GhostBSD
Unix-like operating system
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
GhostBSD is a Unix-like operating system based on FreeBSD for x86-64, with MATE (previously GNOME) as its default desktop environment and an Xfce-desktop community based edition. It aims to be easy to install, ready-to-use and easy to use. The project goal is to combine security, privacy, stability, usability, openness, freedom and to be free of charge.
| GhostBSD | |
|---|---|
GhostBSD 18.10 (October 2018) with MATE | |
| Developer | Eric Turgeon and GhostBSD Team |
| OS family | Unix-like (BSD) |
| Working state | Current |
| Source model | Open source |
| Latest release | 25.02-R14.3p2[1]  / 25 August 2025 |
| Repository | |
| Supported platforms | amd64 |
| Kernel type | Monolithic FreeBSD kernel |
| Default user interface | MATE and Xfce |
| License | FreeBSD license |
| Official website | www |
History
Version history
FreeBSD based releases (1.0 - 11.1)
| GhostBSD version | Release date | FreeBSD version | Desktop environments | Changes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0[5] | March 2010 | 8.0 | GNOME 2.28 | First general availability release[6] |
| 1.5 | ? | 8.1 | GNOME 2.30 | Introduced Compiz support. (This version was also distributed with the January 2011 issue of the German magazine freeX, which also featured an article about the new OS.) |
| 2.0 | March 13, 2011 | 8.2 | ? | Improvements to GDM et al. |
| 2.5[7][8] | January 24, 2012 | 9.0 | ? | Choice of preconfigured GNOME or LXDE desktop[9] |
| 3.0 | March 10, 2013 | 9.1 | ? | The last release to deploy the GNOME 2 desktop environment |
| 3.1 | June 28, 2013 | ? | ? | A point release primarily to fix bugs |
| 3.5[10] | November 7, 2013 | ? | LibreOffice exchanged for Apache OpenOffice 4.[11] | |
| 4.0[12] | October 4, 2014 | 10.0 | ? | Various new features[13] |
| 10.1[14] | September 13, 2015 | 10.1 | ? | Software additions[15] |
| 10.3 | August 31, 2016 | 10.3 | ? | ZFS support, UEFI support, ...[16] |
| 11.1[17] | November 16, 2017 | 11.1 | MATE 1.18 Xfce 4.12 | GhostBSD Software repositories, dropped i386 support, WhiskerMenu as default menu (Xfce)[18] |
TrueOS-based releases (18.10 - 21.01.20)
From GhostBSD 18.10 to 21.01.20, the project moved its base from FreeBSD to TrueOS. Following are TrueOS-based GhostBSD releases.
| GhostBSD version | Release date | Desktop environment | Changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18.10[19][20] | November 1, 2018 | MATE 1.20 | First release based on TrueOS |
| 19.04[21] | April 13, 2019 | MATE 1.22 and XFCE | |
| 19.09[22] | September 16, 2019 | MATE and Xfce | Moved from TrueOS CURRENT to STABLE |
| 19.10[23] | October 26, 2019 | ||
| 20.01[24] | January 22, 2020 | ||
| 20.03 | March 31, 2020 | ||
| 20.04[25] | August 10, 2020 | MATE 1.24 and Xfce | |
| 21.01.20[26] | January 23, 2021 |
FreeBSD based releases (21.04.27 - present)
Beginning from GhostBSD 21.04.27, the project has moved its base back to FreeBSD.
| GhostBSD version | Release date | Desktop environment | Changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21.04.27 | April 29, 2021 | GhostBSD is now based on FreeBSD 13.0-STABLE | |
| 21.5.11[27] | May 11, 2021 | ||
| 21.09.06[28] | September 7, 2021 | Switch from OpenRC to FreeBSD rc.d | |
| 21.09.08[29] | September 9, 2021 | ||
| 22.06.15 | June 18, 2022 | ||
| 22.06.18[30] | June 20, 2022 | ||
| 23.06.01 | June 5, 2023 | ||
| 23.10.01[31] | October 28, 2023 | MATE 1.26.0 | |
| 24.01.01 | February 13, 2024 | Based on FreeBSD 14.0-STABLE | |
| 24.04.1[32] | May 20, 2024 | MATE 1.28.1 | Based on FreeBSD 14.0-STABLE |
| 24.07.3[33] | September 12, 2024 | ||
| 24.10.1[34] | November 17, 2024 | UFS installation support removed from installer | |
| 25.01-R14.2p1[35] | February 28, 2025 | 1.28.2 | Now based FreeBSD RELEASE with a new versioning scheme |
| 25.02-R14.3p2[36] | August 25, 2025 | Addition of a new community supported Gershwin desktop environment |
License
GhostBSD was originally licensed under the 3-clause BSD license ("Revised BSD License", "New BSD License", or "Modified BSD License")
In 2014 Eric Turgeon re-licensed GhostBSD under 2-clause license ("Simplified BSD License" or "FreeBSD License"). GhostBSD contains some GPL-licensed software.
Recommended system requirements
The following are the recommended requirements.
Reception
Jim Salter of Ars Technica concluded that GhostBSD was "... perfectly reasonable choice for a desktop distribution." However, Google Chrome support was unlikely to come anytime soon. Without a specific desire for running BSD he wouldn't recommend the operating system instead of a more mainstream Linux distribution.[37]
