article.xml revision 114236
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 114236 2003-04-29 18:27:38Z hrs $</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 201114236Shrs wishing to do so. Visit <ulink url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/mailman/listinfo"> 202114236Shrs FreeBSD Mailman Info Page</ulink>. This will give you more 20382666Sbmah information on joining the various lists, accessing archives, 20482666Sbmah etc. There are a number of mailing lists targeted at special 20582666Sbmah interest groups not mentioned here; more information can be 20682666Sbmah obtained either through majordomo or the <ulink 20782666Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/support.html#mailing-list">mailing 20882666Sbmah lists section</ulink> of the &os; Web site.</para> 20981327Sbmah 21082666Sbmah <important> 21182666Sbmah <para>Do <emphasis>not</emphasis> send email to the lists 21282666Sbmah asking to be subscribed. Use the &a.majordomo; address 21382666Sbmah instead.</para> 21482666Sbmah </important> 21582666Sbmah </sect2> 21681327Sbmah 21782666Sbmah <sect2> 21882666Sbmah <title>Submitting Problem Reports</title> 21981327Sbmah 22082666Sbmah <para>Suggestions, bug reports and contributions of code are 22188959Sbmah always valued—please do not hesitate to report any 22282666Sbmah problems you may find. Bug reports with attached fixes are of 22382666Sbmah course even more welcome.</para> 22481327Sbmah 22582666Sbmah <para>The preferred method to submit bug reports from a machine 22682666Sbmah with Internet mail connectivity is to use the &man.send-pr.1; 22782666Sbmah command or use the Web form at <ulink 22882666Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/send-pr.html">http://www.FreeBSD.org/send-pr.html</ulink>. 22982666Sbmah <quote>Problem Reports</quote> (PRs) submitted in this way 23082666Sbmah will be filed and their progress tracked; the &os; developers 23182666Sbmah will do their best to respond to all reported bugs as soon as 23282666Sbmah possible. <ulink 23382666Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/query-pr-summary.cgi">A list 23482666Sbmah of all active PRs</ulink> is available on the &os; Web site; 23582666Sbmah this list is useful to see what potential problems other users 23682666Sbmah have encountered.</para> 23781327Sbmah 23882666Sbmah <para>Note that &man.send-pr.1; itself is a shell script that 23982666Sbmah should be easy to move even onto a non-&os; system. Using 24082666Sbmah this interface is highly preferred. If, for some reason, you 24182666Sbmah are unable to use &man.send-pr.1; to submit a bug report, you 24282666Sbmah can try to send it to the &a.bugs;.</para> 24381327Sbmah 24488959Sbmah <para>For more information, <ulink 24588959Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/problem-reports/"><quote>Writing 24688959Sbmah FreeBSD Problem Reports</quote></ulink>, available on the &os; Web 24788959Sbmah site, has a number of helpful hints on writing and submitting 24888959Sbmah effective problem reports.</para> 24982666Sbmah </sect2> 25082666Sbmah </sect1> 25181339Sbmah 252109143Sroam <sect1 id="seealso"> 25382666Sbmah <title>Further Reading</title> 25481339Sbmah 25588959Sbmah <para>There are many sources of information about &os;; some are 25688959Sbmah included with this distribution, while others are available 25788959Sbmah on-line or in print versions.</para> 25888959Sbmah 25982666Sbmah <sect2 id="release-docs"> 26082666Sbmah <title>Release Documentation</title> 26181339Sbmah 26282666Sbmah <para>A number of other files provide more specific information 26382666Sbmah about this &release.type; distribution. These files are 26482666Sbmah provided in various formats. Most distributions will include 26582666Sbmah both ASCII text (<filename>.TXT</filename>) and HTML 26682666Sbmah (<filename>.HTM</filename>) renditions. Some distributions 26782666Sbmah may also include other formats such as PostScript 26882666Sbmah (<filename>.PS</filename>) or Portable Document Format 26982666Sbmah (<filename>.PDF</filename>). 