Website Dead/Status of project?

[thegushi]

Hey there folks,

I was really optimistic about a community contuination of TrueNas that was actually usable.

Sadly, the website is now blank, presumably due to some kind of cease-and-desist from our corporate overlords.

If that's the case, is this github repo also likely to disappear?

A statement about where things stand would be appreciated.

[tschettervictor]

You might try https://sylve.io

[kmoore134]

Speaking as the "Corporate Overlord" in this scenario, we have had no involvement with any of this. We know as much about the status of the website or project as you do, which is to say, pretty much nothing.

[freecoredev]

Hi — I’m with FreeCORE. We cannot speak for zVault or explain its current status, and we do not want to speculate about it.

For anyone here specifically looking for a maintained FreeBSD-based continuation of the CORE line, FreeCORE is an independent project and FreeCORE 15.0 is now available as a stable release.

Project and installation · Documentation · Public source and tracker

FreeCORE is not affiliated with zVault or iXsystems.

[kchiem]

Who are the people behind FreeCORE?

[freecoredev]

FreeCORE is currently a one-person project. I’m a systems and infrastructure engineer, and I don’t have an established public open-source profile.

It began because I needed a viable FreeBSD path for our own TrueNAS CORE deployment rather than migrating it to Linux. I use AI coding agents extensively for implementation and review, while I direct the work, validate it against real systems, and take responsibility for releases. I wasn’t originally planning to publish it, but the results became useful enough that I decided to share it.

[piercej]

sigh, the freecore install script won't upgrade a zvault 13.3, which is just a debrandeed truenas 13.3

[freecoredev]

sigh, the freecore install script won't upgrade a zvault 13.3, which is just a debrandeed truenas 13.3

Thanks for flagging this!

We’ve updated the script to allow zVault 13.3. It looks compatible from our source checks, but hasn’t been tested on a real zVault install, so it’s unsupported and use-at-your-own-risk.

Please back up first - and let us know how it goes :)

[piercej]

***@***.***:~ # fetch https://freecore.org/freecore-enroll.sh && sh freecore-enroll.sh freecore-enroll.sh 23 kB 24 MBps 00s system: zVault-13.3-MASTER-202505042329 (ca844f8808) compatibility: zVault 13.3 enrollment is experimental and unsupported; attempting it anyway Unable to connect to url https://update-master.zvalut.io//TrueNAS/trains.txt Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/middlewared/main.py", line 141, in call_method .....

…

On Mon, Aug 24, 2026 at 4:08 PM freecoredev ***@***.***> wrote: *freecoredev* left a comment (zvaultio/Community#38) <#38 (comment)> sigh, the freecore install script won't upgrade a zvault 13.3, which is just a debrandeed truenas 13.3 Thanks for flagging this! We’ve updated the script to allow zVault 13.3. It looks compatible from our source checks, but hasn’t been tested on a real zVault install, so it’s unsupported and use-at-your-own-risk. Please back up first - and let us know how it goes :) — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#38?email_source=notifications&email_token=AAVDFFRCO6ENXMNIDX2T4WL5LTDFVA5CNFSNUABFM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2JONZXKZKDN5WW2ZLOOQXTKNBQGI3TAMRZHA3KM4TFMFZW63VHMNXW23LFNZ2KKZLWMVXHJLDGN5XXIZLSL5RWY2LDNM#issuecomment-5402702986>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAVDFFSFGEWRDKOZPAM3JYD5LTDFVAVCNFSNUABFKJSXA33TNF2G64TZHM4DSMJXGIZDAMRSHNEXG43VMU5TKMBSGQZDINJYGYZKC5QC> . Triage notifications, keep track of coding agent tasks and review pull requests on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS <https://github.com/notifications/mobile/ios/AAVDFFWORE2LILDS7M2J6FD5LTDFVA5CNFSNUABFM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2JONZXKZKDN5WW2ZLOOQXTKNBQGI3TAMRZHA3KM4TFMFZW63VHMNXW23LFNZ2KKZLWMVXHJKTGN5XXIZLSL5UW64Y> and Android <https://github.com/notifications/mobile/android/AAVDFFSKN3ZHA6OGUSQ66KD5LTDFVA5CNFSNUABFM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2JONZXKZKDN5WW2ZLOOQXTKNBQGI3TAMRZHA3KM4TFMFZW63VHMNXW23LFNZ2KKZLWMVXHJLTGN5XXIZLSL5QW4ZDSN5UWI>. Download it today! You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[piercej]

hmmm, I tried to manually fetch https://update-master.zvault.io//TrueNAS/trains.txt and get a nxdomain ... :-/

