diff --git a/c/Makefile b/c/Makefile
index c82e8e02..bced46ac 100644
--- a/c/Makefile
+++ b/c/Makefile
@@ -4,13 +4,13 @@ LDFLAGS=-L../src -lvosk -ldl -lpthread -Wl,-rpath=../src
 all: test_vosk test_vosk_speaker
 
 test_vosk: test_vosk.o
-	g++ $^ -o $@ $(LDFLAGS)
+	$(CXX) $^ -o $@ $(LDFLAGS)
 
 test_vosk_speaker: test_vosk_speaker.o
-	g++ $^ -o $@ $(LDFLAGS)
+	$(CXX) $^ -o $@ $(LDFLAGS)
 
 %.o: %.c
-	g++ $(CFLAGS) -c -o $@ $<
+	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c -o $@ $<
 
 clean:
 	rm -f *.o *.a test_vosk test_vosk_speaker
diff --git a/misc/freebsd_build.sh b/misc/freebsd_build.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c616bb82
--- /dev/null
+++ b/misc/freebsd_build.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+# freebsd 12.3 vosk-api build
+
+echo '
+Build Vosk-API for FreeBSD 12.3 (and possibly later too).
+
+Please review this script before executing.  A number of packages
+will be installed, and some soft links made in /bin and /usr/local/{bin,lib}.
+
+Expect 20-120 minutes to build everything.  Sudo is required for installing
+packages and making soft links.
+
+Press ^c to exit, or return to start building.
+'
+read junk
+
+set -ex
+
+# pkgs required
+sudo pkg install git cmake gmake libtool automake autoconf autotools \
+    libatomic_ops gsed python38 py38-setuptools py38-wheel py38-pip-run \
+    wget bash curl sox
+
+
+# required:
+# skullduggery soft links to make build run smoother and less patching
+sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/libatomic_ops.a /usr/lib/libatomic.a
+sudo ln -s /usr/local/bin/bash /bin/bash
+sudo ln -s /usr/local/bin/gmake /usr/local/bin/make
+sudo ln -s /usr/local/bin/python3.8 /usr/local/bin/python3
+# make sure to pick up our soft link first
+PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH
+
+
+# create a build dir for everything
+mkdir build
+cd build
+BUILD_ROOT=$PWD
+
+
+# from here, mostly from vosk-api/travis/Dockerfile.manylinux
+# sed and patch used to include FreeBSD as supported OS and to make minor adjustments
+
+git clone https://github.com/alphacep/vosk-api.git
+git clone -b vosk --single-branch https://github.com/alphacep/kaldi 
+
+# Build kaldi tools
+cd $BUILD_ROOT/kaldi/tools 
+git clone -b v0.3.13 --single-branch https://github.com/xianyi/OpenBLAS 
+git clone -b v3.2.1  --single-branch https://github.com/alphacep/clapack 
+
+gmake -C OpenBLAS ONLY_CBLAS=1 DYNAMIC_ARCH=1 TARGET=NEHALEM USE_LOCKING=1 USE_THREAD=0 all 
+gmake -C OpenBLAS PREFIX=$PWD/OpenBLAS/install install 
+
+mkdir -p clapack/BUILD && cd clapack/BUILD && cmake .. && gmake -j 10 && cp `find . -name "*.a"`  ../../OpenBLAS/install/lib 
+
+cd $BUILD_ROOT/kaldi/tools 
+git clone --single-branch https://github.com/alphacep/openfst openfst 
+cd openfst 
+autoreconf -i 
+CFLAGS="-g -O3" ./configure --prefix=$BUILD_ROOT/kaldi/tools/openfst --enable-static --enable-shared --enable-far --enable-ngram-fsts --enable-lookahead-fsts --with-pic --disable-bin 
+gmake -j 10 
+gmake install 
+
+
+# Build kaldi main
+cd $BUILD_ROOT/kaldi/src 
+
+./configure --mathlib=OPENBLAS_CLAPACK --shared --use-cuda=no 
+gsed -i 's:-msse -msse2:-msse -msse2:g' kaldi.mk 
+gsed -i 's: -O1 : -O3 :g' kaldi.mk 
+
+gmake -j 4 online2 lm rnnlm 
+
+
+
+# Build vosk-api shared lib
+
+cd $BUILD_ROOT/vosk-api/src
+# FreeBSD needs -lexecinfo for python interface
+KALDI_ROOT=$BUILD_ROOT/kaldi EXTRA_LDFLAGS='-lexecinfo' gmake
+
+
+# optional-  build and test vosk C interface
+cd $BUILD_ROOT/vosk-api/c
+gmake
+
+wget https://alphacephei.com/kaldi/models/vosk-model-small-en-us-0.15.zip
+unzip vosk-model-small-en-us-0.15.zip
+mv vosk-model-small-en-us-0.15 model
+cp ../python/example/test.wav  .
+./test_vosk
+
+# install the python interface
+cd $BUILD_ROOT/vosk-api/python
+# install python module
+sudo python3.8 setup.py install
+
+
+# test the python interface
+cd examples
+# wget https://alphacephei.com/kaldi/models/vosk-model-small-en-us-0.15.zip
+# or, if you tested the vosk C interface, above, just grab the model.zip from there
+cp ../../c/vosk-model-small-en-us-0.15.zip .
+unzip vosk-model-small-en-us-0.15.zip
+mv vosk-model-small-en-us-0.15 model
+
+python3.8 test_simple.py test.wav
+
+
+# clean up soft links
+sudo rm /usr/lib/libatomic.a
+sudo rm /bin/bash
+sudo rm /usr/local/bin/make
+sudo rm /usr/local/bin/python3
+
+# done
+
diff --git a/python/vosk/__init__.py b/python/vosk/__init__.py
index c3849fcb..7054f0e3 100644
--- a/python/vosk/__init__.py
+++ b/python/vosk/__init__.py
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ def open_dll():
         return _ffi.dlopen(os.path.join(dlldir, "libvosk.dll"))
     elif sys.platform == 'linux':
         return _ffi.dlopen(os.path.join(dlldir, "libvosk.so"))
+    elif sys.platform[0:7] == 'freebsd':
+        return _ffi.dlopen(os.path.join(dlldir, "libvosk.so"))
     elif sys.platform == 'darwin':
         return _ffi.dlopen(os.path.join(dlldir, "libvosk.dyld"))
     else: