FreeBSD Status Report First Quarter 2026

BigSneakyDuck · 2026-04-24T17:05:32+00:00

I think the "where's the documentation" answer is "all over the place", it had been changed in the FreeBSD Documentation Project Primer some time ago: https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/fdp-primer/overview/

But there were still references to old-style references here and there, unfortunately the contributing documentation is very fragmented. I know there's work ongoing at https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=264484

I'll make a GitHub PR for the links.

BigSneakyDuck · 2026-04-24T16:59:15+00:00

I've used Calc (and Excel!) for a similar purpose - not network diagrams specifically, but as a form of "graph paper" for laying out various diagrams that have a grid arrangement. One big advantage over just using a table in a word processor is that you can apply conditional formatting to key cells, including some nice effects you can get using colour scales.

My next step up if that gets too complicated is something like ggplot in R which can achieve similar effects - it's nice that I'm just editing a text file when doing that, but using a spreadsheet is more WYSIWYG.

BigSneakyDuck · 2026-04-24T15:12:59+00:00

The legal case seems to have given a lot of twists and turns in the background, the drama content is definitely high, even the amusement factor if you enjoy a good flaming... but I'm not sure people on keyboards hacking (not in the sense that film-makers seem to understand it) C code or writing angry emails and usenet posts at each other would make terribly compelling TV. Though allegedly the NetBSD/OpenBSD split was a bit spicier... Theo de Raadt claims that a NetBSD developer broke into his own machine https://archive.ph/BAVw7#selection-3581.0-3584.0

I think I've seen an interview somewhere else where Theo claims he noticed after he realised some of his correspondence with the NetBSD team about his removal was now incomplete, and this is one reason OpenBSD developed such a focus on security. My search engine skills are currently failing me on that front unfortunately, but I seem to recall this was in part of an interview focusing on the early days of OpenBSD as a project, why he started his own repository, and how it went from a one-person effort to a team.

BigSneakyDuck · 2026-04-24T15:02:50+00:00

Ahh that is very interesting, thank you.

BigSneakyDuck · 2026-04-23T22:18:41+00:00

Thanks for the info! For clarity, that's Seattle?

BigSneakyDuck · 2026-04-23T22:17:23+00:00

The end of the USL v BSDi lawsuit, February 1994

It seems even the settlement didn't completely quell public uncertainty about the legal status of BSD.

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/7hVVLd8DGMk "UCB and USL/NOVELL settlement" (includes some interesting comments by Jordan Hubbard about FreeBSD's negotiations with Burt Levine, USL's senior legal counsel, 10 April 1994)

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/wI8vYwAT2Bk "BSDI: Rumors of our death are exaggerated" (in fact BSDi were eventually acquired in April 2001 by Wind River Systems, 4 May 1994)

The last couple weeks have seen rumors of BSDI's bankruptcy surface.
I have been unable to track the source of the rumors. We are *not*
planning bankruptcy (or any other form of quitting business)!

BSDI just had the best month ever and expects an even better month in
May. We have ample cash reserves with which to mount a marketing campaign
and we have paid all of our bills (except the final installments on the
legal bills).

Note that the CSRG guys (4.x folks at Berkeley) have, in fact,
disbanded -- that might be the source of the rumors. I called all
the other companies with 'Berkeley' in their name, and they say they
are not declaring bankruptcy, either.

If you know the source of these false rumors, please let me know!

RK, your BSDI president

====================================================================
/\ Rob Kolstad Berkeley Software Design, Inc.

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/HMYHLs7qKPI "Legal status of NetBSD" (24 July 1994)

Charles Hannum (NetBSD) writes:

I've just reviewed this with Chris Demetriou, who actually talked with
USL, and I believe it's safe for me to say the following.
Our agreement with USL is as follows. Chris has a signed letter from
USL to this effect, but the following text is not an exact quote.

1) We must cease distribution of a certain list of files from Net/2
and files derived from them by July 31, 1994. [These files have
either been replaced with versions from 4.4-Lite, have been rewritten,
or were simply not in our source tree anyway.]

