16&artheader; 17&abstract; 18§.intro; 19§.about; 20§.obtaining; 21§.problems; 22§.ack;
| 13<articleinfo> 14 <title>&os; &release.current; README</title> 15 16 <corpauthor>The &os; Project</corpauthor> 17 <pubdate>$FreeBSD: head/release/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/readme/article.sgml 81327 2001-08-09 00:35:04Z bmah $</pubdate> 18 19 <copyright> 20 <year>2000</year> 21 <year>2001</year> 22 <holder role="mailto:doc@FreeBSD.org">The FreeBSD Documentation Project</holder> 23 </copyright> 24</articleinfo> 25<abstract> 26 <para>This document gives a brief introduction to &os; 27 &release.current;. It includes a roadmap to the other release 28 documentation files, as well as some pointers on obtaining &os; and 29 contacting the &os; development team.</para> 30</abstract> 31<sect1> 32 <title>Introduction</title> 33 34 <para>This distribution is a &release.type; of &os; &release.current;, the 35 latest point along the &release.branch; branch.</para> 36 37 <sect2> 38 <title>Target Audience</title> 39 40<![ %release.type.snapshot; [ 41 <para>This &release.type; is aimed primarily at early adopters and 42 various other users who want to get involved with the ongoing 43 development of &os;. While the &os; development team tries its 44 best to ensure that each &release.type; works as 45 advertised, &release.branch; is very much a work-in-progress.</para> 46 47 <para>The basic requirements for using this &release.type are 48 technical proficiency with &os; and an understanding of the ongoing 49 development process of &os; &release.current; 50 (as discussed on the &a.current;).</para> 51 52 <para>For those more interested 53 in doing business with &os; than in experimenting with new &os; 54 technology, formal releases (such as &release.prev;) are frequently more 55 appropriate. Releases undergo a period of testing and quality 56 assurance checking to ensure high reliability and dependability.</para> 57]]> 58 59<![ %release.type.release; [ 60 <para>This &release.type; of &os; is suitable for all users. It has 61 undergone a period of testing and quality assurance 62 checking to ensure the highest reliability and dependability.</para> 63]]> 64 65 </sect2> 66 67 <sect2 id="release-docs"> 68 <title>Release Documentation</title> 69 70 <para>A number of other files provide more specific information 71 about this &release.type; distribution. These files are provided 72 in various formats. Most distributions will include both ASCII 73 text (<filename>.TXT</filename>) and HTML 74 (<filename>.HTM</filename>) renditions. Some distributions may 75 also include other formats such as PostScript 76 (<filename>.PS</filename>) or Portable Document Format 77 (<filename>.PDF</filename>). 78 79 <itemizedlist> 80 <listitem> 81 <para><filename>README.TXT</filename>: This file, which 82 gives some general information about &os; as well as some 83 cursory notes about obtaining a distribution.</para> 84 </listitem> 85 <listitem> 86 <para><filename>RELNOTES.TXT</filename>: The release notes, 87 showing what's new and different in &os; &release.current; 88 compared to &os; &release.prev;.</para> 89 </listitem> 90 <listitem> 91 <para><filename>HARDWARE.TXT</filename>: The hardware 92 compatability list, showing devices with which &os; has been 93 tested and is known to work.</para> 94 </listitem> 95 <listitem> 96 <para><filename>INSTALL.TXT</filename>: Installation 97 instructions for installing &os; from its distribution 98 media.</para> 99 </listitem> 100 <listitem> 101 <para><filename>ERRATA.TXT</filename>: Release errata. 102 Late-breaking, post-release information can be found in this 103 file, which is principally applicable to releases (as opposed to 104 snapshots). It is important to consult this file before 105 installing a release of &os;, as it contains 106 the latest information on problems which have been found and 107 fixed since the release was created.</para> 108 </listitem> 109 </itemizedlist> 110 111 </para> 112 113 <para>Most information is also available from the 114 Documentation menu during installation.</para> 115 116 </sect2> 117 118</sect1> 119<sect1> 120 <title>About &os;</title> 121 122 <para>&os; is an operating system based on 4.4 BSD 123 Lite for Intel, AMD, Cyrix or NexGen <quote>x86</quote> based PC 124 hardware and Compaq (formerly DEC) Alpha computers. Versions for 125 the IA64 and PowerPC architectures are currently under 126 development as well. &os; works with a 127 wide variety of peripherals and configurations and can be 128 used for everything from software development to games to Internet Service 129 Provision.</para> 130 131 <para>This release of &os; contains everything you need to run 132 such a system, including full source code for the kernel and all 133 utilities in the base distribution. With the 134 source distribution installed, you can literally recompile the entire 135 system from scratch with one command, making it ideal for students, 136 researchers, or users who simply want to see how it all works.