1250746Sgabor<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?> 2257814Sgjb<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//DTD DocBook XML V5.0-Based Extension//EN" 3257814Sgjb "../../../share/xml/freebsd50.dtd" [ 4250746Sgabor<!ENTITY % release PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES Release Specification//EN" "release.ent"> 5250746Sgabor %release; 676082Sbmah]> 7257814Sgjb<!-- 8257814Sgjb Local Variables: 9257814Sgjb mode: sgml 10257814Sgjb sgml-indent-data: t 11257814Sgjb sgml-omittag: nil 12257814Sgjb sgml-always-quote-attributes: t 13257814Sgjb End: 14257814Sgjb--> 15257814Sgjb<article xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" version="5.0"> 16257814Sgjb <info><title>&os; &release.current; README</title> 17257814Sgjb 1876082Sbmah 19257814Sgjb <author><orgname>The &os; Project</orgname></author> 2081327Sbmah 2182666Sbmah <pubdate>$FreeBSD$</pubdate> 2281327Sbmah 2382666Sbmah <copyright> 24260611Sgjb <year>2014</year> 25134817Shrs <holder role="mailto:doc@FreeBSD.org">The &os; Documentation Project</holder> 2682666Sbmah </copyright> 27119884Ssimon 28257814Sgjb <legalnotice xml:id="trademarks" role="trademarks"> 29119884Ssimon &tm-attrib.freebsd; 30119884Ssimon &tm-attrib.intel; 31119884Ssimon &tm-attrib.opengroup; 32119884Ssimon &tm-attrib.sparc; 33119884Ssimon &tm-attrib.general; 34119884Ssimon </legalnotice> 3581327Sbmah 3682666Sbmah <abstract> 3782666Sbmah <para>This document gives a brief introduction to &os; 3888959Sbmah &release.current;. It includes some information on how to 3988959Sbmah obtain &os;, a listing of various ways to contact the &os; 4088959Sbmah Project, and pointers to some other sources of 4188959Sbmah information.</para> 4282666Sbmah </abstract> 43257814Sgjb </info> 4481327Sbmah 45257814Sgjb <sect1 xml:id="intro"> 4682666Sbmah <title>Introduction</title> 4781327Sbmah 4882666Sbmah <para>This distribution is a &release.type; of &os; &release.current;, the 4982666Sbmah latest point along the &release.branch; branch.</para> 5081327Sbmah 5182666Sbmah <sect2> 5282666Sbmah <title>About &os;</title> 5381327Sbmah 5482666Sbmah <para>&os; is an operating system based on 4.4 BSD Lite for 55171891Sbmah AMD64 and Intel EM64T based PC hardware (&arch.amd64;), 56171891Sbmah Intel, AMD, Cyrix or NexGen <quote>x86</quote> based PC hardware (&arch.i386;), 57171891Sbmah Intel Itanium Processor based computers (&arch.ia64;), 58171891Sbmah NEC PC-9801/9821 series PCs and compatibles (&arch.pc98;), 59171891Sbmah and &ultrasparc; machines (&arch.sparc64;). Versions 60179456Shrs for the &arm; (&arch.arm;), &mips; (&arch.mips;), and 61179456Shrs &powerpc; (&arch.powerpc;) architectures are currently under 6282666Sbmah development as well. &os; works with a wide variety of 6382666Sbmah peripherals and configurations and can be used for everything 6482666Sbmah from software development to games to Internet Service 6582666Sbmah Provision.</para> 6681327Sbmah 6782666Sbmah <para>This release of &os; contains everything you need to run 6882666Sbmah such a system, including full source code for the kernel and 6982666Sbmah all utilities in the base distribution. With the source 7082666Sbmah distribution installed, you can literally recompile the entire 7182666Sbmah system from scratch with one command, making it ideal for 7282666Sbmah students, researchers, or users who simply want to see how it 7382666Sbmah all works.</para> 7481327Sbmah 7582666Sbmah <para>A large collection of third-party ported software (the 7682666Sbmah <quote>Ports Collection</quote>) is also provided to make it 77114787Sbmah easy to obtain and install all your favorite traditional &unix; 7882666Sbmah utilities for &os;. Each <quote>port</quote> consists of a 7982666Sbmah set of scripts to retrieve, configure, build, and install a 8082666Sbmah piece of software, with a single command. Over &os.numports; 8182666Sbmah ports, from editors to programming languages to graphical 8282666Sbmah applications, make &os; a powerful and comprehensive operating 8382666Sbmah environment that extends far beyond what's provided by many 84114787Sbmah commercial versions of &unix;. Most ports are also available as 8582666Sbmah pre-compiled <quote>packages</quote>, which can be quickly 8682666Sbmah installed from the installation program.