# FreeBSD Handbook by FreeBSD Documentation Project

9 Hacker News commenters recommended FreeBSD Handbook by FreeBSD Documentation Project and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Newcomers to FreeBSD use it as the official onboarding guide, and people praise its documentation as well organized and easy to search.

## Why people recommend it

- Official onboarding guide for new users (2 comments): "the FreeBSD Handbook is the onboarding guide. It's been a long while since I've set something up going from the Handbook" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45904649)) "the FreeBSD Handbook is the onboarding guide" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45904901))
- Well organized and easy to find (2 comments): "exemplary in terms of what documentation should be" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46711924)) "Everything is easy to find and well formatted." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46711904))
- Widely praised as excellent resource (4 comments): "I stand by my statement that the cited FreeBSD resources are "a gold standard" while acknowledging they are not perfect." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47408383)) "was a great resource and I am sure it still is" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46711551)) "Those are both great starting points" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47921111))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Linux From Scratch by the LFS Project](https://hackerapproved.com/p/linux-from-scratch.md): 72 recommend
- [Game Engine White Papers: Commander Keen](https://hackerapproved.com/p/commander-keen.md): 13 recommend
- [Offline password cracking book by Bojta](https://hackerapproved.com/p/offline-password-cracking-book.md): 10 recommend
- [WebRTC for the Curious by Sean DuBois](https://hackerapproved.com/p/webrtc-for-the-curious.md): 5 recommend
- [Hands-On Large Language Models by Jay Alammar and Maarten Grootendorst](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hands-on-large-language-models.md): 5 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0595132235?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780595132232) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "FreeBSD Handbook by FreeBSD Documentation Project", https://hackerapproved.com/p/freebsd-handbook/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).