Hello,
Over the last few days I have been experimenting with building and running ArduPilot on FreeBSD 15.0.
My goal was to see whether ArduPilot SITL (Software-In-The-Loop) could be used as a development and training platform on FreeBSD without relying on Linux.
The result was surprisingly good.
The following components are working:
System used:
Build issues encountered
ArduPilot contains a few Linux-specific assumptions that prevent it from building on FreeBSD out of the box.
1. libraries/AP_HAL_SITL/UART_utils.cpp
Build failed with:
The code uses Linux-specific interfaces:
FreeBSD does not provide these APIs.
I modified the code to use the existing POSIX termios path:
and standard termios functionality instead of Linux-specific termios2.
Example diff:
2. libraries/AP_Filesystem/AP_Filesystem_posix.cpp
Build failed with:
On FreeBSD I replaced it with:
Example diff:
Bootloader build
While building AP_Bootloader I encountered errors such as:
The issue turned out not to be ArduPilot itself, but the ARM toolchain.
The FreeBSD package:
and
was built with:
and therefore lacks the required newlib headers.
After switching to:
the bootloader built successfully without any source code modifications.
Python dependencies
Installed via pip:
Installed via pkg:
The MAVProxy map module initially failed because OpenCV was missing:
After installing OpenCV, the map module loaded successfully.
Result
ArduPilot SITL is now running correctly on FreeBSD.
Example commands tested successfully:
link files
MAVProxy Console and Map are both operational.
Question to the FreeBSD community
Would there be any interest in creating a proper FreeBSD port for ArduPilot SITL?
At least for my setup, only two relatively small source code changes were required to get SITL running.
I would be interested in hearing opinions about:
Perhaps there are already users running ArduPilot or PX4 on FreeBSD who could share their experience.
Thank you.
Over the last few days I have been experimenting with building and running ArduPilot on FreeBSD 15.0.
My goal was to see whether ArduPilot SITL (Software-In-The-Loop) could be used as a development and training platform on FreeBSD without relying on Linux.
The result was surprisingly good.
The following components are working:
- ArduPilot SITL
- MAVProxy
- MAVProxy Console
- MAVProxy Map
- GUIDED mode
- STABILIZE mode
- MAVLink telemetry
- AP_Bootloader build
- STM32 flashing via dfu-util
System used:
Code:
FreeBSD 15.0-RELEASE-p5 amd64
clang 19
Python 3.11Build issues encountered
ArduPilot contains a few Linux-specific assumptions that prevent it from building on FreeBSD out of the box.
1. libraries/AP_HAL_SITL/UART_utils.cpp
Build failed with:
Code:
fatal error: 'asm/termbits.h' file not foundThe code uses Linux-specific interfaces:
Code:
#include <asm/ioctls.h>
#include <asm/termbits.h>
struct termios2
TCGETS2
TCSETS2
BOTHERFreeBSD does not provide these APIs.
I modified the code to use the existing POSIX termios path:
Code:
#include <sys/ioctl.h>
#include <termios.h>and standard termios functionality instead of Linux-specific termios2.
Example diff:
Code:
-#include <asm/ioctls.h>
-#include <asm/termbits.h>
+#include <sys/ioctl.h>
+#include <termios.h>2. libraries/AP_Filesystem/AP_Filesystem_posix.cpp
Build failed with:
Code:
fatal error: 'sys/vfs.h' file not foundOn FreeBSD I replaced it with:
Code:
#ifdef __FreeBSD__
#include <sys/param.h>
#include <sys/mount.h>
#else
#include <sys/vfs.h>
#endifExample diff:
Code:
+#ifdef __FreeBSD__
+#include <sys/param.h>
+#include <sys/mount.h>
+#else
#include <sys/vfs.h>
+#endifBootloader build
While building AP_Bootloader I encountered errors such as:
Code:
struct _reent declared inside parameter listThe issue turned out not to be ArduPilot itself, but the ARM toolchain.
The FreeBSD package:
Code:
/usr/local/bin/arm-none-eabi-gcc
Code:
export PATH=/usr/local/gcc-arm-embedded-14.2.rel1/bin:$PATH
export MAKE=gmakewas built with:
Code:
--without-headersand therefore lacks the required newlib headers.
After switching to:
Code:
/usr/local/gcc-arm-embedded-14.2.rel1/bin/arm-none-eabi-gccthe bootloader built successfully without any source code modifications.
Python dependencies
Installed via pip:
Code:
MAVProxy
pymavlink
dronecan
empy
fastcrc
geocoder
pexpect
pyserial
pynmeagpsInstalled via pkg:
Code:
opencv
proj
git
gmake
python
py311-pip
py311-sqlite3The MAVProxy map module initially failed because OpenCV was missing:
Code:
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'cv2'After installing OpenCV, the map module loaded successfully.
Result
ArduPilot SITL is now running correctly on FreeBSD.
Example commands tested successfully:
Code:
mode guided
arm throttle
takeoff 20
velocity 1 0 0
mode land
Code:
sudo ln -s /usr/local/bin/python3.11 /usr/local/bin/python
sudo ln -s /usr/local/bin/python3.11 /usr/local/bin/python3MAVProxy Console and Map are both operational.
Question to the FreeBSD community
Would there be any interest in creating a proper FreeBSD port for ArduPilot SITL?
At least for my setup, only two relatively small source code changes were required to get SITL running.
I would be interested in hearing opinions about:
- Creating a FreeBSD port for ArduPilot SITL
- Adding official FreeBSD support upstream
- Maintaining a small FreeBSD compatibility patch set
Perhaps there are already users running ArduPilot or PX4 on FreeBSD who could share their experience.
Thank you.
