List of BSD operating systems
Encyclopedia
There are a number of Unix-like
operating system
s under active development, descended from the Berkeley Software Distribution
(BSD) series of UNIX
variants developed (originally by Bill Joy
) at the University of California, Berkeley EECS
department. Currently, there are four major BSD operating systems, and an increasing number of other OSs derived from these, that add or remove certain features but generally remain compatible with their originating OS — and so are not really forks of them. This is a list of those that have been active in the last couple of years, and their respective website
s.
is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). FreeBSD currently has more than 200 active developers and thousands of contributors. Other notable derivatives include DragonFly BSD
, which was forked from FreeBSD 4.8, and Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X
, with its Darwin
base including a large amount of code derived from FreeBSD.
is a freely redistributable, open source version of the Unix-derivative Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) computer operating system. It was the second open source BSD descendant to be formally released, after 386BSD, and continues to be actively developed. Noted for its portability and quality of design and implementation, it is often used in embedded systems and as a starting point for the porting of other operating systems to new computer architectures.
is a Unix-like computer operating system descended from Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), a Unix derivative developed at the University of California, Berkeley. It was forked from NetBSD in 1995. OpenBSD includes a number of security features absent or optional in other operating systems and has a tradition of developers auditing the source code for software bugs and security problems.
from Bell Labs
as a starting point for the First Berkeley Software Distribution, or 1BSD. A series of updated versions for the PDP-11 followed (the 2.xBSD releases). A 32-bit
version for the VAX
platform was released as 3BSD, and the 4.xBSD series added many new features, including TCP/IP networking.
For many years, the primary developer and project leader was Bill Joy
, who was a graduate student at the time; funding for this project was provided by DARPA. DARPA was interested in obtaining a programming platform and programmer's interface which would provide a robust, general purpose, time-sharing computing platform which would not become obsolete every time computing hardware was or is replaced. Such an operating system would allow Department of Defense
software, especially for intricate, long-term finance and logistics operations, to be quickly ported to new hardware as it became available.
As time went on, code was later ported both from and to Unix System III
and still later Unix System V
. Unix System V Revision 4 (SVR4), released circa 1992, contained much code which was ported from BSD version up to and including 4.3BSD.
Unix-like
A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s under active development, descended from the Berkeley Software Distribution
Berkeley Software Distribution
Berkeley Software Distribution is a Unix operating system derivative developed and distributed by the Computer Systems Research Group of the University of California, Berkeley, from 1977 to 1995...
(BSD) series of UNIX
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
variants developed (originally by Bill Joy
Bill Joy
William Nelson Joy , commonly known as Bill Joy, is an American computer scientist. Joy co-founded Sun Microsystems in 1982 along with Vinod Khosla, Scott McNealy and Andy Bechtolsheim, and served as chief scientist at the company until 2003...
) at the University of California, Berkeley EECS
EECS
EECS may refer to:* Electrical Engineering & Computer Science* European Energy Certificate System...
department. Currently, there are four major BSD operating systems, and an increasing number of other OSs derived from these, that add or remove certain features but generally remain compatible with their originating OS — and so are not really forks of them. This is a list of those that have been active in the last couple of years, and their respective website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
s.
FreeBSD-based
FreeBSDFreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...
is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). FreeBSD currently has more than 200 active developers and thousands of contributors. Other notable derivatives include DragonFly BSD
DragonFly BSD
DragonFly BSD is a free Unix-like operating system created as a fork of FreeBSD 4.8. Matthew Dillon, an Amiga developer in the late 1980s and early 1990s and a FreeBSD developer between 1994 and 2003, began work on DragonFly BSD in June 2003 and announced it on the FreeBSD mailing lists on July...