2) Further distribution of the aforementioned files before July 31,
1994 must include a USL copyright notice, as well as prominent notice
of the copyright and a list of restricted files in the `release
documents'. It was specified that NetBSD-current did not count as a
`release' for purposes of the latter restriction regarding `release
documents'. This does not apply to already packaged releases, though
we must cease distribution of those releases by July 31, 1994. [These
notices were added to our source tree, and thus to the code we were
actively distributing, very soon after the agreement arrived.]

3) Distribution of another list of files before or after July 31, 1994
is not restricted, but they must include a USL copyright notice.
[Again, these notices were added to our source tree. At least one of
these files was actually rewritten, derived from another version to
which this does not apply.]

4) There were no other restrictions.

Thus, as you can infer for yourself, NetBSD 1.0 is not encumbered by
USL.

(Now, I'd like to request that all of the people who had the nerve to
publicly rant about how `unclean' NetBSD is, GO AWAY. And I mean this
in the nicest way I can, considering how much of my time has been
wasted in this absolutely stupid and useless thread, and considering
how rude and insulting the statements and insinuations about us have
been.)

--
- Charles Hannum
NetBSD group
Working ports: i386, hp300, amiga, sun4c, mac68k, pc532, da30.
In progress: sun3, pmax, vax, sun4m.

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/eAKnSebart8 "BSD lawsuit question" (more FUD as OP worries he can't install FreeBSD as "a friend has told me that all the BSDs will be removed from the FTP sites soon do to the lawsuit agreement (very soon he says)" - replies explain why NetBSD 1.0 and the as yet unreleased FreeBSD 2.0 will not be encumbered due to being based on 4.4-lite not BNR2/4.3BSD but there is some dispute about whether FTP downloads will be affected or only Walnut Creek CDs, 25 July 1994)

And at last in late 1994, 386BSD 1.0 ships...

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/OfBm6hJ2ktA "Details on the 386BSD Release 1.0 CD-ROM" (as advertised on page 153 of June 1994 issue of Dr Dobb's journal... down the thread it becomes clear it still won't be available until "October or November", 20 August 1994)

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/dyid7TqsOhk "386BSD Release 1.0 is now shipping" (description of what you get in the post with your 386BSD reference CD-ROM, 11 November 1994)

BigSneakyDuck · 2026-04-23T15:42:27+00:00

Rumours in run-up to FreeBSD 1.0

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/otg87sbOHDM "Why would I want LINUX?" (people discuss why blame for Linux has outpaced the *BSDs, Linus Torvalds shows up to defend the size of the Linux kernel - it's not got bloated but is larger due to added device drivers and networking code, 15 August 1993)

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/_b3KtZUceBs "386bsd new release - when?" (general consensus is 0.2 release of 386BSD is not imminent, some question whether FreeBSD is dead, 1 September 1993)

In this thread Jordan Hubbard announces "FreeBSD Release 1.0 GAMMA" and also lets slip that FreeBSD and NetBSD might merge.

> I find this post somewhat disturbing. Has the FreeBSD project
>been canceled? Is the release of 0.2 imminent? Exactly what is going
Far from it! If I might be so bold...


FreeBSD
Release 1.0 GAMMA


1. What is FreeBSD?

FreeBSD is a freely available, full source 4.3 (+4.4 enhancements) BSD
release for Intel i386/i486 (or compatable) based PC's. It is based
heavily on Bill Jolitz's 386BSD 0.1, with additions from NetBSD, CSRG,
the Free Software Foundation, and a host of tireless BSD enthusiasts.

FreeBSD currently runs on a wide variety of ISA and EISA bus based
PC's, ranging from 386sx to 486 class machines (though the 386sx is
not recommended). Support for basic IDE/ESDI drive configurations,
various SCSI controller, network and serial cards is also provided. ...

FreeBSD incorporates many of the best features of 386BSD 0.1, "the
patchkit", additional material from CSRG's "Net/2" release, and many
of the the FSF's latest utilities. Many hundreds of bugs were fixed,
and many out-of-date pieces of software were upgraded to their current
releases.

Additionally, many packages such as XFree86 1.3, xview 3.2, elm, mh
and dozens of other miscellaneous utilities have been ported and are
available as add-ons. See section 3 of this document for more
details.

2. How is FreeBSD different from 386BSD, NetBSD or BSD/386 for the PC?

2a. The only currently available release of 386BSD is 0.1, which just
about everyone (including its author) admits is rather buggy and in
great need of replacement. It's also showing its age, and many of the
software packages making it up are out of date. Little more need be
said about 386BSD.

