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176082Sbmah<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//DTD DocBook V4.1-Based Extension//EN" [ 276082Sbmah<!ENTITY % man PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES DocBook Manual Page Entities//EN"> 376082Sbmah%man; 476082Sbmah<!ENTITY % authors PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES DocBook Author Entities//EN"> 576082Sbmah%authors; 676082Sbmah<!ENTITY % mlists PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES DocBook Mailing List Entities//EN"> 776082Sbmah%mlists; 876082Sbmah<!ENTITY % release PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES Release Specification//EN"> 976082Sbmah%release; 1082350Sbmah<!ENTITY % misc PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES DocBook Miscellaneous FreeBSD Entities//EN"> 1182350Sbmah%misc; 1276082Sbmah]> 1376082Sbmah 1476082Sbmah<article> 1582666Sbmah <articleinfo> 1682666Sbmah <title>&os; &release.current; README</title> 1781327Sbmah 1882666Sbmah <corpauthor>The &os; Project</corpauthor> 1981484Sbmah 2082666Sbmah <pubdate>$FreeBSD: head/release/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/readme/article.sgml 109143 2003-01-12 18:23:15Z roam $</pubdate> 2181327Sbmah 2282666Sbmah <copyright> 2382666Sbmah <year>2000</year> 2482666Sbmah <year>2001</year> 2588820Sbmah <year>2002</year> 26108829Sbmah <year>2003</year> 2782666Sbmah <holder role="mailto:doc@FreeBSD.org">The FreeBSD Documentation Project</holder> 2882666Sbmah </copyright> 2982666Sbmah </articleinfo> 3081327Sbmah 3182666Sbmah <abstract> 3282666Sbmah <para>This document gives a brief introduction to &os; 3388959Sbmah &release.current;. It includes some information on how to 3488959Sbmah obtain &os;, a listing of various ways to contact the &os; 3588959Sbmah Project, and pointers to some other sources of 3688959Sbmah information.</para> 3782666Sbmah </abstract> 3881327Sbmah 39109143Sroam <sect1 id="intro"> 4082666Sbmah <title>Introduction</title> 4181327Sbmah 4282666Sbmah <para>This distribution is a &release.type; of &os; &release.current;, the 4382666Sbmah latest point along the &release.branch; branch.</para> 4481327Sbmah 4582666Sbmah <sect2> 4682666Sbmah <title>About &os;</title> 4781327Sbmah 4882666Sbmah <para>&os; is an operating system based on 4.4 BSD Lite for 4982666Sbmah Intel, AMD, Cyrix or NexGen <quote>x86</quote> based PC 5093443Sbmah hardware, Compaq (formerly DEC) Alpha computers, and UltraSPARC machines. Versions 5193443Sbmah for the IA64 and PowerPC architectures are currently under 5282666Sbmah development as well. &os; works with a wide variety of 5382666Sbmah peripherals and configurations and can be used for everything 5482666Sbmah from software development to games to Internet Service 5582666Sbmah Provision.</para> 5681327Sbmah 5782666Sbmah <para>This release of &os; contains everything you need to run 5882666Sbmah such a system, including full source code for the kernel and 5982666Sbmah all utilities in the base distribution. With the source 6082666Sbmah distribution installed, you can literally recompile the entire 6182666Sbmah system from scratch with one command, making it ideal for 6282666Sbmah students, researchers, or users who simply want to see how it 6382666Sbmah all works.</para> 6481327Sbmah 6582666Sbmah <para>A large collection of third-party ported software (the 6682666Sbmah <quote>Ports Collection</quote>) is also provided to make it 6782666Sbmah easy to obtain and install all your favorite traditional UNIX 6882666Sbmah utilities for &os;. Each <quote>port</quote> consists of a 6982666Sbmah set of scripts to retrieve, configure, build, and install a 7082666Sbmah piece of software, with a single command. Over &os.numports; 7182666Sbmah ports, from editors to programming languages to graphical 7282666Sbmah applications, make &os; a powerful and comprehensive operating 7382666Sbmah environment that extends far beyond what's provided by many 7482666Sbmah commercial versions of UNIX. Most ports are also available as 7582666Sbmah pre-compiled <quote>packages</quote>, which can be quickly 7682666Sbmah installed from the installation program.</para> 7782666Sbmah </sect2> 7882666Sbmah 7982666Sbmah <sect2> 8082666Sbmah <title>Target Audience</title> 8182666Sbmah 8281339Sbmah<![ %release.type.snapshot; [ 8381327Sbmah 8482666Sbmah <para>This &release.type; is aimed primarily at early adopters 8582666Sbmah and various other users who want to get involved with the 8682666Sbmah ongoing development of &os;. While the &os; development team 8782666Sbmah tries its best to ensure that each &release.type; works as 8882666Sbmah advertised, &release.branch; is very much a 8982666Sbmah work-in-progress.