GhostBSD

---

title: "GhostBSD" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["2010-software", "freebsd"] description: "Unix-like operating system" topic_path: "general/2010-software" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GhostBSD" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Unix-like operating system ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox OS"]

Field	Value
name	GhostBSD
screenshot	GhostBSD 18.10 MATE screenshot.png
caption	GhostBSD 18.10 (October 2018) with MATE
developer	Eric Turgeon and GhostBSD Team
family	Unix-like (BSD)
working state	Current
source model	Open source
latest release version
supported platforms	amd64
kernel type	Monolithic FreeBSD kernel
ui	MATE and Xfce
license	FreeBSD license
website
::

|name = GhostBSD |logo = |screenshot = GhostBSD 18.10 MATE screenshot.png |caption = GhostBSD 18.10 (October 2018) with MATE |developer = Eric Turgeon and GhostBSD Team |family = Unix-like (BSD) |working state = Current |source model = Open source | latest release version = | latest release date = |latest preview version = |latest preview date = |supported platforms = amd64 |kernel type = Monolithic FreeBSD kernel |ui = MATE and Xfce |license = FreeBSD license |website =

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.

History

Prior to GhostBSD 18.10, the project was based on FreeBSD. In May 2018 it was announced that future versions of the operating system would be based on TrueOS. In 2020, with the discontinuation of TrueOS, GhostBSD switched back to FreeBSD.

Version history

FreeBSD based releases (1.0 - 11.1)

::data[format=table]

GhostBSD version	Release date	FreeBSD version	Desktop environments	Changes
1.0	March 2010	8.0	GNOME 2.28	First general availability release
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	January 24, 2012	9.0		Choice of preconfigured GNOME or LXDE desktop
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	November 7, 2013			LibreOffice exchanged for Apache OpenOffice 4.
4.0	October 4, 2014	10.0		Various new features
10.1	September 13, 2015	10.1		Software additions
10.3	August 31, 2016	10.3		ZFS support, UEFI support, ...
11.1	November 16, 2017	11.1	MATE 1.18	GhostBSD Software repositories, dropped i386 support, WhiskerMenu as default menu (Xfce)
::

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. ::data[format=table]

GhostBSD version	Release date	Desktop environment	Changes
18.10	November 1, 2018	MATE 1.20	First release based on TrueOS
19.04	April 13, 2019	MATE 1.22 and XFCE
19.09	September 16, 2019	MATE and Xfce	Moved from TrueOS CURRENT to STABLE
19.10	October 26, 2019
20.01	January 22, 2020
20.03	March 31, 2020
20.04	August 10, 2020	MATE 1.24 and Xfce
21.01.20	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. ::data[format=table]

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	May 11, 2021
21.09.06	September 7, 2021		Switch from OpenRC to FreeBSD rc.d
21.09.08	September 9, 2021
22.06.15	June 18, 2022
url=https://www.ghostbsd.org/22.06.18_iso_is_now_available	title="GhostBSD 22.06.18 Released"}}	June 20, 2022
23.06.01	June 5, 2023
url=https://www.ghostbsd.org/news/GhostBSD_23.10.1_Now_Available	title=GhostBSD 23.10.1 Now Available	access-date=2023-11-03}}	October 28, 2023
24.01.01	February 13, 2024		Based on FreeBSD 14.0-STABLE
24.04.1	May 20, 2024	MATE 1.28.1	Based on FreeBSD 14.0-STABLE
24.07.3	September 12, 2024
24.10.1	November 17, 2024		UFS installation support removed from installer
25.01-R14.2p1	February 28, 2025	1.28.2	Now based FreeBSD RELEASE with a new versioning scheme
25.02-R14.3p2	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.

• 2 GHz dual core Intel/AMD 64-bit processor https://ghostbsd-documentation-portal.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/installation-guide/getting-started.html#system-requirements
• 4 GB of RAM
• 15 GB of free hard drive space
• Network access

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.

References

References

1. "GhostBSD is switching its system base {{!}} GhostBSD".
2. Salter, Jim. (2020-04-13). "Not actually Linux distro review deux: GhostBSD".
3. Cao. (2020-05-19). "TrueOS has been discontinued".
4. [https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20100705#feature DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 361, 5 July 2010]
5. "GhostBSD 1.0 Release. Go Green!".
6. [https://linuxbsdos.com/2012/02/02/ghostbsd-2-5-review/ GhostBSD 2.5 review. LinuxBSDos.com]
7. [https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20120213#feature DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 443, 13 February 2012]
8. Sanchez, Nahuel. "GhostBSD 2.5 finally here!". Ghostbsd.org.
9. [https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20131125#feature DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 535, 25 November 2013]
10. "GhostBSD 3.5 "Levi" Released - GhostBSD".
11. [https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20141027#feature DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 582, 27 October 2014]
12. "GhostBSD 4.0-RELEASE Karine finally ready - GhostBSD".
13. [https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20151026#ghostbsd DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 633, 26 October 2015]
14. "GhostBSD 10.1 Finally Available - GhostBSD".
15. "GhostBSD 10.3 Enoch Finally Available - GhostBSD".
16. [https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20180108#ghostbsd DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 745, 8 January 2018]
17. "GhostBSD 11.1 Finally Ready and Available! {{!}} GhostBSD".
18. "GhostBSD 18.10 setzt auf TrueOS".
19. "GhostBSD 18.10 Now Available {{!}} GhostBSD".
20. "GhostBSD 19.04 Now Available {{!}} GhostBSD".
21. "GhostBSD 19.09 Now Available {{!}} GhostBSD".
22. "GhostBSD 19.10 Now Available {{!}} GhostBSD".
23. "GhostBSD 20.01 Now Available {{!}} GhostBSD".
24. "GhostBSD 20.08.04 Now Available {{!}} GhostBSD".
25. "GhostBSD 21.01.20 release note {{!}} GhostBSD".
26. "GhostBSD 21.05.11 ISO now available".
27. "GhostBSD 21.09.06 ISO's now available".
28. "Quick fix GhostBSD 21.09.08 ISO now available".
29. ""GhostBSD 22.06.18 Released"".
30. "GhostBSD 23.10.1 Now Available".
31. "GhostBSD 24.04.1 Is Now Available". ghostbsd.org.
32. "GhostBSD 24.07.3 Is Now Available {{!}} GhostBSD".
33. "GhostBSD 24.10.1 Is Now Available {{!}} GhostBSD".
34. "GhostBSD 25.01-R14.2p1 Now Available {{!}} GhostBSD".
35. "GhostBSD 25.02-R14.3p2 Is Now Available {{!}} GhostBSD".
36. Salter, Jim. (2020-04-13). "Not actually Linux distro review deux: GhostBSD".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::