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DragonFly BSD RSS Feed DistroWatch.com: DragonFly BSD

DragonFly BSD


Last Update: 2024-02-02 02:44 UTC


DragonFly is an operating system and environment designed to be the logical continuation of the FreeBSD-4.x OS series. These operating systems belong in the same class as Linux in that they are based on UNIX ideals and APIs. DragonFly is a fork in the path, so to speak, giving the BSD base an opportunity to grow in an entirely new direction from the one taken in the FreeBSD-5 series.

Popularity (hits per day): 12 months: 135 (62), 6 months: 157 (58), 3 months: 152 (61), 4 weeks: 141 (65), 1 week: 126 (66)

Average visitor rating: 7.5/10 from 10 review(s).


DragonFly Summary
Distribution DragonFly BSD
Home Page http://www.dragonflybsd.org/
Mailing Lists http://www.dragonflybsd.org/mailinglists/
User Forums --
Alternative User Forums UnitedBSD
Documentation http://www.dragonflybsd.org/docs/documentation/
Screenshots DistroWatch Gallery
Screencasts
Download Mirrors http://www.dragonflybsd.org/download/
Bug Tracker http://bugs.dragonflybsd.org/
Related Websites DragonFly BSD DigestBSD JumpstartSuper User's BSD Cross ReferrenceManual PagesWikipedia
Reviews 5.x: DistroWatch
2.x: LWN
1.x: OSNewsDistroWatch
Where To Donate, Buy or Try

Recent Related News and Releases
  Releases announcements with download links and checksums:
 • 2023-01-03: BSD Release: DragonFly BSD 6.4.0
 • 2022-01-10: BSD Release: DragonFly BSD 6.2.1
 • 2021-05-10: BSD Release: DragonFly BSD 6.0.0
 • 2020-03-04: BSD Release: DragonFly BSD 5.8.0
 • 2019-06-17: BSD Release: DragonFly BSD 5.6.0
 • 2018-12-03: BSD Release: DragonFly BSD 5.4.0
 • 2018-04-10: BSD Release: DragonFlyBSD 5.2.0
 • 2017-10-16: BSD Release: DragonFly BSD 5.0.0
 • 2017-08-02: BSD Release: DragonFly BSD 4.8.1
 • 2017-03-27: BSD Release: DragonFly BSD 4.8.0
 • 2016-08-02: BSD Release: DragonFly BSD 4.6.0
 • 2015-12-07: BSD Release: DragonFly BSD 4.4.1
 • More DragonFly releases...

  Headlines:
 • 2022-07-25 DragonFly fixes fetch utility timeouts
 • 2022-05-31 DragonFly BSD enables network interface descriptions
 • 2022-03-22 DragonFly BSD now avoids panics when HAMMER2 devices are removed
 • 2022-03-08 DragonFly swaps out LibreSSL for OpenSSL in ports
 • 2021-10-28 DragonFly gains support for creating FAT volumes
 • 2021-10-13 DragonFly publishes fix for Let's Encrypt issue
 • 2021-10-01 Let's Encrypt certificate expiry breaking package managers
 • 2021-08-04 HAMMER2 gets rolling snapshots in low disk space scenarios
 • 2021-07-06 How HAMMER2 tries to fail gracefully
 • 2021-04-22 DragonFly nearing version 6.0
 • More DragonFly headlines...