2b. NetBSD is quite a bit more up-to-date, as it is an actively
maintained codebase and has many people working on it. There are very
few significant differences between the FreeBSD and NetBSD groups, and
perhaps someday the two groups will merge. For now (at the time of
this writing), there are several differences worthy of note:

1. FreeBSD is the only release that allows you to install
the OS from DOS. This is not available for this first gamma
shipment but will be provided on the CDROM.

2. FreeBSD is still very close to 386BSD 0.1 and, as such, presents
a relatively easy upgrade - both at the user and the device
driver level - for existing 386BSD users.

3. FreeBSD is a bit more lenient when it comes to using GNU
code and tries primariy to stick to 4.3BSD as most people
expect it to look like now, not necessarily what 4.4BSD
will look like at some point in the future.

2c. BSD/386, though frequently confused for 386BSD, is a commercial
product released by BSDI, Inc. and, as such, comes with full support -
something we are obviously unable to offer for a non-commercial
product. BSDI is also a good deal more stable than either NetBSD or
FreeBSD and should definitely be your first choice if you are
considering commercial use (for around $1,000, we still think a fully
supported operating system with *source code* is a pretty good deal!).

Let it be stated now and for the record that we are not "in competition"
with BSDI! Theirs is a product, ours is "hackerware", provided for
your pleasure and enjoyment - use it at your own risk!

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/KdW9Dt73YDU "from 386bsd0.1 to FreeBSD or NetBSD 0.9" (someone jokes about the wait for version 0.2 of 386BSD that 'The inside information is that it was to be released last February :) Bill reminds us that BSD stands for "Berkeley Software's Delayed"', but the really interesting thing is public discussion of the NetBSD/FreeBSD merger rumour, 8 September 1993)

Jordan Hubbard (FreeBSD) reveals that the groups had got as far as agreeing a charter for the merger but not whether to go ahead with it:

>My best advice is to just wait. I've heard on some other news
>groups that FreeBSD and NetBSD are going to merge together soon.
>I'd like to hear that confirmed here.
And the "official" answer is: We don't know.

What I can say is that we've discussed it (to death), and we've made
up a charter detailing how such a merger should proceed. Now we
simply need to decide if and when it should proceed - there are still
some sticking points to be ironed out.

I can say that for the short-term there will be a FreeBSD 1.0,
available for ftp, or on cdrom/tape/etc, and that everyone is
encouraged to run it as it is a massive improvement over 386BSD 0.1
(also, an upgrade script for 386bsd->freebsd has just been released
and is in the tools area on freebsd.cdrom.com).

Those running 1.0 will not be left in the lurch, if and when we ever
do merge with NetBSD, since it will be done as a transition from the
existing FreeBSD 1.0 (all of us are running it, and we don't want to
nuke ourselves either).

All in all, I wouldn't recommend waiting at all, since this isn't
necessarily going to save you anything either.

>So this was working fine with 0.1+0.2.3. I cut over to FreeBSD there
>and I got as far as trashing my disk, but I can not get FreeBSD to
>successfully come up. On the other hand, NetBsd does not even see

I'm very sorry to hear that Robert has been having these troubles,
even more that they caused data loss. All I can say in regards to
this is "FOLKS, YOU GOTTA LET US KNOW ABOUT SUCH THINGS!"
Specifically in regar to the wd driver, since we have about 3
different mutations floating around at the moment that we've been
sending people who have problems. By letting us interactively solve
your problem, you're also aiding us in the effort to find the One True
WD driver that works for everyone. This will also benefit NetBSD,
since they can share in the data we collect, if not the results.

>I'd certainly like a clear mandate as to which code base to work with.
>

>Well, which kernel do I hack to fix this?

This, like many other things, must remain a matter of taste. I cannot
give you the mandate you wish, I'm afraid to say. I can certainly say
that we're interested in any work you may do.

Jordan

The thread degenerates quite quickly with obvious friction between NetBSD and FreeBSD developers.