</para> 8782666Sbmah </sect2> 8882666Sbmah 8982666Sbmah <sect2> 9082666Sbmah <title>Target Audience</title> 9182666Sbmah 92250746Sgabor <para releasetype="current">This &release.type; is aimed primarily at early adopters 93134116Shrs and various other users who want to get involved with the 94134116Shrs ongoing development of &os;. While the &os; development team 95134116Shrs tries its best to ensure that each &release.type; works as 96134116Shrs advertised, &release.branch; is very much a 97134116Shrs work-in-progress.</para> 98134116Shrs 99250746Sgabor <para releasetype="current">The basic requirements for using this &release.type; are 100134116Shrs technical proficiency with &os; and an understanding of the 101134116Shrs ongoing development process of &os; &release.branch; (as 102259790Sgjb discussed on the &a.stable;).</para> 103134116Shrs 104250746Sgabor <para releasetype="current">For those more interested in doing business with &os; than 105134116Shrs in experimenting with new &os; technology, formal releases 106134116Shrs (such as &release.prev.stable;) are frequently more appropriate. 107134116Shrs Releases undergo a period of testing and quality assurance 108134116Shrs checking to ensure high reliability and dependability.</para> 109134116Shrs 110250746Sgabor <para releasetype="snapshot">This &release.type; is aimed primarily at early adopters 11182666Sbmah and various other users who want to get involved with the 11282666Sbmah ongoing development of &os;. While the &os; development team 11382666Sbmah tries its best to ensure that each &release.type; works as 11482666Sbmah advertised, &release.branch; is very much a 11582666Sbmah work-in-progress.</para> 11681327Sbmah 117250746Sgabor <para releasetype="snapshot">The basic requirements for using this &release.type; are 11882666Sbmah technical proficiency with &os; and an understanding of the 11983425Sbmah ongoing development process of &os; &release.branch; (as 120259790Sgjb discussed on the &a.stable;).</para> 12182666Sbmah 122250746Sgabor <para releasetype="snapshot">For those more interested in doing business with &os; than 12382666Sbmah in experimenting with new &os; technology, formal releases 12492482Smurray (such as &release.prev.stable;) are frequently more appropriate. 12582666Sbmah Releases undergo a period of testing and quality assurance 12682666Sbmah checking to ensure high reliability and dependability.</para> 12782666Sbmah 128250746Sgabor <para releasetype="release">This &release.type; of &os; is suitable for all users. It 12982666Sbmah has undergone a period of testing and quality assurance 13082666Sbmah checking to ensure the highest reliability and 13182666Sbmah dependability.</para> 13282666Sbmah </sect2> 13382666Sbmah </sect1> 13481339Sbmah 135257814Sgjb <sect1 xml:id="obtain"> 13682666Sbmah <title>Obtaining &os;</title> 13781327Sbmah 13882666Sbmah <para>&os; may be obtained in a variety of ways. This section 13988959Sbmah focuses on those ways that are primarily useful for obtaining a 14082666Sbmah complete &os; distribution, rather than updating an existing 14182666Sbmah installation.</para> 14281327Sbmah 14382666Sbmah <sect2> 14482666Sbmah <title>CDROM and DVD</title> 14581327Sbmah 14682666Sbmah <para>&os; -RELEASE distributions may be ordered on CDROM or DVD 14782666Sbmah from several publishers. This is frequently the most 14882666Sbmah convenient way to obtain &os; for new installations, as it 14982666Sbmah provides a convenient way to quickly reinstall the system if 15082666Sbmah necessary. Some distributions include some of the optional, 15182666Sbmah precompiled <quote>packages</quote> from the &os; Ports 152171891Sbmah Collection, or other extra material.</para> 15381327Sbmah 15482666Sbmah <para>A list of the CDROM and DVD publishers known to the 155257814Sgjb project are listed in the <link xlink:href="&url.books.handbook;/mirrors.html"><quote>Obtaining 156257814Sgjb &os;</quote></link> appendix to the Handbook.</para> 15782666Sbmah </sect2> 15881327Sbmah 15982666Sbmah <sect2> 16082666Sbmah <title>FTP</title> 16181327Sbmah 16282666Sbmah <para>You can use FTP to retrieve &os; and any or all of its 163257814Sgjb optional packages from <uri xlink:href="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/">ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/</uri>, which is the official 16482666Sbmah &os; release site, or any of its 16582666Sbmah <quote>mirrors</quote>.