Table Notes and Explanations

(Please refer to the table below.)
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  • To compare the software in this project to the software available in other distributions, please see our Compare Packages page.
  • Notes: In case where multiple versions of a package are shipped with a distribution, only the default version appears in the table. For indication about the GNOME version, please check the "nautilus" and "gnome-shell" packages. The Apache web server is listed as "httpd" and the Linux kernel is listed as "linux". The KDE desktop is represented by the "plasma-desktop" package and the Xfce desktop by the "xfdesktop" package.
  • Colour scheme: green text = latest stable version, red text = development or beta version. The function determining beta versions is not 100% reliable due to a wide variety of versioning schemes.
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Feature 6.4.0 6.2.2 6.0.0 5.8.0 5.4.3 5.2.2 4.8.1 4.6.0 4.4.1 3.8 2.10 1.12 Feature
Release Date 2023-01-03 2022-06-10 2021-05-10 2020-03-02 2019-05-20 2018-06-18 2017-08-02 2016-08-02 2015-12-07 2014-06-05 2011-04-26 2008-02-27 Release Date
End Of Life                         End Of Life
Price (US$) Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Price (US$)
Image Size (MB) 250-1000 250-1000 250-1000 250-1000 250-1000 250-275 205-205           Image Size (MB)
Free Download IMG, ISO IMG, ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO Free Download
Installation Text mode Text mode Text mode Text mode Text mode Text mode Text mode Text mode Text mode Text mode Text mode Text mode Installation
Default Desktop FVWM FVWM FVWM FVWM FVWM FVWM FVWM FVWM FVWM FVWM FVWM   Default Desktop
Package Management DPorts DPorts DPorts DPorts DPorts DPorts DPorts DPorts DPorts DPorts TGZ TGZ Package Management
Release Model Fixed Fixed Fixed Fixed Fixed Fixed Fixed Fixed Fixed Fixed Fixed Fixed Release Model
Office Suite Calligra, GOffice, LibreOffice Calligra, GOffice, LibreOffice Calligra, GOffice, LibreOffice Calligra, GOffice, LibreOffice Calligra, GOffice, LibreOffice Calligra, GOffice, LibreOffice Calligra, GOffice, LibreOffice Calligra, GOffice, LibreOffice Calligra, GOffice, LibreOffice Calligra, GOffice, LibreOffice GOffice, KOffice, OO.o GOffice Office Suite
Processor Architecture x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 i486, x86_64 i486, x86_64 i386 Processor Architecture
Init Software RC RC RC RC RC RC RC RC RC RC RC RC Init Software
Journaled File Systems HAMMER HAMMER HAMMER HAMMER HAMMER HAMMER HAMMER HAMMER HAMMER HAMMER HAMMER N/A Journaled File Systems
Multilingual -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Multilingual
Asian Language Support -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Asian Language Support
