OpenBSD Hackathons

In June of 1999, OpenBSD held the first hackathon. In the months leading up to this, either Theo or Niels Provos had coined this new word hackathon. A bunch of developers from around the world congregated into a house in Calgary, and within the week had the first IPv6 and IPSEC stacks completely integrated into an operating system... an industry first... an accidental scrape in a hardwood floor commemorates the event.

In succeeding years, the OpenBSD development process has benefited greatly from holding more of these events. In our form, hackathons do not have talks, nor a specific schedule. People will arrive at a hackathon to work for a straight stretch of time on the projects they wish to, in the same room as the people who they need to talk to about their ideas. Hackathons are about writing code. At hackathons there is an attempt to get new changes into the source tree quickly. Since people from many different timezones are in the same room, development is almost around the clock. Developers sometimes joke about returning home without jet-lag.

Hackathon attendees come by invitation only. Some new people in the community who show promise are sometimes invited to see if they have what it takes. However, hackathons are not developer training events.

The event space and accommodation is typically funded by donations to the OpenBSD Project, or by the OpenBSD Foundation, however most developers pay for their own travel. The facilities are always chosen to be highly economical; generally near Universities or in cheaper locales. If anyone wants to help us FUND ONE OF THESE EVENTS OR A DEVELOPER'S TRAVEL, please contact Theo de Raadt (who generally has the most knowledge about upcoming options), or directly offer travel expenses to a developer for the next event. General financing is more interesting, but we will entertain offers for free locations as well.

Here are some details about past and future events, also showing a part of the artwork from the event T-shirt (if there was one made). The shirts are only given to people who attend the event, and are worn with pride. Every shirt contains at least one developer in-joke, so don't worry if you can't understand the shirt. Just enjoy them.

Most tshirt concepts designed by artist with Theo de Raadt or Bob Beck.
c2k2, c2k3, v2k5, c2k6, r2k6, k2k6, p2k6, h2k6, f2k7, c2k7, p2k7, h2k7, n2k8, c2k8, p2k8, h2k8, n2k9,
c2k9, f2k9, p2k9, h2k9, c2k10, j2k10, p2k10, c2k11, s2k11, a2k11, p2k11 drawn by Ty Semaka.
pf2k4, c2k4, and c2k5 drawn by David Woloschuk.
n2k10 drawn by Theo de Raadt, refined by Ty Semaka.
c2k10, j2k10, and p2k10 drawn by Damon Mlekuz.
k2k11 drawn by Bret Lambert.
r2k12, g2k12, n2k12, b2k13, n2k14, m2k14, g2k14, s2k15, c2k15, l2k15, p2k16, g2k16, b2k16, a2k17,
d2k17, p2k17, s2k17, a2k18, p2k18, g2k18, a2k19, t2k19, g2k19, p2k19, e2k19, a2k20, k2k20 drawn by Markus Hall.
p2k12 drawn by Bidon Mickael aka Mogmi.
c2k12 drawn by Theo de Raadt.
n2k13 is a purchased shirt, with an annotation added.
t2k13 drawn by Brett Knowles.
p2k15 drawn by Naomi Parkinson.
j2k15 drawn by Ayako Ogawa / Yojiro UO.
u2k15 drawn by Neels Hofmeyr.
n2k15 drawn by Nick Böse.
n2k16 drawn by Jojin&HedgeHog.
l2k16 concept by Joel Sing, layout by Markus Hall.
t2k17 drawn by Christopher Roberts.
n2k18, c2k24, h2k24 drawn by Jojin&HedgeHog.
u2k20 drawn by Pamela Mosiejczuk.
k2k21, h2k21 drawn by Natasha Allegri.
r2k22 by Job Snijders & Yann Faussurier.
g2k22 by Sagana Squale.
h2k22 by Pedro Almeida.
w2k23 by Stefan Sperling.
p2p23 by Sophie Smyth.
h2k23, h2k25 drawn by António Sampaio.
p2k24 drawn by Naomi Parkinson.
j2k25 drawn by Haruka Yasuoka.
p2k25 drawn by lyra.