freebsd_foundation

FreeBSD Foundation
Research It More
Fair Use Sources

FreeBSD Foundation

Return to FreeBSD, Linux Foundation, FreeBSD Bibliography, UNIX and Linux

Snippet from Wikipedia: FreeBSD: FreeBSD is a free and open-source Unix-like operating system descended from the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), a version of Unix developed at the University of California, Berkeley. The project began in 1993 as an outgrowth of 386BSD and released FreeBSD 1.0 later that year. It is developed as a complete operating system, with the kernel, device drivers, userland utilities, build system and documentation maintained in a single source tree.
FreeBSD is best known for server, networking, storage and embedded-system use. Its project documentation describes TCP/IP networking, OpenZFS, security features, documentation, a unified build system, and the ability to install third-party software through binary packages or the FreeBSD Ports collection. FreeBSD is also used as the basis for products and services including the Netflix Open Connect content-delivery network and the pfSense firewall and router distribution.
The FreeBSD Project is governed by elected committers and a Core Team, while the FreeBSD Foundation supports development, advocacy, infrastructure and legal matters. Code from FreeBSD has been incorporated into other operating systems, including Darwin (the basis for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS and tvOS), TrueNAS, and the system software for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and PlayStation Vita consoles.

The current major production branch is FreeBSD 15, first released as 15.0 on 2 December 2025; FreeBSD 14 remains a supported production branch, with 14.4 released on 10 March 2026. FreeBSD source code is generally distributed under the permissive two-clause BSD license, which permits both open-source reuse and inclusion in proprietary products; individual components may use other open-source licenses.

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0

“There’s more to keeping FreeBSD free than meets the eye. They work hard behind the scenes and you hardly ever see them. They’re The FreeBSD Foundation and they quietly fund and manage projects, sponsor FreeBSD events, Developer Summits and provide travel grants to FreeBSD developers. The FreeBSD Foundation represents the FreeBSD Project in executing contracts, FreeBSD license agreements, FreeBSD copyrights, FreeBSD trademarks, and other legal arrangements that require a recognized legal entity. The Foundation’s funding and management expertise is essential to keep FreeBSD free. And keeping it free is getting more costly every year. That’s why they need your help. The work of The FreeBSD Foundation is entirely supported by your generous donations.” (AbFrBSD 2018)