Full Package List 6.4.0 6.2.2 6.0.0 5.8.0 5.4.3 5.2.2 4.8.1 4.6.0 4.4.1 3.8 2.10 1.12 Full Package List
Package 6.4.0 6.2.2 6.0.0 5.8.0 5.4.3 5.2.2 4.8.1 4.6.0 4.4.1 3.8 2.10 1.12 Package
abiword (3.0.6) 3.0.5 3.0.5 3.0.4 3.0.1 3.0.1 3.0.1 3.0.1 3.0.1 3.0.1 2.8.6 2.8.6 2.4.6 abiword (3.0.6)
alsa-lib (1.2.13) 1.2.2 1.2.2 1.1.2 1.1.2 1.1.2 1.1.2 1.1.2 1.1.1 1.1.0 1.0.27.2 1.0.22 -- alsa-lib (1.2.13)
amdgpu (23.0.0) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- amdgpu (23.0.0)
bash (5.2.37) 5.2 5.1 5.1 5.0 5.0 4.4 4.4 4.3 4.3 4.3.18 4.2 3.2 bash (5.2.37)
bind (9.20.7) 0.4.0 0.4.0 -- 9.14.10 9.13.7 9.13.0 9.11.1-P2 9.10.4-P1 9.10.3 9.10.0-P1 9.8.0 9.3.4-P1 bind (9.20.7)
chromium (134.0.6998.117) 108.0.5359.124 100.0.4896.127 88.0.4324.182 79.0.3945.130 72.0.3626.121 60.0.3112.116 55.0.2883.87 51.0.2704.106 46.0.2490.86 -- -- -- chromium (134.0.6998.117)
cups (2.4.11) 2.4.2 2.4.2 2.3.3 2.2.12 2.2.10 2.2.7 2.2.3 2.1.4 2.0.3 1.7.2 1.4.6 1.2.12 cups (2.4.11)
dhcp (4.4.3-P1) 1.3.1 1.3.1 1.3.0 4.4.2 4.4.1 4.4.1 4.3.5 4.3.4 4.3.3 4.3.0 4.1.1-P1 4.0.0 dhcp (4.4.3-P1)
e2fsprogs (1.47.2) 1.46.5 1.46.5 1.46.1 1.45.5 1.44.5 1.44.2 1.43.4 1.43.1 1.42.12 1.42.10 1.41.12 -- e2fsprogs (1.47.2)
firefox (136.0.2) 52.8.0 52.8.0 86.0 73.0.1 60.5.2 60.0.1 54.0.1 47.0.1 42.0 29.0 3.6.15 2.0.0.11 firefox (136.0.2)
freetype (2.13.3) 2.12.1 2.11.1 1.3.1 2.10.1 2.9.1 2.9.1 2.8 2.6.3 2.6 2.5.3 2.4.4 2.3.5 freetype (2.13.3)
gcc (14.2.0) 11 10 10 9.2.0 8.3.0 7.3.0 5.4.0 4.8.5 4.8.5 4.7.3 4.4.5 4.1.2 gcc (14.2.0)
gimp (3.0.0) 2.10.32 2.10.28 2.10.22 2.10.14 2.10.8 2.8.22 2.8.22 2.8.16 2.8.16 2.8.10 2.6.11 2.4.3 gimp (3.0.0)
glibc (2.41) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- glibc (2.41)
gnome-shell (48.0) 42.4 41.4 3.36.6 3.28.3 -- 3.18.5 3.18.5 3.18.4 3.16.3 -- -- -- gnome-shell (48.0)
gnucash (5.10) 4.12 4.10 4.4 3.8 3.4 3.1 2.6.15 2.6.13 2.6.9 2.6.3 -- 2.2.1 gnucash (5.10)
gnumeric (1.12.59) 1.12.52 1.12.50 1.12.48 1.12.46 1.12.43 1.12.28 1.12.28 1.12.28 1.12.24 1.12.11 1.10.13 1.6.3 gnumeric (1.12.59)
grub (2.12) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 0.97 0.97 grub (2.12)
gtk (4.18.2) 4.8.0 4.6.3 -- 3.24.7 3.22.30 3.22.29 3.22.15 3.18.8 3.16.6 3.8.8 2.20.1 2.12.3 gtk (4.18.2)
httpd (2.4.63) 2.4.54 2.4.53 2.4.46 2.4.41 2.4.38 2.4.33 2.4.27 2.4.23 2.4.17 2.4.9 2.2.17 2.2.8 httpd (2.4.63)
inkscape (1.4) 1.2.1 1.1.2 1.0.2 0.92.4 0.92.3 0.92.2 0.92.1 0.91 0.91 0.48.4 0.48.1 -- inkscape (1.4)
k3b (24.12.3) 22.08.1 21.12.3 20.12.2 19.12.2 -- 2.0.3 2.0.3 2.0.3 2.0.3 2.0.2 1.0.5 -- k3b (24.12.3)
kmod (34.1) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- kmod (34.1)
krita (5.2.9) 5.1.1 5.0.2 4.4.1 4.2.8.2 -- 3.3.3 3.1.2.1 -- -- -- -- -- krita (5.2.9)
LibreOffice (25.2.1) 7.4.2.3 7.3.2.2 7.1.0.3 6.3.4 6.0.7 6.0.4 5.3.4 5.0.6 5.0.3 4.1.6 -- -- LibreOffice (25.2.1)