</para> 16681327Sbmah 16782666Sbmah <para>Lists of locations that mirror &os; can be found in the 168257814Sgjb <link xlink:href="&url.books.handbook;/mirrors-ftp.html">FTP 169257814Sgjb Sites</link> section of the Handbook. 17082666Sbmah Finding a close (in networking terms) mirror from which to 17182666Sbmah download the distribution is highly recommended.</para> 17281327Sbmah 17382666Sbmah <para>Additional mirror sites are always welcome. Contact 17482666Sbmah <email>freebsd-admin@FreeBSD.org</email> for more details on 17591249Skeramida becoming an official mirror site. You can also find useful 176257814Sgjb information for mirror sites at the <link xlink:href="&url.articles.hubs;/">Mirroring 177257814Sgjb &os;</link> article.</para> 17881327Sbmah 179171891Sbmah <para>Mirrors generally contain the ISO images generally used to 180171891Sbmah create a CDROM of a &os; release. They usually also contain 181171891Sbmah floppy disk images (for applicable platforms), as well as the 182171891Sbmah files necessary to do an installation over the network. 183171891Sbmah Finally mirrors sites usually contain a set of packages for 184171891Sbmah the most current release.</para> 18582666Sbmah </sect2> 18682666Sbmah </sect1> 18781327Sbmah 188257814Sgjb <sect1 xml:id="contacting"> 18982666Sbmah <title>Contacting the &os; Project</title> 19081327Sbmah 19182666Sbmah <sect2> 19282666Sbmah <title>Email and Mailing Lists</title> 19381327Sbmah 19482666Sbmah <para>For any questions or general technical support issues, 19582666Sbmah please send mail to the &a.questions;.</para> 19681327Sbmah 19783425Sbmah <para>If you're tracking the &release.branch; development efforts, you 198259790Sgjb <emphasis>must</emphasis> join the &a.stable;, in order to 19982666Sbmah keep abreast of recent developments and changes that may 20093244Skeramida affect the way you use and maintain the system.</para> 20181327Sbmah 20288959Sbmah <para>Being a largely-volunteer effort, the &os; 20388959Sbmah Project is always happy to have extra hands willing to help—there are already far more desired enhancements than 20482666Sbmah there is time to implement them. To contact the developers on 20582666Sbmah technical matters, or with offers of help, please send mail to 20682666Sbmah the &a.hackers;.</para> 20781327Sbmah 20882666Sbmah <para>Please note that these mailing lists can experience 20988959Sbmah <emphasis>significant</emphasis> amounts of traffic. If you 21088959Sbmah have slow or expensive mail access, or are only interested in 21188959Sbmah keeping up with major &os; events, you may find it 21282666Sbmah preferable to subscribe instead to the &a.announce;.</para> 21381327Sbmah 21482666Sbmah <para>All of the mailing lists can be freely joined by anyone 215257814Sgjb wishing to do so. Visit the <link xlink:href="&url.base;/mailman/listinfo"> 216257814Sgjb &os; Mailman Info Page</link>. This will give you more 21782666Sbmah information on joining the various lists, accessing archives, 21882666Sbmah etc. There are a number of mailing lists targeted at special 21982666Sbmah interest groups not mentioned here; more information can be 220257814Sgjb obtained either from the Mailman pages or the <link xlink:href="&url.base;/support.html#mailing-list">mailing 221257814Sgjb lists section</link> of the &os; Web site.</para> 22281327Sbmah 22382666Sbmah <important> 22482666Sbmah <para>Do <emphasis>not</emphasis> send email to the lists 225114787Sbmah asking to be subscribed. Use the Mailman interface 22682666Sbmah instead.</para> 22782666Sbmah </important> 22882666Sbmah </sect2> 22981327Sbmah 23082666Sbmah <sect2> 23182666Sbmah <title>Submitting Problem Reports</title> 23281327Sbmah 23382666Sbmah <para>Suggestions, bug reports and contributions of code are 23488959Sbmah always valued—please do not hesitate to report any 23582666Sbmah problems you may find. Bug reports with attached fixes are of 23682666Sbmah course even more welcome.</para> 23781327Sbmah 23882666Sbmah <para>The preferred method to submit bug reports from a machine 23982666Sbmah with Internet mail connectivity is to use the &man.send-pr.1; 240114787Sbmah command. 