Yes yes I know about OpenBSD, but their focus seems To be security not stability.
After Arch Linux disappointed me more than almost anything could I went straight back to the thing I knew best, Debian Stable! (Dramatic Music) However in a great leap of intelegnce on my part I decided to cut my hard drive into half (of course after swap) and wanted to install slackware and try it; but today the servers where down an after some hard thinkning I decided on a BSD. Now instead of choosing Debian kFreeBSD I want to try a real one (kFreeBSD is my fallback) with one focus in my mind: stability (and VLC & libdvdcss support).
So what is the most stable BSD?

I don't know about most stable but at the last place I worked we ran FreeBSD for 3 years and it's still counting now. So I would say it is stable and able to provide high availability. The initial set up is a bit much using ports to compile but you get used to it.

SAM

Actually, security & stability go hand-in-hand. Much about security is reducing exploitable holes which comes from poor design & implementation. Designing/implementing/fixing software to do what it is intended to do makes it more stable. Call this a byproduct or simply just paying attention to detail, but stability is the result.

I've used OpenBSD for a number of years primarily because of its stability & adherence to standards. The result is that it simply works; I can get work done.

I prefer and run OpenBSD. I also have a FreeBSD 9.0 VM which I regularly use. The BSDs are all very stable. Pick one and try it out. FreeBSD has a new installer which is easy to use.

Ok well does openbsd have VLC and libdvdcss or their build dependincys?

What exactly are those two holes it talks about on the main page? Are they jokes like username and password?

How stable is Debian kFreeBSD (Squeeze)?

Just went and had a look at the package list. VLC is there. When you install a package like VLC using pkg_add it will pull down dependencies.

Both are available in packages/ports.

For information on available packages/ports, see both:

• A third-party site which chronicles what applications have been ported to -current is http://openports.se/.
• If you are unfamiliar with OpenBSD's packages/ports system, take the time to study Section 15 in its entirety.

Searching the archives of OpenBSD's official misc@ will likely turn up the answer. One such archive site is http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-misc&r=1&w=2.

Now how stable is Debian kFreeBSD (Squeeze)?
Compared to FreeBSD, and Debian Linux.

If Arch is not stable enough for you (well, I agree, it is not very stable) you should take a look at Slackware. Here http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...lacker-942911/ you'll find some information. Btw Slackware is the distribution which is most similar to the BSDs (and Unix respectively).

Markus

I said I considered slackware but it servers have been down very recently, and coming from Debian I need delendincy resolution.

What is delendincy resolution?

Only the main website it down periodically due to some hardware issues. The primary mirror (slackware.osuosl.org) and the others are all up.

Ability to find, download, and install needed software and support libraries needed for the program to run, among side the installation of the requested program.
Mr.Nebster

Well, Slackware does not have dependency resolution. In my opinion this is not a deficit, but, a strength. As the system administrator for Slackware (that's you) it is your responsibility to manually resolve dependencies. This is a good thing. The Keep it simple stupid approach used by Slackware results in less system overhead and a high level of stability.
Package managers that resolve dependencies are a fine thing when they work properly. But, from my experience dependency resolving package managers will break and then you are required to clean up the mess manually anyway.
For Linux I use Slackware, for BSD it is OpenBSD all the way.

Each of the Unix-like operating system projects deals with third-party applications in an officially package system differently.

It would be to your benefit to do some basic research on both the projects you would like to try, & the breath of their package management systems. You will find introductory discussion on OpenBSD's system in Section 15 of the official FAQ. After having studied the FAQ, study the ports(7) manpage. Most of the questions raised in this thread are answered there.

Debian kFreeBSD is a 'young' project based on two very stable projects.

Debian is very stable with the best range of available programs.

FreeBSD is very stable with a large range of programs available.

GhostBSD is a 3 year old project based on FreeBSD, & is probably the easiest way to try BSD, as it is a live system that can be installed to disk. (I think it will play DVDs OK - & uses VLC, I think.)
http://ghostbsd.org/