List of FreeBSD Commands by Category

That quick reference guide for whenever you need to remember something.

List of FreeBSD Commands by Category

Hail, guys! Below is a FreeBSD Cheat Sheet separated by category.

Assembly Commands

  • Mount MS-DOS file system (USB stick, external FAT32 drive)
sudo mount_msdosfs [-o large] /dev/ad0s1 /mnt
  • Mount ISO 9660 using memory disk
sudo mount -t cd9660 /dev/`mdconfig -f <image.iso>` /mnt
  • Mount Linux procfs
sudo mkdir -p /proc
sudo mount -t procfs proc /proc
  • Mount Linux linprocfs
sudo mkdir -p /compat/linux/proc
sudo mount -t linprocfs linproc /compat/linux/proc
  • Mount fs file descriptor
sudo mount -t fdescfs fdesc /dev/fd

update commands

  • Run FreeBSD binary update
sudo freebsd-update fetch
sudo freebsd-update upgrade -r <release>
sudo freebsd-update install

pkg commands

  • Install a packages
sudo pkg install [package]
  • Remove a package
sudo pkg delete [package]
  • Update package databases from repository
sudo pkg update
sudo pkg [-d] update
  • Remove unused dependencies
sudo pkg autoremove
  • Update packages to a new version
sudo pkg upgrade [-f]
  • Update vuln.xml database
sudo pkg audit -F
  • Is pkg installed?
pkg info|grep <pkg>
  • View package information
pkg info <pkg>
pkg show <pkg>
  • Lock package for current version and display locked packages
pkg lock <pkg>
pkg lock -l
  • Clear local cache
sudo pkg clean -y
  • View packet statistics
pkg stats
  • Find the file installation package:
pkg which /usr/local/bin/vim
  • Find the file if the package is not installed:
sudo pkg install pkg-provides
sudo pkg provides -uf
pkg provides /path/to/file

Network Commands

  • TCP sockets open (LISTEN, ESTABLISHED, CLOSE_WAIT)
sudo netstat -p tcp -an
sudo socksstat -P tcp -a
  • Consult the tcp dtrace script at: /usr/share/dtrace
cd /usr/share/dtrace
sudo tcpconn
sudo tcpdebug
sudo tcpstate
sudo tcptrack

Commands from kernel modules

  • Lists loaded kernel modules
sudo kldstat [-v]
  • Kernel load module (HW thermal sensors)
sudo kldload <module>
sudo kldload coretemp
  • Generate hints for the boot loader
sudo kldxref [v] /boot/kernel /boot/modules
sudo kldxref -R /boot
  • Dump(Dump) the running kernel configuration
sysctl -n kern.conftxt
config -x /boot/kernel/kernel

Commands for ports

  • Update and extract snapshots
sudo mkdir -p /usr/ports
sudo portsnap fetch extract
  • Search for a ports in the tree
cd /usr/ports/*/*/<portname>
make -C /usr/ports search name=<portname>
make -C /usr/ports search name=<portname> display=name,path

sudo pkg install psearch
psearch <portname>
  • Display ports variables
make -C /usr/ports/editor/vim -V MAINTAINER -V PORTVERSION
make -C /usr/ports/editor/vim -V WRKSRC -V WRKDIR
  • Search distfile(s)
cd /usr/ports/editor/vim && make fetch extract
cd work
  • Regenerate the information hash of the distfile(s)
make -C /usr/ports/editor/vim makesum
  • Change KNOB/Options configuration
make -C /usr/ports/editor/vim showconfig
make -C /usr/ports/editor/vim config
make -C /usr/ports/editor/vim rmconfig

make check-license check-categories check-deprecated check-vulnerable security-check check-sanity check-plist check-orphans check-config
  • List Makefile destinations from ports
grep -E '^[^${\.#]+:$' /usr/ports/Mk/bsd.port.mk |cut -d ':' -f1 | sort -u
make -C /usr/ports -V .ALLTARGETS
  • List dependencies to rebuild
make all-depends-list
make build-depends-list
make run-depends-list
  • Rebuild ports without building their dependencies
make missing-packages # list missing packages
make install-missing-packages
make install clean

