diff --git a/doc/build-freebsd.md b/doc/build-freebsd.md
--- a/doc/build-freebsd.md
+++ b/doc/build-freebsd.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 FreeBSD build guide
 ======================
-(updated for FreeBSD 11.1)
+(updated for FreeBSD 12.0)
 
 This guide describes how to build bitcoind and command-line utilities on FreeBSD.
 
@@ -10,19 +10,19 @@
 
 You will need the following dependencies, which can be installed as root via pkg:
 
-```
+```shell
 pkg install autoconf automake boost-libs gmake libevent libtool openssl pkgconf
 ```
 
 In order to run the test suite (recommended), you will need to have Python 3 installed:
 
-```
+```shell
 pkg install python3
 ```
 
 For the wallet (optional):
 
-```
+```shell
 pkg install db5
 ```
 
@@ -33,36 +33,26 @@
 
 **Important**: Use `gmake` (the non-GNU `make` will exit with an error).
 
-```
-./autogen.sh
-```
-
-With wallet support:
-
-```
-./configure CXXFLAGS="-I/usr/local/include" BDB_CFLAGS="-I/usr/local/include/db5" BDB_LIBS="-L/usr/local/lib -ldb_cxx-5"
-```
-
-Without wallet support:
+With wallet:
 
-```
-./configure --disable-wallet CXXFLAGS="-I/usr/local/include"
+```shell
+./autogen.sh
+./configure --with-gui=no \
+    CXXFLAGS="-I/usr/local/include" \
+    BDB_CFLAGS="-I/usr/local/include/db5" \
+    BDB_LIBS="-L/usr/local/lib -ldb_cxx-5"
 ```
 
-followed by either:
+Without wallet:
 
-```
-gmake
+```shell
+./autogen.sh
+./configure --with-gui=no --disable-wallet
 ```
 
-to build without testing, or
+followed by:
 
+```shell
+gmake # use -jX here for parallelism
+gmake check # Run tests if Python 3 is available
 ```
-gmake check
-```
-
-to also run the test suite (recommended, if Python 3 is installed).
-
-*Note on debugging*: The version of `gdb` installed by default is [ancient and considered harmful](https://wiki.freebsd.org/GdbRetirement).
-It is not suitable for debugging a multi-threaded C++ program, not even for getting backtraces. Please install the package `gdb` and
-use the versioned gdb command (e.g. `gdb7111`).