, which was forked from FreeBSD 4.8, and Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
, with its Darwin
Darwin (operating system)
Darwin is an open source POSIX-compliant computer operating system released by Apple Inc. in 2000. It is composed of code developed by Apple, as well as code derived from NeXTSTEP, BSD, and other free software projects....
base including a large amount of code derived from FreeBSD.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| AskoziaPBX AskoziaPBX AskoziaPBX is an Open Source telephone system firmware originally created in 2007 by Michael Iedema.It is a fork of the m0n0wall project and uses the Asterisk private branch exchange software to realize all telephony functions.... |
|
| BSDBox | |
| BSDeviant | |
| BSDLive | |
| Bzerk CD | |
| DragonFly BSD DragonFly BSD DragonFly BSD is a free Unix-like operating system created as a fork of FreeBSD 4.8. Matthew Dillon, an Amiga developer in the late 1980s and early 1990s and a FreeBSD developer between 1994 and 2003, began work on DragonFly BSD in June 2003 and announced it on the FreeBSD mailing lists on July... |
Originally forked Fork (software development) In software engineering, a project fork happens when developers take a legal copy of source code from one software package and start independent development on it, creating a distinct piece of software... from FreeBSD 4.8, now developed in a different direction |
| ClosedBSD ClosedBSD ClosedBSD was a derivative of FreeBSD aimed at providing firewall and Network Address Translation services, written by Joshua Bergeron. ClosedBSD aimed to be small in size, available as a floppy disk image at 1.4MB and as a CD-ROM ISO image at 12.8MB... |
|
| DesktopBSD DesktopBSD DesktopBSD is a Unix-derivative, desktop-oriented operating system based on FreeBSD. Its goal is to combine the stability of FreeBSD with the ease-of-use of KDE, which is the default graphical user interface.- History and development :... |
DesktopBSD is a Unix-derivative, desktop-oriented operating system based on FreeBSD. Its goal is to combine the stability of FreeBSD with the ease-of-use of KDE, which is the default graphical user interface. |
| EclipseBSD | |
| Evoke | Formerly DamnSmallBSD; a small live FreeBSD environment geared toward developers and system administrators. |
| FenestrOS BSD | |
| FreeBSDLive | |
| FreeBSD LiveCD | |
| FreeNAS FreeNAS FreeNAS is a free network-attached storage server, supporting: CIFS , FTP, NFS, rsync, AFP protocols, iSCSI, S.M.A.R.T., local user authentication, and software RAID , with a web-based configuration interface. FreeNAS takes less than 64 MB once installed on CompactFlash, hard drive or USB flash... |
|
| FreeSBIE FreeSBIE FreeSBIE is a live CD, an operating system that is able to load directly from a bootable CD with no installation process or hard disk. It is based on the FreeBSD operating system. Its name is a pun on frisbee. Currently, FreeSBIE uses Xfce and Fluxbox.... |
|
| Frenzy Live CD | A "portable system administrator toolkit". It generally contains software for hardware tests, file system check, security check and network setup and analysis. |
| Debian GNU/kFreeBSD | |
| Ging | |
| Gentoo/FreeBSD Gentoo/FreeBSD Gentoo/FreeBSD is a Unix-like operating system developed by Gentoo Linux developers in order to bring Gentoo Linux design, structure, and tools such as Portage and the Gentoo Linux baselayout to the FreeBSD operating system... |
Gentoo/*BSD subproject to port Gentoo features such as Portage to the FreeBSD operating system |
| GuLIC-BSD | |
| HamFreeSBIE | |
| HeX | |
| IronPort IronPort IronPort Systems, Inc., headquartered in San Bruno, California, was a company that designed and sold products and services that protect enterprises against Internet threats. It was best known for IronPort AntiSpam, the SenderBase email reputation service, and email security appliances... AsyncOS |
security appliances |
| JunOS Junos Juniper Junos is the software or the network operating system used in Juniper Networks hardware systems. It is an operating system that is used in Juniper's routing, switching and security devices. Juniper offers a Software Development Kit to partners and customers to allow additional customization... |
For Juniper routers |
