DEVELOPMENT(7) FreeBSD Miscellaneous Information Manual DEVELOPMENT(7)
NAME
development - introduction to FreeBSD development process
DESCRIPTION
FreeBSD development is split into three major subprojects: doc, ports,
and src. Doc is the documentation, such as the FreeBSD Handbook. To
read more, see:
https://docs.FreeBSD.org/en/books/fdp-primer/
Ports, described further in ports(7), are the way to build, package, and
install third party software. To read more, see:
https://docs.FreeBSD.org/en/books/porters-handbook/
The last one, src, revolves around the source code for the base system,
consisting of the kernel, and the libraries and utilities commonly called
the world.
The Committer's Guide, describing topics relevant to all committers, can
be found at:
https://docs.freebsd.org/en/articles/committers-guide/
FreeBSD src development takes place in the project-hosted Git repository,
located at:
https://git.FreeBSD.org/src.git
The push URL is:
ssh://git@gitrepo.FreeBSD.org/src.git
There is also a list of public, read-only Git mirrors at:
https://docs.FreeBSD.org/en/books/handbook/mirrors/#external-mirrors
The `main' Git branch represents CURRENT; all changes are first committed
to CURRENT and then usually cherry-picked back to STABLE, which refers to
Git branches such as `stable/14'. Every few years a new STABLE is
branched from CURRENT, with an incremented major version number.
Releases are then branched off STABLE and numbered with consecutive minor
numbers such as `releng/14.3'
The layout of the source tree is described in its README.md file. Build
instructions can be found in build(7) and release(7). Kernel programming
interfaces (KPIs) are documented in section 9 manual pages; use `apropos
-s 9 .' for a list. Regression test suite is described in tests(7). For
coding conventions, see style(9).
To ask questions regarding development, use the mailing lists, such as
freebsd-arch@ and freebsd-hackers@:
https://lists.FreeBSD.org
To get your patches integrated into the main FreeBSD repository use
Phabricator; it is a code review tool that allows other developers to
review the changes, suggest improvements, and, eventually, allows them to
pick up the change and commit it:
https://reviews.FreeBSD.org
Or Github:
https://github.com/freebsd
To check the latest FreeBSD build and test status of CURRENT and STABLE
branches, the continuous integration system is at:
https://ci.FreeBSD.org
FILES
/usr/src/CONTRIBUTING.md FreeBSD contribution guidelines
/usr/src/tools/tools/git/git-arc.sh Phabricator review tooling
/usr/ports/devel/freebsd-git-devtools Phabricator review tooling as a
port
EXAMPLES
Apply a patch from Github pull #1234, using devel/gh:
gh pr checkout 1234
Apply a patch from Phabricator review D1234, using git-arc(1):
git arc patch -c D1234
Apply a manually downloaded git-format-patch(1), draft.patch, from
Bugzilla or mail:
git am draft.patch
Apply a manually downloaded patch, draft.diff, from Bugzilla or mail:
git apply draft.diff
SEE ALSO
git(1), git-arc(1), witness(4), build(7), hier(7), ports(7), release(7),
tests(7), locking(9), style(9)
HISTORY
The development manual page was originally written by Matthew Dillon
<dillon@FreeBSD.org> and first appeared in FreeBSD 5.0, December 2002.
It was since extensively modified by Eitan Adler <eadler@FreeBSD.org> to
reflect the repository conversion from CVS: https://www.nongnu.org/cvs/
to Subversion: https://subversion.apache.org/. It was rewritten from
scratch by Edward Tomasz Napierala <trasz@FreeBSD.org> for FreeBSD 12.0.
FreeBSD 15.1-STABLE-HBSD September 24, 2025 DEVELOPMENT(7)