FreeBSD

Not to be confused with OpenBSD.
Not to be confused with NetBSD.

FreeBSD
FreeBSD 13.0 bootloader with ASCII art logo
DeveloperThe FreeBSD Project
Written inC (C11)
OS familyUnix-like (BSD)
Working stateCurrent
Source modelOpen source
Initial release1 November 1993; 31 years ago (1993-11-01)
Latest release14.1 (4 June 2024; 5 months ago (2024-06-04)) [±][1]
13.4 (17 September 2024; 2 months ago (2024-09-17)) [±][2]
Repository
Marketing targetServers, workstations, embedded systems, network firewalls
Package managerpkg
PlatformsIA-32, x86-64, ARM64, ARM32, PowerPC, RISC-V
Kernel typeMonolithic with dynamically loadable modules
UserlandBSD
Default
user interface		Unix shells: sh or tcsh (user-selectable)
LicenseFreeBSD License, FreeBSD Documentation License
Official websitewww.freebsd.org

FreeBSD is a free and open-source Unix-like operating system descended from the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). The first version of FreeBSD was released in 1993 developed from 386BSD[3] and the current version runs on IA-32, x86-64, ARM, PowerPC and RISC-V processors. The project is supported and promoted by the FreeBSD Foundation.

FreeBSD maintains a complete system, delivering a kernel, device drivers, userland utilities, and documentation, as opposed to Linux only delivering a kernel and drivers, and relying on third-parties such as GNU for system software.[4] The FreeBSD source code is generally released under a permissive BSD license, as opposed to the copyleft GPL used by Linux.

The FreeBSD project includes a security team overseeing all software shipped in the base distribution. A wide range of additional third-party applications may be installed from binary packages using the pkg package management system or from source via FreeBSD Ports[5] or by manually compiling source code.

As of 2005, FreeBSD was the most popular open-source BSD operating system, accounting for more than three-quarters of all installed and permissively licensed BSD systems.[6] Much of FreeBSD's codebase has become an integral part of other operating systems such as Darwin (the basis for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS), TrueNAS (an open-source NAS/SAN operating system), and the system software for the PlayStation 3[7][8] and PlayStation 4[9] game consoles. The other BSD systems (OpenBSD, NetBSD, and DragonFly BSD) also contain a large amount of FreeBSD code, and vice-versa.[citation needed]

  1. ^ "FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE Announcement". FreeBSD.org. 4 June 2024. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  2. ^ "FreeBSD 13.4-RELEASE Announcement". FreeBSD.org. 17 September 2024. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
  3. ^ "FreeBSD History". people.freebsd.org. Archived from the original on 24 November 2023. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference informit-bsd-tree was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Chapter 4. Installing Applications: Packages and Ports". FreeBSD Handbook. The FreeBSD Project. Archived from the original on 22 September 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference survey was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference scei-ps3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Rosenberg, Alex (17 December 2013). "FreeBSD Handbook and PS3". freebsd-doc (Mailing list). Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  9. ^ "Open Source Software used in PlayStation®4". Sony Interactive Entertainment. Archived from the original on 12 December 2017. Retrieved 4 January 2019.