article.xml revision 133328
176082Sbmah<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//DTD DocBook V4.1-Based Extension//EN" [ 2133328Shrs<!ENTITY % articles.ent PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES DocBook FreeBSD Articles Entity Set//EN"> 3133328Shrs%articles.ent; 4133328Shrs 576082Sbmah<!ENTITY % release PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES Release Specification//EN"> 676082Sbmah%release; 776082Sbmah]> 876082Sbmah 976082Sbmah<article> 1082666Sbmah <articleinfo> 1182666Sbmah <title>&os; &release.current; README</title> 1281327Sbmah 1382666Sbmah <corpauthor>The &os; Project</corpauthor> 1481484Sbmah 1582666Sbmah <pubdate>$FreeBSD: head/release/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/readme/article.sgml 133328 2004-08-08 14:59:27Z hrs $</pubdate> 1681327Sbmah 1782666Sbmah <copyright> 1882666Sbmah <year>2000</year> 1982666Sbmah <year>2001</year> 2088820Sbmah <year>2002</year> 21108829Sbmah <year>2003</year> 22130964Sden <year>2004</year> 2382666Sbmah <holder role="mailto:doc@FreeBSD.org">The FreeBSD Documentation Project</holder> 2482666Sbmah </copyright> 25119884Ssimon 26119884Ssimon <legalnotice id="trademarks" role="trademarks"> 27119884Ssimon &tm-attrib.freebsd; 28119884Ssimon &tm-attrib.intel; 29119884Ssimon &tm-attrib.opengroup; 30119884Ssimon &tm-attrib.sparc; 31119884Ssimon &tm-attrib.general; 32119884Ssimon </legalnotice> 3382666Sbmah </articleinfo> 3481327Sbmah 3582666Sbmah <abstract> 3682666Sbmah <para>This document gives a brief introduction to &os; 3788959Sbmah &release.current;. It includes some information on how to 3888959Sbmah obtain &os;, a listing of various ways to contact the &os; 3988959Sbmah Project, and pointers to some other sources of 4088959Sbmah information.</para> 4182666Sbmah </abstract> 4281327Sbmah 43109143Sroam <sect1 id="intro"> 4482666Sbmah <title>Introduction</title> 4581327Sbmah 4682666Sbmah <para>This distribution is a &release.type; of &os; &release.current;, the 4782666Sbmah latest point along the &release.branch; branch.</para> 4881327Sbmah 4982666Sbmah <sect2> 5082666Sbmah <title>About &os;</title> 5181327Sbmah 5282666Sbmah <para>&os; is an operating system based on 4.4 BSD Lite for 5382666Sbmah Intel, AMD, Cyrix or NexGen <quote>x86</quote> based PC 54119884Ssimon hardware (&i386;), NEC PC-9801/9821 series PCs and compatibles 55114787Sbmah (pc98), DEC/Compaq/HP Alpha computers (alpha), 56119884Ssimon and &ultrasparc; machines (&sparc64;). Versions 57119884Ssimon for the IA64 (ia64), &powerpc; (&powerpc;), and AMD 58114787Sbmah <quote>Hammer</quote> (amd64) architectures are currently under 5982666Sbmah development as well. &os; works with a wide variety of 6082666Sbmah peripherals and configurations and can be used for everything 6182666Sbmah from software development to games to Internet Service 6282666Sbmah Provision.</para> 6381327Sbmah 6482666Sbmah <para>This release of &os; contains everything you need to run 6582666Sbmah such a system, including full source code for the kernel and 6682666Sbmah all utilities in the base distribution. With the source 6782666Sbmah distribution installed, you can literally recompile the entire 6882666Sbmah system from scratch with one command, making it ideal for 6982666Sbmah students, researchers, or users who simply want to see how it 7082666Sbmah all works.</para> 7181327Sbmah 7282666Sbmah <para>A large collection of third-party ported software (the 7382666Sbmah <quote>Ports Collection</quote>) is also provided to make it 74114787Sbmah easy to obtain and install all your favorite traditional &unix; 7582666Sbmah utilities for &os;. Each <quote>port</quote> consists of a 7682666Sbmah set of scripts to retrieve, configure, build, and install a 7782666Sbmah piece of software, with a single command. Over &os.numports; 7882666Sbmah ports, from editors to programming languages to graphical 7982666Sbmah applications, make &os; a powerful and comprehensive operating 8082666Sbmah environment that extends far beyond what's provided by many 81114787Sbmah commercial versions of &unix;. Most ports are also available as 8282666Sbmah pre-compiled <quote>packages</quote>, which can be quickly 8382666Sbmah installed from the installation program.</para> 8482666Sbmah </sect2> 8582666Sbmah 8682666Sbmah <sect2> 8782666Sbmah <title>Target Audience</title> 8882666Sbmah 8981339Sbmah<![ %release.type.snapshot; [ 9081327Sbmah 9182666Sbmah <para>This &release.type; is aimed primarily at early adopters 9282666Sbmah and various other users who want to get involved with the 9382666Sbmah ongoing development of &os;. While the &os; development team 9482666Sbmah tries its best to ensure that each &release.type; works as 9582666Sbmah advertised, &release.branch; is very much a 9682666Sbmah work-in-progress.</para> 9781327Sbmah 9893244Skeramida <para>The basic requirements for using this &release.type; are 9982666Sbmah technical proficiency with &os; and an understanding of the 10083425Sbmah ongoing development process of &os; &release.branch; (as 10182666Sbmah discussed on the &a.current;).</para> 10282666Sbmah 10382666Sbmah <para>For those more interested in doing business with &os; than 10482666Sbmah in experimenting with new &os; technology, formal releases 10592482Smurray (such as &release.prev.stable;) are frequently more appropriate. 10682666Sbmah Releases undergo a period of testing and quality assurance 10782666Sbmah checking to ensure high reliability and dependability.</para> 10882666Sbmah 10981339Sbmah]]> 11081339Sbmah 11181339Sbmah<![ %release.type.release; [ 11282666Sbmah 11382666Sbmah <para>This &release.type; of &os; is suitable for all users. It 11482666Sbmah has undergone a period of testing and quality assurance 11582666Sbmah checking to ensure the highest reliability and 11682666Sbmah dependability.</para> 11782666Sbmah 11881339Sbmah]]> 11981339Sbmah 12082666Sbmah </sect2> 12182666Sbmah </sect1> 12281339Sbmah 123109143Sroam <sect1 id="obtain"> 12482666Sbmah <title>Obtaining &os;</title> 12581327Sbmah 12682666Sbmah <para>&os; may be obtained in a variety of ways. This section 12788959Sbmah focuses on those ways that are primarily useful for obtaining a 12882666Sbmah complete &os; distribution, rather than updating an existing 12982666Sbmah installation.</para> 13081327Sbmah 13182666Sbmah <sect2> 13282666Sbmah <title>CDROM and DVD</title> 13381327Sbmah 13482666Sbmah <para>&os; -RELEASE distributions may be ordered on CDROM or DVD 13582666Sbmah from several publishers. This is frequently the most 13682666Sbmah convenient way to obtain &os; for new installations, as it 13782666Sbmah provides a convenient way to quickly reinstall the system if 13882666Sbmah necessary. Some distributions include some of the optional, 13982666Sbmah precompiled <quote>packages</quote> from the &os; Ports 14082666Sbmah Collection.</para> 14181327Sbmah 14282666Sbmah <para>A list of the CDROM and DVD publishers known to the 14382666Sbmah project are listed in the <ulink 14482666Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors.html"><quote>Obtaining 14582666Sbmah FreeBSD</quote></ulink> appendix to the Handbook.</para> 14682666Sbmah </sect2> 14781327Sbmah 14882666Sbmah <sect2> 14982666Sbmah <title>FTP</title> 15081327Sbmah 15182666Sbmah <para>You can use FTP to retrieve &os; and any or all of its 15282666Sbmah optional packages from <ulink 15382666Sbmah url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/"></ulink>, which is the official 15482666Sbmah &os; release site, or any of its 15582666Sbmah <quote>mirrors</quote>.</para> 15681327Sbmah 15782666Sbmah <para>Lists of locations that mirror &os; can be found in the 15882666Sbmah <ulink 15982666Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors-ftp.html">FTP 16082666Sbmah Sites</ulink> section of the Handbook, or on the <ulink 161127867Sphantom url="http://mirrorlist.FreeBSD.org/"></ulink> Web pages. 16282666Sbmah Finding a close (in networking terms) mirror from which to 16382666Sbmah download the distribution is highly recommended.</para> 16481327Sbmah 16582666Sbmah <para>Additional mirror sites are always welcome. Contact 16682666Sbmah <email>freebsd-admin@FreeBSD.org</email> for more details on 16791249Skeramida becoming an official mirror site. You can also find useful 16891249Skeramida information for mirror sites at the <ulink 16991249Skeramida URL="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/hubs/">Mirroring 17091249Skeramida FreeBSD</ulink> article.</para> 17181327Sbmah 17282666Sbmah <para>Mirrors generally contain the floppy disk images necessary 17382666Sbmah to begin an installation, as well as the distribution files 17488959Sbmah needed for the install process itself. Many mirrors also 17588959Sbmah contain the ISO images necessary to create a CDROM of 17682666Sbmah a &os; release.