24182666Sbmah <quote>Problem Reports</quote> (PRs) submitted in this way 24282666Sbmah will be filed and their progress tracked; the &os; developers 24382666Sbmah will do their best to respond to all reported bugs as soon as 244257814Sgjb possible. <link xlink:href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/query-pr-summary.cgi">A list 245257814Sgjb of all active PRs</link> is available on the &os; Web site; 24682666Sbmah this list is useful to see what potential problems other users 24782666Sbmah have encountered.</para> 24881327Sbmah 24982666Sbmah <para>Note that &man.send-pr.1; itself is a shell script that 25082666Sbmah should be easy to move even onto a non-&os; system. Using 25182666Sbmah this interface is highly preferred. If, for some reason, you 25282666Sbmah are unable to use &man.send-pr.1; to submit a bug report, you 25382666Sbmah can try to send it to the &a.bugs;.</para> 25481327Sbmah 255257814Sgjb <para>For more information, <link xlink:href="&url.articles.problem-reports;/"><quote>Writing 256257814Sgjb &os; Problem Reports</quote></link>, available on the &os; Web 25788959Sbmah site, has a number of helpful hints on writing and submitting 25888959Sbmah effective problem reports.</para> 25982666Sbmah </sect2> 26082666Sbmah </sect1> 26181339Sbmah 262257814Sgjb <sect1 xml:id="seealso"> 26382666Sbmah <title>Further Reading</title> 26481339Sbmah 26588959Sbmah <para>There are many sources of information about &os;; some are 26688959Sbmah included with this distribution, while others are available 26788959Sbmah on-line or in print versions.</para> 26888959Sbmah 269257814Sgjb <sect2 xml:id="release-docs"> 27082666Sbmah <title>Release Documentation</title> 27181339Sbmah 27282666Sbmah <para>A number of other files provide more specific information 27382666Sbmah about this &release.type; distribution. These files are 27482666Sbmah provided in various formats. Most distributions will include 27582666Sbmah both ASCII text (<filename>.TXT</filename>) and HTML 27682666Sbmah (<filename>.HTM</filename>) renditions. Some distributions 277171891Sbmah may also include other formats such as Portable Document Format 27882666Sbmah (<filename>.PDF</filename>). 27981339Sbmah 28082666Sbmah <itemizedlist> 28182666Sbmah <listitem> 28282666Sbmah <para><filename>README.TXT</filename>: This file, which 28382666Sbmah gives some general information about &os; as well as 28482666Sbmah some cursory notes about obtaining a 28582666Sbmah distribution.</para> 28682666Sbmah </listitem> 28781339Sbmah 28882666Sbmah <listitem> 28982666Sbmah <para><filename>RELNOTES.TXT</filename>: The release 29082666Sbmah notes, showing what's new and different in &os; 29188959Sbmah &release.current; compared to the previous release (&os; 29288959Sbmah &release.prev;).</para> 29382666Sbmah </listitem> 29481339Sbmah 29582666Sbmah <listitem> 29682666Sbmah <para><filename>HARDWARE.TXT</filename>: The hardware 29786152Solgeni compatibility list, showing devices with which &os; has 29882666Sbmah been tested and is known to work.</para> 29982666Sbmah </listitem> 30081339Sbmah 30182666Sbmah <listitem> 30282666Sbmah <para><filename>ERRATA.TXT</filename>: Release errata. 30382666Sbmah Late-breaking, post-release information can be found in 30482666Sbmah this file, which is principally applicable to releases 30582666Sbmah (as opposed to snapshots). It is important to consult 30682666Sbmah this file before installing a release of &os;, as it 30782666Sbmah contains the latest information on problems which have 30882666Sbmah been found and fixed since the release was 30982666Sbmah created.</para> 31082666Sbmah </listitem> 31182666Sbmah </itemizedlist> 31282666Sbmah </para> 31381339Sbmah 314258593Srodrigc <para>On platforms that support &man.bsdinstall.8; (currently 315171891Sbmah &arch.amd64;, &arch.i386;, &arch.ia64;, &arch.pc98;, and &arch.sparc64;), these documents are generally available via the 31683425Sbmah Documentation menu during installation. Once the system is 31793443Sbmah installed, you can revisit this menu by re-running the 318258593Srodrigc &man.bsdinstall.8; utility.</para> 31981339Sbmah 32082666Sbmah <note> 32182666Sbmah <para>It is extremely important to read the errata for any 32282666Sbmah given release before installing it, to learn about any 32382666Sbmah <quote>late-breaking news</quote> or post-release problems. 