2026-07-23 The I'll get to it later problem... for FreeBSD

I like scanning all manners of projects that pop up in the OSS spectrum. Lots of it are itches scratched (If I had a quarter for every OSS itch scratched...) which is not a bad thing to see. Sometimes the most mundane itch scratcher is exactly what one needs (or someone else wants).

However, one trend that seems to be common among newer projects is to only provide binaries for the following platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux.

A project that goes the extra effort to provide pre-built binaries I would imagine is probably aiming to hit one or more of these goals:

  • Ease adoption

  • Simplify the deployment process

  • Ensure code-quality to a particular bar

  • Be more than just a mind dump of source code

This leaves a user of FreeBSD usually as an after thought when it is mainly the WinMacLin triumverate platforms that are being targeted. I imagine it also would cultivate in the more persistent FreeBSD user a form of thicker skin when it comes to finding software that solves needs since relying on upstream projects to provide something will get answers like "No" or "We will get to it later" or "What is FreeBSD?" (I guess 'patches accepted' as a response has become a trigger phrase as of late if phrased poorly which imo is a social regression).

There are probably quite a few different causes that lead to the "We will get to it later" and I am going to leave it as an exercise to the reader to puzzle through what are some causes. One personal observation (the rest are yours to find) is that certain sets of code repository level freebies encourages this "later" behavior.

So, being left out of the release party what does a determined FreeBSD user do? Here are some options:

  • Figure out if the linuxlator can handle the job

  • Learn about the ports (and package) system

  • Handle the code packaging

  • Port it yourself (FreeBSD bugs would probably be happy to receive contributions)

I guess one takeaway from all of this is that being left out of options is an opportunity to create some of your own.

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