The devel/fam/pkg-message and/or the GNOME-2.2 FAQ should be updated to indicate that a portmapper needs to be running for FAM to work. It is not by default. In 4.x: Edit /etc/rc.conf: portmap_enable="YES" And reboot or run /usr/sbin/portmap In 5.x Edit /etc/rc.conf rpcbind_enable="YES" And reboot or run /usr/sbin/rpcbind -Wade