FreeBSD Foundation: A Year of Sponsored Development in 2024

The FreeBSD Foundation proudly supports numerous initiatives aimed at advancing the FreeBSD operating system. With contributions from the Foundation and the community, 2024 has been a year of significant developments in security, performance, and usability. Below is a detailed overview of the projects completed or in progress this year.

FreeBSD Foundation Code Commits by the Numbers

Over 1360 code commits across src, ports, and doc trees were sponsored by the FreeBSD Foundation in 2024, reflecting the breadth and impact of its ongoing contributions to the FreeBSD ecosystem.

Featured FreeBSD Projects Sponsored by the FreeBSD Foundation

Completed Projects

The CIS FreeBSD 14 Benchmark, authored by Moin Rahman with contributions from editor Carole Fennelly, and reviewers Jason Kafer and Rick Miller, provides a comprehensive guide for securely configuring FreeBSD systems. It addresses critical areas like user management, service configurations, file system security, network settings, and audit logging. This benchmark ensures that users can meet stringent security and regulatory requirements, marking a significant advancement in system hardening for FreeBSD.

The Vector Packet Processing (VPP) Framework, ported to FreeBSD by Tom Jones, enables high-performance packet processing for software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV). Jones spearheaded extensive testing, benchmarking, and documentation efforts to integrate VPP seamlessly with FreeBSD’s networking capabilities, making it a robust solution for demanding network environments.

The AMD IOMMU Driver project, led by Konstantin Belousov, continues to enhance FreeBSD’s resource management capabilities in collaboration with AMD. The driver will support systems with over 256 cores, adding features like CPU mapping and integration with the Bhyve hypervisor. The driver is in the 14/stable branch, which will become 14.3 in June 2025, and in the main branch, which will become 15.0 around December 2025.

Ongoing Projects

In Wi-Fi Improvements, Björn Zeeb led the efforts, with some assistance from Cheng Cui, to improve the iwlwifi(4) WiFi driver. These updates resolved critical bugs, stabilized performance, and added hardware cryptographic support. These advancements particularly benefit laptop users and will transition into the larger Laptop Support and Accessibility Improvements Project.

The Vision Accessibility Subsystem for FreeBSD, led by Alfonso Sabato Siciliano, focuses on supporting users with vision impairments, including blind, low-vision, and color-blind individuals. Development includes high-contrast text utilities, speech synthesizers, a communication channel for the virtual terminal (vt(4)), and a Braille refreshable display framework based on BRLTTY. Proof-of-concept work includes high-contrast installation options and speech-based installation utilities. This project emphasizes documenting these advancements in an accessibility book while updating system manuals. These efforts will integrate into the larger Laptop Support and Usability Improvements Project, creating a unified strategy for enhancing FreeBSD’s usability and inclusivity.

The Laptop Support and Usability Improvements Project, launched at the end of 2024, consolidates work on Wi-Fi, audio, and accessibility while introducing modern graphics and power management features. Building on the iwlwifi(4) enhancements, the modernized audio stack, and the accessibility tools, this project will expand support for advanced graphics and power-saving features like s2idle and s0ix. By addressing critical hardware and usability gaps, it is set to make FreeBSD a compelling choice for laptop users.

The iwx Driver Porting Project, led by Tom Jones, is porting the iwx  WiFi driver from OpenBSD (via Haiku OS) to FreeBSD to enable 802.11ac and 802.11ax functionality. The iwx driver supports Intel Wireless AX200/AX210 M.2 network adapters and Intel Wireless AX201/AX211 Integrated Connectivity (CNVi) network adapters with companion RF M.2 modules. Active development is focused on stabilizing the driver, adding high throughput rates, and preparing for community testing. 

The RISC-V 64-bit Support project, driven by Mitchell Horne, Ruslan Bukin, and Jari Sihvola, focuses on enabling FreeBSD to run efficiently on the RISC-V architecture. Their work includes improving kernel and user-space compatibility and optimizing performance for RISC-V-based systems.

The Graphical Installer for FreeBSD, developed by Pierre Pronchery, introduces an optional modern installation interface called gbsddialog. This tool maintains FreeBSD’s lightweight nature while providing a user-friendly, visually appealing setup experience. Based on existing utilities like bsdinstall, the installer reflects FreeBSD’s commitment to accessibility and usability.

Hierarchical Rate Limits for OpenZFS, developed by Pawel Dawidek, introduce the ability to manage and enforce bandwidth limits hierarchically across datasets, enabling administrators to allocate storage resources more effectively. This enhancement is particularly beneficial for multi-tenant systems and enterprise environments where resource prioritization is critical.

OpenJDK support for FreeBSD was launched in late 2024 to officially support the FreeBSD/amd64 and FreeBSD/arm64 platforms. The initiative aims to pass Oracle’s Java Compatibility Kit (JCK) test suite, maintain compatibility with upstream changes, and integrate new features in future OpenJDK releases. A continuous integration (CI) pipeline is being established to address bug reports and build a community around Java development on FreeBSD. These efforts ensure that FreeBSD remains a reliable and modern choice for Java developers.