</para> 17781327Sbmah 17882666Sbmah </sect2> 17982666Sbmah </sect1> 18081327Sbmah 18182666Sbmah <sect1 id="contacting"> 18282666Sbmah <title>Contacting the &os; Project</title> 18381327Sbmah 18482666Sbmah <sect2> 18582666Sbmah <title>Email and Mailing Lists</title> 18681327Sbmah 18782666Sbmah <para>For any questions or general technical support issues, 18882666Sbmah please send mail to the &a.questions;.</para> 18981327Sbmah 19083425Sbmah <para>If you're tracking the &release.branch; development efforts, you 19182666Sbmah <emphasis>must</emphasis> join the &a.current;, in order to 19282666Sbmah keep abreast of recent developments and changes that may 19393244Skeramida affect the way you use and maintain the system.</para> 19481327Sbmah 19588959Sbmah <para>Being a largely-volunteer effort, the &os; 19688959Sbmah Project is always happy to have extra hands willing to help—there are already far more desired enhancements than 19782666Sbmah there is time to implement them. To contact the developers on 19882666Sbmah technical matters, or with offers of help, please send mail to 19982666Sbmah the &a.hackers;.</para> 20081327Sbmah 20182666Sbmah <para>Please note that these mailing lists can experience 20288959Sbmah <emphasis>significant</emphasis> amounts of traffic. If you 20388959Sbmah have slow or expensive mail access, or are only interested in 20488959Sbmah keeping up with major &os; events, you may find it 20582666Sbmah preferable to subscribe instead to the &a.announce;.</para> 20681327Sbmah 20782666Sbmah <para>All of the mailing lists can be freely joined by anyone 208114787Sbmah wishing to do so. Visit the <ulink url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/mailman/listinfo"> 209114236Shrs FreeBSD Mailman Info Page</ulink>. This will give you more 21082666Sbmah information on joining the various lists, accessing archives, 21182666Sbmah etc. There are a number of mailing lists targeted at special 21282666Sbmah interest groups not mentioned here; more information can be 213114787Sbmah obtained either from the Mailman pages or the <ulink 21482666Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/support.html#mailing-list">mailing 21582666Sbmah lists section</ulink> of the &os; Web site.</para> 21681327Sbmah 21782666Sbmah <important> 21882666Sbmah <para>Do <emphasis>not</emphasis> send email to the lists 219114787Sbmah asking to be subscribed. Use the Mailman interface 22082666Sbmah instead.</para> 22182666Sbmah </important> 22282666Sbmah </sect2> 22381327Sbmah 22482666Sbmah <sect2> 22582666Sbmah <title>Submitting Problem Reports</title> 22681327Sbmah 22782666Sbmah <para>Suggestions, bug reports and contributions of code are 22888959Sbmah always valued—please do not hesitate to report any 22982666Sbmah problems you may find. Bug reports with attached fixes are of 23082666Sbmah course even more welcome.</para> 23181327Sbmah 23282666Sbmah <para>The preferred method to submit bug reports from a machine 23382666Sbmah with Internet mail connectivity is to use the &man.send-pr.1; 234114787Sbmah command. 23582666Sbmah <quote>Problem Reports</quote> (PRs) submitted in this way 23682666Sbmah will be filed and their progress tracked; the &os; developers 23782666Sbmah will do their best to respond to all reported bugs as soon as 23882666Sbmah possible. <ulink 23982666Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/query-pr-summary.cgi">A list 24082666Sbmah of all active PRs</ulink> is available on the &os; Web site; 24182666Sbmah this list is useful to see what potential problems other users 24282666Sbmah have encountered.</para> 24381327Sbmah 24482666Sbmah <para>Note that &man.send-pr.1; itself is a shell script that 24582666Sbmah should be easy to move even onto a non-&os; system. Using 24682666Sbmah this interface is highly preferred. If, for some reason, you 24782666Sbmah are unable to use &man.send-pr.1; to submit a bug report, you 24882666Sbmah can try to send it to the &a.bugs;.</para> 24981327Sbmah 25088959Sbmah <para>For more information, <ulink 25188959Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/problem-reports/"><quote>Writing 25288959Sbmah FreeBSD Problem Reports</quote></ulink>, available on the &os; Web 25388959Sbmah site, has a number of helpful hints on writing and submitting 25488959Sbmah effective problem reports.</para> 25582666Sbmah </sect2> 25682666Sbmah </sect1> 25781339Sbmah 258109143Sroam <sect1 id="seealso"> 25982666Sbmah <title>Further Reading</title> 26081339Sbmah 26188959Sbmah <para>There are many sources of information about &os;; some are 26288959Sbmah included with this distribution, while others are available 26388959Sbmah on-line or in print versions.