1.\" SPDX-License-Identifier: ISC 2.\" 3.\" Copyright (c) 2025 Lexi Winter. 4.\" 5.\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any 6.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above 7.\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies. 8.\" 9.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES 10.\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF 11.\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR 12.\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES 13.\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN 14.\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF 15.\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE. 16.\" 17.Dd September 25, 2025 18.Dt FREEBSD-BASE 7 19.Os 20.Sh NAME 21.\" .Nm pkgbase 22.Nm freebsd-base 23.Nd base system packages 24.Sh DESCRIPTION 25The 26.Fx 27base system may be installed as a set of 28.Xr pkg 8 29packages, which supersedes the traditional method of installing using 30.Xr tar 1 31archives. 32.Pp 33All base packages have names beginning with the string 34.Dq "FreeBSD-" , 35and have an origin beginning with 36.Dq base/ . 37In the default system configuration, the repository containing these 38packages is called 39.Dq FreeBSD-base , 40but any name may be used. 41The repository name can be used with 42.Xr pkg 8 43to restrict package operations to the base system packages. 44.Pp 45Packages for all supported 46.Fx 47releases as well as active 48.Dq STABLE 49and 50.Dq CURRENT 51.\" re@ will provide their own repository before release, at which 52.\" point this text will need updating. 53branches are hosted on the Internet at 54.Lk https://pkg.freebsd.org . 55These packages are updated when new errata or security updates are 56released (for supported release versions), or twice daily for 57development branches. 58.Pp 59Alternatively, packages may be built from the system source tree 60according to the instructions in 61.Xr build 7 , 62allowing the system to be updated from source code using packages. 63.Sh PACKAGE ORGANISATION 64To allow customisation of the installed system, each package is split 65into several subpackages which contain different components of the 66package. 67For the package 68.Sy FreeBSD-foo , 69the following subpackages may be available: 70.Bl -column "FreeBSD-foo-dev-lib32" "Description" 71.It Sy "Package name" Ta Sy "Description" 72.It FreeBSD-foo Ta Base files for the package (typically executables) 73.It FreeBSD-foo-lib Ta Native runtime libraries 74.It FreeBSD-foo-lib32 Ta 32-bit compatibility runtime libraries 75.It FreeBSD-foo-dev Ta Development files (headers and static libraries) 76.It FreeBSD-foo-dev-lib32 Ta 32-bit development files 77.It FreeBSD-foo-dbg Ta Debugging symbols 78.It FreeBSD-foo-man Ta Manual pages. 79Manual pages are only packaged separately if the 80.Sy WITH_MANSPLITPKG 81.Xr src.conf 5 82option was enabled when building the system, which is not the default. 83.El 84.Pp 85The exact set of available subpackages differs for each individual 86package. For example, some packages may not provide any development 87files, in which case the 88.Sy -dev 89subpackage is not present. 90.Sh PACKAGE SETS 91Package sets are meta-packages which do not contain any files 92themselves, but depend on a selection of other packages, such that each 93package set allows the complete set of packages for a supported workload 94to be installed. 95.Pp 96Package sets are provided as packages named 97.Sy FreeBSD-set-<name> . 98The following package sets are available in the base system: 99.Bl -tag -width "minimal-jail" 100.It minimal 101The minimal set of packages required to bring up a multi-user 102.Fx 103system. 104This includes the core system, along with packages required for 105hardware support (such as 106.Xr devmatch 8 107and downloadable firmware), and basic networking, including DHCP and 108IEEE Std 802.11\(tm wireless networks. 109.It minimal-jail 110The equivalent of 111.Sy minimal 112for systems running in a 113.Xr jail 8 114environment. 115This set excludes hardware support not typically required for jails. 116.It devel 117Development tools, including C/C++ compilers, the link loader, and 118other tools such as 119.Xr ar 1 120and 121.Xr nm 1 . 122This set also includes native development files (headers and static 123libraries) for all packages. 124.It lib32 12532-compatibility libraries, for running 32-bit applications on a 12664-bit host system. 127This set includes both runtime libraries and development files. 128.It base 129The complete base system, excluding tests, the system source code, 130and debugging symbols. 131.It base-jail 132The equivalent of 133.Sy base 134for systems running in a 135.Xr jail 8 136environment. 137This set excludes system functionality which typically does not work 138or is not useful in a jail. 139.It src 140The system source tree for the userland and kernel, installed in 141.Pa /usr/src . 142.It tests 143The system test suite, installed in 144.Pa /usr/tests . 145.It kernels 146All available system kernels. 147.El 148.Sh EXAMPLES 149Install the 150.Xr vi 1 151text editor on the running system: 152.Bd -literal -offset indent 153pkg install FreeBSD-vi 154.Ed 155.Pp 156Install a new 157.Xr jail 8 158system using the 159.Sy minimal-jail 160package set: 161.Bd -literal -offset indent 162pkg -r /jails/myjail install FreeBSD-set-minimal-jail 163.Ed 164.Pp 165Install C/C++ compilers on the running system: 166.Bd -literal -offset indent 167pkg install FreeBSD-set-devel 168.Ed 169.Pp 170Apply available updates to the running system: 171.Bd -literal -offset indent 172pkg update -r FreeBSD-base 173.Ed 174.Pp 175Install the development toolchain for FreeBSD/powerpc64le in an 176alternate root (for example, to support cross-compiling software 177for a different target than the host system): 178.Bd -literal -offset indent 179pkg -r /ppcdev -oABI=FreeBSD:16:powerpc64le \e 180 install -r FreeBSD-set-devel 181.Ed 182.Sh SEE ALSO 183.Xr build 7 , 184.Xr pkg 8 , 185.Xr src.conf 5 186.Sh HISTORY 187Support for installing the base system as packages was introduced in 188.Fx 15.0 . 189Earlier releases supported a subset of this functionality. 190