FreeBSD
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 and the current version runs on x86, ARM, PowerPC and RISC-V processors. The project is supported and promoted by the FreeBSD Foundation.
FreeBSD 13.0 bootloader with ASCII art logo | |
| Developer | The FreeBSD Project |
|---|---|
| OS family | Unix-like (BSD) |
| Working state | Current |
| Source model | Open source |
| Initial release | 1 November 1993 |
| Latest release | 14.0 (20 November 2023) [±] 13.2 (11 April 2023) [±] |
| Repository | |
| Marketing target | Servers, workstations, embedded systems, network firewalls |
| Package manager | pkg |
| Platforms | x86-64, ARM64, ARM32, IA-32, PowerPC, RISC-V |
| Kernel type | Monolithic with dynamically loadable modules |
| Userland | BSD |
| Default user interface | Unix shells: sh or tcsh (user-selectable) |
| License | FreeBSD License, FreeBSD Documentation License |
| Official website | www |
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 like GNU for system software. 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, 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. 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 and PlayStation 4 game consoles. The other BSD systems (OpenBSD, NetBSD, and DragonFly BSD) also contain a large amount of FreeBSD code, and vice-versa.