</para> 9081327Sbmah 9193244Skeramida <para>The basic requirements for using this &release.type; are 9282666Sbmah technical proficiency with &os; and an understanding of the 9383425Sbmah ongoing development process of &os; &release.branch; (as 9482666Sbmah discussed on the &a.current;).</para> 9582666Sbmah 9682666Sbmah <para>For those more interested in doing business with &os; than 9782666Sbmah in experimenting with new &os; technology, formal releases 9892482Smurray (such as &release.prev.stable;) are frequently more appropriate. 9982666Sbmah Releases undergo a period of testing and quality assurance 10082666Sbmah checking to ensure high reliability and dependability.</para> 10182666Sbmah 10281339Sbmah]]> 10381339Sbmah 10481339Sbmah<![ %release.type.release; [ 10582666Sbmah 10682666Sbmah <para>This &release.type; of &os; is suitable for all users. It 10782666Sbmah has undergone a period of testing and quality assurance 10882666Sbmah checking to ensure the highest reliability and 10982666Sbmah dependability.</para> 11082666Sbmah 11181339Sbmah]]> 11281339Sbmah 11382666Sbmah </sect2> 11482666Sbmah </sect1> 11581339Sbmah 116109143Sroam <sect1 id="obtain"> 11782666Sbmah <title>Obtaining &os;</title> 11881327Sbmah 11982666Sbmah <para>&os; may be obtained in a variety of ways. This section 12088959Sbmah focuses on those ways that are primarily useful for obtaining a 12182666Sbmah complete &os; distribution, rather than updating an existing 12282666Sbmah installation.</para> 12381327Sbmah 12482666Sbmah <sect2> 12582666Sbmah <title>CDROM and DVD</title> 12681327Sbmah 12782666Sbmah <para>&os; -RELEASE distributions may be ordered on CDROM or DVD 12882666Sbmah from several publishers. This is frequently the most 12982666Sbmah convenient way to obtain &os; for new installations, as it 13082666Sbmah provides a convenient way to quickly reinstall the system if 13182666Sbmah necessary. Some distributions include some of the optional, 13282666Sbmah precompiled <quote>packages</quote> from the &os; Ports 13382666Sbmah Collection.</para> 13481327Sbmah 13582666Sbmah <para>A list of the CDROM and DVD publishers known to the 13682666Sbmah project are listed in the <ulink 13782666Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors.html"><quote>Obtaining 13882666Sbmah FreeBSD</quote></ulink> appendix to the Handbook.</para> 13982666Sbmah </sect2> 14081327Sbmah 14182666Sbmah <sect2> 14282666Sbmah <title>FTP</title> 14381327Sbmah 14482666Sbmah <para>You can use FTP to retrieve &os; and any or all of its 14582666Sbmah optional packages from <ulink 14682666Sbmah url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/"></ulink>, which is the official 14782666Sbmah &os; release site, or any of its 14882666Sbmah <quote>mirrors</quote>.</para> 14981327Sbmah 15082666Sbmah <para>Lists of locations that mirror &os; can be found in the 15182666Sbmah <ulink 15282666Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors-ftp.html">FTP 15382666Sbmah Sites</ulink> section of the Handbook, or on the <ulink 15482666Sbmah url="http://www.freebsdmirrors.org/"></ulink> Web pages. 15582666Sbmah Finding a close (in networking terms) mirror from which to 15682666Sbmah download the distribution is highly recommended.</para> 15781327Sbmah 15882666Sbmah <para>Additional mirror sites are always welcome. Contact 15982666Sbmah <email>freebsd-admin@FreeBSD.org</email> for more details on 16091249Skeramida becoming an official mirror site. You can also find useful 16191249Skeramida information for mirror sites at the <ulink 16291249Skeramida URL="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/hubs/">Mirroring 16391249Skeramida FreeBSD</ulink> article.</para> 16481327Sbmah 16582666Sbmah <para>Mirrors generally contain the floppy disk images necessary 16682666Sbmah to begin an installation, as well as the distribution files 16788959Sbmah needed for the install process itself. Many mirrors also 16888959Sbmah contain the ISO images necessary to create a CDROM of 16982666Sbmah a &os; release.