The Credential Management Enhancement Project, developed by long-term contractor Olivier Certner and Baptiste Daroussin, improves FreeBSD’s credential transitions using the MAC framework. Replacing setuid executables, it introduces mac_do(4), mdo(1), and setcred(2) for secure, fine-grained control. Integrated into the main branch, future work includes expanding compatibility with tools likesudo and enhancing mdo(1)‘s functionality.

Modernization efforts in Audio Stack Enhancements, spearheaded by Christos Margiolis, addressed long-standing challenges. Key achievements include asynchronous device detachment, replacing outdated frameworks like snd_clone with DEVFS_CDEVPRIV, and enhancing hardware support for snd_hda(4). These improvements ensure broader hardware compatibility and will be integrated into the laptop-focused initiative.

Miscellaneous Contributions

Beyond large-scale projects, the FreeBSD Foundation supports and benefits from the invaluable work of individual contributors addressing key areas of system performance and stability. For example, Olivier Certner significantly improved FreeBSD’s core functionality in 2024. His contributions included updates to the rtprio(2) system call, increasing the number of queues per runqueue for better scheduling precision. He also addressed vnode recycling and ZFS ARC reclaim issues, helping resolve critical bugs and enhancing overall system stability.

Certner’s work extended to improving the ULE scheduler, making it POSIX-compliant concerning distinct priority levels for SCHED_FIFO and SCHED_RR. He reviewed multiple filesystem-related issues, including locking problems in unionfs_rename() and implementing fixes for deadlocks and wild access errors. His meticulous attention to detail has bolstered FreeBSD’s reliability and performance, benefiting many use cases.

These focused efforts exemplify the ongoing commitment of FreeBSD developers to refining the operating system, addressing systemic challenges, and ensuring robust performance across its diverse ecosystem.

Google Summer of Code Contributions

2024 marked another successful year for FreeBSD’s participation in the Google Summer of Code (GSoC), further cementing its role as a vital program for fostering new talent and innovation in the open source community. This year, nine out of eleven accepted projects were completed, a testament to the dedication of both the students and their mentors. These projects addressed key areas such as infrastructure modernization, usability enhancements, and performance optimizations, aligning with our broader goals for the platform.

GSoC has long been an important program for FreeBSD, not only for the technical contributions it generates but also for its impact on the community. Over the years, we’ve welcomed several former GSoC students as committers, with one even serving on the previous Core Team. This legacy of mentorship and engagement highlights GSoC’s role in sustaining and growing FreeBSD’s contributor base.

This year’s program also fostered deeper community connections. Two 2024 GSoC students attended EuroBSDCon to engage with the broader FreeBSD community. Their participation exemplifies the strong integration between GSoC and FreeBSD’s global ecosystem.

You can explore the details of these projects and their outcomes in the 2024 GSoC Project Wiki.

We thank the students, mentors, and collaborators who made this year’s program a success. Supporting emerging talent through GSoC continues to be a cornerstone of our commitment to sustaining FreeBSD’s future. We look forward to seeing how these contributions and relationships shape the project in the years to come!

Infrastructure and Workflow Enhancements

2024 marked a year of significant advancements in FreeBSD’s infrastructure, particularly in its Continuous Integration (CI) systems and cluster modernization efforts. Spearheaded by Li-Wen Hsu, FreeBSD’s CI infrastructure saw substantial upgrades to improve pre-commit testing, streamline workflows, and expand hardware support. These enhancements ensure reliable and efficient testing processes, benefiting both contributors and external collaborators.

Key achievements included integrating new hardware into the CI cluster, repurposing decommissioned machines as build agents, and optimizing the job dispatching mechanism to align tasks with machine capabilities. Hsu also advanced the integration of in-tree CI infrastructure, enabling developers to replicate the production CI environment locally for debugging and testing. Additional progress included transitioning to a pull/merge-request workflow, automating the creation of release artifacts, and enhancing the CI setup process for contributors. Future plans include extending bare-metal testing, running ztest tests, and improving FreeBSD’s compatibility with hosted CI providers.

Complementing these CI advancements, the FreeBSD Foundation invested $100,000 in the Cluster Modernization Project, introducing a new server cluster in Chicago. This cluster includes routers, CI servers, package builders, and general-purpose servers, significantly boosting operational efficiency and service performance for FreeBSD’s global user base. The cluster is optimized for FreeBSD’s expanding ecosystem, ensuring faster package builds, enhanced testing, and improved support for the project’s infrastructure needs.

These upgrades to CI infrastructure and the new cluster represent a robust commitment to supporting FreeBSD’s growing ecosystem with state-of-the-art tools and resources.

A strong year for sponsored development in 2024

As 2024 ends, the FreeBSD Foundation remains dedicated to advancing the FreeBSD operating system. With extensive project sponsorships and developer contributions, the Foundation has made significant strides in modernizing Wi-Fi and audio stacks, improving accessibility, and laptop support. Enhancements in infrastructure, particularly in CI systems and cluster modernization, have laid a solid foundation for future growth and allowed for effective collaboration.

The Foundation’s work highlights the power of collaboration within the community. As it looks ahead to 2025, the FreeBSD Foundation continues to strengthen FreeBSD’s role in open-source software.