The 2024 FreeBSD Community Survey Report compiled data from 1,446 respondents and was released following its presentation at the May 2024 Developer Summit.
This annual survey, conducted by the FreeBSD Core Team and the FreeBSD Foundation in collaboration with Research Collaborative, gathered extensive community feedback through over 50 questions, targeting diverse communication channels like email, X (ex Twitter), and Reddit.
2024 FreeBSD Community Survey: Key Insights
The findings, shared during the core team update at the Developer Summit (with recordings available on the FreeBSD Project’s YouTube channel), offer a deep dive into FreeBSD’s demographics, usage patterns, and community perceptions. Here are the most important of them.
- User Satisfaction: A remarkable 93% of participants reported a positive experience with FreeBSD, indicating strong user satisfaction.
- System Completeness: 94% of users perceive FreeBSD as a complete, self-contained operating system.
- Key Features: For server users, ZFS is the most critical workload attribute, with 76% marking it as essential.
- Hardware Preferences: Among FreeBSD users, Lenovo/IBM (77%) and Dell (45%) are the preferred laptop brands.
- Community Demographics: The average respondent is approximately 45 years old, predominantly based in Europe or North America, and has about 13-14 years of experience with FreeBSD.
- Engagement and Contributions: Over half of the respondents have contributed to FreeBSD in the past year, typically on a quarterly basis.
Moreover, the survey highlighted that while the FreeBSD website remains the primary source of updates for many, newer users tend to rely more on platforms like Reddit, YouTube, and blogs. Additionally, the community highly praised FreeBSD’s robust security features, especially in server environments.
Ed Maste, Senior Director of Technology at the FreeBSD Foundation, outlined several strategic initiatives in response to the survey’s findings:
- Expanding Community Recruitment: Targeted marketing campaigns and educational programs to attract new users through social media and academic channels.
- Enhancing Training and Support: Creating comprehensive training materials and establishing a mentorship program to support newcomers.
- Documentation Improvements: Updating and streamlining documentation to enhance accessibility and relevance.
- Hardware Support Enhancements: A focus on developing critical hardware support, such as Wi-Fi drivers, in collaboration with manufacturers.
- Clarifying Contribution Processes: Simplify the contribution guidelines and enhance support for new contributors through tutorials and peer mentorship.
The full survey report (62-page PDF file), along with the raw data, is available on the FreeBSD Foundation’s website for those interested in a deeper exploration of the community’s feedback.
