All organizations · GSoC 2026 · Operating systems

The FreeBSD Project

An OS for servers to embedded devices

FreeBSD is an operating system renowned for its advanced networking capabilities, robust security features, and exceptional performance. It is used across a wide spectrum of computing environments, ranging from the most heavily trafficked websites to desktop computers and embedded devices. Our source code is the foundation for well-known products such as the Sony PlayStation, Junos (the operating system powering Juniper routers), and elements of Apple's macOS. Additionally, FreeBSD runs on servers at Netflix that stream terabits of video content every second. The FreeBSD Project has a rich history spanning over 30 years, originating in 1993 but rooted in work from the Berkeley Computer Systems Research Group dating back to 1978. Over the years, our codebase has undergone continuous development and played an important role in developing essential software components used by numerous open-source projects. Examples include bsnmp, jemalloc, libarchive, and OpenPAM. FreeBSD maintains an active mentoring program to welcome new developers into our vibrant community. With approximately 300 developers with write access to our repositories and numerous other contributors, our community …

  • c
  • llvm
  • assembly
  • make
  • POSIX shell
  • virtualization
  • operating system
  • Embedded System

Project ideas

23 ideas on its 2026 ideas page; of the 19 that state a difficulty: 2 easy, 15 medium, 2 hard. Sizes: 1 small, 10 medium, 11 large. 15 mentors named.

  1. ifbridge(4) IGMP/MLD multicast snooping support medium
  2. Adopt -fbounds-safety in the FreeBSD kernel medium
  3. Kernel/EFI Boot Counter for Early-Boot HMAC medium
  4. Port or reimplement udmabuf medium medium
  5. I2S sound support for Raspberry Pi medium medium
  6. Implement a new VLAN filtering software bridge large medium
  7. Unified kernel tracing interface large hard
  8. Add IPv6 scoped-address support in in-kernel ONC RPC and NFS medium medium
  9. Implement MPLS support for FreeBSD large medium
  10. Improve netgraph concurrency large medium
  11. Linuxulator on powerpc64 medium medium
  12. Capsciumize fts(3) large medium
  13. IPv6 support and cleanup of address family dependency in userland utilities medium
  14. Network Configuration Libraries large medium
  15. PJDFSTest rewrite large easy
  16. Speed up the FreeBSD boot process medium medium
  17. ext2fs user space tools medium
  18. New ports tree target: make db small easy
  19. syzkaller improvements large hard
  20. Capsicumization of the base system large medium
  21. NanoBSD Reimagined large medium
  22. Improve LLDB on FreeBSD large medium
  23. Enhancing Arduino and ESP32 Development Ecosystem on FreeBSD medium medium

Read the ideas page. Ideas are for scope reference; never copy one into a proposal.

History

In GSoC since 2016, 11 years. Projects per year: '16: 12, '17: 5, '18: 8, '19: 6, '20: 6, '21: 5, '22: 7, '23: 6, '24: 9, '25: 12, '26: 11.

On GitHub

No GitHub organization found in its official listing.

Links and channels

go deeper in your terminal
git-into-gsoc org "The FreeBSD Project" --shortlist
git-into-gsoc repos "The FreeBSD Project"
git-into-gsoc issues --org "The FreeBSD Project"
or ask your assistant:
"Which The FreeBSD Project repositories merge
newcomers' pull requests, and which beginner
issues are still free?"

Those commands read live data: which repositories merge outside pull requests, and which beginner issues nobody has claimed. Install in two minutes.