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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; 8119884Ssimon<!ENTITY % trademarks PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES DocBook Trademark Entities//EN"> 9119884Ssimon%trademarks; 1076082Sbmah<!ENTITY % release PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES Release Specification//EN"> 1176082Sbmah%release; 1282350Sbmah<!ENTITY % misc PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES DocBook Miscellaneous FreeBSD Entities//EN"> 1382350Sbmah%misc; 1476082Sbmah]> 1576082Sbmah 1676082Sbmah<article> 1782666Sbmah <articleinfo> 1882666Sbmah <title>&os; &release.current; README</title> 1981327Sbmah 2082666Sbmah <corpauthor>The &os; Project</corpauthor> 2181484Sbmah 2282666Sbmah <pubdate>$FreeBSD: head/release/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/readme/article.sgml 130964 2004-06-23 07:40:52Z den $</pubdate> 2381327Sbmah 2482666Sbmah <copyright> 2582666Sbmah <year>2000</year> 2682666Sbmah <year>2001</year> 2788820Sbmah <year>2002</year> 28108829Sbmah <year>2003</year> 29130964Sden <year>2004</year> 3082666Sbmah <holder role="mailto:doc@FreeBSD.org">The FreeBSD Documentation Project</holder> 3182666Sbmah </copyright> 32119884Ssimon 33119884Ssimon <legalnotice id="trademarks" role="trademarks"> 34119884Ssimon &tm-attrib.freebsd; 35119884Ssimon &tm-attrib.intel; 36119884Ssimon &tm-attrib.opengroup; 37119884Ssimon &tm-attrib.sparc; 38119884Ssimon &tm-attrib.general; 39119884Ssimon </legalnotice> 4082666Sbmah </articleinfo> 4181327Sbmah 4282666Sbmah <abstract> 4382666Sbmah <para>This document gives a brief introduction to &os; 4488959Sbmah &release.current;. It includes some information on how to 4588959Sbmah obtain &os;, a listing of various ways to contact the &os; 4688959Sbmah Project, and pointers to some other sources of 4788959Sbmah information.</para> 4882666Sbmah </abstract> 4981327Sbmah 50109143Sroam <sect1 id="intro"> 5182666Sbmah <title>Introduction</title> 5281327Sbmah 5382666Sbmah <para>This distribution is a &release.type; of &os; &release.current;, the 5482666Sbmah latest point along the &release.branch; branch.</para> 5581327Sbmah 5682666Sbmah <sect2> 5782666Sbmah <title>About &os;</title> 5881327Sbmah 5982666Sbmah <para>&os; is an operating system based on 4.4 BSD Lite for 6082666Sbmah Intel, AMD, Cyrix or NexGen <quote>x86</quote> based PC 61119884Ssimon hardware (&i386;), NEC PC-9801/9821 series PCs and compatibles 62114787Sbmah (pc98), DEC/Compaq/HP Alpha computers (alpha), 63119884Ssimon and &ultrasparc; machines (&sparc64;). Versions 64119884Ssimon for the IA64 (ia64), &powerpc; (&powerpc;), and AMD 65114787Sbmah <quote>Hammer</quote> (amd64) architectures are currently under 6682666Sbmah development as well. &os; works with a wide variety of 6782666Sbmah peripherals and configurations and can be used for everything 6882666Sbmah from software development to games to Internet Service 6982666Sbmah Provision.</para> 7081327Sbmah 7182666Sbmah <para>This release of &os; contains everything you need to run 7282666Sbmah such a system, including full source code for the kernel and 7382666Sbmah all utilities in the base distribution. With the source 7482666Sbmah distribution installed, you can literally recompile the entire 7582666Sbmah system from scratch with one command, making it ideal for 7682666Sbmah students, researchers, or users who simply want to see how it 7782666Sbmah all works.</para> 7881327Sbmah 7982666Sbmah <para>A large collection of third-party ported software (the 8082666Sbmah <quote>Ports Collection</quote>) is also provided to make it 81114787Sbmah easy to obtain and install all your favorite traditional &unix; 8282666Sbmah utilities for &os;. Each <quote>port</quote> consists of a 8382666Sbmah set of scripts to retrieve, configure, build, and install a 8482666Sbmah piece of software, with a single command. Over &os.numports; 8582666Sbmah ports, from editors to programming languages to graphical 8682666Sbmah applications, make &os; a powerful and comprehensive operating 8782666Sbmah environment that extends far beyond what's provided by many 88114787Sbmah commercial versions of &unix;. Most ports are also available as 8982666Sbmah pre-compiled <quote>packages</quote>, which can be quickly 9082666Sbmah installed from the installation program.