Instructions on not just downloading and running QuestDB on FreeBSD, but putting the requirements elements in a sensible location and configuring it to run on boot.

Install_QuestDB_On_FreeBSD.md

There does not seem to be any guidance available for installing QuestDB on FreeBSD. An enquiry on Slack created helpful suggestions, but nothing directly actionable.

For posteriority I decided to create my own installer. This seems to do the trick, and is modelling on the Homebrew configuration, for lack of a better idea.

As root:

pkg install bash
curl -LO https://github.com/questdb/questdb/releases/download/6.0.4/questdb-6.0.4-rt-freebsd-amd64.tar.gz
tar xvf questdb-6.0.4-rt-freebsd-amd64.tar.gz
cd questdb-6.0.4-rt-freebsd-amd64
mv bin/* /usr/local/bin/
mv lib/* /usr/local/lib/
mkdir /usr/local/var
questdb.sh start -d /usr/local/var/questdb

Create /usr/local/etc/rc.d/questdb with contents:

#!/bin/sh

# PROVIDE: questdb
# REQUIRE: FILESYSTEMS NETWORKING

. /etc/rc.subr

PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin"

name="questdb"
rcvar=`set_rcvar`

command="/usr/local/bin/questdb.sh"
questdb_flags="-d /usr/local/var/questdb"

start_cmd="$command start $questdb_flags"
stop_cmd="$command stop $questdb_flags"

load_rc_config $name
: ${questdb_enable="NO"}

run_rc_command "$1"

• Enable with sysrc questdb_enable="YES"
• Then reboot or service questdb onestart to get it running.

Note:

• I had to install bash, required by questdb.sh.
• I installed the contents of bin and lib. Not sure if it is all required, but there were no clashes on a fresh FreeBSD 12.2-RELEASE-p1 install so I figured it can’t hurt.
• I didn’t install the contents of conf or anything else in the archive - none of it seems to be relevant or referenced anywhere in the docs.
• While the var directory had to be created, QuestDB itself creates all other required directories (and their contents), provided the containing directory is specified in the -d flag.
• The rc script is really cumbersome and documentation out there is not good at all. Still not quite sure what some of it does, but it mostly works.
  • Really no more functionality that a simple @reboot line in root's crontab at this stage, but rc is the FreeBSD-native way.
  • crontab solution would simple be: ( ( crontab -l ; echo "@reboot /usr/local/bin/questdb.sh start -d /var/local/var/questdb" ) | crontab - ) >& /dev/null