linux (6.13.7) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- linux (6.13.7)
Package 6.4.0 6.2.2 6.0.0 5.8.0 5.4.3 5.2.2 4.8.1 4.6.0 4.4.1 3.8 2.10 1.12 Package
lxpanel (0.10.1) 0.9.3 0.9.3 0.9.3 0.9.3 0.9.3 0.9.3 0.99.2 0.5.5 0.5.5 0.5.5 -- -- lxpanel (0.10.1)
mariadb (11.6.2) -- -- -- 10.4.12 10.1.38 10.1.28 10.1.24 10.0.26 10.0.22 5.5.35 -- -- mariadb (11.6.2)
mate-desktop (1.28.2) 1.26.0 1.26.0 1.24.2 1.22.2 1.20.3 1.20.0 1.12.0 1.12.1 1.10.2 1.6.1 -- -- mate-desktop (1.28.2)
mesa (25.0.1) 21.3.6 21.3.6 8.4.0 18.3.2 18.3.2 8.4.0 17.1.4 11.2.2 10.6.9 9.1.7 7.4.4 6.4.2 mesa (25.0.1)
mysql (9.2.0) -- -- -- 8.0.19 8.0.14 5.7.19 5.7.18 5.7.13 5.6.27 5.6.17 5.1.56 5.0.51 mysql (9.2.0)
nautilus (48.0) 42.2 41.2 3.36.3 3.28.1 3.28.1 3.18.5 3.18.5 3.18.5 3.16.2 2.32.2.1 2.32.2.1 -- nautilus (48.0)
NVIDIA (570.133.07) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- NVIDIA (570.133.07)
openbox (3.6.1) 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.5.2 3.4.11.2 3.4.4 openbox (3.6.1)
openjdk (24) 8.342.07.1 8.322.06.1 11.0.10 11.0.6 8u181 8u172 8u131 8u92 8u60 7u55 -- -- openjdk (24)
openssh (9.9p2) -- -- -- 8.1p1 7.9p1 7.7p1 7.5p1 7.2p2 7.1p1 6.1p1 5.8p1 4.7p1 openssh (9.9p2)
openssl (3.4.1) 0.5.0p 0.5.0p 1.1.1k 1.1.1d 1.0.2q 1.0.2o 1.0.2l 1.0.2h 1.0.2e 1.0.1g 1.0.0d 0.9.7g openssl (3.4.1)
perl (5.40.1) -- -- -- 5.30.1 5.28.1 5.26.2 5.24.1 5.24.0 5.20.3 5.20.0 5.12.2 5.8.8 perl (5.40.1)
php (8.4.5) -- -- -- 7.4.2 7.3.2 7.2.6 7.1.6 7.0.8 5.6.14 5.5.12 5.3.6 5.2.5 php (8.4.5)
plasma-desktop (6.3.3) -- -- -- 5.18.0 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- plasma-desktop (6.3.3)
postfix (3.10.1) 3.7.2 3.5.12 3.5.9 3.4.8 3.3.2 3.3.0 3.2.2 2.11.7 2.11.7 2.11.1 2.8.2 2.5devel postfix (3.10.1)
postgresql (17.4) 5.3.2 5.2.0 10.16 11.7 11.2 10.4 9.6.3 9.5.3 9.4.5 9.3.4 9.0.3 8.2.6 postgresql (17.4)
Python (3.13.2) 3.9 3.8 3.8.0 3.8.1 3.7.2 3.6.5 3.6.1 3.5.2 3.5.0 3.4.0 2.7.1 2.3.5 Python (3.13.2)
qt (6.8.2) 5.15.5 5.15.2 6.1 5.13.2 5.12.1 5.10.1 5.7.1 5.5.1 4.8.7 4.8.6 4.7.2 3.3.8 qt (6.8.2)
samba (4.22.0) -- -- -- 4.10.13 4.8.9 4.6.15 4.4.14 4.4.5 4.1.18 4.1.7 3.5.8 3.0.26a samba (4.22.0)
systemd (257.4) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- systemd (257.4)
thunderbird (136.0.1) 102.6.0 91.10.0 78.8.0 68.5.0 60.5.2 52.8.0 52.2.1 45.2.0 38.4.0 24.5.0 3.1.8 -- thunderbird (136.0.1)
vim (9.1) 9.0 8.2 8.2 8.2 8.1 8.1 8.0 7.4 7.4 7.4 7.2 7.1 vim (9.1)
vlc (3.0.21) 3.0.18 3.0.17.4 3.0.12 3.0.8 3.0.6 2.2.8 2.2.6 2.2.4 2.2.1 2.1.4 1.0.6 -- vlc (3.0.21)
wayland (1.23.1) 1.21.0 1.18.0 1.18.0 1.16.0 1.16.0 1.13.0 1.9.0 1.9.0 1.9.0 -- -- -- wayland (1.23.1)
xfdesktop (4.20.1) 4.16.1 4.16.0 4.16 4.14.2 4.12.4 4.12 4.12.3 4.12.3 4.12.3 4.10.2 4.6.1 4.4.2 xfdesktop (4.20.1)
xorg-server (21.1.16) 21.1.4 1.20.14 1.20.9 1.18.4 1.18.4 1.18.4 1.18.4 1.17.4 1.17.4 1.12.4 1.6.5 1.3.0.0 xorg-server (21.1.16)