</para> 9182666Sbmah </sect2> 9282666Sbmah 9382666Sbmah <sect2> 9482666Sbmah <title>Target Audience</title> 9582666Sbmah 9681339Sbmah<![ %release.type.snapshot; [ 9781327Sbmah 9882666Sbmah <para>This &release.type; is aimed primarily at early adopters 9982666Sbmah and various other users who want to get involved with the 10082666Sbmah ongoing development of &os;. While the &os; development team 10182666Sbmah tries its best to ensure that each &release.type; works as 10282666Sbmah advertised, &release.branch; is very much a 10382666Sbmah work-in-progress.</para> 10481327Sbmah 10593244Skeramida <para>The basic requirements for using this &release.type; are 10682666Sbmah technical proficiency with &os; and an understanding of the 10783425Sbmah ongoing development process of &os; &release.branch; (as 10882666Sbmah discussed on the &a.current;).</para> 10982666Sbmah 11082666Sbmah <para>For those more interested in doing business with &os; than 11182666Sbmah in experimenting with new &os; technology, formal releases 11292482Smurray (such as &release.prev.stable;) are frequently more appropriate. 11382666Sbmah Releases undergo a period of testing and quality assurance 11482666Sbmah checking to ensure high reliability and dependability.</para> 11582666Sbmah 11681339Sbmah]]> 11781339Sbmah 11881339Sbmah<![ %release.type.release; [ 11982666Sbmah 12082666Sbmah <para>This &release.type; of &os; is suitable for all users. It 12182666Sbmah has undergone a period of testing and quality assurance 12282666Sbmah checking to ensure the highest reliability and 12382666Sbmah dependability.</para> 12482666Sbmah 12581339Sbmah]]> 12681339Sbmah 12782666Sbmah </sect2> 12882666Sbmah </sect1> 12981339Sbmah 130109143Sroam <sect1 id="obtain"> 13182666Sbmah <title>Obtaining &os;</title> 13281327Sbmah 13382666Sbmah <para>&os; may be obtained in a variety of ways. This section 13488959Sbmah focuses on those ways that are primarily useful for obtaining a 13582666Sbmah complete &os; distribution, rather than updating an existing 13682666Sbmah installation.</para> 13781327Sbmah 13882666Sbmah <sect2> 13982666Sbmah <title>CDROM and DVD</title> 14081327Sbmah 14182666Sbmah <para>&os; -RELEASE distributions may be ordered on CDROM or DVD 14282666Sbmah from several publishers. This is frequently the most 14382666Sbmah convenient way to obtain &os; for new installations, as it 14482666Sbmah provides a convenient way to quickly reinstall the system if 14582666Sbmah necessary. Some distributions include some of the optional, 14682666Sbmah precompiled <quote>packages</quote> from the &os; Ports 14782666Sbmah Collection.</para> 14881327Sbmah 14982666Sbmah <para>A list of the CDROM and DVD publishers known to the 15082666Sbmah project are listed in the <ulink 15182666Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors.html"><quote>Obtaining 15282666Sbmah FreeBSD</quote></ulink> appendix to the Handbook.</para> 15382666Sbmah </sect2> 15481327Sbmah 15582666Sbmah <sect2> 15682666Sbmah <title>FTP</title> 15781327Sbmah 15882666Sbmah <para>You can use FTP to retrieve &os; and any or all of its 15982666Sbmah optional packages from <ulink 16082666Sbmah url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/"></ulink>, which is the official 16182666Sbmah &os; release site, or any of its 16282666Sbmah <quote>mirrors</quote>.</para> 16381327Sbmah 16482666Sbmah <para>Lists of locations that mirror &os; can be found in the 16582666Sbmah <ulink 16682666Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors-ftp.html">FTP 16782666Sbmah Sites</ulink> section of the Handbook, or on the <ulink 168127867Sphantom url="http://mirrorlist.FreeBSD.org/"></ulink> Web pages. 16982666Sbmah Finding a close (in networking terms) mirror from which to 17082666Sbmah download the distribution is highly recommended.