NetBSD 11.0 is now available, bringing a surprisingly large collection of hardware, virtualization, compatibility, and standards improvements to the famously portable Unix-like operating system. This is the nineteenth major NetBSD release, and while it will never attract the attention of Ubuntu, Fedora, or Windows, it continues to do things that few other operating systems even attempt.
The biggest addition is official 64-bit RISC-V support. NetBSD 11.0 is the first stable release in the project’s history to support the architecture, including devices based on the StarFive JH7110 chip, such as the VisionFive 2 and PINE64 STAR64, along with QEMU virtual machines.
That alone would make this a really notable update, but the hardware support goes much further. You see, NetBSD 11.0 also introduces initial support for Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite systems and Oryon processors, while adding drivers for several of the platform’s battery, charger, GPIO, and I2C components.
The new MICROVM kernel may be even more interesting for some users. Designed for i386 and amd64 virtual machines, it uses PVH boot, VirtIO MMIO, and other kernel optimizations to start in roughly 10 milliseconds on x86 processors from around 2020.
Yes, 10 milliseconds. That makes NetBSD 11.0 potentially useful for lightweight virtual machines, testing environments, and workloads where boot time actually matters instead of merely looking impressive in a benchmark chart.
Linux compatibility has received a sizable upgrade too. NetBSD’s compatibility layer now supports additional Linux system calls, including epoll, inotify, statx, close_range, clone3, waitid, renameat2, readahead, syncfs, and POSIX message queues.
NetBSD is not trying to become Linux, of course. Better compatibility does make it easier to run software originally designed for Linux, however, and that may remove one of the frustrations that keeps curious users from experimenting with BSD operating systems.
The project also improved compliance with the POSIX.1-2024 and C23 standards. Developers get new and updated tools, additional libc functions, better C23 checking in lint, improved shell behavior, and several changes intended to bring NetBSD closer to the latest programming and operating system specifications.
Networking and security improvements are included as well. The NPF firewall gains Layer 2 filtering and the ability to create rules based on users and groups, while the kernel adds a heartbeat mechanism designed to detect situations where processors or lower-priority interrupts stop making progress.
Hardware support remains one of the most entertaining parts of any NetBSD release. Version 11.0 improves support for Raspberry Pi 5 peripherals, AMD Zen 5 temperature sensors, newer Intel processors, Realtek 5Gbps Ethernet, USB Audio Class 2.0 devices, VMware paravirtualized hardware, and numerous Arm boards.
NetBSD 11.0 also continues supporting hardware that most operating system developers probably have not thought about in decades. The release includes improvements for old Power Macs, Motorola 68k systems, HP workstations, Atari computers, the Nintendo Wii, Sun hardware, Sega Dreamcast, VAX systems, and dozens of other platforms.
I absolutely adore lightweight operating systems because they can breathe new life into old computers. NetBSD takes that idea to an almost absurd level, supporting not only older PCs but an enormous collection of workstations, development boards, embedded systems, and game consoles.
Several bundled components have been updated, including GCC 12.5.0, GDB 15.1, OpenSSL 3.5.7, OpenSSH 10.3, X.Org 21.1.24, tmux 3.6b, Postfix 3.11.2, and SQLite 3.45.1. NetBSD 11.0 also removes some obsolete software, including DSA key support in OpenSSH and several components that have not been useful for years.
Existing NetBSD installations can be upgraded by booting an installation image and selecting the upgrade option. Users taking another upgrade path should update the kernel and modules first, reboot, and then update the rest of the system and any third-party packages.
NetBSD will probably remain a niche choice, especially on ordinary desktop and laptop computers. You see, hardware support and software availability still matter, and most people will find Linux much easier to live with on a daily basis.
Still, NetBSD 11.0 is a fascinating release. Between RISC-V support, Snapdragon X Elite work, improved Linux compatibility, a virtual machine kernel that can boot in about 10 milliseconds, and support for hardware ranging from modern Arm systems to the Nintendo Wii, it is hard to accuse this project of being boring.
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