Zero-trust builds for FreeBSD

The FreeBSD Foundation
has announced that it has undertaken a project to deliver zero-trust
builds commissioned by the Sovereign Tech Agency (STA).

The Zero-Trust Build project is scheduled from Jan-Aug 2025 and
centers on the FreeBSD build process, and in particular, release
building. The primary goal of this work is to enable the entire
release process to run without requiring root access, and that build
artifacts build reproducibly – that is, that a third party can build
bit-for-bit identical artifacts.

Additionally, the project aims to enhance build process
documentation, ensuring that release building is straightforward and
does not require specialized knowledge. The work is targeted for
completion prior to the release of FreeBSD 15.0.

The Foundation says that updates should not impact users of FreeBSD
release images, but it may have an impact on developers basing
projects or products on FreeBSD that make modifications to its release
process.