</para> 26488959Sbmah 26582666Sbmah <sect2 id="release-docs"> 26682666Sbmah <title>Release Documentation</title> 26781339Sbmah 26882666Sbmah <para>A number of other files provide more specific information 26982666Sbmah about this &release.type; distribution. These files are 27082666Sbmah provided in various formats. Most distributions will include 27182666Sbmah both ASCII text (<filename>.TXT</filename>) and HTML 27282666Sbmah (<filename>.HTM</filename>) renditions. Some distributions 27382666Sbmah may also include other formats such as PostScript 27482666Sbmah (<filename>.PS</filename>) or Portable Document Format 27582666Sbmah (<filename>.PDF</filename>). 27681339Sbmah 27782666Sbmah <itemizedlist> 27882666Sbmah <listitem> 27982666Sbmah <para><filename>README.TXT</filename>: This file, which 28082666Sbmah gives some general information about &os; as well as 28182666Sbmah some cursory notes about obtaining a 28282666Sbmah distribution.</para> 28382666Sbmah </listitem> 28481339Sbmah 28582666Sbmah <listitem> 286105992Sbmah <para><filename>EARLY.TXT</filename>: A guide for early 287114787Sbmah adopters of &os; &release.current;. Highly recommended 288105992Sbmah reading for users new to &os; &release.branch; and/or the 289105992Sbmah 5.<replaceable>X</replaceable> series of releases.</para> 290105992Sbmah </listitem> 291105992Sbmah 292105992Sbmah <listitem> 29382666Sbmah <para><filename>RELNOTES.TXT</filename>: The release 29482666Sbmah notes, showing what's new and different in &os; 29588959Sbmah &release.current; compared to the previous release (&os; 29688959Sbmah &release.prev;).</para> 29782666Sbmah </listitem> 29881339Sbmah 29982666Sbmah <listitem> 30082666Sbmah <para><filename>HARDWARE.TXT</filename>: The hardware 30186152Solgeni compatibility list, showing devices with which &os; has 30282666Sbmah been tested and is known to work.</para> 30382666Sbmah </listitem> 30481339Sbmah 30582666Sbmah <listitem> 30682666Sbmah <para><filename>INSTALL.TXT</filename>: Installation 30782666Sbmah instructions for installing &os; from its distribution 30882666Sbmah media.</para> 30982666Sbmah </listitem> 31081339Sbmah 31182666Sbmah <listitem> 31282666Sbmah <para><filename>ERRATA.TXT</filename>: Release errata. 31382666Sbmah Late-breaking, post-release information can be found in 31482666Sbmah this file, which is principally applicable to releases 31582666Sbmah (as opposed to snapshots). It is important to consult 31682666Sbmah this file before installing a release of &os;, as it 31782666Sbmah contains the latest information on problems which have 31882666Sbmah been found and fixed since the release was 31982666Sbmah created.</para> 32082666Sbmah </listitem> 32182666Sbmah </itemizedlist> 32288959Sbmah 32388959Sbmah <note> 32488959Sbmah <para>Several of these documents (in particular, 32588959Sbmah <filename>RELNOTES.TXT</filename>, 32688959Sbmah <filename>HARDWARE.TXT</filename>, and 32788959Sbmah <filename>INSTALL.TXT</filename>) contain information that 32888959Sbmah is specific to a particular hardware architecture. For 32988959Sbmah example, the alpha release notes contain information not 330119884Ssimon applicable to the &i386;, and vice versa. The architecture 33188959Sbmah for which each document applies will be listed in that 33288959Sbmah document's title.</para> 33388959Sbmah </note> 33488959Sbmah 33582666Sbmah </para> 33681339Sbmah 33793443Sbmah <para>On platforms that support &man.sysinstall.8; (currently 338119884Ssimon alpha, &i386;, ia64, pc98, and &sparc64;), these documents are generally available via the 33983425Sbmah Documentation menu during installation. Once the system is 34093443Sbmah installed, you can revisit this menu by re-running the 34183425Sbmah &man.sysinstall.8; utility.</para> 34281339Sbmah 34382666Sbmah <note> 34482666Sbmah <para>It is extremely important to read the errata for any 34582666Sbmah given release before installing it, to learn about any 34682666Sbmah <quote>late-breaking news</quote> or post-release problems. 34782666Sbmah The errata file accompanying each release (most likely right 34882666Sbmah next to this file) is already out of date by definition, but 34982666Sbmah other copies are kept updated on the Internet and should be 35082666Sbmah consulted as the <quote>current errata</quote> for this 35182666Sbmah release. These other copies of the errata are located at 35282666Sbmah <ulink url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/"></ulink> (as 35382666Sbmah well as any sites which keep up-to-date mirrors of this 35482666Sbmah location).