OpenBSD 7.8, is another careful step forward that strengthens daily usability across laptops, desktops, and ARM64 systems. While this release isn’t radically new, the OpenBSD team continues to refine and expand their legendary system in all the right places.
The most visible change is Raspberry Pi 5 support. OpenBSD now boots cleanly on the Pi 5 with working SDHC storage, Ethernet, and Wi-Fi power management through new RP1 and sdhc drivers. That takes the board from experimental to genuinely usable. Additional ARM64 updates improve clock, PWM, and RTC support on newer SoCs, broadening the list of hardware that “just works.”
Power management on laptops sees steady progress. AMD systems handle S0ix suspend and resume more reliably, and the amdgpu driver now sleeps and wakes properly under S3. Laptops with GPIO-based lid sensors can suspend and resume cleanly, and hibernation reliability improves with better pre-allocation during boot. Small changes, but together they make OpenBSD behave more predictably on modern notebooks.
Networking performance benefits from new multicore TCP and IPv6 input handling, allowing up to eight threads to process traffic in parallel. Several core system calls, such as close() and listen(), were unlocked from global network locks, reducing contention on multi-CPU systems.
Graphics support advances with a DRM update based on Linux 6.12.50, improving amdgpu reliability and adding Qualcomm display controller support. Xorg remains the standard display server, while Wayland continues to function through XWayland and wlroots compositors for those who prefer a modern stack. In ports, GNOME 46 and KDE Plasma 6 are available, keeping desktop environments current alongside updated Firefox and Chromium builds.
The built-in hypervisor gains AMD SEV-ES support for encrypted guests, and the installer adds further safeguards and clearer defaults. Security hardening continues quietly across the base system, with more software adopting pledge and unveil.
OpenBSD 7.8 doesn’t chase trends, but it delivers a more capable, consistent, and secure system across a wider range of hardware. Whether on a modern laptop or a Raspberry Pi 5, this release shows the project’s continued focus on quality and correctness—hallmarks that keep OpenBSD in a class of its own.