| MaheshaBSD | A LiveCD or USB stick-based modular toolkit, including an anonymous surfing capability using Tor Tor (anonymity network) Tor is a system intended to enable online anonymity. Tor client software routes Internet traffic through a worldwide volunteer network of servers in order to conceal a user's location or usage from someone conducting network surveillance or traffic analysis... . |
| miniBSD | |
| m0n0wall M0n0wall m0n0wall is an embedded firewall distribution of FreeBSD, one of the BSD operating system descendants. It provides a small image which can be put on Compact Flash cards as well as on CDROMs and hard disks. It runs on a number of embedded platforms and generic PCs... |
m0n0wall is an embedded firewall distribution of FreeBSD, one of the BSD operating system descendants. It provides a small image which can be put on Compact Flash cards as well as on CDROMs and hard disks. It runs on a number of embedded platforms and generic PCs. |
| MidnightBSD MidnightBSD MidnightBSD is a free Unix-like, desktop-oriented operating system based on FreeBSD 6.1. It borrows heavily from the NEXTSTEP graphical user interface.- History and development :... |
Midnight BSD has now forked away from FreeBSD 6.1 Beta |
| NanoBSD | |
| NetBoz | |
| Nokia Nokia Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki... IPSO |
Nokia IP security appliances |
| Paxym | FreeBSD for Cavium Networks Cavium Networks Cavium is a San Jose, California-based company specializing in ARM-based and MIPS-based network, video and security processors. Cavium offers processor and board level products targeting routers, switches, appliances, storage and servers.-Major acquisitions::... OCTEON |
| PC-BSD PC-BSD PC-BSD is a Unix-like, desktop-oriented operating system based on FreeBSD. It aims to be easy to install by using a graphical installation program, and easy and ready-to-use immediately by providing KDE SC as the pre-installed graphical user interface. PC-BSD provides official binary nVidia and... |
PC-BSD is a Unix-like, desktop-oriented operating system based on FreeBSD. It aims to be easy to install by using a graphical installation program, and easy and ready-to-use immediately by providing KDE as the default, pre-installed graphical user interface. |
| pfSense PfSense pfSense is an open source firewall/router distribution based on FreeBSD. pfSense is meant to be installed on a personal computer and is noted for its reliability and offering features often only found in expensive commercial firewalls. It can be configured and upgraded through a web-based... |
pfSense is a FreeBSD-based firewall tailored for use as a firewall and router. |
| PicoBSD PicoBSD PicoBSD was a single-floppy disk version of FreeBSD, one of the BSD operating system descendants. In its different variations, PicoBSD allows one to have secure dialup access, a small diskless router, or even a dial-in server, all on only one standard 1.44MB floppy. It runs on a minimum 386SX CPU... |
|
| RelaxBSD | |
| RoFreeSBIE | |
| Snarl Snarl A snarl is a facial expression, where the upper lip is raised, and the nostrils widen, generally indicating hate, anger or pain. In addition to humans, other mammals including monkeys and dogs snarl, often to warn others of their potential bite. In humans, snarling uses the levator labii... |
|
| The Dark Star | |
| TheWall | |
| ThinBSD | |
| Triance OS | |
| TrueBSD | |
| TrustedBSD | |
| WarBSD | |
| WiBSD | |
| WiFiBSD | |
| XORP XORP XORP is an open source Internet Protocol routing software suite originally designed at the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley, California... |
DragonFly BSD-based
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Firefly BSD | A commercially-supported operating system that comes with complete source and binaries for the kernel, compiler, libraries, and user utilities. |
| Gentoo/DragonFlyBSD | Gentoo/*BSD subproject to port Gentoo features such as Portage to the DragonFly BSD operating system |
NetBSD-based
NetBSDNetBSD
NetBSD is a freely available open source version of the Berkeley Software Distribution Unix operating system. It was the second open source BSD descendant to be formally released, after 386BSD, and continues to be actively developed. The NetBSD project is primarily focused on high quality design,...
