FreeBSD Foundation

We love seeing community members share why FreeBSD matters to them.

Community member Stefano shares his experience and what keeps him choosing FreeBSD, from performance and reliability to the project’s philosophy.

Read his full post here:
https://it-notes.dragas.net/2026/03/16/why-i-love-freebsd/

Tell us in the comments: what makes FreeBSD your platform of choice?

#FreeBSD #OpenSource #BSD #Community

FreeBSD 14.4-RELEASE is now available.

The FreeBSD Project has announced the release of FreeBSD 14.4-RELEASE, the fifth release from the stable/14 branch. FreeBSD 14.4-RELEASE is available for multiple architectures and can be installed via ISO, USB, VM images, cloud platforms, and OCI containers.
Download and release information:
https://www.freebsd.org/releases/14.4R/announce/

Thank you to the Release Engineering Team and the many contributors who make each release possible.
#FreeBSD #OpenSource #ReleaseEngineering

At SCALE 23x, we had the opportunity to speak with Harlan Stenn, President and Board Chair of the Network Time Foundation.

Harlan shared how he began using FreeBSD in the early days, testing it alongside other systems, and ultimately chose to run it on all his machines because it was stable, reliable, and simply worked.

It’s always powerful to hear from long-time contributors who have seen FreeBSD evolve over decades and still trust it today.

#FreeBSD #SCALE23x #OpenSource #NTP #Community

Thank you to the 200+ attendees who stopped by Booth #112 to connect, share stories, and talk about what you're building with FreeBSD or how you got started with FreeBSD.

The energy this year was a testament to the strength of the open-source community, from longtime contributors to those discovering FreeBSD for the first time.

If you're just getting started with FreeBSD, here’s a clear place to begin:
https://freebsdfoundation.org/resource/getting-started-with-freebsd/

See you at the next one.
#FreeBSD #SCALE23x

We spoke with a new FreeBSD user who shared how he’s exploring the system and learning more about features like jails while working through the book Absolute FreeBSD. He also mentioned that he stopped by the booth after seeing on our website that FreeBSD would be at SCALE.

If you're new to FreeBSD and looking for a place to start, we’ve put together resources to help guide you:
https://freebsdfoundation.org/freebsd/new-to-freebsd/

What helped you most when you first started using FreeBSD?

#FreeBSD #SCALE23x #OpenSource

We’re excited to be at SCALE 23x this week! If you’re attending, stop by Booth #112 to connect with the FreeBSD Foundation team, learn more about our work supporting the FreeBSD Project, and explore ways to get involved with the community.

See you on the expo floor!

New to FreeBSD and wondering what applications are available?

FreeBSD provides access to tens of thousands of open-source applications through the Packages and Ports Collections.This includes widely used tools such as Firefox and Chromium, desktop environments such as KDE and GNOME, media players, databases, and productivity software.

Explore popular applications:
https://www.freebsd.org/applications/

Browse the full collection of available software:
https://www.freshports.org

SCALE 23x is happening this week!
We’re excited to be back at SCALE, one of the best places to connect with the people building and supporting open source in the real world.

This year, we’re looking forward to:
Meeting community members, from new to longtime FreeBSD users

Connecting with fellow open source organizations and exploring what’s ahead in 2026
If you’ll be at SCALE 23x, stop by booth #112 and say hello; we’d love to meet you.

https://www.socallinuxexpo.org/scale/23x
#SCALE23x #FreeBSD #OpenSource

We’ve published a new blog post outlining how we’re preparing for the European Union’s Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), and what it means for the FreeBSD ecosystem.

The CRA introduces new compliance expectations for products containing digital elements, including open source components.

Read the full post here:
https://freebsdfoundation.org/blog/getting-ready-for-the-cyber-resilience-act/

#FreeBSD #OpenSource #Security #Compliance #SBOM

New to FreeBSD and not sure where to start? You’re not alone.

In this second video of the series, I'm walking through the FreeBSD Foundation's Getting Started page.

On this page, you’ll find:
— The official FreeBSD Handbook
— Installation guides for desktops and virtual machines
— Step-by-step written walkthroughs for common setup options
— Links to community spaces: forums, Discord, Reddit, and LinkedIn

https://freebsdfoundation.org/resource/getting-started-with-freebsd/

#FreeBSD #OpenSource #DeveloperCommunity #FreeBSDProject

Do you remember your first FreeBSD install?
Many in our community remember when installing an operating system meant waiting on physical media, dial-up downloads, or carefully tested CD distributions, long before pulling source took seconds.

We’d like to hear your story:
• Was your first FreeBSD install from a CD?
• Do you remember your first release?

Share your experience in the comments.

🔗 Wayne Self’s original reflection: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/wself_been-thinking-about-how-much-access-to-software-ugcPost-7431565320290619392-RHVM/

#FreeBSD #OpenSource #BSD #Community

A little FreeBSD Stress is good for you

Community creator RoboNuggie walks through how to safely stress-test your FreeBSD system using stress and stress-ng.

Our Executive Director, Deb Goodkin, shared this video in her Day 35 update of running FreeBSD 15.0 on the Framework Laptop.

Watch the video: https://buff.ly/oKXjyY2
Deb's post: https://buff.ly/gt7pXnR

Why FreeBSD? Stability, Performance, and a Community That Cares
We're launching a series exploring why thousands of developers, engineers, and tech enthusiasts choose FreeBSD.

In this video, we're sharing what real community members have to say about why they chose FreeBSD and what keeps them here.

Watch the full video and let us know: what brought you to FreeBSD, or what's making you curious about trying it?

#FreeBSD #OpenSource #SystemsEngineering #DeveloperCommunity

Help us improve our FreeBSD installation guides

We're updating our resources for people who want to try FreeBSD in a virtual machine for the first time.

If you're thinking about installing FreeBSD in a VM to test it out, what platform are you using as the host?

Let us know in the comments, your feedback will help us create guides that match how people are actually using FreeBSD today.

We’re pleased to highlight an article by Christopher R. Bowman from the latest edition of the FreeBSD Journal.

In “Building u-boot,” Christopher provides an overview of how the u-boot bootloader is built and maintained within the FreeBSD ecosystem.

Read the full article here:
https://freebsdfoundation.org/our-work/journal/browser-based-edition/freebsd-15-0/building-u-boot/

#FreeBSD #FreeBSDJournal #Embedded #OpenSource #Bootloader