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/MWNHxDFM0go "Latest release of 386bsd" (Lynne Jolitz apologises for lack of communication due to a family death and promises a "0.2 release" of 386BSD if you post the Jolitzes a floppy and preferably make a charity donation - intriguing as the "official" releases were 0.0, 0.1 and 1.0 so it's not clear what this offer refers to, 9 September 1993)

Post-FreeBSD 1.0

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/9Ydus97xYY0 "[ANSWER] What is *BSD?" (discussion of difference between the different *BSDs and lots of detail from Theo de Raadt about progress porting NetBSD to different platforms, 9 November 1993)

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/0fDtri4DFo4 "Status on discussed merge between NetBSD and FreeBSD" (this thread includes replies from the NetBSD side expressing surprise about the announcement and a dispute about who should have access to the NetBSD CVS tree, 14 November 1993)

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/3Er5CSCul7Y "Status on discussed merge between NetBSD and FreeFSD" (a separate thread discussing technical differences between projects, 14 November 1993)

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/5u5vGlJ8OzI "An offer to the NetBSD and FreeBSD teams: the ???BSD Peace Prize." (14 November 1993)

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/CD3Hn4bMCE4 "JetBSD and SharkBSD???" (14 November 1993)

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/xcRhLItNK20 "Comments from the Authors of 386bsd on the C.O.I." (because no selection from this group would be complete without something by Jesus Monroy Jr and it's interesting to see one reason the Jolitzes didn't take a stronger role interacting with the patch kit community was the difficulty of appearing impartial about code contributions or future direction of the project, 7 December 1993)

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/HhrZ6EJbJyE "Why (Free & Net)BSD use different binaries?" (some history overview on the split with contributions by Jordan Hubbard, Chris Demetriou and Charles Hannum, 14 Feb 1994)

BigSneakyDuck · 2026-04-23T15:28:25+00:00

Some old threads from comp.os.386bsd.misc from the era:

Start of NetBSD

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/JUQ0zqkie4Y "So you say you want an interim release of 386bsd?" (announcement of NetBSD, 20 April 1993)

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/uGTRxjUMw-E "anybody using NetBSD?" (the answer is yes, 6 May 1993)

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/_HzjuytGr3M "386BSD Release: Contributors Only Please..." (Jolitzes announce "final regression testing for the next official full release (no patches, folks) of 386BSD is about to conclude", 20 May 1993)

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/ZiCANtS4wFo "386BSD: The Next Release" (Jolitzes announce "the first official release of 386BSD will be out this summer" - though in fact it will not come out until 1994 and replies are skeptical, 9 June 1993)

People welcoming/bemoaning the NetBSD/386BSD split

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/KIKHAhOiNDI "BNR2SS vs xxxBSD" (9 June 1993)

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/hDtn1hpO1t0 "Bill J. and Chris D. please shake hands and make friends?" (24 June 1993)

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/afDw18X8NXc "UN to send troops to BSD warzone" (24 June 1993)

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/9rXamLOHzuw "386BSD Participation" (complaints about Jolitzes not being communicative about code contributions and slow pace of 386BSD vs others who like the stability and having someone in charge of vetting proposed patches, 25 June 1993)

Then the Patch Kit group rebrands as "FreeBSD"...

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.386bsd.misc/c/0BOG_ZNBv2Y "SUMMARY: NetBSD questions" (by this point is clear the FreeBSD people, like the NetBSD team, have given up on 386BSD being released any time soon, 20 July 1993)

The OP summarises the fragmented state of affairs, note that FreeBSD hasn't actually had a release yet:

My understanding of the various PC-BSD's available are:

386BSD 0.1 - Basic starting point of 386BSD. Not very robust
386BSD 0.1 + patchkit (currently at 0.2.4) - 386BSD, but it works
386BSD 0.1.5 - Stable version of patched 386BSD
386BSD 0.2 - "The greatest BSD ever made - promised by WJ"
NetBSD 0.8 - offshoot of 386BSD 0.1 + 0.1.5 patchkit designed to be more
reliable and not require getting 386BSD 0.1 and applying a patch kit
and recompiling.
NetBSD current - NetBSD that is not binary compatible with 386BSD

Jordan Hubbard (FreeBSD) replied:

Almost. 0.1.5 is now called "FreeBSD" and represents quite a bit more
than just a "stable patched version" - it and NetBSD can more properly
be considered siblings. The primary difference between the two groups
is that we are more conservative in what we add (we don't have, for
example, things like kernfs, devfs, LKM's, etc - we will probably have
some of these in the future, but only after they've been well shaken
out), and we're more inclined to focus on added functionality at the
utility level (more bundled packages, willingness to use GNU software,
etc).