27081339Sbmah 27182666Sbmah <itemizedlist> 27282666Sbmah <listitem> 27382666Sbmah <para><filename>README.TXT</filename>: This file, which 27482666Sbmah gives some general information about &os; as well as 27582666Sbmah some cursory notes about obtaining a 27682666Sbmah distribution.</para> 27782666Sbmah </listitem> 27881339Sbmah 27982666Sbmah <listitem> 280105992Sbmah <para><filename>EARLY.TXT</filename>: A guide for early 281105992Sbmah adopters of &os; 5.0-RELEASE. Highly recommended 282105992Sbmah reading for users new to &os; &release.branch; and/or the 283105992Sbmah 5.<replaceable>X</replaceable> series of releases.</para> 284105992Sbmah </listitem> 285105992Sbmah 286105992Sbmah <listitem> 28782666Sbmah <para><filename>RELNOTES.TXT</filename>: The release 28882666Sbmah notes, showing what's new and different in &os; 28988959Sbmah &release.current; compared to the previous release (&os; 29088959Sbmah &release.prev;).</para> 29182666Sbmah </listitem> 29281339Sbmah 29382666Sbmah <listitem> 29482666Sbmah <para><filename>HARDWARE.TXT</filename>: The hardware 29586152Solgeni compatibility list, showing devices with which &os; has 29682666Sbmah been tested and is known to work.</para> 29782666Sbmah </listitem> 29881339Sbmah 29982666Sbmah <listitem> 30082666Sbmah <para><filename>INSTALL.TXT</filename>: Installation 30182666Sbmah instructions for installing &os; from its distribution 30282666Sbmah media.</para> 30382666Sbmah </listitem> 30481339Sbmah 30582666Sbmah <listitem> 30682666Sbmah <para><filename>ERRATA.TXT</filename>: Release errata. 30782666Sbmah Late-breaking, post-release information can be found in 30882666Sbmah this file, which is principally applicable to releases 30982666Sbmah (as opposed to snapshots). It is important to consult 31082666Sbmah this file before installing a release of &os;, as it 31182666Sbmah contains the latest information on problems which have 31282666Sbmah been found and fixed since the release was 31382666Sbmah created.</para> 31482666Sbmah </listitem> 31582666Sbmah </itemizedlist> 31688959Sbmah 31788959Sbmah <note> 31888959Sbmah <para>Several of these documents (in particular, 31988959Sbmah <filename>RELNOTES.TXT</filename>, 32088959Sbmah <filename>HARDWARE.TXT</filename>, and 32188959Sbmah <filename>INSTALL.TXT</filename>) contain information that 32288959Sbmah is specific to a particular hardware architecture. For 32388959Sbmah example, the alpha release notes contain information not 32488959Sbmah applicable to the i386, and vice versa. The architecture 32588959Sbmah for which each document applies will be listed in that 32688959Sbmah document's title.</para> 32788959Sbmah </note> 32888959Sbmah 32982666Sbmah </para> 33081339Sbmah 33193443Sbmah <para>On platforms that support &man.sysinstall.8; (currently 33293443Sbmah the i386 and alpha), these documents are generally available via the 33383425Sbmah Documentation menu during installation. Once the system is 33493443Sbmah installed, you can revisit this menu by re-running the 33583425Sbmah &man.sysinstall.8; utility.</para> 33681339Sbmah 33782666Sbmah <note> 33882666Sbmah <para>It is extremely important to read the errata for any 33982666Sbmah given release before installing it, to learn about any 34082666Sbmah <quote>late-breaking news</quote> or post-release problems. 34182666Sbmah The errata file accompanying each release (most likely right 34282666Sbmah next to this file) is already out of date by definition, but 34382666Sbmah other copies are kept updated on the Internet and should be 34482666Sbmah consulted as the <quote>current errata</quote> for this 34582666Sbmah release. These other copies of the errata are located at 34682666Sbmah <ulink url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/"></ulink> (as 34782666Sbmah well as any sites which keep up-to-date mirrors of this 34882666Sbmah location).