</para> 35582666Sbmah </note> 35682666Sbmah </sect2> 35783425Sbmah 35883425Sbmah <sect2> 35988959Sbmah <title>Manual Pages</title> 36088959Sbmah 361119884Ssimon <para>As with almost all &unix; like operating systems, &os; comes 36288959Sbmah with a set of on-line manual pages, accessed through the 36388959Sbmah &man.man.1; command or through the <ulink 36488959Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi">hypertext manual 36588959Sbmah pages gateway</ulink> on the &os; Web site. In general, the 36688959Sbmah manual pages provide information on the different commands and 36788959Sbmah APIs available to the &os; user.</para> 36888959Sbmah 369107569Sbmah <para>In some cases, manual pages are written to give 37088959Sbmah information on particular topics. Notable examples of such 37188959Sbmah manual pages are &man.tuning.7; (a guide to performance tuning), 37288959Sbmah &man.security.7; (an introduction to &os; security), and 37388959Sbmah &man.style.9; (a style guide to kernel coding).</para> 37488959Sbmah </sect2> 37588959Sbmah 37688959Sbmah <sect2> 37783425Sbmah <title>Books and Articles</title> 37883425Sbmah 37983425Sbmah <para>Two highly-useful collections of &os;-related information, 38083425Sbmah maintained by the &os; Project, 38183425Sbmah are the &os; Handbook and &os; FAQ (Frequently Asked 38283425Sbmah Questions document). On-line versions of the <ulink 38383425Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/">Handbook</ulink> 38483425Sbmah and <ulink 38583425Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/">FAQ</ulink> 38683425Sbmah are always available from the <ulink 38783425Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/docs.html">FreeBSD Documentation 38883425Sbmah page</ulink> or its mirrors. If you install the 38983425Sbmah <filename>doc</filename> distribution set, you can use a Web 39083425Sbmah browser to read the Handbook and FAQ locally.</para> 39183425Sbmah 39284484Sbmah <para>A number of on-line books and articles, also maintained by 39384484Sbmah the &os; Project, cover more-specialized, &os;-related topics. 39484484Sbmah This material spans a wide range of topics, from effective use 39584484Sbmah of the mailing lists, to dual-booting &os; with other 39684484Sbmah operating systems, to guidelines for new committers. Like the 39784484Sbmah Handbook and FAQ, these documents are available from the &os; 39884484Sbmah Documentation Page or in the <filename>doc</filename> 39984484Sbmah distribution set.</para> 40084484Sbmah 40184484Sbmah <para>A listing of other books and documents about &os; can be 40283425Sbmah found in the <ulink 40383425Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/bibliography.html">bibliography</ulink> 404114787Sbmah of the &os; Handbook. Because of &os;'s strong &unix; heritage, 405114787Sbmah many other articles and books written for &unix; systems are 40683425Sbmah applicable as well, some of which are also listed in the 40783425Sbmah bibliography.</para> 40883425Sbmah </sect2> 40982666Sbmah </sect1> 41081327Sbmah 411109143Sroam <sect1 id="acknowledgements"> 41282666Sbmah <title>Acknowledgments</title> 41381327Sbmah 41482666Sbmah <para>&os; represents the cumulative work of many hundreds, if not 41582666Sbmah thousands, of individuals from around the world who have worked 41682666Sbmah countless hours to bring about this &release.type;. For a 41782666Sbmah complete list of &os; developers and contributors, please see 41882666Sbmah <ulink 41988959Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/contributors/"><quote>Contributors 42088959Sbmah to FreeBSD</quote></ulink> on the &os; Web site or any of its 42182666Sbmah mirrors.</para> 42281327Sbmah 42382666Sbmah <para>Special thanks also go to the many thousands of &os; users 42482666Sbmah and testers all over the world, without whom this &release.type; 42582666Sbmah simply would not have been possible.</para> 42682666Sbmah </sect1> 42776082Sbmah</article> 42882666Sbmah 42982666Sbmah<!-- 43082666Sbmah Local Variables: 43182666Sbmah mode: sgml 43282666Sbmah sgml-indent-data: t 43382666Sbmah sgml-omittag: nil 43482666Sbmah sgml-always-quote-attributes: t 43582666Sbmah End: 43682666Sbmah--> 437