--- title: Port the Enlightenment desktop environment to NetBSD description: A Google Summer of Code 2026 progress report detailing the effort to port the Enlightenment desktop environment to NetBSD. The student developer describes the... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/port-the-enlightenment-desktop-environment-to-netbsd-dmht9kopm twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Port the Enlightenment desktop environment to NetBSD | daily.dev og:description: A Google Summer of Code 2026 progress report detailing the effort to port the Enlightenment desktop environment to NetBSD. The student developer describes the... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/port-the-enlightenment-desktop-environment-to-netbsd-dmht9kopm og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/dMhT9KoPM.png og:image:alt: Port the Enlightenment desktop environment to NetBSD og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Port the Enlightenment desktop environment to NetBSD **[Lobsters](https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A Google Summer of Code 2026 progress report detailing the effort to port the Enlightenment desktop environment to NetBSD. The student developer describes the build environment (NetBSD 11.0 on QEMU and bare metal), the required pkgsrc dependencies, the meson build flags needed for both the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries (EFL) and the Enlightenment Window Manager, and upstream pull requests submitted to improve NetBSD portability. EFL built without custom patches, while the window manager required additional patching. Several known issues remain, including display glitching with OpenGL acceleration, missing app icons due to efreet cache errors, and shutdown triggering a reboot instead. Next steps include upstreaming remaining changes, porting additional Enlightenment apps (Evisum, Edi), and updating pkgsrc-wip packages. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How do I build the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries (EFL) on NetBSD? EFL builds on NetBSD without custom patches using meson with specific flags: `-Dsystemd=false -Dv4l2=false -Deeze=false -Dinput=false`. You also need to set PKG_CONFIG_PATH, CFLAGS, and LDFLAGS to include paths under /usr/pkg, /usr/X11R7, and /usr/local. All required build dependencies are available in pkgsrc and can be installed via pkgin. _NetBSD and BSD desktop porting discussions like this one surface regularly on daily.dev for developers working close to the OS layer._ ### What meson flags are needed to build the Enlightenment window manager on NetBSD? Building the Enlightenment window manager on NetBSD requires disabling several features not available on the platform: `-Dsystemd=false -Dbluez5=false -Ddevice-udev=false -Delput=false -Dgesture-recognition=false`. Additional patches beyond the meson flags are also needed; these are tracked in an upstream pull request against the enlightenment/enlightenment repository. _Developers porting desktop software to BSD systems track upstream patch status and build quirks on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [FreeBSD Working On Intel FRED Support, Laptop Improvements Continue](https://daily.dev/posts/freebsd-working-on-intel-fred-support-laptop-improvements-continue-2gxixjemy) · Phoronix · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [GhostBSD planning to ditch Xorg for XLibre](https://daily.dev/posts/ghostbsd-planning-to-ditch-xorg-for-xlibre-pdxyfmfcn) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [I tried NetBSD as a desktop, and it felt like stepping into the '90s in a good way](https://daily.dev/posts/i-tried-netbsd-as-a-desktop-and-it-felt-like-stepping-into-the-90s-in-a-good-way-frrnjfz3i) · Lobsters · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/port-the-enlightenment-desktop-environment-to-netbsd-dmht9kopm) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Port the Enlightenment desktop environment to NetBSD","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/port-the-enlightenment-desktop-environment-to-netbsd-dmht9kopm","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/port-the-enlightenment-desktop-environment-to-netbsd-dmht9kopm"},"datePublished":"2026-08-10T01:52:50.555Z","dateModified":"2026-08-10T01:53:25.487Z","description":"A Google Summer of Code 2026 progress report detailing the effort to port the Enlightenment desktop environment to NetBSD. The student developer describes the...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/1413953e58b18e093328bf6d10f1e8ea?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/1413953e58b18e093328bf6d10f1e8ea?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Lobsters","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Lobsters","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--tl8v_Fku--/f_auto,t_logo/v1698841318/logos/lobste.jpg","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/port-the-enlightenment-desktop-environment-to-netbsd-dmht9kopm","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lobsters","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Port the Enlightenment desktop environment to NetBSD"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/port-the-enlightenment-desktop-environment-to-netbsd-dmht9kopm#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How do I build the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries (EFL) on NetBSD?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"EFL builds on NetBSD without custom patches using meson with specific flags: `-Dsystemd=false -Dv4l2=false -Deeze=false -Dinput=false`. You also need to set PKG_CONFIG_PATH, CFLAGS, and LDFLAGS to include paths under /usr/pkg, /usr/X11R7, and /usr/local. All required build dependencies are available in pkgsrc and can be installed via pkgin. NetBSD and BSD desktop porting discussions like this one surface regularly on daily.dev for developers working close to the OS layer."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What meson flags are needed to build the Enlightenment window manager on NetBSD?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Building the Enlightenment window manager on NetBSD requires disabling several features not available on the platform: `-Dsystemd=false -Dbluez5=false -Ddevice-udev=false -Delput=false -Dgesture-recognition=false`. Additional patches beyond the meson flags are also needed; these are tracked in an upstream pull request against the enlightenment/enlightenment repository. Developers porting desktop software to BSD systems track upstream patch status and build quirks on daily.dev."}}]} ```