Hi all,
I maintain FreeCORE, an independent continuation of TrueNAS CORE 13.3. I started it because there are still users who want the CORE appliance model—FreeBSD, OpenZFS, iocage jails, bhyve, and the familiar middleware/WebUI—but need a maintained path beyond the point where upstream CORE development ended.
Available now: FreeCORE 15.0
15.0-RELEASE is stable. (The product release is FreeCORE 15.0; its operating-system base is FreeBSD 15.1.) It updates the FreeBSD/OpenZFS base while deliberately preserving the familiar CORE operating model: storage and sharing workflows, iocage jails and plugins, bhyve VMs, and updates through System > Update.
You can install from a signed ISO or move an existing stock CORE 13.3 system directly onto the FreeCORE-15.0-STABLE train. The install page has the enrolment command, signed image, checksums, and migration documentation.
15.0 is intentionally conservative. Major platform changes stay out of this line; security and necessary reliability, compatibility, and migration fixes continue. Existing iocage jails are not converted or replaced.
Compatibility work uses a substantial inherited iXsystems-native test harness to compare CORE 13.3 and FreeCORE behaviour, and 15.1 will receive the same parity treatment. Real hardware and workload reports from this community would still be genuinely valuable.
There is also an explicitly experimental zVault 13.3 enrolment path now, added after a user reported compatibility gaps and confirmed our fixes in issue #4.
Later: FreeCORE 15.1
15.1 is a separate, undated development line. It is not available yet and has no release date. The current public direction is:
The design work is public in Bastille issue #2 and Applications issue #3; the roadmap stays explicit about what is current and what is not.
Links
I would be glad to answer technical questions, hear about hardware or compatibility needs, or receive reproducible bug reports from people who decide to try it.
I maintain FreeCORE, an independent continuation of TrueNAS CORE 13.3. I started it because there are still users who want the CORE appliance model—FreeBSD, OpenZFS, iocage jails, bhyve, and the familiar middleware/WebUI—but need a maintained path beyond the point where upstream CORE development ended.
Available now: FreeCORE 15.0
15.0-RELEASE is stable. (The product release is FreeCORE 15.0; its operating-system base is FreeBSD 15.1.) It updates the FreeBSD/OpenZFS base while deliberately preserving the familiar CORE operating model: storage and sharing workflows, iocage jails and plugins, bhyve VMs, and updates through System > Update.
You can install from a signed ISO or move an existing stock CORE 13.3 system directly onto the FreeCORE-15.0-STABLE train. The install page has the enrolment command, signed image, checksums, and migration documentation.
15.0 is intentionally conservative. Major platform changes stay out of this line; security and necessary reliability, compatibility, and migration fixes continue. Existing iocage jails are not converted or replaced.
Compatibility work uses a substantial inherited iXsystems-native test harness to compare CORE 13.3 and FreeCORE behaviour, and 15.1 will receive the same parity treatment. Real hardware and workload reports from this community would still be genuinely valuable.
There is also an explicitly experimental zVault 13.3 enrolment path now, added after a user reported compatibility gaps and confirmed our fixes in issue #4.
Later: FreeCORE 15.1
15.1 is a separate, undated development line. It is not available yet and has no release date. The current public direction is:
- Angular 22 for the WebUI
- FreeBSD-native OCI Applications through Podman and ocijail, with reviewed, digest-pinned Daemonless images and signed catalog metadata
- Bastille as an opt-in jail manager alongside iocage, with separate jail and storage ownership; existing iocage jails stay in place, and the native jail path moves toward FreeBSD's maintained iocage line
The design work is public in Bastille issue #2 and Applications issue #3; the roadmap stays explicit about what is current and what is not.
Links
I would be glad to answer technical questions, hear about hardware or compatibility needs, or receive reproducible bug reports from people who decide to try it.