…

On Mon, Aug 24, 2026 at 4:20 PM John Pierce ***@***.***> wrote: ***@***.***:~ # fetch https://freecore.org/freecore-enroll.sh && sh freecore-enroll.sh freecore-enroll.sh 23 kB 24 MBps 00s system: zVault-13.3-MASTER-202505042329 (ca844f8808) compatibility: zVault 13.3 enrollment is experimental and unsupported; attempting it anyway Unable to connect to url https://update-master.zvalut.io//TrueNAS/trains.txt Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/middlewared/main.py", line 141, in call_method ..... On Mon, Aug 24, 2026 at 4:08 PM freecoredev ***@***.***> wrote: > *freecoredev* left a comment (zvaultio/Community#38) > <#38 (comment)> > > sigh, the freecore install script won't upgrade a zvault 13.3, which is > just a debrandeed truenas 13.3 > > Thanks for flagging this! > > We’ve updated the script to allow zVault 13.3. It looks compatible from > our source checks, but hasn’t been tested on a real zVault install, so it’s > unsupported and use-at-your-own-risk. > > Please back up first - and let us know how it goes :) > > — > Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub > <#38?email_source=notifications&email_token=AAVDFFRCO6ENXMNIDX2T4WL5LTDFVA5CNFSNUABFM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2JONZXKZKDN5WW2ZLOOQXTKNBQGI3TAMRZHA3KM4TFMFZW63VHMNXW23LFNZ2KKZLWMVXHJLDGN5XXIZLSL5RWY2LDNM#issuecomment-5402702986>, > or unsubscribe > <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAVDFFSFGEWRDKOZPAM3JYD5LTDFVAVCNFSNUABFKJSXA33TNF2G64TZHM4DSMJXGIZDAMRSHNEXG43VMU5TKMBSGQZDINJYGYZKC5QC> > . > Triage notifications, keep track of coding agent tasks and review pull > requests on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS > <https://github.com/notifications/mobile/ios/AAVDFFWORE2LILDS7M2J6FD5LTDFVA5CNFSNUABFM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2JONZXKZKDN5WW2ZLOOQXTKNBQGI3TAMRZHA3KM4TFMFZW63VHMNXW23LFNZ2KKZLWMVXHJKTGN5XXIZLSL5UW64Y> > and Android > <https://github.com/notifications/mobile/android/AAVDFFSKN3ZHA6OGUSQ66KD5LTDFVA5CNFSNUABFM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2JONZXKZKDN5WW2ZLOOQXTKNBQGI3TAMRZHA3KM4TFMFZW63VHMNXW23LFNZ2KKZLWMVXHJLTGN5XXIZLSL5QW4ZDSN5UWI>. > Download it today! > You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: > ***@***.***> >

[freecoredev]

hmmm, I tried to manually fetch
https://update-master.zvault.io//TrueNAS/trains.txt and get a nxdomain
... :-/
…

Thank you for those log outputs.
Try now please, the URL from zvault indeed no longer works, but script reads it locally from middlewared now.

[piercej]

this discussion will be continued on https://codeberg.org/freecore/freecore/issues/4

[piercej]

Sadly, the website is now blank
...

Its the zVault.io website thats down and blank. No error, just a 0 length reply.

