Here you'll find a list of common terms and definitions that are used within the FreeBSD project, community and by its members.

Acronym: Application Binary Interface.

ABI compatibility is maintained (not changed) within FreeBSD major versions.

See Also: STABLE, WikiPedia:ABI

The “base” FreeBSD operating system – kernel and world. Everything that comes from and lives in the src repository ¹⁾

See Also: Local

Acronym: Call For Testing.

A call to action for the community to test something. Used on mailing lists, IRC, forums, Twitter and other communication channels.

Name given to the version of base in the src repository main branch. ²⁾

Example: 14-CURRENT

Experimental Run

A test build of all ports run by portmgr using a specific proposed changeset or patch(es). Used to QA changes with large potential for regression/impact.

Linux compatibility layer in base that can run unmodified (native) Linux binaries.

Also known as: lemul (Linux Emulation).

More Information: Linuxulator

Everything that is installed separately, in addition to or after, and that is not, Base. In a nutshell, Ports and Packages. FreeBSD has a fairly strict separation of Base and Local, with base installed in / and Local installed (by default) in /usr/local, also known as LOCALBASE.

Acronym: Merge From Current.

Merging or back-porting a base commit from CURRENT (main/base/HEAD) to another, usually lower, FreeBSD version branch. Can be seen in commit log messages.

Example: MFC: After 2 weeks

Acronym: Merge From HEAD.

Merging or back-porting a ports commit from HEAD (main) to another (usually quarterly) ports branch. Can be seen in commit log messages.

Example: MFH: 2020Q4

A “pre-built” port containing compiled (binary) software artifacts, executables, libraries and documentation, usually in tbz or txz archives. Analogous to Debian 'packages'.

Acronym: Merge From Vendor.

Merging code from an external, upstream vendor repository into FreeBSD. Usually done with software that lives in src: contrib

Project code review system, used for discussion and review of proposed changes to repositories. Sometimes referred to as Phab.

More Information: Phabricator

Recipes for automatically installing third-party software. Binary packages are produced from ports. Analogous to Debian source packages.

More Information: Ports

Tool for creating packages and testing ports.

More Information: https://github.com/freebsd/poudriere#readme

Acronym: Problem Report.

An issue/bug report in Bugzilla. Seen in commit log messages to refer to an issue being worked on or resolved. When referenced in a commit log message, that commit log message is added to the issue as a comment.

Example: PR: 346543

More Information: Bugzilla

Acronym: Pull Request.

Example: https://github.com/freebsd/drm-kmod/pulls

Ports repository branches created every 3 months (quarterly).

See Also: QuarterlyBranch

Label given to versions of FreeBSD (src) in stable/* repository branches.

Means ABI stable, within that branch, not the common or dictionary meaning.

See Also: CURRENT