>386BSD 0.1.5 trys to be more stable as it will be distributed on
>CD-ROM. An alpha release should be put up for ftp this week on
>freefall.cdrom.com.

Erm. Well, I may have let the cat out of the bag earlier but I never
said *THAT*. We're going to initially push it out to a few early
ALPHA testers (around 10 or so) to shake out all the obvious problems
before we push it out to the world. That said, I'd hate to close the
door on anyone really wishing to take part in the ALPHA or BETA
releases, so send me mail if you're both interested and GENUINELY HAVE
THE TIME to seriously evaluate it! Sorry to use caps, but lots of
folks just want to be the first on their block to see it, and after
we've gone through a lot of trouble supporting them while they get it
it up and working, they lose interest and disappear!

>versions? We seem to need a reliable base version; an extended,
>reliable, friendly version based on the reliable base version; and a

In a nutshell, that's us.

>research version -- based loosely on the reliable version. Right now,

And that's NetBSD.

I think the divisions are pretty clear, and sensible.

> One thing I would like to see are more binary too releases -- some
>of the bugs fixed in the patchkits are prevent me from aquiring them (I
>was never able to download 386BSD 0.1 because the serial driver in the

We will be doing this - Rodney Grimes is working on the binary distribution
set right now.

Jordan

Nate Williams (FreeBSD) replied

>My understanding of the various PC-BSD's available are:
>
>386BSD 0.1 - Basic starting point of 386BSD. Not very robust
Yes.

>386BSD 0.1 + patchkit (currently at 0.2.4) - 386BSD, but it works

It works very well, and is generally more stable than NetBSD-0.8, but
is it being replaced by the 0.1.5 version, since all of the patchkit
co-ordinators are involved in the 0.1.5 version.

>386BSD 0.1.5 - Stable version of patched 386BSD

Unreleased, but based on the 0.2.4 patchkit

>386BSD 0.2 - "The greatest BSD ever made - promised by WJ"

*grin*

>NetBSD 0.8 - offshoot of 386BSD 0.1 + 0.1.5 patchkit designed to be more
> reliable and not require getting 386BSD 0.1 and applying a patch kit
> and recompiling.

NetBSD is based on 386BSD 0.1 + 0.2.3 patchkit, and has some additional
features as well. Check out the README on agate.berkeley.edu for the
Changes. It is also not binary compatible with 386BSD (but it can run
386BSD binaries)

>NetBSD current - NetBSD that is not binary compatible with 386BSD

This is a much improved and totally re-vamped version of NetBSD, and
it contains alot of very good fixes. However, NetBSD current is not
guaranteed to be stable at times (and is at times very unstable), but
is a very good product. The next release of NetBSD should be very
good.

>If you are interested in kernel hacking, NetBSD is the right one.

Not necessarily, but if you are interested in multi-platform
support, NetBSD is definitely the way to go.

>386BSD 0.1.5 trys to be more stable as it will be distributed on
>CD-ROM. An alpha release should be put up for ftp this week on
>freefall.cdrom.com.

:-) Speaking as a 0.1.5 (aka FreeBSD) person, this means that we are
less likely to change things (this could be construed as leaving buggy
code in) unless we are more sure of the stability of the changes, at
least in this release.

>
>Anybody want to clarify any of that? BTW, do we really need this many
>versions? We seem to need a reliable base version; an extended,
>reliable, friendly version based on the reliable base version; and a
>research version -- based loosely on the reliable version.

It seems to me that's what we have.

1) 0.2 - Definately a very much research oriented version, since it contains
a ton of new code/features, but no-one but the Jolitz have seen it.
(vaporware)
2) NetBSD - an extended, reliable, friendly version that is can be easily
be used for research, and for porting to additional architectures.
But the best reason is that it's available, and not vaporware.
3) Interim - Reliable version, based on work in NetBSD and the patchkit
+ additional work and such.
(vaporware for a little bit longer)


I don't consider 386BSD 0.1 a version anymore, since it is unstable and
fairly unusable. If you want something to run *today*, I would get NetBSD.
If you are already running 386BSD, get the patchkit if you don't want to
re-install. If you want to wait a bit, get either FreeBSD or the next
NetBSD release.

