core: add FreeBSD (x86_64, aarch64) support by samm-git · Pull Request #1565 · anomalyco/opentui

samm-git · 2026-10-04T16:36:51Z

What

Adds FreeBSD (x86_64 and aarch64) as a supported platform for OpenTUI's native Zig core.

Changes

packages/native/build.zig: add x86_64-freebsd and aarch64-freebsd to SUPPORTED_TARGETS.
packages/core/src/node-asset-target.ts: accept freebsd and map it to libopentui.so.
packages/core/src/platform/runtime-assets.bun.ts: resolve @opentui/core-freebsd-{x64,arm64} at runtime.
packages/core/scripts/variants.ts: build/package the FreeBSD variants.
packages/core/package.json: list the FreeBSD packages as optionalDependencies.
packages/core/src/node-assets.test.ts: FreeBSD is now supported, so the "unsupported platform" case uses a different platform.

Why

OpenTUI currently only ships darwin/linux/win32 binaries, and the native-asset loader hard-rejects freebsd (the NodeAssetTarget union and NATIVE_FILE_NAMES don't include it). Applications that depend on OpenTUI — for example OpenCode, whose TUI is built on it — therefore can't run on FreeBSD without building the core from source and patching the loader. This makes FreeBSD a first-class target.

Testing

Zig 0.16.0 on FreeBSD 15.1, both architectures:

cd packages/native
sh scripts/prepare-zig-deps.sh
zig build -Doptimize=ReleaseFast
# -> lib/x86_64-freebsd/libopentui.so
# -> lib/aarch64-freebsd/libopentui.so

The resulting libopentui.so loads over FFI and renders correctly — verified end-to-end by running OpenCode's TUI on FreeBSD/amd64 and FreeBSD/aarch64.

Notes

No changes were needed inside the Zig core itself; it builds unmodified for FreeBSD once the targets are listed.
The node runtime path already resolves dynamically via asset.packageName, so only the bun FFI path needed an explicit branch.

Add FreeBSD as a supported platform for OpenTUI's native Zig core. * packages/native/build.zig: add x86_64-freebsd and aarch64-freebsd targets so `zig build` can produce libopentui.so for FreeBSD. * packages/core: teach the native asset loader about freebsd (NATIVE_FILE_NAMES + the resolveNativeLibraryPath runtime branch). * packages/core: resolve the @opentui/core-freebsd-{x64,arm64} packages at runtime and list them as optionalDependencies. * packages/core: include freebsd in scripts/variants.ts so the host build works and the release build packages freebsd binaries. Tested on FreeBSD 15.1 (Zig 0.16.0) on both x86_64 and aarch64: the native core builds with `zig build -Doptimize=ReleaseFast`, and the resulting libopentui.so loads and renders correctly.

The native renderer thread deadlocks on FreeBSD (the TUI freezes after the first render), so turn it off there too, matching the existing Linux guard.

samm-git · 2026-10-11T18:57:52Z

Follow-up for OpenCode's persistent terminals: this PR enables the native-target and asset plumbing, but ghosttyVtAvailable() still returns false on FreeBSD, so @opentui/core builds the embedded-terminal/unavailable.zig stub and createEmbeddedTerminal() returns -3 ("embedded terminal support is unavailable"). OpenCode's TUI calls that when it opens a terminal pane, and the -3 becomes an uncaught error that crashes the whole app.

Adding .freebsd => true to the OS switch in ghosttyVtAvailable() fixes it:

    return switch (target.result.os.tag) {
        .linux => target.result.abi.isMusl() or target.result.abi == .gnu,
        .macos => true,
        .windows => target.result.abi == .gnu,
        .freebsd => true,
        else => false,
    };

Verified on FreeBSD 15.1/aarch64 with Zig 0.16.0: after the change zig build -Doptimize=ReleaseFast still exits 0, createEmbeddedTerminal(80, 24, 1000, &handle) returns 0 (was -3), resize works, and an OpenCode terminal pane renders normally. The vendored Ghostty already supports FreeBSD, and opentui passes i18n=false, so the Zig 0.16 trimRight/trimEnd rename doesn't apply here.

tuaris · 2026-11-04T21:15:11Z

Tested this approach end to end and it works. A few gaps remain between landing the source support and actually shipping @opentui/core-freebsd-*:

Missing pieces to publish the packages

packages/core/scripts/native-symbols.ts - separateNativeSymbols throws Unsupported symbol platform: freebsd for the new variants. FreeBSD is ELF; folding platform === "freebsd" into the linux branch (readelf/objcopy/nm) is sufficient.
.github/workflows/build-native.yml - the per-variant zip blocks, the core-native-packages copy list, the verify checks, and the upload-artifact path list are all hand-enumerated. Each needs native-freebsd-x64/native-freebsd-arm64 entries or the artifacts never reach the npm staging.
.github/workflows/release.yml - same enumeration: the signed-native upload list, the symbol target loop, and EXPECTED_ASSETS 20 -> 24.

Stale hunk

renderer.ts: useThread no longer exists on main, so that part of the diff is obsolete and can be dropped.

Verified

zig build -Dtarget=x86_64-freebsd -Doptimize=ReleaseFast on current main + this branch produces lib/x86_64-freebsd/{libopentui.so,libopentui.a} with zig 0.17.0 (FreeBSD 15.1, amd64). A consumer built on this branch (the Cline CLI TUI) loads the .so over FFI and renders correctly.

Happy to push the workflow/symbol-separation half as a follow-up branch if that is easier than amending here.

# Conflicts: # packages/core/package.json # packages/core/src/renderer.ts

The source-side support is in place but the release pipeline is hand-enumerated, so the new variants would never ship. Add the freebsd zip blocks, npm-package copy list, verify checks, upload entries, and symbol targets to build-native/release, and fold freebsd into the ELF branch of separateNativeSymbols (FreeBSD shares readelf/objcopy/nm).

tuaris · 2026-11-04T21:21:38Z

Opened samm-git#1 against your freebsd-support branch: merges current main (resolves the two conflicts) and adds the missing publish pieces listed above. Merging it makes this PR conflict-free and CI-complete; your commits stay untouched.

main merge + CI: publish freebsd native artifacts, fix symbol separation

simonklee · 2026-11-10T14:26:57Z

Thanks. We're keeping #1445 as the base for FreeBSD support, so I'm closing this one.

samm-git requested review from kommander and simonklee as code owners October 4, 2026 16:36

core: disable the renderer thread on FreeBSD

b835c38

The native renderer thread deadlocks on FreeBSD (the TUI freezes after the first render), so turn it off there too, matching the existing Linux guard.

This was referenced Oct 5, 2026

feat: add FreeBSD (x86_64, aarch64) build support anomalyco/opencode#53371

Closed

misc/opencode: new port (FreeBSD amd64/aarch64) freebsd/freebsd-ports#633

Closed

apbodrov mentioned this pull request Oct 15, 2026

feat: FreeBSD support for the native library #1445

Open

tuaris added 2 commits November 4, 2026 16:18

Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/main' into pr1565-cifollowup

7214758

# Conflicts: # packages/core/package.json # packages/core/src/renderer.ts

tuaris mentioned this pull request Nov 4, 2026

main merge + CI: publish freebsd native artifacts, fix symbol separation samm-git/opentui#1

Merged

Merge pull request #1 from tuaris/pr1565-cifollowup

bb306e9

main merge + CI: publish freebsd native artifacts, fix symbol separation

simonklee closed this Nov 10, 2026

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core: add FreeBSD (x86_64, aarch64) support - #1565

core: add FreeBSD (x86_64, aarch64) support#1565
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samm-git commented Oct 4, 2026

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