</para> 137 138 <para>A large collection of third-party ported software (the 139 <quote>Ports Collection</quote>) is also provided to make it easy 140 to obtain and install all your favorite traditional UNIX 141 utilities for &os;. Each 142 <quote>port</quote> consists of a set of scripts to retrieve, 143 configure, build, and install a piece of software, with a single 144 command. Over 5000 ports, from editors to programming 145 languages to graphical applications, make &os; a powerful and 146 comprehensive operating environment that extends far beyond what's 147 provided by many commercial versions of UNIX. Most ports are also 148 available as pre-compiled <quote>packages</quote>, which can be 149 quickly installed from the installation program.</para> 150 151 <para>Pointers to more documentation on &os; can be found in the 152 <ulink 153 url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/bibliography.html#BIBLIOGRAPHY-FREEBSD">Books 154 & Magazines Specific to FreeBSD</ulink> section of the &os; Handbook. 155 Because of &os;'s strong UNIX heritage, many other articles and books written 156 for UNIX systems are applicable as well. A selection of these documents 157 can be found in the Handbook's <ulink 158 url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/bibliography.html">Bibliography</ulink>. 159 </para> 160 161 <para>If you're new to &os; then you should also read 162 all of the documentation files listed in <xref linkend="release-docs">, 163 all of which are available from the Documentation menu in the 164 installation program. 165 It may seem 166 like a lot to read, but it's important to at least acquaint yourself with 167 the types of information available, should you run into problems later. Once 168 the system is installed, you can also revisit this menu by running 169 the &man.sysinstall.8; utility.</para> 170 171 <para>On-line 172 versions of the <ulink 173 url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/">FAQ</ulink> 174 (Frequently Asked Questions document) and <ulink 175 url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/">Handbook</ulink> are always 176 available from the <ulink 177 url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/docs.html">FreeBSD Documentation 178 page</ulink> or its mirrors. 179 If you install the 180 <filename>doc</filename> distribution set, you can use a 181 Web browser to read the FAQ and Handbook locally.</para> 182 183 <note> 184 <para>It is extremely important to read the errata for any given 185 release before installing it, to learn about any 186 <quote>late-breaking news</quote> or post-release problems. 187 The 188 errata file accompanying each release 189 (most likely right next to this file) is already out of 190 date by definition, but other copies are kept updated on the Internet 191 and should be consulted as the <quote>current errata</quote> for 192 this release. These 193 other copies of the errata are located at 194 <ulink url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/"></ulink> 195 (as well as any sites which keep up-to-date mirrors of this 196 location).</para> 197 </note> 198</sect1> 199<sect1> 200 <title>Obtaining &os;</title> 201 202 <para>&os; may be obtained in a variety of ways. This section 203 focuses on those ways that are primarily of use for obtaining a 204 complete &os; distribution, rather than updating an existing 205 installation.</para> 206 207 <sect2> 208 <title>CDROM and DVD</title> 209 210 <para>&os; -RELEASE distributions (for example, 4.3-RELEASE) may 211 be ordered on CDROM or DVD from several publishers. This is 212 frequently the most convenient way to obtain &os; for new 213 installations, as it provides a convenient way to quickly 214 reinstall the system if necessary. Some distributions include 215 some of the optional, precompiled <quote>packages</quote> from the 216 &os; Ports Collection.</para> 217 218 <para>A list of the CDROM and DVD 219 publishers known to the project are listed in the <ulink 220 url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors.html"><quote>Obtaining 221 FreeBSD</quote></ulink> appendix to the Handbook.</para> 222 </sect2> 223 224 <sect2> 225 <title>FTP</title> 226 227 <para>You can use FTP to retrieve &os; and any or all of its 228 optional packages from <ulink 229 url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/"></ulink>, which 230 is the 231 official &os; release site, or any of its <quote>mirrors</quote>.</para> 232 233 <para>Lists of locations that mirror &os; 234 can be found in the <ulink 235 url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors-ftp.html">FTP 236 Sites</ulink> section of the Handbook, or on the 237 <ulink url="http://www.freebsdmirrors.org/"></ulink> Web pages. 