is a freely redistributable, open source version of the Unix-derivative Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) computer operating system. It was the second open source BSD descendant to be formally released, after 386BSD, and continues to be actively developed. Noted for its portability and quality of design and implementation, it is often used in embedded systems and as a starting point for the porting of other operating systems to new computer architectures.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| BlackBSD | Live CD with security tools and Fluxbox Fluxbox Fluxbox is a stacking window manager for the X Window System, which started as a fork of Blackbox 0.61.1, with the same aim to be lightweight. Its user interface has only a taskbar, a pop-up menu accessible by right-clicking on the desktop, and minimal support for graphical icons... . |
| Force10 Networks FTOS | the operating system for Force10 TeraScale E-Series switches/routers |
| Debian GNU/NetBSD | Debian GNU/NetBSD was a project to combine Debian with the kernel of NetBSD. It was abandoned in 2002 and has not seen active maintenance ever since. |
| Gentoo/NetBSD | Gentoo/*BSD subproject to port Gentoo features such as Portage to the NetBSD operating system. |
| Jibbed | Live CD based on NetBSD |
| PolyBSD / pocketSAN | Multipurpose framework for building embedded systems based on NetBSD. |
| SEOS | the operating system for the Redback Redback Networks Redback Networks was a telecommunications equipment company, specializing in hardware and software used by ISPs to manage broadband services. In December 2006, Ericsson and Redback announced they had signed a definitive agreement under which Ericsson would acquire Redback... SmartEdge router series |
OpenBSD-based
OpenBSDOpenBSD
OpenBSD is a Unix-like computer operating system descended from Berkeley Software Distribution , a Unix derivative developed at the University of California, Berkeley. It was forked from NetBSD by project leader Theo de Raadt in late 1995...
is a Unix-like computer operating system descended from Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), a Unix derivative developed at the University of California, Berkeley. It was forked from NetBSD in 1995. OpenBSD includes a number of security features absent or optional in other operating systems and has a tradition of developers auditing the source code for software bugs and security problems.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| AerieBSD | |
| Anonym.OS Anonym.OS Anonym.OS was a Live CD operating system based on OpenBSD 3.8 with strong encryption and anonymization tools. The goal of the project was to provide a secure anonymous web browsing access to everyday users. The operating system was OpenBSD 3.8, although many packages have been added to facilitate... |
|
| BowlFish | a customized OpenBSD installation script for embedded systems, intended to make OpenBSD fit into small media like compact flash cards. |
| BSDanywhere | Live CD featuring the Enlightenment Enlightenment (window manager) Enlightenment, also known simply as E, is a stacking window manager for the X Window System which can be used alone or in conjunction with a desktop environment such as GNOME or KDE... DR17 window manager |
| CD Bootable OpenBSD firewall | |
| ComixWall | A firewall with UTM features |
| CompactBSD | |
| ekkoBSD EkkoBSD ekkoBSD was a Unix-like operating system based on OpenBSD 3.3, also incorporating code from other BSD-like operating systems. Its focus was on security and easy administration... |
ekkoBSD was a Unix-like operating system based on OpenBSD 3.3, also incorporating code from other BSD-like operating systems. Its focus was on security and easy administration. |
| EmBSD | |
| Flashboot | |
| flashdist | |
| flashrd | |
| FuguIta | Providing both LiveCD and LiveUSB. Highly customizable by user. Tracking errata on OpenBSD-stable. |
| Gentoo/OpenBSD | Gentoo/*BSD subproject to port Gentoo features such as Portage to the OpenBSD operating system |
| JG Gimi's LiveCD | |
| MarBSD | LiveCD of OpenBSD |
| MicroBSD MicroBSD MicroBSD was a fork of the UNIX-like BSD operating system descendant OpenBSD 3.0, begun in July 2002. The project's objective was to produce a free and fully secure, complete system, but with a small footprint. The first phase of its development stopped in 2002... |