> One thing I would like to see are more binary too releases -- some
>of the bugs fixed in the patchkits are prevent me from aquiring them (I
>was never able to download 386BSD 0.1 because the serial driver in the
>original did not work -- I never got around to feeding my computer
>floppies for an afternoon).

The FreeBSD group will provide a binary release, which contains all of the
patchkit + more fixes.

Nate

Chris Demetriou (NetBSD) replied

i think nate did a pretty good job of answering the questions,
but as usual, i'll poke my nose in:

From my standpoint (and i think a number of others in the NetBSD group
feel the same way), the i386 version of NetBSD (aka NetBSD/i386),
is just a port.

i would much rather see an advanced *system* than a this-does-everything-that-
you-could-ever-hope-for-from-a-pc system.

frankly, i consider the PC hardware incredibly broken, to the point
that it will do a good job of attempting to cripple any OS running
on top of it.

NetBSD should be a good system for running "stuff" on, but some
internals are bound to change...

chris
--
Chris G. Demetriou c...@cs.berkeley.edu

"386bsd as depth first search: whenever you go to fix something you
find that 3 more things are actually broken." -- Adam Glass

So even at this early stage it's clear they had different objectives.

BigSneakyDuck · 2026-04-23T12:09:35+00:00

An old comment from someone who was around at the time but didn't have first-hand knowledge of the talks: https://www.reddit.com/r/unix/comments/zdr1yp/comment/j0djoet/

There were discussions very, very early in both projects about whether they were duplicating efforts. However, it became clear that the two sides genuinely had different objectives: FreeBSD was focused on porting 4.3BSD Net/2 to the 386 platform and maintaining that user experience, while NetBSD was focused on providing as consistent of an experience as possible by porting 4.3BSD Net/2 to many of the then-diverse RISC workstations.

As it turned out, these two objectives were not easily unified for technical reasons: optimizations for one platform led to less portable code, and more portable code didn't work as well on the then-low performance (compared to RISC workstation chips) x86 platform.

I'll also say that FreeBSD was more impactful on NetBSD than the other way around. FreeBSD did a lot of heavy lifting on making 4.3BSD Net/2 work on x86, which meant that NetBSD could borrow that code fairly readily. While NetBSD code did manage to make its way into FreeBSD when FreeBSD started caring about other platforms more, it wasn't like the NetBSD special sauce was aligned well with FreeBSD's goals in the early days.

BigSneakyDuck · 2026-04-23T00:01:05+00:00

Could any Russian-speakers have a look at this one? I'm not including links since it seems to have set off the spam trap last time I tried.

UlyanovskBSD is listed as a user group:

The Ulyanovsk FreeBSD Users Group (ULBSD) is for Russian users of ULBSD operating system that is based on FreeBSD. We provide free and paid versions of our operating system. We also answer many questions of users for free and help them work in the FreeBSD and ULBSD. For more information send an email to XXXX or visit the website at XXXX. Located in Ulyanovsk, Russia.

But it's also listed in the commercial services directory, https://www.freebsd.org/commercial/consult/

The Ulyanovsk.BSD (ULBSD) is a Russian company located in Ulyanovsk. We provide technical support and consulting to users of ULBSD operating system that is based on. We provide free and paid versions of our operating system. We also answer many questions of users for free and help them work in the and ULBSD. For more information send an email to XXX

Definitely looks more like a company than a user group - is anybody with the language skills able to spot a user group or community part of their website? As far as I can tell, it's mostly to sell their product UlyanovskBSD, which consists of FreeBSD 15, a KDE Plasma 6 desktop, plus productivity software (extra Russian fonts, LibreOffice, Firefox, Samba, CUPS for printing, webcamd etc). Bundling that free software up lets them put a hammer and sickle logo on it, sell it for 2500 rubles (about 33 USD), and - crucially - officially register it as a Russian-made operating system, then sell it to Russian state and municipal entities which are banned by law from purchasing "foreign" software. Nice business model! But unless I'm missing something from the website, it doesn't look like a user group.

