Manpage Monday: bastille bootstrap

Every jail starts with a release. Bootstrap fetches and verifies one for you.

Grab 15.1-RELEASE
> bastille bootstrap -u 15.1-RELEASE

Prefer pkgbase? (FreeBSD 15+)
> bastille bootstrap -p 15.1-RELEASE

You can even bootstrap the official template collection:
> bastille bootstrap https://github.com/BastilleBSD/templates

See `man bastille-bootstrap` for more details.

#Bastille #FreeBSD #ManpageMonday

New 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗕𝗦𝗗 𝗨𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗣 𝗦𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗽 [Custom FreeBSD UCARP Setup] article on vermaden.wordpress.com blog.

https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2026/08/15/custom-freebsd-ucarp-setup/

#freebsd #ha #cluster #carp #ucarp #service #node

Added 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝟭 – 𝗕𝗜𝗢𝗦/𝗨𝗘𝗙𝗜 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝘁 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 [UPDATE 1 – BIOS/UEFI Boot Option] to 𝗠𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗕𝗦𝗗 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗭𝗙𝗦 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗸𝘀 [Move FreeBSD System Between ZFS Disks] article.

https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2026/08/14/move-freebsd-between-zfs-disks/

#verblog #freebsd #zfs

I have good news / bad news on a #FreeBSD package I use

security/pam_ssh_agent_auth is deprecated:

This PAM module is abandonware: no code updates for 8+ years, no new releases for 6+ years.

See security/pam_rssh or security/pam_ssh_agent for alternatives with very similar functionality.

Have any of you switched already and have a recommendation?

@mwl is responsible for me starting to use security/pam_ssh_agent_auth - perhaps he's already switched.

New blog post!

I use Packet Filter (PF) to set up a basic firewall on FreeBSD. To start, the only service I’m running that requires inbound access is SSH. SSHGuard is added for an additional layer of security:

https://www.dwarmstrong.org/freebsd-pf/

#PF #FreeBSD #RunBSD

https://codeberg.org/thomasadam/cow

Greetings!

About me and this account:

I've had many names over the years but I've decided on lex0de for this incarnation.

I got into computers properly with the Commodore Amiga, classic Macs, MS-DOS, and Windows 3.11. While I was still at primary school I was going to college night classes doing Turbo Pascal, messing around QBASIC and accessing the internet, abusing their printers with UNIX and security manuals.

That turned into a lifelong interest in Unix, operating systems, low-level programming and understanding how computers actually work. I started using FreeBSD around 1999/2000, then OpenBSD not long afterwards.

I was a member of CyberArmy.com, stayed through the CyberArmy.net years as senior stafg until it eventually collapsed, spent time around the demoscene, and was involved with RiSCiSO & a few other groups during my reverse engineering days.

These days I'm still happiest poking at old and new hardware, BSD, retro Unix, DOS, obscure operating systems, OS dev, C, Pascal, Zig, electronics, and anything else that involves getting closer to the machine rather than further away from it.

Away from computers I'm an amateur radio operator, and have a longterm interest in RF, electronics, and building things. I'm also interested in linguistics and languages.

Personal footnote:

I have ADHD, ASD, BPD, and a collection of personality disorder diagnoses. It can make me intense, obsessive about subjects I'm interested in, occasionally socially awkward, and prone to disappearing down rabbit holes for ridiculous amounts of time (or just disappearing!). It also means my communication can sometimes be odd or direct. None of that is intended as an excuse for being an arse, just useful context for how my brain tends to operate - don't want anyone thinking I'm purposely being off with them 🌝

#FreeBSD #OpenBSD #BSD #Unix #RetroComputing #Demoscene #AmateurRadio #Electronics #Programming #Linguistics

I was thinking today about my diversity of hardware and systems I maintain.

Sure, I've got a few standard VPS cloud systems (vultr, hetzner) running #FreeBSD. These do the heavy lifting for my web, DNS and other services.

My least standard setup is an RPI4 installed in an RV. The electronics are 100% solar powered and connected to the internet via Starlink. Starlink was also converted to 12v and the router replaced with an openWrt powered system.

What's your most unique setup?

#NetBSD #Linux

Happy Friday #FreeBSD

EuroBSDcon 2026: register today and get the T-shirt for free with your registration!

T-shirt is included for registration https://tickets.eurobsdcon.org/eurobsdcon/brussels/ until 2026-08-16 05:59:59 CEST, then strictly first come, first served until stocks run out.

See https://2026.eurobsdcon.org/ for other info.