</para> 17181327Sbmah 17282666Sbmah <para>Additional mirror sites are always welcome. Contact 17382666Sbmah <email>freebsd-admin@FreeBSD.org</email> for more details on 17491249Skeramida becoming an official mirror site. You can also find useful 17591249Skeramida information for mirror sites at the <ulink 17691249Skeramida URL="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/hubs/">Mirroring 17791249Skeramida FreeBSD</ulink> article.</para> 17881327Sbmah 17982666Sbmah <para>Mirrors generally contain the floppy disk images necessary 18082666Sbmah to begin an installation, as well as the distribution files 18188959Sbmah needed for the install process itself. Many mirrors also 18288959Sbmah contain the ISO images necessary to create a CDROM of 18382666Sbmah a &os; release.</para> 18481327Sbmah 18582666Sbmah </sect2> 18682666Sbmah </sect1> 18781327Sbmah 18882666Sbmah <sect1 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 19882666Sbmah <emphasis>must</emphasis> join the &a.current;, 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 215114787Sbmah wishing to do so. Visit the <ulink url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/mailman/listinfo"> 216114236Shrs FreeBSD Mailman Info Page</ulink>. 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 220114787Sbmah obtained either from the Mailman pages or the <ulink 22182666Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/support.html#mailing-list">mailing 22282666Sbmah lists section</ulink> of the &os; Web site.</para> 22381327Sbmah 22482666Sbmah <important> 22582666Sbmah <para>Do <emphasis>not</emphasis> send email to the lists 226114787Sbmah asking to be subscribed. Use the Mailman interface 22782666Sbmah instead.</para> 22882666Sbmah </important> 22982666Sbmah </sect2> 23081327Sbmah 23182666Sbmah <sect2> 23282666Sbmah <title>Submitting Problem Reports</title> 23381327Sbmah 23482666Sbmah <para>Suggestions, bug reports and contributions of code are 23588959Sbmah always valued—please do not hesitate to report any 23682666Sbmah problems you may find. Bug reports with attached fixes are of 23782666Sbmah course even more welcome.</para> 23881327Sbmah 23982666Sbmah <para>The preferred method to submit bug reports from a machine 24082666Sbmah with Internet mail connectivity is to use the &man.send-pr.1; 241114787Sbmah command. 24282666Sbmah <quote>Problem Reports</quote> (PRs) submitted in this way 24382666Sbmah will be filed and their progress tracked; the &os; developers 24482666Sbmah will do their best to respond to all reported bugs as soon as 24582666Sbmah possible. <ulink 24682666Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/query-pr-summary.cgi">A list 24782666Sbmah of all active PRs</ulink> is available on the &os; Web site; 24882666Sbmah this list is useful to see what potential problems other users 24982666Sbmah have encountered.</para> 25081327Sbmah 25182666Sbmah <para>Note that &man.send-pr.1; itself is a shell script that 25282666Sbmah should be easy to move even onto a non-&os; system. Using 25382666Sbmah this interface is highly preferred. If, for some reason, you 25482666Sbmah are unable to use &man.send-pr.1; to submit a bug report, you 25582666Sbmah can try to send it to the &a.bugs;.</para> 25681327Sbmah 25788959Sbmah <para>For more information, <ulink 25888959Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/problem-reports/"><quote>Writing 25988959Sbmah FreeBSD Problem Reports</quote></ulink>, available on the &os; Web 26088959Sbmah site, has a number of helpful hints on writing and submitting 26188959Sbmah effective problem reports.</para> 26282666Sbmah </sect2> 26382666Sbmah </sect1> 26481339Sbmah 265109143Sroam <sect1 id="seealso"> 26682666Sbmah <title>Further Reading</title> 26781339Sbmah 26888959Sbmah <para>There are many sources of information about &os;; some are 26988959Sbmah included with this distribution, while others are available 27088959Sbmah on-line or in print versions.</para> 27188959Sbmah 27282666Sbmah <sect2 id="release-docs"> 27382666Sbmah <title>Release Documentation</title> 27481339Sbmah 27582666Sbmah <para>A number of other files provide more specific information 27682666Sbmah about this &release.type; distribution. These files are 27782666Sbmah provided in various formats. Most distributions will include 27882666Sbmah both ASCII text (<filename>.TXT</filename>) and HTML 27982666Sbmah (<filename>.HTM</filename>) renditions. Some distributions 28082666Sbmah may also include other formats such as PostScript 28182666Sbmah (<filename>.PS</filename>) or Portable Document Format 28282666Sbmah (<filename>.PDF</filename>). 