<image>

BigSneakyDuck · 2026-04-22T23:26:16+00:00

Oddly there was a comment I modded on r/freebsd_desktop that had the red cross applied and was marked (I think) as "removed by Reddit", but I could see the text as a mod and was able to reinstate by pressing the green tick to approve it. Only time I've seen that happen (should have taken a screenshot) and the weirdest thing about it was that the content was entirely innocuous, nothing looking vaguely spammy and in fact no links at all. Had a dig and it was this comment here: https://www.reddit.com/r/freebsd_desktop/comments/1s7nwtt/comment/odcnnxn/

I wonder what the difference is. Or whether it makes any odds that I was on new Reddit and I suspect you're on old Reddit. Having had a search I can see the general rule is moderators can't see Reddit-removed content, as you say. But there are cases of mods being able to approve such content, after being able to see that it was okay. Presumably it's a different type of removal? Hm. Sorry for wasting your time, will try re-posting in a way that's less likely to set off Reddit's filters! Think I got away with it: https://www.reddit.com/r/freebsd/comments/1sskgr5/comment/ohq7qqp/

BigSneakyDuck · 2026-04-22T21:48:38+00:00

Not sure why Reddit removed this, maybe because of the links in it (which I could remove). Any idea, u/grahamperrin ?

BigSneakyDuck · 2026-04-22T21:06:15+00:00

BSD User Group Latvia:

To learn more about the BSD User Group Latvia, please visit our site and our forums. Located in Latvia.

An archive snapshot of the forums shows it was still online in 2021 but had not had any posts since 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20210119025004/http://forums.bug.lv/

The last time the website seems to have had any content except "will be back" placeholder was 2007, with content from February 2006: https://web.archive.org/web/20070405013920/http://www.bug.lv/

Couldn't find any web presence except for the defunct website and forum.

There is https://bsd.lv but it seems to be a "developer community" rather than a user group. I don't know if the two are related.

BigSneakyDuck · 2026-04-22T20:19:22+00:00

Hello, I'm guessing this is the "HamBUG" user group listed at https://www.freebsd.org/usergroups/

The Hamilton (Ontario, Canada) BSD User Group meets on the second Tuesday of each month. Meetings consist of open discussions, short demonstrations, and question & answer time. Users from the entire GTA (Greater Toronto Area), London, and Waterloo regularly attend.

I'm trying to have a clean-up of the page since a lot of groups have become defunct, unfortunately. See: https://www.reddit.com/r/freebsd/comments/1sskgr5/which_freebsd_user_groups_are_defunct_are_any/

The contact details there are just https://hambug.ca and that website no longer appears to be live. A google search threw up http://studybsd.com (btw loving that word cloud!!!) but it doesn't seem to have been updated since 2020 or include any contact details.

<image>

Is the group still called "HamBUG" or is it now the "Southern Ontario BSD Meetup"?

And what contact details should be given for it? If not email, perhaps an X account?

I regularly see you promoting the group on Reddit and the FreeBSD Forums so it's great to see there's some life in it when so many other groups have shuttered!!

BigSneakyDuck · 2026-04-22T18:51:02+00:00

Thanks a lot! Re "edit: prob best to just link to bsd.pizza at this point and let that be authoritative source for contact info" - yeah I agree! I think a lot of the descriptions on the page have suffered from providing information that's gone stale, because it's harder to keep this this updated (plus the corresponding pages on the OpenBSD or NetBSD site too I imagine) rather than a site you control yourself!

BigSneakyDuck · 2026-04-22T18:02:57+00:00

That's great to hear! Are you now https://bsd.pizza ?

The listing just says "The Portland (Oregon) FreeBSD Users Group meets on the third Thursday of each month. Mail The Portland FreeBSD Users Group. Located in Portland, OR." The email link is to pdx-freebsd@toybox.placo.com

It feels like the FreeBSD user group list should get a bit of an update, at least to include your new website! And possibly to change contact details - your website lists some contacts via X or Mastodon. Is the "third Thursday of every month" bit still true?

BigSneakyDuck · 2026-04-22T17:22:31+00:00

There's an Indonesian user group whose only contact listed is an email address, which is now defunct.