</para> 34982666Sbmah </note> 35082666Sbmah </sect2> 35183425Sbmah 35283425Sbmah <sect2> 35388959Sbmah <title>Manual Pages</title> 35488959Sbmah 35588959Sbmah <para>As with almost all UNIX-like operating systems, &os; comes 35688959Sbmah with a set of on-line manual pages, accessed through the 35788959Sbmah &man.man.1; command or through the <ulink 35888959Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi">hypertext manual 35988959Sbmah pages gateway</ulink> on the &os; Web site. In general, the 36088959Sbmah manual pages provide information on the different commands and 36188959Sbmah APIs available to the &os; user.</para> 36288959Sbmah 363107569Sbmah <para>In some cases, manual pages are written to give 36488959Sbmah information on particular topics. Notable examples of such 36588959Sbmah manual pages are &man.tuning.7; (a guide to performance tuning), 36688959Sbmah &man.security.7; (an introduction to &os; security), and 36788959Sbmah &man.style.9; (a style guide to kernel coding).</para> 36888959Sbmah </sect2> 36988959Sbmah 37088959Sbmah <sect2> 37183425Sbmah <title>Books and Articles</title> 37283425Sbmah 37383425Sbmah <para>Two highly-useful collections of &os;-related information, 37483425Sbmah maintained by the &os; Project, 37583425Sbmah are the &os; Handbook and &os; FAQ (Frequently Asked 37683425Sbmah Questions document). On-line versions of the <ulink 37783425Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/">Handbook</ulink> 37883425Sbmah and <ulink 37983425Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/">FAQ</ulink> 38083425Sbmah are always available from the <ulink 38183425Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/docs.html">FreeBSD Documentation 38283425Sbmah page</ulink> or its mirrors. If you install the 38383425Sbmah <filename>doc</filename> distribution set, you can use a Web 38483425Sbmah browser to read the Handbook and FAQ locally.</para> 38583425Sbmah 38684484Sbmah <para>A number of on-line books and articles, also maintained by 38784484Sbmah the &os; Project, cover more-specialized, &os;-related topics. 38884484Sbmah This material spans a wide range of topics, from effective use 38984484Sbmah of the mailing lists, to dual-booting &os; with other 39084484Sbmah operating systems, to guidelines for new committers. Like the 39184484Sbmah Handbook and FAQ, these documents are available from the &os; 39284484Sbmah Documentation Page or in the <filename>doc</filename> 39384484Sbmah distribution set.</para> 39484484Sbmah 39584484Sbmah <para>A listing of other books and documents about &os; can be 39683425Sbmah found in the <ulink 39783425Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/bibliography.html">bibliography</ulink> 39883425Sbmah of the &os; Handbook. Because of &os;'s strong UNIX heritage, 39983425Sbmah many other articles and books written for UNIX systems are 40083425Sbmah applicable as well, some of which are also listed in the 40183425Sbmah bibliography.</para> 40283425Sbmah </sect2> 40382666Sbmah </sect1> 40481327Sbmah 405109143Sroam <sect1 id="acknowledgements"> 40682666Sbmah <title>Acknowledgments</title> 40781327Sbmah 40882666Sbmah <para>&os; represents the cumulative work of many hundreds, if not 40982666Sbmah thousands, of individuals from around the world who have worked 41082666Sbmah countless hours to bring about this &release.type;. For a 41182666Sbmah complete list of &os; developers and contributors, please see 41282666Sbmah <ulink 41388959Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/contributors/"><quote>Contributors 41488959Sbmah to FreeBSD</quote></ulink> on the &os; Web site or any of its 41582666Sbmah mirrors.</para> 41681327Sbmah 41782666Sbmah <para>Special thanks also go to the many thousands of &os; users 41882666Sbmah and testers all over the world, without whom this &release.type; 41982666Sbmah simply would not have been possible.</para> 42082666Sbmah </sect1> 42176082Sbmah</article> 42282666Sbmah 42382666Sbmah<!-- 42482666Sbmah Local Variables: 42582666Sbmah mode: sgml 42682666Sbmah sgml-indent-data: t 42782666Sbmah sgml-omittag: nil 42882666Sbmah sgml-always-quote-attributes: t 42982666Sbmah End: 43082666Sbmah--> 431