</para> 17081327Sbmah 17182666Sbmah </sect2> 17282666Sbmah </sect1> 17381327Sbmah 17482666Sbmah <sect1 id="contacting"> 17582666Sbmah <title>Contacting the &os; Project</title> 17681327Sbmah 17782666Sbmah <sect2> 17882666Sbmah <title>Email and Mailing Lists</title> 17981327Sbmah 18082666Sbmah <para>For any questions or general technical support issues, 18182666Sbmah please send mail to the &a.questions;.</para> 18281327Sbmah 18383425Sbmah <para>If you're tracking the &release.branch; development efforts, you 18482666Sbmah <emphasis>must</emphasis> join the &a.current;, in order to 18582666Sbmah keep abreast of recent developments and changes that may 18693244Skeramida affect the way you use and maintain the system.</para> 18781327Sbmah 18888959Sbmah <para>Being a largely-volunteer effort, the &os; 18988959Sbmah Project is always happy to have extra hands willing to help—there are already far more desired enhancements than 19082666Sbmah there is time to implement them. To contact the developers on 19182666Sbmah technical matters, or with offers of help, please send mail to 19282666Sbmah the &a.hackers;.</para> 19381327Sbmah 19482666Sbmah <para>Please note that these mailing lists can experience 19588959Sbmah <emphasis>significant</emphasis> amounts of traffic. If you 19688959Sbmah have slow or expensive mail access, or are only interested in 19788959Sbmah keeping up with major &os; events, you may find it 19882666Sbmah preferable to subscribe instead to the &a.announce;.</para> 19981327Sbmah 20082666Sbmah <para>All of the mailing lists can be freely joined by anyone 20182666Sbmah wishing to do so. Send mail to &a.majordomo; and include the 20282666Sbmah keyword <literal>help</literal> on a line by itself somewhere 20382666Sbmah in the body of the message. This will give you more 20482666Sbmah information on joining the various lists, accessing archives, 20582666Sbmah etc. There are a number of mailing lists targeted at special 20682666Sbmah interest groups not mentioned here; more information can be 20782666Sbmah obtained either through majordomo or the <ulink 20882666Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/support.html#mailing-list">mailing 20982666Sbmah lists section</ulink> of the &os; Web site.</para> 21081327Sbmah 21182666Sbmah <important> 21282666Sbmah <para>Do <emphasis>not</emphasis> send email to the lists 21382666Sbmah asking to be subscribed. Use the &a.majordomo; address 21482666Sbmah instead.</para> 21582666Sbmah </important> 21682666Sbmah </sect2> 21781327Sbmah 21882666Sbmah <sect2> 21982666Sbmah <title>Submitting Problem Reports</title> 22081327Sbmah 22182666Sbmah <para>Suggestions, bug reports and contributions of code are 22288959Sbmah always valued—please do not hesitate to report any 22382666Sbmah problems you may find. Bug reports with attached fixes are of 22482666Sbmah course even more welcome.</para> 22581327Sbmah 22682666Sbmah <para>The preferred method to submit bug reports from a machine 22782666Sbmah with Internet mail connectivity is to use the &man.send-pr.1; 22882666Sbmah command or use the Web form at <ulink 22982666Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/send-pr.html">http://www.FreeBSD.org/send-pr.html</ulink>. 23082666Sbmah <quote>Problem Reports</quote> (PRs) submitted in this way 23182666Sbmah will be filed and their progress tracked; the &os; developers 23282666Sbmah will do their best to respond to all reported bugs as soon as 23382666Sbmah possible. <ulink 23482666Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/query-pr-summary.cgi">A list 23582666Sbmah of all active PRs</ulink> is available on the &os; Web site; 23682666Sbmah this list is useful to see what potential problems other users 23782666Sbmah have encountered.</para> 23881327Sbmah 23982666Sbmah <para>Note that &man.send-pr.1; itself is a shell script that 24082666Sbmah should be easy to move even onto a non-&os; system. Using 24182666Sbmah this interface is highly preferred. If, for some reason, you 24282666Sbmah are unable to use &man.send-pr.1; to submit a bug report, you 24382666Sbmah can try to send it to the &a.bugs;.</para> 24481327Sbmah 24588959Sbmah <para>For more information, <ulink 24688959Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/problem-reports/"><quote>Writing 24788959Sbmah FreeBSD Problem Reports</quote></ulink>, available on the &os; Web 24888959Sbmah site, has a number of helpful hints on writing and submitting 24988959Sbmah effective problem reports.