32482666Sbmah The errata file accompanying each release (most likely right 32582666Sbmah next to this file) is already out of date by definition, but 32682666Sbmah other copies are kept updated on the Internet and should be 32782666Sbmah consulted as the <quote>current errata</quote> for this 32882666Sbmah release. These other copies of the errata are located at 329257814Sgjb <uri xlink:href="&url.base;/releases/">&url.base;/releases/</uri> (as 33082666Sbmah well as any sites which keep up-to-date mirrors of this 33182666Sbmah location).</para> 33282666Sbmah </note> 33382666Sbmah </sect2> 33483425Sbmah 33583425Sbmah <sect2> 33688959Sbmah <title>Manual Pages</title> 33788959Sbmah 338119884Ssimon <para>As with almost all &unix; like operating systems, &os; comes 33988959Sbmah with a set of on-line manual pages, accessed through the 340257814Sgjb &man.man.1; command or through the <link xlink:href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi">hypertext manual 341257814Sgjb pages gateway</link> on the &os; Web site. In general, the 34288959Sbmah manual pages provide information on the different commands and 34388959Sbmah APIs available to the &os; user.</para> 34488959Sbmah 345107569Sbmah <para>In some cases, manual pages are written to give 34688959Sbmah information on particular topics. Notable examples of such 34788959Sbmah manual pages are &man.tuning.7; (a guide to performance tuning), 34888959Sbmah &man.security.7; (an introduction to &os; security), and 34988959Sbmah &man.style.9; (a style guide to kernel coding).</para> 35088959Sbmah </sect2> 35188959Sbmah 35288959Sbmah <sect2> 35383425Sbmah <title>Books and Articles</title> 35483425Sbmah 35583425Sbmah <para>Two highly-useful collections of &os;-related information, 35683425Sbmah maintained by the &os; Project, 35783425Sbmah are the &os; Handbook and &os; FAQ (Frequently Asked 358257814Sgjb Questions document). On-line versions of the <link xlink:href="&url.books.handbook;/">Handbook</link> 359257814Sgjb and <link xlink:href="&url.books.faq;/">FAQ</link> 360257814Sgjb are always available from the <link xlink:href="&url.base;/docs.html">&os; Documentation 361257814Sgjb page</link> or its mirrors. If you install the 36283425Sbmah <filename>doc</filename> distribution set, you can use a Web 363171891Sbmah browser to read the Handbook and FAQ locally. In particular, 364171891Sbmah note that the Handbook contains a step-by-step guide to 365171891Sbmah installing &os;.</para> 36683425Sbmah 36784484Sbmah <para>A number of on-line books and articles, also maintained by 36884484Sbmah the &os; Project, cover more-specialized, &os;-related topics. 36984484Sbmah This material spans a wide range of topics, from effective use 37084484Sbmah of the mailing lists, to dual-booting &os; with other 37184484Sbmah operating systems, to guidelines for new committers. Like the 37284484Sbmah Handbook and FAQ, these documents are available from the &os; 37384484Sbmah Documentation Page or in the <filename>doc</filename> 37484484Sbmah distribution set.</para> 37584484Sbmah 37684484Sbmah <para>A listing of other books and documents about &os; can be 377257814Sgjb found in the <link xlink:href="&url.books.handbook;/bibliography.html">bibliography</link> 378114787Sbmah of the &os; Handbook. Because of &os;'s strong &unix; heritage, 379114787Sbmah many other articles and books written for &unix; systems are 38083425Sbmah applicable as well, some of which are also listed in the 38183425Sbmah bibliography.</para> 38283425Sbmah </sect2> 38382666Sbmah </sect1> 38481327Sbmah 385257814Sgjb <sect1 xml:id="acknowledgements"> 38682666Sbmah <title>Acknowledgments</title> 38781327Sbmah 38882666Sbmah <para>&os; represents the cumulative work of many hundreds, if not 38982666Sbmah thousands, of individuals from around the world who have worked 39082666Sbmah countless hours to bring about this &release.type;. For a 39182666Sbmah complete list of &os; developers and contributors, please see 392257814Sgjb <link xlink:href="&url.articles.contributors;/"><quote>Contributors 393257814Sgjb to &os;</quote></link> on the &os; Web site or any of its 39482666Sbmah mirrors.</para> 39581327Sbmah 39682666Sbmah <para>Special thanks also go to the many thousands of &os; users 39782666Sbmah and testers all over the world, without whom this &release.type; 39882666Sbmah simply would not have been possible.</para> 39982666Sbmah </sect1> 40076082Sbmah</article> 401