Wonder what BSD and the conferences are about? See https://nxdomain.no/~peter/what_is_bsd_come_to_a_conference_to_find_out.html

@EuroBSDCon #freebsd #netbsd #openbsd #freesoftware #libresoftware #brussels #bruxelles

Setting up #FreeBSD on #UTM

Now it needs to percolate through to the quarterly package repo, which'll take another month and a half, but at least that doesn't need any manual intervention.

https://www.freshports.org/editors/vim-classic/

#VimClassic #vim

How is the status of #FreeBSD support on Rpi5? well i have rpi5 running Parch Linux for now but i want to try the BSDs on it as well.

#raspberrypi

New 𝗠𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗕𝗦𝗗 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗭𝗙𝗦 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗸𝘀 [Move FreeBSD System Between ZFS Disks] article on vermaden.wordpress.com blog.

https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2026/08/14/move-freebsd-between-zfs-disks/

#verblog #freebsd #zfs #openzfs #gpart #clone #move #migrate

I've been spending a lot of my time building software with #FreeBSD's Ports system. Sure, I could just install packages but Ports is an incredible learning experience. Poudriere especially.

It's definitely not as straightforward as initially thought and builds will fail for various reasons, but....I haven't had this much fun troubleshooting in a long time.

One question I do have for the folks in the room is:

When it comes to the frequency of pulling down new versions of the Ports tree via git pull, how frequently do people recommend?

The Handbook does not mention it and it's definitely an important operations-related task.

#RunBSD #homelab #learning #tech #unix #BSD

WHAT MAGIC IS THIS?

see AUDIT_IGNORE_GLOB & AUDIT_IGNORE_REGEX in man pkg.conf

#FreeBSD

Our new experimental OCI support continues with compatibility with podman-compose.yml.

The new `bastille up` sub-command will attempt to deploy OCI images from a podman-compose.yml file in the current working directory.

#BastilleBSD #FreeBSD #OCI

I just adjusted my relay instance which now also finally supports #GoToSocial! Of course, it also supports Pleroma, snac, Mastodon, littlefedi, starling and many other ones!

With relays, your own posted content gets distributed to all connected instances, as well you get the content all other instances. Currently, mostly tech related instances are connected, focusing on #Linux, #Proxmox, #BSD / #FreeBSD, #IPv6 and many other things!

More information at: https://fedi-relay.gyptazy.com

#socialmedia #fedi #fediwall #fediverse #activitypub #activitypubrelay #relay #social #snac #snac2 #mastodon #gts #gotosocial #littlefedi #pleroma #misskey #services #devops #starling #tech

Last night a experienced a strange behaviour of my FreeBSD 15.1 homeserver, running a handful of jails. The server is headless, so I can only connect via ssh, which works perfect for years now. But yesterday, out of a sudden, internet connection failed. As always, Ii suspected DNS first and it turned out that I was right. Neither my AdguardHome nor my unbound jail were responding, while I was still able to ping the host and the jails.

I tried to login via ssh several times but I ran into a timeout. Desperatley I pushed the powerbutton, hoping that it would initiate a regular shutdown, which it did. Five seconds before the system went down, the ssh connection was established. I rebooted, checked the log files and there was literally nothing. I couldnt see any hint that something went wrong and it looked like the system just shut down and was booted again. I also did an zpool healtcheck and everything seemed to be finde.

Really strange...

#freebSD

We have a couple of updates to share about the FreeBSD Journal.
Our latest blog introduces Matt Slaybaugh as the Journal's new editor and shares details about the Journal's transition to a streamlined, browser-based format.

Whether you're a longtime reader or new to the Journal, these changes are designed to make FreeBSD content more accessible while continuing to highlight the work and expertise of the FreeBSD community.

Read the update:
https://freebsdfoundation.org/blog/an-update-on-the-freebsd-journal-new-editor-new-format/

#FreeBSD #FreeBSDJournal

Just started reading @mwl's FreeBSD Mastery: Jails and this bottom sentence gave me a good chuckle:

"You don't have to run my example applications. Feel free to use your own, inferior, choices."

Yes, Michael, I *will* be using my own inferior choices. In this case, it will be nsd. 😀

#FreeBSD #jails

Alt...

"You don't have to run my example applications. Feel free to use your own, inferior, choices."

I made a publicly available CalDAV calendar for EuroBSDCon 2026.

Can be used with your favourite... caldav supporting...calendar application. (Everyone has one, right?)

https://nextcloud.anduin.net/apps/calendar/p/CBtJS6T6zCE6X86o

#EuroBSDCon #EuroBSDCon2026 #FreeBSD #OpenBSD #NetBSD #RunBSD

Git is great at storing dotfiles. It is less good at knowing where they belong, which permissions they need, or why a work laptop and a home server should differ.

