FreeBSD-Up 🚀#

A simple, zero-configuration script to quickly boot FreeBSD ISO images using QEMU. Perfect for testing, development, or learning FreeBSD without complex setup.

✨ Features#

• 🔗 Download and boot from URLs: Automatically downloads ISO images from remote URLs
• 📁 Local file support: Boot from local ISO files
• 🏷️ Version shortcuts: Simply specify a version like 14.3-RELEASE to auto-download
• 🎯 Smart defaults: Run without arguments to boot the latest stable release (FreeBSD 14.3-RELEASE)
• ⚡ Zero configuration: Works out of the box with sensible defaults
• 🖥️ Serial console: Configured for headless operation with stdio console
• 🌐 Network ready: Pre-configured with SSH port forwarding (host:2222 → guest:22)
• 💾 Smart caching: Automatically skips re-downloading existing ISO files
• 🆘 Help support: Built-in help with --help or -h flags
• ⚙️ Configurable VM options: Customize CPU type and memory allocation
• 📝 Enhanced CLI: Powered by Cliffy for robust command-line parsing

📋 Prerequisites#

Before using FreeBSD-Up, make sure you have:

• Deno - Modern JavaScript/TypeScript runtime
• QEMU - Hardware virtualization
• KVM support (Linux) - For hardware acceleration (optional but recommended)

Installation on Common Systems#

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install qemu-system-x86 qemu-kvm
curl -fsSL https://deno.land/install.sh | sh

Fedora:

sudo dnf install qemu qemu-kvm
curl -fsSL https://deno.land/install.sh | sh

macOS:

brew install qemu deno

🚀 Quick Start#

Default Usage (Easiest)#

Simply run without any arguments to boot the latest stable FreeBSD release:

./main.ts

This will automatically download and boot FreeBSD 14.3-RELEASE.

Boot with Version Shortcut#

Specify just a version to auto-download and boot:

./main.ts 14.3-RELEASE
./main.ts 15.0-BETA3
./main.ts 13.4-RELEASE

Boot from URL#

Download and boot from a specific URL:

./main.ts https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/releases/amd64/amd64/ISO-IMAGES/15.0/FreeBSD-15.0-BETA3-amd64-disc1.iso

Boot from Local File#

./main.ts /path/to/your/freebsd.iso

Customize VM Configuration#

Specify custom CPU type and memory allocation:

# Custom CPU and memory
./main.ts --cpu host --memory 4G 14.3-RELEASE

# Download to specific location
./main.ts --output ./downloads/freebsd.iso 15.0-BETA3

# Combine options
./main.ts --cpu qemu64 --memory 1G --output ./my-freebsd.iso

Get Help#

./main.ts --help
# or
./main.ts -h

Alternative Execution Methods#

If the script isn't executable, you can run it directly with Deno:

deno run --allow-run --allow-read --allow-env main.ts [options]

🔧 Command Line Options#

FreeBSD-Up supports several command-line options for customization:

• -c, --cpu <type> - CPU type to emulate (default: host)
• -m, --memory <size> - Amount of memory for the VM (default: 2G)
• -o, --output <path> - Output path for downloaded ISO files
• -h, --help - Show help information
• -V, --version - Show version information

Examples#

# Use different CPU type
./main.ts --cpu qemu64 14.3-RELEASE

# Allocate more memory
./main.ts --memory 4G 15.0-BETA3

# Save ISO to specific location
./main.ts --output ./isos/freebsd.iso https://example.com/freebsd.iso

# Combine multiple options
./main.ts --cpu host --memory 8G --output ./downloads/ 14.3-RELEASE

🖥️ Console Setup#

When FreeBSD boots, you'll see the boot menu. For the best experience with the serial console:

1. Select option 3. Escape to loader prompt
2. Configure console output:

   set console="comconsole"
   boot
   

This enables proper console redirection to your terminal.

⚙️ VM Configuration#

The script creates a VM with the following default specifications:

• CPU: Host CPU with KVM acceleration (configurable with --cpu)
• Memory: 2GB RAM (configurable with --memory)
• Cores: 2 virtual CPUs
• Network: User mode networking with SSH forwarding
• Console: Enhanced serial console via stdio with proper signal handling
• Default Version: FreeBSD 14.3-RELEASE (when no arguments provided)

Available CPU Types#

Common CPU types you can specify with --cpu:

• host (default) - Use host CPU features for best performance
• qemu64 - Generic 64-bit CPU for maximum compatibility
• Broadwell - Intel Broadwell CPU
• Skylake-Client - Intel Skylake CPU
• max - Enable all supported CPU features

🔧 Customization#

Modifying VM Settings via Command Line#

The easiest way to customize VM settings is through command-line options:

# Increase memory to 4GB
./main.ts --memory 4G

# Use a different CPU type
./main.ts --cpu qemu64

# Combine options
./main.ts --cpu host --memory 8G 14.3-RELEASE

Advanced Customization#

To modify other VM settings, edit the QEMU arguments in the runQemu function in main.ts:

const cmd = new Deno.Command("qemu-system-x86_64", {
  args: [
    "-enable-kvm",
    "-cpu",
    options.cpu,
    "-m",
    options.memory,
    "-smp",
    "2", // Change CPU cores
    "-chardev",
    "stdio,id=con0,signal=off", // Enhanced console handling
    "-serial",
    "chardev:con0",
    // ... other options
  ],
  // ...
});

Supported Version Formats#

The script automatically recognizes and handles these version formats:

• 14.3-RELEASE - Stable releases
• 15.0-BETA3 - Beta versions
• 13.4-RC1 - Release candidates
• Any format matching: X.Y-RELEASE|BETAX|RCX

To change the default version when no arguments are provided, modify the DEFAULT_VERSION constant in main.ts.

📁 Project Structure#

freebsd-up/
├── main.ts          # Main script with Cliffy CLI integration
├── deno.json        # Deno configuration with dependencies
├── deno.lock        # Dependency lock file
└── README.md        # This file

Dependencies#

The project uses the following key dependencies:

• @cliffy/command - Modern command-line argument parsing
• chalk - Terminal styling and colors

🤝 Contributing#

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to:

• Report bugs
• Suggest features
• Submit pull requests
• Improve documentation

📝 License#

This project is open source. Check the repository for license details.

🔗 Useful Links#

• FreeBSD Downloads
• QEMU Documentation
• Deno Manual
• Cliffy Command Documentation