Reader Ratings
Reader supplied reviews for DragonFly BSD

Average rating
7.5
from 10 review(s)



What are your thoughts on DragonFly BSD?
Please include a few pros and a few cons, along with your overall impression of the operating system.
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Past reviews - sort by:

Version: 6.4.0
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-02-05
Votes: 2


I actually really enjoyed using this for a few weeks on my old thinkpad. Creating the install usb was as easy as dd’ing the usb image onto something. The installer makes everything else super easy. Once installed it just boots right up into tty and a login prompt. It does require a bit of manual work to get things set up like a DE and WiFi, but it’s all documented very well in their handbook and is super easy. The repos had everything I needed to do some work writing C. Overall it’s a great BSD if you are comfortable reading docs and setting things up yourself. Or, if you want to push your skills a bit and see if you can get it running, give it a shot!


Was this review helpful? Yes No
Version: 6.4.0
Rating: 5
Date: 2023-12-22
Votes: 0


As a project, I wanted to try something different. Above all, I was curious as to the Hammer2 system, and also towards the supposedly fast speed of the Dragonfly OS.

But... I never got near installing it. The text on their site says "[...] If you use a USB .img file, it needs to be copied to a USB key directly. Use dd on unix-like systems [...]" And so I did. Bunzipped the image file, used dd to write it on a 1.7 giga usb stick. It did not boot.

Retried, this time using MX's GUI usb creator tool. Destination, the 1.7 G usb stick on /dev/sda, pointed the input to the dfly-x86_64-6.4.0_REL.img file on my hdd and... the usb tool stopped with "an encountered error".

So I left it with that. It sounds all interesting, but I got beached at the very simple task of creating the boot-usb.
Conclusion: this one is above my pay-grade, I'll keep an eye on it but will leave it to more skilled people to try it out. For myself, I will continue my experimentation with FreeBSD for now.


Was this review helpful? Yes No
Version: 6.4.0
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-10-21
Votes: 63


An excellent BSD system, but obviously it's not meant to be a replacement for Windows or Ubuntu. Some people should just stick with those operating systems if they can't manage a BSD. I use and prefer NetBSD myself, but I'm happy to acknowledge the distinguishing features of other BSDs. In the case of DragonFly BSD, the main selling point might be the Hammer file system, which is now at Hammer2. The project has also introduced the hypervisor NVVM, formerly developed on NetBSD. This had some excellent security advantages over, say, KVM on Linux, but unfortunately the main developer is prone to go missing. All in all, however, DragonFly BSD is a promising project, and one that I keep my eye on, even if I don't (yet?) use it as a desktop or server.


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See all 10 reader reviews of DragonFly BSD...

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