</para> 25082666Sbmah </sect2> 25182666Sbmah </sect1> 25281339Sbmah 253109143Sroam <sect1 id="seealso"> 25482666Sbmah <title>Further Reading</title> 25581339Sbmah 25688959Sbmah <para>There are many sources of information about &os;; some are 25788959Sbmah included with this distribution, while others are available 25888959Sbmah on-line or in print versions.</para> 25988959Sbmah 26082666Sbmah <sect2 id="release-docs"> 26182666Sbmah <title>Release Documentation</title> 26281339Sbmah 26382666Sbmah <para>A number of other files provide more specific information 26482666Sbmah about this &release.type; distribution. These files are 26582666Sbmah provided in various formats. Most distributions will include 26682666Sbmah both ASCII text (<filename>.TXT</filename>) and HTML 26782666Sbmah (<filename>.HTM</filename>) renditions. Some distributions 26882666Sbmah may also include other formats such as PostScript 26982666Sbmah (<filename>.PS</filename>) or Portable Document Format 27082666Sbmah (<filename>.PDF</filename>). 27181339Sbmah 27282666Sbmah <itemizedlist> 27382666Sbmah <listitem> 27482666Sbmah <para><filename>README.TXT</filename>: This file, which 27582666Sbmah gives some general information about &os; as well as 27682666Sbmah some cursory notes about obtaining a 27782666Sbmah distribution.</para> 27882666Sbmah </listitem> 27981339Sbmah 28082666Sbmah <listitem> 281105992Sbmah <para><filename>EARLY.TXT</filename>: A guide for early 282105992Sbmah adopters of &os; 5.0-RELEASE. Highly recommended 283105992Sbmah reading for users new to &os; &release.branch; and/or the 284105992Sbmah 5.<replaceable>X</replaceable> series of releases.</para> 285105992Sbmah </listitem> 286105992Sbmah 287105992Sbmah <listitem> 28882666Sbmah <para><filename>RELNOTES.TXT</filename>: The release 28982666Sbmah notes, showing what's new and different in &os; 29088959Sbmah &release.current; compared to the previous release (&os; 29188959Sbmah &release.prev;).</para> 29282666Sbmah </listitem> 29381339Sbmah 29482666Sbmah <listitem> 29582666Sbmah <para><filename>HARDWARE.TXT</filename>: The hardware 29686152Solgeni compatibility list, showing devices with which &os; has 29782666Sbmah been tested and is known to work.</para> 29882666Sbmah </listitem> 29981339Sbmah 30082666Sbmah <listitem> 30182666Sbmah <para><filename>INSTALL.TXT</filename>: Installation 30282666Sbmah instructions for installing &os; from its distribution 30382666Sbmah media.</para> 30482666Sbmah </listitem> 30581339Sbmah 30682666Sbmah <listitem> 30782666Sbmah <para><filename>ERRATA.TXT</filename>: Release errata. 30882666Sbmah Late-breaking, post-release information can be found in 30982666Sbmah this file, which is principally applicable to releases 31082666Sbmah (as opposed to snapshots). It is important to consult 31182666Sbmah this file before installing a release of &os;, as it 31282666Sbmah contains the latest information on problems which have 31382666Sbmah been found and fixed since the release was 31482666Sbmah created.</para> 31582666Sbmah </listitem> 31682666Sbmah </itemizedlist> 31788959Sbmah 31888959Sbmah <note> 31988959Sbmah <para>Several of these documents (in particular, 32088959Sbmah <filename>RELNOTES.TXT</filename>, 32188959Sbmah <filename>HARDWARE.TXT</filename>, and 32288959Sbmah <filename>INSTALL.TXT</filename>) contain information that 32388959Sbmah is specific to a particular hardware architecture. For 32488959Sbmah example, the alpha release notes contain information not 32588959Sbmah applicable to the i386, and vice versa. The architecture 32688959Sbmah for which each document applies will be listed in that 32788959Sbmah document's title.</para> 32888959Sbmah </note> 32988959Sbmah 33082666Sbmah </para> 33181339Sbmah 33293443Sbmah <para>On platforms that support &man.sysinstall.8; (currently 33393443Sbmah the i386 and alpha), these documents are generally available via the 33483425Sbmah Documentation menu during installation. Once the system is 33593443Sbmah installed, you can revisit this menu by re-running the 33683425Sbmah &man.sysinstall.8; utility.</para> 33781339Sbmah 33882666Sbmah <note> 33982666Sbmah <para>It is extremely important to read the errata for any 34082666Sbmah given release before installing it, to learn about any 34182666Sbmah <quote>late-breaking news</quote> or post-release problems. 34282666Sbmah The errata file accompanying each release (most likely right 34382666Sbmah next to this file) is already out of date by definition, but 34482666Sbmah other copies are kept updated on the Internet and should be 34582666Sbmah consulted as the <quote>current errata</quote> for this 34682666Sbmah release. These other copies of the errata are located at 34782666Sbmah <ulink url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/"></ulink> (as 34882666Sbmah well as any sites which keep up-to-date mirrors of this 34982666Sbmah location).