There are several Unix-like operating systems under active development that are descended from the Berkeley Software Distribution, a series of UNIX variants developed by the Computer Systems Research Group at the University of California, Berkeley.

History

BSD was originally derived from Unix, using the complete source code for Sixth Edition Unix for the PDP-11 from Bell Labs as a starting point for the First Berkeley Software Distribution, or 1BSD. A series of updated versions for the PDP-11 followed (the 2.xBSD releases). A 32-bit version for the VAX platform was released as 3BSD, and the 4.xBSD series added many new features, including TCP/IP networking.

For many years, the primary developer and project leader was Bill Joy, who was a graduate student at the time; funding for this project was provided by DARPA. DARPA was interested in obtaining a programming platform and programmer's interface which would provide a robust, general purpose, time-sharing computing platform which would not become obsolete every time computing hardware was or is replaced. Such an operating system would allow US Department of Defense software, especially for intricate, long-term finance and logistics operations, to be quickly ported to new hardware as it became available.

As time went on, code was later ported both from and to Unix System III and still later Unix System V. Unix System V Revision 4 (SVR4), released circa 1992, contained much code which was ported from BSD version up to and including 4.3BSD.

BSD distributions Since the early 2000s, BSD has grown into a family of derivatives—each refining, removing, or adding features while staying largely compatible with FreeBSD, NetBSD, or OpenBSD.

FreeBSD-based FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). FreeBSD currently has more than 200 active developers and thousands of contributors. Other notable derivatives include DragonFly BSD, which was forked from FreeBSD 4.8, and Apple Inc.'s macOS, with its Darwin base including a large amount of code derived from FreeBSD. Name Description ClonOS Offers a complete web UI for easily controlling, deploying and managing FreeBSD jails, containers and Bhyve/Xen hypervisor virtual environments DragonFly BSD Originally forked from FreeBSD 4.8, now developed in a different direction TrueNAS Previously known as FreeNAS GhostBSD GhostBSD is a FreeBSD OS distro oriented for desktops and laptops. Its goal is to combine the stability and security of FreeBSD with OpenRC, OS packages and Mate graphical user interface. GhostBSD comes as livecd for users to test before installing. HardenedBSD HardenedBSD is a security-enhanced fork of FreeBSD. The HardenedBSD Project is implementing many exploit mitigation and security technologies on top of FreeBSD. helloSystem A desktop system for creators that focuses on simplicity, elegance, and usability Junos OS For Juniper routers MidnightBSD Midnight BSD forked from FreeBSD 6.1 Beta. XigmaNAS Previously known as NAS4Free, is a network-attached storage (NAS) server software. It is a continuation of the original FreeNAS code. NomadBSD Persistent live system for USB flash drives OPNsense OPNsense is a FreeBSD-based firewall tailored for use as a firewall and router that was forked from pfSense. pfSense pfSense is a FreeBSD-based firewall tailored for use as a firewall and router. CellOS The PlayStation 3 operating system Orbis OS The PlayStation 4 operating system Zrouter FreeBSD based firmware for embedded devices ULBSD ULBSD is a Unix-like, desktop-oriented operating system based on FreeBSD. It aims to be easy to install and ready-to-use immediately by providing pre-installed graphical KDE6 user desktop environment. AskoziaPBX Discontinued BSDBox Discontinued BSDeviant Discontinued BSDLive Discontinued Bzerk CD Discontinued ClosedBSD Discontinued DesktopBSD Discontinued. Was a desktop-oriented FreeBSD variant using K Desktop Environment 3.5. EclipseBSD Discontinued Evoke Discontinued. Formerly DamnSmallBSD; a small live FreeBSD environment geared toward developers and system administrators. FenestrOS BSD Discontinued FreeBSDLive Discontinued FreeBSD LiveCD Discontinued FreeSBIE Discontinued Frenzy Live CD Discontinued. A "portable system administrator toolkit". It generally contains software for hardware tests, file system check, security check and network setup and analysis. FuryBSD Discontinued in 2020. Paid homage to desktop BSD projects of the past like PC-BSD and TrueOS with its graphical interface and adds additional tools like a live, hybrid USB / DVD image. Debian GNU/kFreeBSD Discontinued Ging Discontinued Gentoo/FreeBSD Discontinued. Gentoo/*BSD was a subproject to port Gentoo features such as Portage to the FreeBSD operating system. GuLIC-BSD Discontinued HamFreeSBIE Discontinued HeX Discontinued IronPort AsyncOS Discontinued. security appliances miniBSD Discontinued m0n0wall Discontinued. Successor is OPNsense. m0n0wall was an embedded firewall distribution of FreeBSD, one of the BSD operating system descendants. It provided a small image which can be put on Compact Flash cards as well as on CDROMs and hard disks. It ran on a number of embedded platforms and generic PCs. NetBoz Discontinued Nokia IPSO Discontinued. Nokia IP security appliances PacBSD Discontinued. A lightweight operating system that aimed to bring the flexibility and philosophy of Arch Linux to BSD-based operating systems. The Project has been inactive since 2017. Paxym Discontinued. FreeBSD for Cavium Networks OCTEON PicoBSD Discontinued RelaxBSD Discontinued RoFreeSBIE Discontinued Snarl Discontinued The Dark Star Discontinued TheWall Discontinued ThinBSD Discontinued Triance OS Discontinued TrueBSD Discontinued TrueOS Discontinued. TrueOS (formerly PC/BSD) was a Unix-like, desktop-oriented operating system based on FreeBSD based on ZFS boot-environments, Lumina (desktop environment), and the sysadm administration framework; reinvented as Trident OS on top of Void Linux, retained many BSD aesthetics. TrustedBSD Discontinued. Many of its extensions were integrated into FreeBSD. Only activity on trustedbsd-discuss mailing list is spam (as of 2020-12-22). WarBSD Discontinued WiBSD Discontinued WiFiBSD Discontinued XORP DiscontinuedBSDTahoeBSD 4.3 Tahoe for VAXravynOS (formerly airyxOS)ravynOS was a FreeBSD-based OS aimed at providing "the finesse of macOS", however it has moved to a Darwin base instead.