28381339Sbmah 28482666Sbmah <itemizedlist> 28582666Sbmah <listitem> 28682666Sbmah <para><filename>README.TXT</filename>: This file, which 28782666Sbmah gives some general information about &os; as well as 28882666Sbmah some cursory notes about obtaining a 28982666Sbmah distribution.</para> 29082666Sbmah </listitem> 29181339Sbmah 29282666Sbmah <listitem> 293105992Sbmah <para><filename>EARLY.TXT</filename>: A guide for early 294114787Sbmah adopters of &os; &release.current;. Highly recommended 295105992Sbmah reading for users new to &os; &release.branch; and/or the 296105992Sbmah 5.<replaceable>X</replaceable> series of releases.</para> 297105992Sbmah </listitem> 298105992Sbmah 299105992Sbmah <listitem> 30082666Sbmah <para><filename>RELNOTES.TXT</filename>: The release 30182666Sbmah notes, showing what's new and different in &os; 30288959Sbmah &release.current; compared to the previous release (&os; 30388959Sbmah &release.prev;).</para> 30482666Sbmah </listitem> 30581339Sbmah 30682666Sbmah <listitem> 30782666Sbmah <para><filename>HARDWARE.TXT</filename>: The hardware 30886152Solgeni compatibility list, showing devices with which &os; has 30982666Sbmah been tested and is known to work.</para> 31082666Sbmah </listitem> 31181339Sbmah 31282666Sbmah <listitem> 31382666Sbmah <para><filename>INSTALL.TXT</filename>: Installation 31482666Sbmah instructions for installing &os; from its distribution 31582666Sbmah media.</para> 31682666Sbmah </listitem> 31781339Sbmah 31882666Sbmah <listitem> 31982666Sbmah <para><filename>ERRATA.TXT</filename>: Release errata. 32082666Sbmah Late-breaking, post-release information can be found in 32182666Sbmah this file, which is principally applicable to releases 32282666Sbmah (as opposed to snapshots). It is important to consult 32382666Sbmah this file before installing a release of &os;, as it 32482666Sbmah contains the latest information on problems which have 32582666Sbmah been found and fixed since the release was 32682666Sbmah created.</para> 32782666Sbmah </listitem> 32882666Sbmah </itemizedlist> 32988959Sbmah 33088959Sbmah <note> 33188959Sbmah <para>Several of these documents (in particular, 33288959Sbmah <filename>RELNOTES.TXT</filename>, 33388959Sbmah <filename>HARDWARE.TXT</filename>, and 33488959Sbmah <filename>INSTALL.TXT</filename>) contain information that 33588959Sbmah is specific to a particular hardware architecture. For 33688959Sbmah example, the alpha release notes contain information not 337119884Ssimon applicable to the &i386;, and vice versa. The architecture 33888959Sbmah for which each document applies will be listed in that 33988959Sbmah document's title.</para> 34088959Sbmah </note> 34188959Sbmah 34282666Sbmah </para> 34381339Sbmah 34493443Sbmah <para>On platforms that support &man.sysinstall.8; (currently 345119884Ssimon alpha, &i386;, ia64, pc98, and &sparc64;), these documents are generally available via the 34683425Sbmah Documentation menu during installation. Once the system is 34793443Sbmah installed, you can revisit this menu by re-running the 34883425Sbmah &man.sysinstall.8; utility.</para> 34981339Sbmah 35082666Sbmah <note> 35182666Sbmah <para>It is extremely important to read the errata for any 35282666Sbmah given release before installing it, to learn about any 35382666Sbmah <quote>late-breaking news</quote> or post-release problems. 35482666Sbmah The errata file accompanying each release (most likely right 35582666Sbmah next to this file) is already out of date by definition, but 35682666Sbmah other copies are kept updated on the Internet and should be 35782666Sbmah consulted as the <quote>current errata</quote> for this 35882666Sbmah release. These other copies of the errata are located at 35982666Sbmah <ulink url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/"></ulink> (as 36082666Sbmah well as any sites which keep up-to-date mirrors of this 36182666Sbmah location).