{"id":153,"date":"2019-08-29T09:52:45","date_gmt":"2019-08-29T09:52:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hub.pfind.com\/?p=153"},"modified":"2025-05-12T08:45:22","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T12:45:22","slug":"meet-freebsd-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ebool.com\/hub\/meet-freebsd-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet FreeBSD Project – A Journey of 26 Years and Beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Summary<\/strong>: When talking about operating systems or platforms to run the whole computing processes for various devices, you might have heard about FreeBSD quite often. However, today\u2019s implementations of this operating system are apparently not too well-known, and many people don\u2019t know the contributions of FreeBSD in today\u2019s computing technology. Since this operating system is not generally available for the average users, FreeBSD remains to be something that many people nowadays are not well-acquainted with. Yet, it has been used in various hardware and online platforms today, and it has been actively used for more than 26 years now. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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As a part of UNIX operating system, FreeBSD is an operating system that is intended to be used for various platforms. The focus of this operating system is to provide the best performance, compatibility, security, and advanced networking for desktops, servers, game consoles, and online platforms. This OS has been used for more than two decades ever since its first release in the 1993. Today, it is recognized as a robust operating system that offers cutting-edge features that are not available in other operating systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With its decades of development time, this operating system has managed to expand all over the world and become one of the most used operating systems for various hardware, servers, and online platforms. It can be used both as a full OS or as an integrated\/embedded system that has lighter codes to run for the specific function of the hardware. The features offered by this operating system is top notch, as it combines performance, security, networking, and storage into one unified package. Moreover, companies don\u2019t need to upgrade their hardware constantly just to follow with the latest release of FreeBSD, which makes this OS even more preferable to be used for long-term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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FreeBSD is a project inherited from Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), and it is available for free. Anyone can download and use it along with the source code. Variety of hardware and online platforms have used this operating system as their primary driver. To find out more information about FreeBSD and the use of this powerful OS for various purposes, we have interviewed Deb Goodkin<\/strong>, executive director, FreeBSD Foundation. Deb Goodkin will explain various aspects of the FreeBSD operating system that many people might not know about, as well as the plan for the future of the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FreeBSD and Linux – Are They the Same Operating System?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While many people\nconfuse FreeBSD with Linux because they have some similarities, FreeBSD is\nactually not a part of Linux operating system, nor is it a Linux distribution.\nFreeBSD and Linux have a basic difference, which is that the FreeBSD is based\non the BSD, which is based on UNIX. FreeBSD was not developed as a part of\nLinux OS, but instead, as a part of UNIX. Linux was in fact an open source\nalternative to UNIX. So, FreeBSD is not a Linux distribution, but instead, it\nis a derivative of BSD, which is based on UNIX operating system. The\ndevelopment of this system dates back to 1970s at the University of California,\nBerkeley. Since then, it has undergone massive changes to be the OS that we know\ntoday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deb Goodkin explained\nabout the difference between FreeBSD and Linux, \u201cLinux and FreeBSD are both Unix or Unix-like.  The similarities do lend people to think that\nFreeBSD is a Linux Distribution. However, that is not the case. FreeBSD is\ndescended from the Unix developed at the University of California, Berkeley in\nthe 1970s. Linux, on the other hand, was built as an open source alternative to\nUNIX. These days, FreeBSD can execute many Linux binaries, while Linux cannot\nexecute FreeBSD binaries.  Many FreeBSD\nimplementations can also execute binaries from other UNIX\u00ae like systems. The\nsimilarities do make it easier for Linux developers to get involved with\nFreeBSD.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently there are over 400 active developers and\nthousands of contributors. FreeBSD works on 32- and 64-bit Intel \/ AMD x86, 32-\nand 64-bit Arm, RISC-V, PowerPC, Sparc64, and MIPS CPUs, and cloud providers\nlike AWS, Azure, and GCP. There are tens of millions of deployed systems.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with other BSDs, the FreeBSD base system is an integrated\noperating system distribution that is developed and released as a cohesive\nwhole by a single team, which is in contrast the Linux approach of\ndistributions picking up the kernel from one source, the C library from\nanother, the userland tools from another and so on<\/em>.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Biggest Difference between FreeBSD and Linux<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As an open-source\nalternative of the UNIX operating system, Linux does share a lot of\nsimilarities with UNIX. However, they are not developed in the same way. As\nhistory goes, UNIX was being developed since the 1970s, while Linux was first\nreleased in 1991. So, Unix has a lot more development time, thus, giving it an\nadvantage over the Linux operating system in many ways. This is the reason why\nUnix-based operating system like FreeBSD is being used to power modern servers,\nhardware, and online platforms because it offers cutting-edge features that are\nnot offered in other operating systems yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FreeBSD is always at\nthe forefront when it comes to introducing new cutting-edge features that are\noften still in the testing phase. This way, this operating system helps shape\nthe whole technological ecosystem that we have today, and thus, helps shape the\nmodern age of computing. The most notable differences between this operating\nsystem and Linux are the principle behind its programming development and the\nlicense that it uses to distribute the OS to the users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with the biggest\ndifference between FreeBSD and Linux, Deb Goodkin further explained, \u201cFreeBSD operates on the Principle of Least\nAstonishment. In other words, don\u2019t break things that work. Because the OS doesn\u2019t\nchange without good reason, if you are basing your code or product on it, you\ndon’t have to constantly catch up everytime there is a new OS release. It also\nmakes upgrading relatively painless. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The licensing model is probably the biggest difference between\nthe two. Linux is under the <\/em>GNU General Public License<\/em><\/a>\n(GPL), meaning in part, that any derivative work of a product released under\nthe GPL must also be supplied with source code if requested. FreeBSD on the\nother hand, is under the copy-free BSD license. It\u2019s less restrictive:\nbinary-only distributions are allowed and particularly useful for embedded\nplatforms<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notable Usages or Applications of FreeBSD<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

During its decades of development,\nFreeBSD has been used in different hardware, servers, and online services,\nwhether it is used as the main operating system or as an embedded operating\nsystem. Many companies are using this OS mainly because of its performance,\nadvanced networking features, and security that ensure the ecosystem that they\nhave built for their platforms or hardware remain secure and up to par with the\ncurrent technological demands. Also, with its Principle of Least Astonishment,\ncompanies don\u2019t need to upgrade their hardware every time a new FreeBSD version\nis released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As FreeBSD is used\nmainly as a base operating system for hardware, servers, and online platforms,\nits name is usually buried deep under the company, product, or brand that uses\nit. People would know more about the company, brand, or product that uses\nFreeBSD than they know about the FreeBSD operating system itself. For instance,\nmany people might not suspect that popular brands like Netflix, PlayStation,\nNetApp, and Groupon use FreeBSD as their base operating system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In regard to the\nvarious usages or applications of FreeBSD operating system, Deb Goodkin said, \u201cFreeBSD is everywhere.  It offers high performance, security, and\nadvanced networking. People use it for personal workstations, Internet servers,\nembedded devices, routers, and firewalls. The FreeBSD packages collection\nincludes popular software like: Apache and NGINX web server, GNOME, KDE, X.org,\nPython, Firefox and over 30,000 software packages. Below are just some of the\nmore recognizable FreeBSD use cases.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n