NetBSD-based NetBSD is a freely redistributable, open source version of the Unix-derivative Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) computer operating system. It was the second open source BSD descendant to be formally released, after 386BSD, and continues to be actively developed. Noted for its portability and quality of design and implementation, it is often used in embedded systems and as a starting point for the porting of other operating systems to new computer architectures.

Name Description BlackBSD Discontinued. BlackBSD was a NetBSD-based Live CD, with security tools on it and fluxbox as a window manager EdgeBSD Discontinued. NetBSD fork with main goal to be more modern in some aspects than NetBSD itself. Its most noticeable differences were back-committed to the main project. fdgw fdgw is a tool kit to build a minimal NetBSD bootable disk, with a primary focus on routers. Force10 Networks FTOS Powerful and robust operating system that runs on Force10 TeraScale E-Series switches/routers. SEIL/SMFv2 The software framework used by IIJ's SEIL/X CPE routers, built on NetBSD. g4u NetBSD-based bootfloppy/CD-ROM that allows easy cloning of PC harddisks. Debian GNU/NetBSD Debian GNU/NetBSD was a project to combine Debian with the kernel of NetBSD. It was abandoned in 2002 and has not seen active maintenance ever since. Gentoo/NetBSD Discontinued. Gentoo/*BSD was a subproject to port Gentoo features such as Portage to the NetBSD operating system. irBSD Discontinued. irBSD was a digital forensics kit based on the NetBSD operating system, designed for cryptography, penetration testing, data recovery, reverse engineering, privacy protection and other security tasks. Jibbed Live CD based on NetBSD NetBSD/i386 Firewall Inactive. A free firewall solution based on NetBSD and targeting i386 devices. OS108 OS108 is a desktop-oriented operating system based on NetBSD. PolyBSD / pocketSAN Multipurpose framework for building embedded systems based on NetBSD. SEOS The operating system for the Ericsson SmartEdge router series smolBSD System creation tool based on NetBSD, primarily aimed at building modern, lightweight, fast micro VMs.

OpenBSD-based OpenBSD is a Unix-like computer operating system descended from Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), a Unix derivative developed at the University of California, Berkeley. It was forked from NetBSD in 1995. OpenBSD includes a number of security features absent or optional in other operating systems and has a tradition of developers auditing the source code for software bugs and security problems.

Name Description ÆrieBSD OpenBSD fork which tends to be free from GPL-licensed software. adJ Distribution of OpenBSD for Spanish speakers, since 2005 new versions are released around 3 months after OpenBSD's releases, source in GitHub, to learn how to install there is a challenge with badge on P2PU Anonym.OS Discontinued. Bitrig Discontinued. Was an OpenBSD fork with main goal to be more modern in some aspects than OpenBSD. BowlFish Customized OpenBSD installation script for embedded systems, intended to make OpenBSD fit into small media like compact flash cards. BSDanywhere Live CD featuring the Enlightenment DR17 window manager ComixWall A firewall with UTM features. Discontinued 2009 in place for UTMFW ekkoBSD ekkoBSD was a Unix-like operating system based on OpenBSD 3.3, also incorporating code from other BSD-like operating systems. Its focus was on security and easy administration. EmBSD FabBSD OpenBSD fork with main application in CNC field. It is almost inactive. FuguIta Providing both LiveDVD and LiveUSB for i386/amd64/arm64. Highly customizable by user. Tracking errata on OpenBSD-stable. Gentoo/OpenBSD Gentoo/*BSD was a subproject to port Gentoo features such as Portage to the OpenBSD operating system.HyperbolaBSDUnder development. Lightweight distribution focused on freedom. LibertyBSD Discontinued. Fork of OpenBSD with all non-free binaries removed. LiveCD OpenBSD LiveCD OpenBSD is sister project of LiveUSB-OpenBSD and this gives users a Live CD/DVD bootable distribution where the user gets to experience OpenBSD without installing to disk. There are 3 flavors, one with XFCE, one with MATE desktop and one with KDE. LiveUSB OpenBSD LiveUSB OpenBSD is a project started around 2009 for creating OpenBSD based bootable USB flash images. There are 3 variants, one with Gnome, a minimal text only version and an XFCE desktop image. MarBSD LiveCD of OpenBSD MicroBSD Fork of the UNIX-like BSD operating system descendant OpenBSD 3.0, begun in July 2002. The project's objective to produce a free and fully secure, complete system, but with a small footprint. MirOS BSD Core system based mostly on OpenBSD and some NetBSD code for 32-bit i386 and SPARC, updated via infrequent snapshots and by following "current". Additional packages via MirPorts and pkgsrc are no longer updated. OliveBSD Was a live CD originally based on OpenBSD 3.8 PsygNAT Firewall and NAT router tool Quetzal Was a live DVD/CD system, based on OpenBSDSecBSDOS for cybersecurity professionals, ethical hackers, and penetration testers. Comparable to Kali Linux. SONaFR SONaFR is a small system with router/NAT/firewalling capabilities that fits on a single floppy. UTMFW Successor of ComixWall, a firewall with UTM features

Legacy BSD distributions