238 Finding a close (in networking terms) mirror from which to 239 download the distribution is highly recommended.</para> 240 241 <para>Additional mirror sites are 242 always welcome. 243 Contact <email>freebsd-admin@FreeBSD.org</email> for more 244 details on becoming an official mirror site.</para> 245 246 <para>Mirrors generally contain the floppy disk images necessary 247 to begin an installation, as well as the distribution files needed 248 for the install process itself. Some mirrors also contain some of 249 the ISO images necessary to create a CDROM of a &os; release.</para> 250 251 </sect2> 252</sect1> 253<sect1 id="contacting"> 254 <title>Contacting the &os; Project</title> 255 256 <sect2> 257 <title>Email and Mailing Lists</title> 258 <para>For any questions or general technical support issues, please send 259 mail to the &a.questions;.</para> 260 261 <para>If you're tracking the -current development efforts, you 262 <emphasis>must</emphasis> join the &a.current;, in order to keep 263 abreast of recent developments and changes that may affect the way 264 you use and maintain the system. 265 266 <para>Additionally, being a largely-volunteer effort, the &os; 267 Project is always happy to 268 have extra hands willing to help — there are already far more 269 desired enhancements than there is time to implement them. 270 To contact the developers on technical matters, or with offers of help, please 271 send mail to the &a.hackers;.</para> 272 273 <para>Please note that these mailing lists can experience 274 <emphasis>significant</emphasis> amounts of traffic and if you have 275 slow or expensive mail access and are only interested in keeping up 276 with significant &os; events, you may find it preferable to 277 subscribe instead to the &a.announce;.</para> 278 279 <para>All of the mailing lists can be freely joined by anyone 280 wishing to do so. Send mail to &a.majordomo; 281 and include the keyword <literal>help</literal> on a line by itself 282 somewhere in the body of the message. This will give you more 283 information on joining the various lists, accessing archives, etc. 284 There are a number of mailing lists targeted at special interest 285 groups not mentioned here; more information can be obtained either 286 through majordomo or the <ulink 287 url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/support.html#mailing-list">mailing lists 288 section</ulink> of the &os; Web site.</para> 289 290 <important> 291 <para>Do <emphasis>not</emphasis> send email to the lists asking to 292 be subscribed. Use the &a.majordomo; address 293 instead.</para> 294 </important> 295 </sect2> 296 297 <sect2> 298 <title>Submitting Problem Reports</title> 299 300 <para>Suggestions, bug reports and contributions of code are 301 always valued — please do not hesitate to report any problems you 302 may find. Bug reports with attached fixes are of course even more 303 welcome.</para> 304 305 <para>The preferred method to submit bug reports from a machine with 306 Internet mail connectivity is to use the &man.send-pr.1; command or 307 use the Web form at <ulink 308 url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/send-pr.html">http://www.FreeBSD.org/send-pr.html</ulink>. 309 <quote>Problem Reports</quote> (PRs) submitted in this way will be filed and 310 their progress tracked; the &os; developers will do their best to respond to all 311 reported bugs as soon as possible. <ulink url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/query-pr-summary.cgi">A list of all active PRs</ulink> is 312 available on the &os; Web site; this list is useful to see what 313 potential problems other users have encountered.</para> 314 315 <para>Note that &man.send-pr.1; itself is a shell script that should 316 be easy to move even onto a non-&os; system. Using this interface 317 is highly preferred. 318 If, for some reason, you are unable to use &man.send-pr.1; to 319 submit a bug report, you can try to send it to the &a.bugs;.</para> 320 321 <para>In any case, before submitting a PR, 322 please try to determine whether the problem might have already been 323 fixed since.</para> 324 325 </sect2> 326 327</sect1> 328<sect1> 329 <title>Acknowledgments</title> 330 331 <para>&os; represents the cumulative work of many hundreds, if not 332 thousands, of individuals from around the world who have worked 333 countless hours to bring about this &release.type;. 334 For a complete list of &os; developers and contributors, please see 335 <ulink 336 url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/contributors/">Contributors 337 to FreeBSD</ulink> on the &os; Web site or any of its mirrors.</para> 338 339 <para>Special thanks also go to the many thousands of &os; users and 340 testers all over the world, without whom this &release.type; simply would 341 not have been possible.</para> 342 343</sect1>
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