Commands for src

  • Extract /usr/src Makefile targets with descriptions (lists all available targets)
grep '^# [a-z].*- [A-Z].*' /usr/src/Makefile | sed 's,^# ,,' | luck
make -C /usr/src -V .ALLTARGETS
  • Enter the userland binary utility source code folder (e.g. ls)
cd `where -sq ls`

poudriere commands

  • Create a jail
sudo poudriere jail -c -j <jail> -v 12.2-RELEASE -a <arch> -M ftp -p <ptree>
sudo poudriere jail -c -j 12amd64 -v 12.2-RELEASE -a amd64 -M ftp -p portsdir
  • Delete a jail
sudo poudriere jail -d -j <jail> -C all
sudo poudriere jail -d -j 12amd64 -C all
  • List jail(s)
sudo poudriere jail -l
sudo poudriere jail -l [-n] [-q]
  • Upgrade jail
sudo poudriere jail -u -j <jail>
sudo poudriere jail -u -j <jail> -t 12.1
  • Create ports
sudo poudriere ports -c -m null -M ${PWD}/svn/ports -p portsdir -v
sudo poudriere ports -l
  • Tree list of ports
sudo poudriere ports -l
sudo poudriere ports -l [-n] [-q]
  • Build a test ports
sudo poudriere testport -o <origin>/<port> -p portsdir -n # dry run
sudo poudriere testport -o editor/vim -p portsdir -v # verbose

Development commands

  • Get sources
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd.git /usr/src
git clone --depth 1 https://git.freebsd.org/src.git /usr/src

For a specific branch, eg. Version 12.x:

git checkout -b releng-12.2 freebsd/releng/12.2
git switch -c releng-12.2 freebsd/releng/12.2
  • Download ports
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd-ports.git /usr/ports
git clone --depth 1 https://git.freebsd.org/ports.git /usr/ports

Commands for Wireless (Wireless networks)

  • Restart the wifi network
sudo service wpa_supplicant restart wlan0
  • List Wireless devices
sysctl net.wlan.devices
  • List wireless SSID hotspot (with wlan0 device)
sudo ifconfig [-v] wlan0 list scan
  • Debug the wireless network “stack”
sudo sysctl debug.iwi=1
sudo sysctl hw.wi.debug=1
sudo sysctl net.wlan.debug=1

Build commands

  • Build the “world” and the kernel
cd /usr/src
sudo nice -n -20 make -j`sysctl -n hw.ncpu` -DNO_CLEAN -DKERNFAST buildworld buildkernel | tee -a build.log
  • Install Kernel (debug)
cd /usr/src
sudo make installworld installkernel
sudo make installkernel.debug
  • Update /etc settings
sudo etcupdate
sudo mergemaster -ui

hardware commands

  • PCI devices
sudo pciconf -vl
sudo pkg install pciutils
sudo lspci [-v]
  • USB devices
sudo usbconfig list
sudo usbconfig dump_all_desc
sudo pkg install usbutils
sudo lsusb [-v]
  • CPU info
sudo dmesg
sudo dmesg | sed -n '/^CPU:/,/^real/p'
sudo sysctl hw.model hw.ncpu
sudo sysctl kern.smp.cpus

memory commands

  • virtual memory
vmstat -c 1
sysctl hw.realmem hw.physmem
top -bt 0
  • Process memory mappings
procstat vm <pid>
cat /proc/<pid>/map
cat /compat/linux/proc/<pid>/maps

sound commands

  • sound devices
sudo cat /dev/sndstat
sudo sysctl dev.pcm
  • disable beep
sudo sysctl hw.syscons.bell=0
sudo sysctl kern.vt.enable_bell=0
  • Volume via mixer
mixer vol 100

Input and Output Commands (I/O, I/O)

  • Input and Output statistics for device read/write
iostat [-x]
iostat -x -w 1 # watch mode

Commands to/from ZFS

  • Import ZFS Pools
zpool import -R /mnt zroot
zpool import -R /mnt -e readonly=on zroot # readonly
  • List and mount ZFS datasets
zfs list
mount -t vfs zroot/usr/home /tmp/home

freebsd bsd unix

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Marcos Oliveira

Marcos Oliveira

Software developer
https://github.com/terroo

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