DEVELOPMENT(7)     FreeBSD Miscellaneous Information Manual     DEVELOPMENT(7)

NAME
     development - introduction to FreeBSD development process

DESCRIPTION
     FreeBSD development is split into three major suprojects: doc, ports, and
     src.  Doc is the documentation, such as the FreeBSD Handbook.  To read
     more, see:

     https://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/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://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/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://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/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/13'.  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.

     Layout of the source tree is described in hier(7).  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

     To check the latest FreeBSD build and test status of CURRENT and STABLE
     branches, the continuous integration system is at:

     https://ci.FreeBSD.org

EXAMPLES
     Check out the CURRENT branch, build it, and install, overwriting the
     current system:

           git clone https://git.FreeBSD.org/src.git src
           cd src
           make -sj8 buildworld buildkernel installkernel
           shutdown -r now

     After reboot:

           cd src
           make -j8 installworld
           reboot

     Rebuild and reinstall a single piece of userspace, in this case ls(1):

           cd src/bin/ls
           make clean all install

     Quickly rebuild and reinstall the kernel, only recompiling the files
     changed since last build; note that this will only work if the full
     kernel build has been completed in the past, not on a fresh source tree:

           cd src
           make -sj8 kernel KERNFAST=1

     To rebuild parts of FreeBSD for another CPU architecture, first prepare
     your source tree by building the cross-toolchain:

           cd src
           make -sj8 toolchain TARGET_ARCH=aarch64

     Afterwards, to build and install a single piece of userspace, use:

           cd src/bin/ls
           make buildenv TARGET_ARCH=aarch64
           make clean all install DESTDIR=/clients/arm

     Likewise, to quickly rebuild and reinstall the kernel, use:

           cd src
           make buildenv TARGET_ARCH=aarch64
           make -sj8 kernel KERNFAST=1 DESTDIR=/clients/arm

SEE ALSO
     git(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(1) to svn(1).  It was
     rewritten from scratch by Edward Tomasz Napierala <trasz@FreeBSD.org> for
     FreeBSD 12.0.

FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6        November 1, 2021        FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6