</para> 35082666Sbmah </note> 35182666Sbmah </sect2> 35283425Sbmah 35383425Sbmah <sect2> 35488959Sbmah <title>Manual Pages</title> 35588959Sbmah 35688959Sbmah <para>As with almost all UNIX-like operating systems, &os; comes 35788959Sbmah with a set of on-line manual pages, accessed through the 35888959Sbmah &man.man.1; command or through the <ulink 35988959Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi">hypertext manual 36088959Sbmah pages gateway</ulink> on the &os; Web site. In general, the 36188959Sbmah manual pages provide information on the different commands and 36288959Sbmah APIs available to the &os; user.</para> 36388959Sbmah 364107569Sbmah <para>In some cases, manual pages are written to give 36588959Sbmah information on particular topics. Notable examples of such 36688959Sbmah manual pages are &man.tuning.7; (a guide to performance tuning), 36788959Sbmah &man.security.7; (an introduction to &os; security), and 36888959Sbmah &man.style.9; (a style guide to kernel coding).</para> 36988959Sbmah </sect2> 37088959Sbmah 37188959Sbmah <sect2> 37283425Sbmah <title>Books and Articles</title> 37383425Sbmah 37483425Sbmah <para>Two highly-useful collections of &os;-related information, 37583425Sbmah maintained by the &os; Project, 37683425Sbmah are the &os; Handbook and &os; FAQ (Frequently Asked 37783425Sbmah Questions document). On-line versions of the <ulink 37883425Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/">Handbook</ulink> 37983425Sbmah and <ulink 38083425Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/">FAQ</ulink> 38183425Sbmah are always available from the <ulink 38283425Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/docs.html">FreeBSD Documentation 38383425Sbmah page</ulink> or its mirrors. If you install the 38483425Sbmah <filename>doc</filename> distribution set, you can use a Web 38583425Sbmah browser to read the Handbook and FAQ locally.</para> 38683425Sbmah 38784484Sbmah <para>A number of on-line books and articles, also maintained by 38884484Sbmah the &os; Project, cover more-specialized, &os;-related topics. 38984484Sbmah This material spans a wide range of topics, from effective use 39084484Sbmah of the mailing lists, to dual-booting &os; with other 39184484Sbmah operating systems, to guidelines for new committers. Like the 39284484Sbmah Handbook and FAQ, these documents are available from the &os; 39384484Sbmah Documentation Page or in the <filename>doc</filename> 39484484Sbmah distribution set.</para> 39584484Sbmah 39684484Sbmah <para>A listing of other books and documents about &os; can be 39783425Sbmah found in the <ulink 39883425Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/bibliography.html">bibliography</ulink> 39983425Sbmah of the &os; Handbook. Because of &os;'s strong UNIX heritage, 40083425Sbmah many other articles and books written for UNIX systems are 40183425Sbmah applicable as well, some of which are also listed in the 40283425Sbmah bibliography.</para> 40383425Sbmah </sect2> 40482666Sbmah </sect1> 40581327Sbmah 406109143Sroam <sect1 id="acknowledgements"> 40782666Sbmah <title>Acknowledgments</title> 40881327Sbmah 40982666Sbmah <para>&os; represents the cumulative work of many hundreds, if not 41082666Sbmah thousands, of individuals from around the world who have worked 41182666Sbmah countless hours to bring about this &release.type;. For a 41282666Sbmah complete list of &os; developers and contributors, please see 41382666Sbmah <ulink 41488959Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/contributors/"><quote>Contributors 41588959Sbmah to FreeBSD</quote></ulink> on the &os; Web site or any of its 41682666Sbmah mirrors.</para> 41781327Sbmah 41882666Sbmah <para>Special thanks also go to the many thousands of &os; users 41982666Sbmah and testers all over the world, without whom this &release.type; 42082666Sbmah simply would not have been possible.</para> 42182666Sbmah </sect1> 42276082Sbmah</article> 42382666Sbmah 42482666Sbmah<!-- 42582666Sbmah Local Variables: 42682666Sbmah mode: sgml 42782666Sbmah sgml-indent-data: t 42882666Sbmah sgml-omittag: nil 42982666Sbmah sgml-always-quote-attributes: t 43082666Sbmah End: 43182666Sbmah--> 432