</para> 36282666Sbmah </note> 36382666Sbmah </sect2> 36483425Sbmah 36583425Sbmah <sect2> 36688959Sbmah <title>Manual Pages</title> 36788959Sbmah 368119884Ssimon <para>As with almost all &unix; like operating systems, &os; comes 36988959Sbmah with a set of on-line manual pages, accessed through the 37088959Sbmah &man.man.1; command or through the <ulink 37188959Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi">hypertext manual 37288959Sbmah pages gateway</ulink> on the &os; Web site. In general, the 37388959Sbmah manual pages provide information on the different commands and 37488959Sbmah APIs available to the &os; user.</para> 37588959Sbmah 376107569Sbmah <para>In some cases, manual pages are written to give 37788959Sbmah information on particular topics. Notable examples of such 37888959Sbmah manual pages are &man.tuning.7; (a guide to performance tuning), 37988959Sbmah &man.security.7; (an introduction to &os; security), and 38088959Sbmah &man.style.9; (a style guide to kernel coding).</para> 38188959Sbmah </sect2> 38288959Sbmah 38388959Sbmah <sect2> 38483425Sbmah <title>Books and Articles</title> 38583425Sbmah 38683425Sbmah <para>Two highly-useful collections of &os;-related information, 38783425Sbmah maintained by the &os; Project, 38883425Sbmah are the &os; Handbook and &os; FAQ (Frequently Asked 38983425Sbmah Questions document). On-line versions of the <ulink 39083425Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/">Handbook</ulink> 39183425Sbmah and <ulink 39283425Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/">FAQ</ulink> 39383425Sbmah are always available from the <ulink 39483425Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/docs.html">FreeBSD Documentation 39583425Sbmah page</ulink> or its mirrors. If you install the 39683425Sbmah <filename>doc</filename> distribution set, you can use a Web 39783425Sbmah browser to read the Handbook and FAQ locally.</para> 39883425Sbmah 39984484Sbmah <para>A number of on-line books and articles, also maintained by 40084484Sbmah the &os; Project, cover more-specialized, &os;-related topics. 40184484Sbmah This material spans a wide range of topics, from effective use 40284484Sbmah of the mailing lists, to dual-booting &os; with other 40384484Sbmah operating systems, to guidelines for new committers. Like the 40484484Sbmah Handbook and FAQ, these documents are available from the &os; 40584484Sbmah Documentation Page or in the <filename>doc</filename> 40684484Sbmah distribution set.</para> 40784484Sbmah 40884484Sbmah <para>A listing of other books and documents about &os; can be 40983425Sbmah found in the <ulink 41083425Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/bibliography.html">bibliography</ulink> 411114787Sbmah of the &os; Handbook. Because of &os;'s strong &unix; heritage, 412114787Sbmah many other articles and books written for &unix; systems are 41383425Sbmah applicable as well, some of which are also listed in the 41483425Sbmah bibliography.</para> 41583425Sbmah </sect2> 41682666Sbmah </sect1> 41781327Sbmah 418109143Sroam <sect1 id="acknowledgements"> 41982666Sbmah <title>Acknowledgments</title> 42081327Sbmah 42182666Sbmah <para>&os; represents the cumulative work of many hundreds, if not 42282666Sbmah thousands, of individuals from around the world who have worked 42382666Sbmah countless hours to bring about this &release.type;. For a 42482666Sbmah complete list of &os; developers and contributors, please see 42582666Sbmah <ulink 42688959Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/contributors/"><quote>Contributors 42788959Sbmah to FreeBSD</quote></ulink> on the &os; Web site or any of its 42882666Sbmah mirrors.</para> 42981327Sbmah 43082666Sbmah <para>Special thanks also go to the many thousands of &os; users 43182666Sbmah and testers all over the world, without whom this &release.type; 43282666Sbmah simply would not have been possible.</para> 43382666Sbmah </sect1> 43476082Sbmah</article> 43582666Sbmah 43682666Sbmah<!-- 43782666Sbmah Local Variables: 43882666Sbmah mode: sgml 43982666Sbmah sgml-indent-data: t 44082666Sbmah sgml-omittag: nil 44182666Sbmah sgml-always-quote-attributes: t 44282666Sbmah End: 44382666Sbmah--> 444