GPL-Free: FreeBSD 16 Removes Last GPL-Licensed Code from Base System
Perhaps the most significant news of the week: FreeBSD’s base system is now entirely free of GPL-licensed software. The last remaining GPL component was dialog, which had already been replaced by the BSD-licensed bsddialog in the installer over four years ago. The dpv utility was the last consumer of dialog, but hadn’t been built in over two years. With the removal of dialog, dpv, libdpv, and libfigpar, the entire gnu/ subdirectory has been removed from the source tree — a directory that had persisted for decades.
For end users, nothing changes in practice since the affected components were either already replaced or no longer being built. Symbolically, however, this is a milestone: it closes one of the longest-running technical transitions in FreeBSD history. The Ports Collection still contains thousands of GPL-licensed programs — this change affects only the base system.
Desktop Installer: NVIDIA Driver Handling and Licensing Questions
Alfonso Siciliano, the driving force behind the KDE desktop installation option in the FreeBSD installer, published an update. After automatic GPU detection for Intel and AMD hardware was integrated in May, the focus is now on NVIDIA support. Automatic detection of the appropriate NVIDIA driver based on supported chipsets works technically — but automatic installation is currently blocked by unresolved NVIDIA licensing terms. Instead, users with NVIDIA GPUs will receive a manual driver selection menu. The desktop installation mode is targeted for FreeBSD 15.2 (planned for December 2026).
AMD ROCm on FreeBSD: Intern Ports Compute Stack
At the June FreeBSD Developer Summit, Sourojeet Adhikari, a FreeBSD Foundation intern, presented his work porting AMD’s ROCm compute stack to FreeBSD. FreeBSD already uses the AMDGPU DRM kernel driver (ported from the Linux kernel), but until now there has been no ROCm support for GPU compute. The initial goal is to run a simple vector addition with ROCm on FreeBSD — the full ROCm/HIP/OpenCL stack is too ambitious for a single internship period. If successful, this could provide a better alternative for GPU compute on FreeBSD than the unofficial CUDA support via Linux emulation or Podman containers.
NextBSD Returns: FreeBSD with Darwin Components
Joe Maloney has revived NextBSD as NextBSD-redux — a project combining FreeBSD with components from Apple’s open-source Darwin stack. The plan: keep the FreeBSD kernel but use Darwin services like launchd in the userland. Maloney is also using Claude Code (Anthropic’s AI assistant) for research, design, and code generation, while he personally reviews all changes and leads the project. A graphical desktop is not yet available; the long-term goal is to integrate the homegrown Gershwin desktop environment (based on GNUstep and Xfce). The project shares code with ravynOS and helloSystem but follows its own approach.
Security: Record Number of Advisories in June
Richard Bejtlich (Tao Security) reports that FreeBSD set a new project record with 25 security advisories in June 2026 — the previous record was 18 from January 2001. The driving force is increasing use of AI-powered vulnerability discovery tools: at least 9 of the June vulnerabilities were found with AI assistance. The Alpha-Omega project funds FreeBSD Security Team members on retainer to find and fix vulnerabilities, using AI models for discovery while patches are crafted manually.
The advisories published in late June affect critical components: – OpenZFS (CVE-2026-49429/49430): Kernel heap overflows via integer truncation in buffer sizes – libalias/RTSP (CVE-2026-49420): Buffer overflow enabling potential remote code execution on NAT gateways – TCP RACK (CVE-2026-49422): Use-after-free in the TCP stack – POSIX shared memory: Kernel memory freeing error with sendfile – KTLS: Denial of service via uninitialized memory access – compat32: Kernel stack disclosure in 32-bit compatibility mode – Linux compatibility layer: Kernel stack disclosure – iconv: Multiple vulnerabilities
Additionally, stack-protector-strong support (D56870) has been MFC’d to the stable/14 branch — an important hardening feature now enabled by default in the kernel.
Enterprise Survey: High Satisfaction
The FreeBSD Enterprise Working Group (EWG) published results from its enterprise user survey. The Net Promoter Score (NPS) comes in at 51.6 — in the technology sector, an NPS above 50 is considered excellent. 86% of respondents report that FreeBSD’s enterprise usability has improved (52%) or remained stable (34%) over the past three years. Key improvement drivers: bhyve, Jails management, Zero Trust, Reproducible Builds, and SBOMs. Biggest gaps: cloud-native support, third-party enterprise app support, and long-term support.
Laptop Project: June Update
The FreeBSD Foundation published its Laptop Project update for June. Key highlights: – Linux DRM 6.13: Graphics driver porting is complete and submitted for review. This is the first step toward DRM 6.18 (current LTS version). – Heterogeneous scheduling: Detailed ULE scheduler analysis performed; bug fixes submitted. An Intel Feedback Interface driver and HMP framework are in review. – S0ix/Suspend: Progress on D-state management for the AMD Framework Laptop; NVMe resume issues under investigation. – Hibernate (S4): A talk at the Developer Summit covered the current state of hibernate implementation. – Wi-Fi 6: Three drivers available (iwlwifi, rtw89, mt76); net80211 stack extensions still needed. – Perfetto: FreeBSD porting complete, pending review. – RFKILL/Keyboard: New driver for HID wireless radio control buttons (airplane mode toggle) added.
FreeBSD 15.2: Release Schedule Published
The official release schedule for FreeBSD 15.2 was published on July 15: – October 23, 2026: Code slush begins – November 6, 2026: releng/15.2 branch created + BETA1 – December 4, 2026: RELEASE builds begin – December 8, 2026: Release announcement – End-of-life: 15.1 on March 31, 2027; 15.2 on September 30, 2027
Notable Kernel Commits This Week
A selection of noteworthy commits in the FreeBSD source tree: – pfctl: Fix incorrect errno checks(kprovost) — Functions return error values but don’t set errno. – Revert “pkg: Add -j and -r options”(kevans91) — The options were reverted. – amd64 efirt: Register all runtime regions as fictitious(kostikbel) — Important for virtualization. – exterrctl(2): Add kern_exterrctl (brooksdavis) — CHERI upstreaming work, sponsored by DARPA. – ptrace(2): PTSETSC_RET request (kostikbel) — New ptrace functionality, sponsored by the FreeBSD Foundation. – malloc: Refactor redzone and KASAN handling(D58272) — Overhaul of memory debugging infrastructure.