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Running Retro Multi Tools on FreeBSD

Step-by-step guide for installing and running Retro Multi Tools on FreeBSD.

Prerequisites

  • FreeBSD 13.0 or later (x64 or ARM64)
  • Root or sudo access

Note: Retro Multi Tools is compiled as a Linux binary. FreeBSD runs it through the built-in Linux binary compatibility layer. Building from source directly on FreeBSD is not supported.

Step 1 — Enable Linux Binary Compatibility

FreeBSD can run Linux binaries natively through its Linuxulator subsystem. Enable it and start the service:

sudo sysrc linux_enable="YES"
sudo service linux start

Verify that the Linux compatibility layer is loaded:

kldstat | grep linux

You should see linux64.ko (or linux.ko) in the output.

Step 2 — Install Rocky Linux 9 Base and Required Packages

Retro Multi Tools requires a Rocky Linux 9 userland and several Linux libraries. Install them from the FreeBSD package repository:

Tip: The version suffixes below (e.g. 67.1_2) reflect the versions available at the time of writing. If pkg install cannot find an exact version, drop the version suffix (e.g. use linux-rl9-icu instead of linux-rl9-icu-67.1_2) or run pkg search linux-rl9-icu to find the current version.

sudo pkg install \
  linux_base-rl9 \
  linux-rl9-icu-67.1_2 \
  linux-rl9-fontconfig-2.14.0_2 \
  linux-rl9-freetype-2.10.4_3 \
  linux-rl9-wget-1.21.1_1 \
  linux-rl9-ffmpeg-libs-5.1.6_3 \
  linux-rl9-dbus-libs-1.12.20_3 \
  linux-rl9-at-spi2-atk-2.38.0_1 \
  linux-rl9-atk-2.36.0_1 \
  linux-rl9-cups-libs-2.3.3_8 \
  linux-rl9-libxkbcommon-1.0.3_2 \
  linux-rl9-alsa-lib-1.2.13

After installing, restart the Linux compatibility service to pick up the new userland:

sudo service linux restart

Downloading a Release

Download the release that matches your architecture from the Releases page.

Portable ZIPs

File Description
freebsd-x64.zip FreeBSD 64-bit (Intel/AMD)
freebsd-arm64.zip FreeBSD ARM64

PKG Installers

File Description
freebsd-x64-Installer.pkg FreeBSD 64-bit (Intel/AMD)
freebsd-arm64-Installer.pkg FreeBSD ARM64

Installing from a Portable ZIP

  1. Extract the downloaded ZIP:
unzip freebsd-x64.zip -d RetroMultiTools
  1. Navigate to the extracted directory:
cd RetroMultiTools
  1. Make the binary executable:
chmod +x RetroMultiTools
  1. Run the application:
./RetroMultiTools

Installing from a PKG

  1. Install the package using pkg:
sudo pkg add freebsd-x64-Installer.pkg
  1. Launch the application from the terminal:
retromultitools

Or find Retro Multi Tools in your desktop environment's application menu.

Troubleshooting

Application does not start

Make sure the Linux compatibility layer is running and all Rocky Linux 9 packages are installed:

# Check that the Linux module is loaded
kldstat | grep linux

# Restart the service
sudo service linux restart

Missing shared libraries

If the application reports missing .so files, check which Linux libraries are available:

pkg info -l linux_base-rl9

Install any additional linux-rl9-* packages as needed from the FreeBSD repository.

Display / rendering issues

Retro Multi Tools on FreeBSD uses X11 for rendering. Make sure you have a working X11 environment:

# Install Xorg if not already present
sudo pkg install xorg

Fonts look incorrect

Install liberation fonts for proper text rendering:

sudo pkg install liberation-fonts-ttf