Fork of the UNIX-like BSD operating system descendant OpenBSD 3.0, begun in July 2002. The project's objective to produce a free and fully secure, complete system, but with a small footprint. |
| MirOS BSD MirOS BSD MirOS BSD is a free and open source operating system, which started as a fork of OpenBSD 3.1 in August 2002. It is intended to maintain the security of OpenBSD - from which it frequently synchronises code updates - with better support for European localisation... |
A secure operating system for 32-bit i386 and sparc systems based mostly on OpenBSD and some NetBSD, and utilizing the MirPorts Framework. |
| OliveBSD | Live CD originally based on OpenBSD 3.8 |
| OpenBSD Live-CD Firewall | |
| PsygNAT | Firewall and NAT router tool |
| Quetzal | Live DVD/CD system, based on OpenBSD |
| SONaFR | SONaFR is a small system with router/NAT/firewalling capabilities that fits on a single floppy. |
Historic BSD
BSD was originally derived from Unix, using the complete source code for Sixth Edition Unix for the PDP-11PDP-11
The PDP-11 was a series of 16-bit minicomputers sold by Digital Equipment Corporation from 1970 into the 1990s, one of a succession of products in the PDP series. The PDP-11 replaced the PDP-8 in many real-time applications, although both product lines lived in parallel for more than 10 years...
from Bell Labs
Bell Labs
Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its...
as a starting point for the First Berkeley Software Distribution, or 1BSD. A series of updated versions for the PDP-11 followed (the 2.xBSD releases). A 32-bit
32-bit
The range of integer values that can be stored in 32 bits is 0 through 4,294,967,295. Hence, a processor with 32-bit memory addresses can directly access 4 GB of byte-addressable memory....
version for the VAX
VAX
VAX was an instruction set architecture developed by Digital Equipment Corporation in the mid-1970s. A 32-bit complex instruction set computer ISA, it was designed to extend or replace DEC's various Programmed Data Processor ISAs...
platform was released as 3BSD, and the 4.xBSD series added many new features, including TCP/IP networking.
For many years, the primary developer and project leader was Bill Joy
Bill Joy
William Nelson Joy , commonly known as Bill Joy, is an American computer scientist. Joy co-founded Sun Microsystems in 1982 along with Vinod Khosla, Scott McNealy and Andy Bechtolsheim, and served as chief scientist at the company until 2003...
, who was a graduate student at the time; funding for this project was provided by DARPA. DARPA was interested in obtaining a programming platform and programmer's interface which would provide a robust, general purpose, time-sharing computing platform which would not become obsolete every time computing hardware was or is replaced. Such an operating system would allow Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
software, especially for intricate, long-term finance and logistics operations, to be quickly ported to new hardware as it became available.
As time went on, code was later ported both from and to Unix System III
UNIX System III
UNIX System III was a version of the Unix operating system released by AT&T's Unix Support Group . It was first released outside of Bell Labs in 1982. UNIX System III was a mix of various AT&T Unixes: PWB/UNIX 2.0, CB UNIX 3.0, UNIX/TS 3.0.1 and UNIX/32V...
and still later Unix System V
UNIX System V
Unix System V, commonly abbreviated SysV , is one of the first commercial versions of the Unix operating system. It was originally developed by American Telephone & Telegraph and first released in 1983. Four major versions of System V were released, termed Releases 1, 2, 3 and 4...
. Unix System V Revision 4 (SVR4), released circa 1992, contained much code which was ported from BSD version up to and including 4.3BSD.
See also
- Comparison of BSD operating systemsComparison of BSD operating systemsThere are a number of Unix-like operating systems based on or descended from the Berkeley Software Distribution series of Unix variants. The three most notable descendants in current use are FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD, which are all derived from 386BSD and 4.4BSD-Lite, by various routes...
- Commercial products based on FreeBSDCommercial products based on FreeBSDThere are a number of commercial products based on FreeBSD. Information about these products and the version of FreeBSD they are based on is often difficult to come by, since this fact is not widely publicised.- Examples :...