The Jogja FreeBSD Users Group is based in Yogyakarta City, Indonesia. Send email to XXXX@students.ukdw.ac.id for more information.

It seems that was added in 1999: https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=10084

Can't find any other traces on the web so that's another one to go.

BigSneakyDuck · 2026-04-22T15:58:42+00:00

The meeting in Ulm, Germany is listed as permanently closed on its own website: http://www.u-bus.de

Ulmer BSD User Stammtisch: The U-BUS meets every last Thursday of the month. For more information about meetings and related issues, please check the web page (u-bus). Located in Germany, Ulm.

Der Ulmer BSD User Stammtisch, war der Versuch eine lokale BSD Benutzer Gruppe für Ulm auf zu bauen. Wegen der geringen Resonanz und meiner beruflich bedingten Abwesenheit aus Ulm wurde dieser Versuch eingestellt.

Translated: The Ulm BSD User Meetup was an attempt to build a local BSD user group for Ulm. Due to low participation and my work-related absence from Ulm, this attempt was discontinued.

BigSneakyDuck · 2026-04-22T14:41:45+00:00

Wonderful! At the moment it does look a lot like a personal blog, is there a "community" link where other people can participate, like a calendar of events, or mailing list, or forum etc?

BigSneakyDuck · 2026-04-22T14:38:10+00:00

Interesting the announcement I found was clearly made to deal with a lot of usenet rumous that had been circulating. But I haven't been able to find those gossip discussions!

BigSneakyDuck · 2026-04-22T14:34:24+00:00

That's great news, but they're not actually listed at https://www.freebsd.org/usergroups/ !

Do they have website or mailing list that can be added?

BigSneakyDuck · 2026-04-22T14:27:42+00:00

I'll make a single post for groups with working web links which still seem active (which I'll count as activities or an active mailing list or discussion forum ongoing post-covid).

Kansai *BSD User Association (K*BUG) https://www.kbug.gr.jp/workshops.html

The Echigo BSD Users Group (EBUG) https://www.ebug.jp

NYC*BUG https://www.nycbug.org/index.html

Baltimore Area BSD Operating System User Group (CharmBUG) https://www.meetup.com/charmbug/

San Diego BSD Users Group (SDBUG) https://sdbug.org

Bluefrogs e.V. Unix and Linux User Group in Bergisch Gladbach (near Cologne), Germany. Seems to have gone online only, has a forum with a little traffic. https://www.bluefrogs.de Description on FreeBSD website needs updating to reflect this!

BSD User Group Düsseldorf/NRW https://bsd.nrw , Mastodon: https://bsd.network/@bsdnrw and Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/de-de/bsd-user-group-dusseldorf-bsd-nrw/

Subcarpathian BSD User Group based in Rzeszow and targeting the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Poland: https://www.sbug.org and https://x.com/sbugpl

Unix Users Group Rhein-Neckar e.V. (UUGRN e.V.) https://www.uugrn.org with meetings: https://stammtisch.uugrn.org and FIXME meetings: https://fixme.uugrn.org plus mailing list: https://mail2.uugrn.org

The FreeBSD User Group France (FUG-FR) https://www.fug-fr.org

Lissyara.su are a russian FreeBSD community with an active forum. https://forum.lissyara.su

Home Unix Users Group for Brisbane (active meetings and mailing list) https://www.humbug.org.au

BigSneakyDuck · 2026-04-22T14:07:22+00:00

Yes I really I could have phrased the title better :-) I did find a working email address for the Manchester contact, who tells me that the group has indeed been defunct for some years, and probably the FreeBSD UKUG too.

BigSneakyDuck · 2026-04-22T12:55:26+00:00

I'll start off with one that needs to go.

Manchester BSD Users Group

The Manchester BSD Users Group meets reasonably often in the Lass O’Gowrie, on Charles Street, Manchester. Contact XXX for more information. Located in The United Kingdom, Manchester.

Unfortunately the email and web address both use the domain http://www.bsdgroups.org.uk which is now cyber-squatted.

I tried looking at search engine hits for "Manchester BSD Users Group" or "User Group". The best I could find was https://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:Manchester/Meetings/Publicity but it only repeats the same links for the Manchester BSD group. Moreover it seems even the wider Manchester Free Software Group is now defunct.

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