FreeBSD is the most popular member of the BSD family of distributions, which consists of Unix-like operating systems derived from Berkeley Software Distribution (Berkeley Software Distribution in English). To many, this operating system sounds like something aimed at people with extreme oddbut in fact, it indirectly occurs in homes much more than we imagine.

FreeBSD was officially released in November 1993 and is considered the most direct competitor to Linux, a system with which it has some similarities but also clear differences. The first difference is the fact that FreeBSD is a complete operating system, whereas Linux, if we stick to Linux alone without covering the GNU project tools, is just a kernel with its drivers. The second most notable difference lies in the licenses, in that while GNU/Linux is dominated by the GPL, FreeBSD is released under a license commonly called Two-Clause BSD or FreeBSD, which is very permissive and allows the creation of proprietary derivatives..

More than one consider FreeBSD to be a true Unix operating system, however officially you have to pay for the copyright, so if those responsible don’t, you have to settle for the Unix-like or “Unix-like” label. Another significant difference it has compared to its direct rival is that is evolving within more conservative and academic policieswhile GNU/Linux had a more commercial approach (especially on servers) and was much more open to disruptive change, deepening the technological divide between the two.

FreeBSD has recently gained some sympathy among Unix and free software philosophies who are disillusioned with GNU/Linux, particularly due to the extension of a component called systemd. Supporters of the Unix philosophy blame systemd for being too complex and violating the principles they defend, while some free software advocates reveal three-quarters the same, because in their version it is a component that reduces the user’s freedom of choice. Of course, Systemd is published under the LGPLv2.1 license, so it is free software and is present in Free Software Foundation-approved distributions such as Trisquel and PureOS.

However, complaints about the complexity of systemd, which is present in distributions such as Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE, Manjaro, Debian, Arch Linux, and SteamOS, are valid, especially considering that there is no consensus on what systemd actually is. At stake are definitions and initial bloated who does or accumulates things he shouldn’t, software package, system administrator, and framework system (framework). It is possible for several of these definitions to be true at the same time.

Let’s get back to the topic that really concerns us, The conservative approach of FreeBSD prevented the success of GNU/Linux at the desktop level (although the last one isn’t a hit either, at least for now). In fact, the BSD family on the desktop survives mainly by recycling what GNU/Linux can do, so we find the presence of desktops like KDE Plasma, Xfce and MATE and, among others, the reimplementation of AMDGPU , the official AMD driver present in the Linux kernel for Radeon graphics cards of the GCN architecture and newer.

The fact that FreeBSD has not been successful in the desktop sector (at least in its original form) does not mean that it is not present in our homes, and what is more, it may surprise many how far it has come as a technology base.

FreeBSD, a much larger technology base than you imagine

The fact that FreeBSD is almost absent on the domestic market does not mean that some of its derivatives have not gone too far, so I will proceed to mention them.

PlayStation

Surprised? The operating systems of the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita consoles come from FreeBSD and everything seems to indicate that the situation is the same as with the PlayStation 5. The reasons why Sony takes it as a base is its permissive license, which allows it to close the source code without having to explain to anyone, and the fact that as an operating system it is relatively mature, although not successful on the desktop.

It’s important to keep in mind that the fact that the operating systems of the latest generations of PlayStations come from FreeBSD does not mean that they can be used as original material, at least initially, because Sony was in charge of introducing a large number of modifications and custom components that turned them into very different products.

nintendoswitch

The other Japanese gaming giant has also decided to take FreeBSD as the basis of its latest console’s operating system, something it will very likely do again for its next-generation devices.

At this point, it doesn’t hurt to recall Nintendo’s intentions to use Cyanogen, a derivative of the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), as the operating system for the Switch. However, the company responsible for the system didn’t want to, a decision that may have resulted in his punishment. Alternatively, Big N video games took FreeBSD, some parts of Android and ended up creating what over a hundred million people have in their homes.

AOSP is mainly published under the Apache 2 license, which also allows the creation of proprietary derivatives by not forcing the redistribution of source code that GNU/Linux requires with various variants of the GPL.

Apple operating systems

I’m rambling a bit here, but yes, Apple’s operating systems including macOS (formerly OS X) and iOS have borrowed parts of FreeBSD that are implemented in the Darwin kernel.

Darwin, which is largely published as open source under the Apache 2 license, can be seen as the skeleton of the operating systems macOS, iOS, watchOS, tvOS, iPadOS and bridgeOS. It consists of code derived from NeXTSTEP, BSD, Mach, other open source projects and contributions from Apple itself. Among Darwin’s components is XNU, a hybrid architecture kernel that uses various elements from FreeBSD..

As I said, saying that Apple’s operating systems are derived from FreeBSD is blowing the air too high, but they did take some parts of it.

Consequences of Permissive License

as we see there are some FreeBSD derivatives that are more present in our homes than we think, but even many people who are computer literate do not realize this. The origin is, of course, in the two-clause BSD license under which the system is published and which allows the creation of proprietary derivatives.

The ability to create proprietary derivatives allows those who take FreeBSD as a base to “erase” the mark of the original project, because since the derivative is proprietary software, the developers do not have to answer to anyone beyond current law. . This is in contrast to the GPL licenses that prevail in GNU/Linux, as these enforce the redistribution of source code in all derivative software and therefore show or at least indicate the origin of the products.

The circumstances surrounding FreeBSD mean that the project suffers from heavy parasitism and much less financial support than Linux receives.. Despite the fact that Sony and Nintendo struck gold using this system as a basis for building software for their consoles, the Japanese giants are not known to be active contributors to the original project, both in terms of development and finance. contribution.

What’s more, Sony has bothered to give Linux official support for the DualSense, DualSense Edge, and DualShock 4, thanks to its status as a Gold Member of The Linux Foundation. In other words, Sony makes money on FreeBSD and then contributes to Linux.

Conclusion

If we look at FreeBSD as a technology base rather than just an operating system, it’s clear that it’s seen quite a bit of success within home computing. However, its permissive license has caused it to go unnoticed by most people, even among many people who have some knowledge of computers.

Since the people behind the project are advocating the permissiveness of the two-clause BSD license, all that can be done is to ask those who benefit from FreeBSD to contribute something to the original project and help develop and maintain it.