 Reddit 时，我们因指出其对一篇非常积极的文章的负面评估中的错误而被该小组封禁。OpenBSD 项目负责人 Theo de Raadt 曾表示，不能接受 AI 生成的代码：任何提交者都没有权利为其授权，因为无法追溯大型语言模型所复述的代码最初是由哪些人编写的。
We couldn’t get it working, but the folks on the NetBSD mailing list tried very hard indeed to help. Although it also has very broad platform support, OpenBSD’s focus is on security, to the extent of dropping the entire Bluetooth subsystem because it didn’t measure up. Its community is far less tolerant: indeed, when this vulture’s latest OpenBSD review was posted on the OpenBSD sub-Reddit, we were banned from the group for pointing out errors in their negative assessments of a very positive article.
然而，这一指南似乎并非铁板一块：OpenBSD 中包含的终端复用器 tmux 已经接受了 AI 辅助的修改。我们向 de Raadt 询问官方评论，他予以回绝。
OpenBSD project lead Theo de Raadt has said it cannot accept AI-generated code: any submitter lacks the right to place a license on it, because it’s impossible to trace which humans originally wrote any code that LLMs regurgitate.
FreeBSD 是 BSD 系列中体重 362.87 kg 的“大猩猩”，以至于主线操作系统本身就拥有自己的发行版，如 GhostBSD，以及 MidnightBSD。还有最近复活的实验性 NextBSD 和几个 NAS 发行版。还有一个名为 NomadBSD 的实时操作系统，尽管我们对其的成功尝试很少。但 FreeBSD 的核心委员会已经就是否允许 AI 生成代码争论了一年多：我们在 2025 年 9 月首次报道此事，至今仍未达成共识。
However, this guideline seems permeable: the tmux app, the terminal multiplexer included in OpenBSD, has already accepted AI-assisted changes. We asked de Raadt for official comment on this and he declined. FreeBSD is the 362.87 kg gorilla of the BSDs, to the extent that the mainline OS has its own distros, such as GhostBSD, plus MidnightBSD.
我们确信有大量声音认为“AI 只是工具”，并且猜测还有“AI 将长期存在”和“别被落下”等附带论调。如果有人敢指出不足，毫无疑问他们使用了错误的模型，或没有正确提示。
There’s also the recently-revived experimental NextBSD, and a couple of NAS distros. There’s a live OS called NomadBSD too, although we had little success with this.
NetBSD 的立场很明确：“不要将受污染的代码提交到仓库。‘由大型语言模型或类似技术生成的代码，如 GitHub/Microsoft 的 Copilot、OpenAI 的 ChatGPT 或 Facebook/Meta 的 Code Llama，均被视为受污染的代码，未经核心成员事先书面批准不得提交。’到目前为止，这一做法似乎对其运作良好。
However, FreeBSD’s central committee has been debating whether to permit AI-generated code for over a year now: we first reported on it in September 2025, and there’s still no consensus.
如果最终这个项目的发展规模仍然非常小、影响力也很有限，被人工智能的浪潮所超越的话，我们打算继续支持它、陪伴它一起前行。希望这个项目能够长久地持续下去。
We are sure there is a large helping of “AI is just a tool”, and we suspect side-dishes of “AI is here to stay” and “don’t get left behind.”
顺便提一下：还有另一个名为 Dragonfly BSD 的项目，它正在探索内核和文件系统的设计。我们在 2023 年对 Dragonfly BSD 的 6.4 版本进行了测试；从那以后，该项目只发布了两个小版本的更新（6.4.2 版发布于大约一年半前），不过开发工作仍在持续进行中。我们目前还不清楚 Dragonfly BSD 对 LLM（大型语言模型）代码生成技术持何种态度（是支持还是反对）。或许他们应该对此发表一些明确的声明才对。
If anyone dares point out failings, doubtless they’re using the wrong model, or not prompting it correctly. NetBSD’s position is clear: “Do not commit tainted code to the repository. “Code generated by a large language model or similar technology, such as GitHub/Microsoft’s Copilot, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, or Facebook/Meta’s Code Llama, is presumed to be tainted code, and must not be committed without prior written approval by core.” So far, this seems to be serving it well. If as a result, it remains relatively tiny and minimal, and gets left behind by the AI wave, we plan to be right there with it. Long may the project continue. Bootnote We won’t wish to omit anyone. There is another BSD: Dragonfly BSD, which is experimenting with the kernel and filesystem design. We gave version 6.4 a spin in 2023 and since then there have been only two minor point releases: version 6.4.2 was nearly a year and a half ago, although development is still active. We are not aware that the project has made any statement for or against LLM code generation. Perhaps it should. ®