freebsd-src

What lives in the tree

The top level of the tree is organized by function. Directories include bin and usr.bin for user commands, sbin and usr.sbin for system administration commands, lib and libexec for system libraries and supporting commands, sys for kernel sources, and stand for boot loader sources. There are also contrib and cddl for third party software, crypto and secure for cryptographic libraries and commands, etc for template files, include for system headers, share for shared resources, tests for Kyua run tests, tools for ancillary utilities, release for release and VM image build scripts, and packages for base system packages. The README explains each directory in a source roadmap table so newcomers can locate a component quickly.

Building and supported platforms

The Makefile at the top level supports building components or the entire source tree, with details in the build(7) and config(8) manual pages and the FreeBSD handbook sections on building userland and configuring kernels. Supported CPU architectures and platforms are listed on the FreeBSD website's platforms page, and official bootable images are published on the project's release download page. The README points readers to docs.freebsd.org for handbook material covering both the cutting edge and stable branches and for instructions on synchronizing a source tree with development branches.

Project context

FreeBSD is described as an operating system used to power modern servers, desktops and embedded platforms, developed by a large community for more than thirty years. Its advanced networking, security and storage features are cited as the reason it underpins many of the busiest web sites and pervasive embedded networking and storage devices. Copyright information is kept in a COPYRIGHT file at the top level, with additional copyright notes inside specific source directories where applicable. The repository is presented as a publish only mirror experimenting with simpler pull requests rather than the canonical development location.

Editorial conclusion

At time of indexing the repository showed nine thousand two hundred eighty two stars and three thousand four hundred four forks against one hundred seventy open issues, reflecting its role as the public face of a long running OS project.