Michael W Lucas 
Default vm-bhyve template for #freebsd has 256MB RAM.
The installer dies silently trying to fetch pkgbase packages.
2GB works.
Graham Perrin@mwl I get failure to install offline packages – packages are the default with FreeBSD-15.0-RELEASE-amd64-dvd1.iso – with UFS, vm.pageout_oom_seq=120 and 256 MB given to a VirtualBox guest.
The tail of /var/log/messages – after bsdconfig networking (to allow use of termbin.com):
Feb 4 01:05:58 pkg[1652]: FreeBSD-bzip2-lib32-15.0 installed
Feb 4 01:05:58 pkg[1652]: FreeBSD-ccdconfig-15.0 installed
Feb 4 01:05:58 pkg[1652]: FreeBSD-clibs-15.0 installed
Feb 4 01:06:50 kernel: pid 1652 (pkg), jid 0, uid 0, was killed: failed to reclaim memory
Feb 4 01:22:19 kernel: em0: link state changed to DOWN
Feb 4 01:22:21 kernel: em0: link state changed to UP
Feb 4 01:22:25 dhclient[1867]: New IP Address (em0): 10.0.2.15
Feb 4 01:22:25 dhclient[1871]: New Subnet Mask (em0): 255.255.255.0
Feb 4 01:22:25 dhclient[1875]: New Broadcast Address (em0): 10.0.2.255
Feb 4 01:22:25 dhclient[1879]: New Routers (em0): 10.0.2.2
@mwl I can workaround by excluding base and all other options. Still, there was insufficient memory for a simple pkg command:
pkg update -q
– tail of /var/log/messages below.
The apparent hang at ttyv0 might have been a negligible side-effect of my untimely use of --quiet.
A subsequent non-quiet run succeeded,
pkg update
Installation of FreeBSD-set-lib32 succeeded.
Installation of FreeBSD-set-devel failed.
Installation of FreeBSD-set-base failed.
Feb 4 01:35:03 256 pkg[3660]: FreeBSD-zoneinfo-15.0 installed
Feb 4 01:35:03 256 pkg[3660]: FreeBSD-set-minimal-15.0 installed
Feb 4 01:35:05 256 pkg[3660]: pkg-2.4.2 installed
Feb 4 01:35:14 256 kernel: em0: link state changed to DOWN
Feb 4 01:35:16 256 kernel: em0: link state changed to UP
Feb 4 01:35:17 256 dhclient[3861]: New IP Address (em0): 10.0.2.15
Feb 4 01:35:17 256 dhclient[3865]: New Subnet Mask (em0): 255.255.255.0
Feb 4 01:35:17 256 dhclient[3869]: New Broadcast Address (em0): 10.0.2.255
Feb 4 01:35:17 256 dhclient[3873]: New Routers (em0): 10.0.2.2
Feb 4 01:36:55 256 kernel: pid 4223 (pkg), jid 0, uid 0, was killed: failed to reclaim memory
tried again this morning, checked /var/log/messages, got: pkg was killed, failed to reclaim memory.
Did a brute-force binary search today.
ZFS single-disk install, taking defaults, extracting from ISO: 360MB works, 350 does not.
I'd call this a docs problem, not an OS one. If you're using ZFS with <384 MB, you're daft.
@mwl agreed: documentation.
#40 - FreeBSD 'system requirements' are not documented at the Project site or the documentation portal - grahamperrin/freebsd-doc - Codeberg.org — <https://codeberg.org/grahamperrin/freebsd-doc/issues/40> (2023). There's a reminder that in the past, the FreeBSD Handbook did include minimum hardware requirements.
In 2025 I took the issue to Bugzilla for FreeBSD. Less than an hour later, it was rejected: <https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=287722>.
#FreeBSD #documentation #RAM #memory #requirements #UFS #ZFS
FreeBSD 'system requirements' are not documented at the Project site or the documentation portal
Whilst the phrase _hardware requirements_ might be more accurate, I should expect most people to seek _system requirements_. See, for example, <https://www.ghostbsd.org/download>:  Seeking _system requirements_ in relevant areas in sou...
Sir l33tname@grahamperrin @mwl at least you got feedback my patches are open for a long time 😅🤷♂️