Here is how I use chezmoi plus Git to manage fish, Neovim, SSH, GnuPG, Atuin and more. Including the “oops, I edited the live file” recovery workflow.

https://blog.hofstede.it/chezmoi-and-git-dotfiles-without-pretending-every-machine-is-the-same/

#chezmoi #dotfiles #git #linux #freebsd

Check out the updated Getting Started page on the Bastille blog!

It's been revisited for FreeBSD 15.x and simplified to leverage `bastille setup`.

Get started with Bastille in five minutes!

https://bastillebsd.org/learn/getting-started/

#BastilleBSD #FreeBSD

That missing merge on the #FreeBSD 15.0 to 15.1 upgrade is reproducible:

https://dan.langille.org/2026/08/12/attempting-to-reproduce-the-missing-etcmerge-from-15-0-to-15-1-upgrade/

I'm on the lookout for a great webmail interface for my self-hosted email. Currently been using my nextcloud Email app as the UI, but I don't love it.

What do you like for self-hosted webmail?

#selfHosting #webmail #selfhosted #FreeBSD #Linux

Nach ca 2 Monaten, unzähligen Rückschlägen, gefühlt 25 zusätzlichen Port ist es endlich soweit: #FreeIPA installiert das erste mal auf FreeBSD #FreeBSD #FreeIPA #FreeIPAserver

Did you know you can make one jail depend on one or more other jails using the `bastille config` command?

> bastille config webserver set depend 'proxy database'

With this set, the jail startup order will not start the webserver until both the proxy and database jails are running.

#BastilleBSD #FreeBSD

Some might question the wisdom of silencing a vuln with respect to #FreeBSD pkg-audit - that's fair.

I acknowledge that one vuln can have unintended consequences when combined with another vuln.

The situation I am trying to deal with is long-term unpatched vulns. I've decided: Yep, I know that package is vuln, thanks for telling me about it. Now stop reminding me.

Thanks.

At EuroBSDcon 2026:
ELKE - Encrypted & Lovely Kage Environment, using FreeBSD https://events.eurobsdcon.org/2026/talk/EXHKSR/
Talk by Vinícius Z.
2026-09-13 15:15:00
To register: https://tickets.eurobsdcon.org/eurobsdcon/brussels/
About EuroBSDcon 2026: https://2026.eurobsdcon.org
@eurobsdcon #eurobsdcon #freebsd #netbsd #openbsd #conference #brussels #bruxelles #freesoftware #libresoftware

@nuintari I'm now thinking a 3rd-party app should be started.

It does the same thing as pkg-audit but has a separate snooze list (each entry being a port and a snooze time; hmm it could also be a VID and a snooze time).

Without knowing how pkg-audit does it:

for each installed package
do
if this package listed in the vuxml
then
if this VID is snoozed
then
next
fi
if this pkg version is vuln
include pkg and vuln in output
fi
fi
done

The code logic seems simple - again, without knowing how pkg-audit does it.

Write it, prove how useful it is, get user base, import into #FreeBSD.

I'm happy to help, but I don't want to start it.

Easy. ;)

Speaking at EuroBSDCon 2026

Join Alice Sowerby, Peter N. M. Hansteen, and Pierre Pronchery for "The Night Before CRAmas – Why EU Regulations Are a Gift to Open Source" at EuroBSDCon 2026.

📅 September 10, 2026
📍 EuroBSDCon 2026 | Brussels, Belgium

Learn more and register:
https://events.eurobsdcon.org/2026/talk/RER8UZ/

#FreeBSD #EuroBSDCon2026 #OpenSource #CyberResilienceAct

Its been some time since I've setup a home server, and even then I only used it to store backups from devices on the LAN.

Never hosted anything that is reachable from the internet (besides SSH). I want to learn how to self-host a few services, starting with a Google Photos replacement; and littleFedi by @stefano .

Thought of using a old laptop, but decided to step up to a ThinkCentre M720q. I've installed FreeBSD as the host OS.

Onward!

#SelfHosting #MiniPC #FreeBSD #RunBSD #littleFedi

Alt...

Output of the 'fastfetch' command, showing the system stats for a ThinkCentre M720q mini pc running FreeBSD 15.1 with 32GB RAM and 1TB drive.

ishmael@bastillebsd ~ $ man bastille-setup

NAME
bastille setup – Auto-configure network, firewall, storage and more...

SYNOPSIS
bastille setup [-a] [bridge|linux|loopback|netgraph|firewall|shared|storage|vnet]

DESCRIPTION
The bastille setup sub-command will attempt to configure different options for your environment.

#ManpageMonday #BastilleBSD #FreeBSD