$ wget zvault.io
--2026-08-25 11:19:28-- http://zvault.io/
Resolving zvault.io (zvault.io)... 162.0.212.2
Connecting to zvault.io (zvault.io)|162.0.212.2|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 302 Found
Location: https://zvault.io:443/ [following]
--2026-08-25 11:19:28-- https://zvault.io/Connecting to zvault.io (zvault.io)|162.0.212.2|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 0 [text/html]

[pmhausen]

Folks, the ship has sailed ...

As much as I loved FreeNAS or TrueNAS CORE ... do you really want to keep that architecture alive for the foreseeable future? It's a maintenance nightmare. Just understanding the build process is mind boggling.

I hope for @kmoore134 and iX that at the very least they got a sound reliable CI build infrastructure with their switch to Linux.

And you have to hand it to @kmoore134 that they never behaved like a corporate overlord. There was one friendly (no lawyers involved!) note about copyright issues with the initial release of Zvault, which were fixed, and that was that.

But:

• Zvault is/was essentially a one person project, run by someone who wants to stay anonymous, which does not really encourage participation or spawn a new open source ecosystem.
• Same for FreeCORE.
• Same for bsdNAS.

When I first got vocal on the old FreeNAS/TrueNAS forum about a fork, I never promised I could code one. I can't. I wanted to initiate a community effort with the FreeBSD Foundation involved, development and discussion taking place in the open, like all successful open source projects do.

Instead we got a couple of individuals who felt compelled to do it on their own.

Combine with the architecture issues - it's dead, Jim.

If you love FreeBSD as much as I do and still intend to run jail and VM workloads on FreeBSD combined with enterprise class ZFS and rock solid operation - there's Sylve.

If you want TrueNAS and are not really interested in what's under the hood - it seems like iX have finally been successful in stabilising the "App" foundation and ecosystem - congrats on that. Go with TrueNAS CE. And if you have special needs, there is LXC and/or generic Docker managers available, I am not and have never been "anti Linux". I simply see value in FreeBSD that Linux does not provide for my specific needs.

The good thing is, it's all open source, it's all free as in beer. Any way some investment in learning will always be involved, but seriously - ever ran e.g. Home Assistant for home automation? That is just true for any open source product and it's the price you pay for the software to be free.

Kind regards,
Patrick

[freecoredev]

Patrick, the bus-factor and build-system criticisms are fair. FreeCORE is one maintainer today, and publishing source does not magically create an ecosystem. Also agreed regarding iX: this is not an anti-iX or “corporate overlords” story.

For context, our first TrueNAS 15.0 ISO was built in April. This work would have continued whether we opened it publicly or not; opening FreeCORE made an existing effort inspectable and contributable—it did not create the effort.

15.0-RELEASE is deliberately the migration bridge, not the destination. Our current Nightlies already ship Bastille alongside iocage, plus a native Applications stack built on Podman + ocijail with Daemonless as its initial OCI catalog. Existing iocage jails remain untouched.

Your Home Assistant example is almost exactly why this exists: Daemonless already publishes a FreeBSD-native Home Assistant OCI image. It runs directly as a FreeBSD jail with ZFS-backed persistence—no Linux VM or Docker daemon.

This remains Nightlies/canary work, not a finished stable Applications promise, and FreeCORE still has to earn contributors. But the transition is already running and being tested. (Daemonless, Bastille, OCI Applications)

[pmhausen]

Your Home Assistant example is almost exactly why this exists: Daemonless already publishes a FreeBSD-native Home Assistant OCI image. It runs directly as a FreeBSD jail with ZFS-backed persistence—no Linux VM or Docker daemon.

I made that HA reference with a different intention. Even if HA runs in a FreeBSD jail that configuration is not supported by the HA project. Neither is running in Docker. The only supported deployment method is HAOS - on hardware or in a VM.

And if your house (literally!) depends on HA working you better run it in a supported way. That's what I meant by "there will always be some learning involved". For every project.

I run HAOS in a VM. You can put as much effort as you can afford into making it run in a jail - as long as there is no blessing by the HA project, I am never going to use that in production. And automating your home is "production" in a sense some people never experienced before. Garage not opening, heating off, ... whatever. Really wasted effort in my opinion. Just run HAOS. That's what bhyve is for.