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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 135116 2004-09-12 18:36:22Z 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> 23134817Shrs <holder role="mailto:doc@FreeBSD.org">The &os; 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 53135116Shrs DEC/Compaq/HP Alpha/AXP computers (alpha), 54135116Shrs AMD64 and Intel EM64T based PC hardware (amd64), 55135116Shrs Intel, AMD, Cyrix or NexGen <quote>x86</quote> based PC hardware (i386), 56135116Shrs Intel Itanium Processor based computers (ia64), 57135116Shrs NEC PC-9801/9821 series PCs and compatibles (pc98), 58135116Shrs and &ultrasparc; machines (sparc64). Versions 59135116Shrs for the &powerpc; (powerpc), and &mips; (mips) 60135116Shrs architectures are currently under 6182666Sbmah development as well. &os; works with a wide variety of 6282666Sbmah peripherals and configurations and can be used for everything 6382666Sbmah from software development to games to Internet Service 6482666Sbmah Provision.</para> 6581327Sbmah 6682666Sbmah <para>This release of &os; contains everything you need to run 6782666Sbmah such a system, including full source code for the kernel and 6882666Sbmah all utilities in the base distribution. With the source 6982666Sbmah distribution installed, you can literally recompile the entire 7082666Sbmah system from scratch with one command, making it ideal for 7182666Sbmah students, researchers, or users who simply want to see how it 7282666Sbmah all works.</para> 7381327Sbmah 7482666Sbmah <para>A large collection of third-party ported software (the 7582666Sbmah <quote>Ports Collection</quote>) is also provided to make it 76114787Sbmah easy to obtain and install all your favorite traditional &unix; 7782666Sbmah utilities for &os;. Each <quote>port</quote> consists of a 7882666Sbmah set of scripts to retrieve, configure, build, and install a 7982666Sbmah piece of software, with a single command. Over &os.numports; 8082666Sbmah ports, from editors to programming languages to graphical 8182666Sbmah applications, make &os; a powerful and comprehensive operating 8282666Sbmah environment that extends far beyond what's provided by many 83114787Sbmah commercial versions of &unix;. Most ports are also available as 8482666Sbmah pre-compiled <quote>packages</quote>, which can be quickly 8582666Sbmah installed from the installation program.</para> 8682666Sbmah </sect2> 8782666Sbmah 8882666Sbmah <sect2> 8982666Sbmah <title>Target Audience</title> 9082666Sbmah 91134116Shrs<![ %release.type.current; [ 92134116Shrs 93134116Shrs <para>This &release.type; is aimed primarily at early adopters 94134116Shrs and various other users who want to get involved with the 95134116Shrs ongoing development of &os;. While the &os; development team 96134116Shrs tries its best to ensure that each &release.type; works as 97134116Shrs advertised, &release.branch; is very much a 98134116Shrs work-in-progress.</para> 99134116Shrs 100134116Shrs <para>The basic requirements for using this &release.type; are 101134116Shrs technical proficiency with &os; and an understanding of the 102134116Shrs ongoing development process of &os; &release.branch; (as 103134116Shrs discussed on the &a.current;).</para> 104134116Shrs 105134116Shrs <para>For those more interested in doing business with &os; than 106134116Shrs in experimenting with new &os; technology, formal releases 107134116Shrs (such as &release.prev.stable;) are frequently more appropriate. 108134116Shrs Releases undergo a period of testing and quality assurance 109134116Shrs checking to ensure high reliability and dependability.</para> 110134116Shrs 111134116Shrs]]> 112134116Shrs 11381339Sbmah<![ %release.type.snapshot; [ 11481327Sbmah 11582666Sbmah <para>This &release.type; is aimed primarily at early adopters 11682666Sbmah and various other users who want to get involved with the 11782666Sbmah ongoing development of &os;. While the &os; development team 11882666Sbmah tries its best to ensure that each &release.type; works as 11982666Sbmah advertised, &release.branch; is very much a 12082666Sbmah work-in-progress.</para> 12181327Sbmah 12293244Skeramida <para>The basic requirements for using this &release.type; are 12382666Sbmah technical proficiency with &os; and an understanding of the 12483425Sbmah ongoing development process of &os; &release.branch; (as 12582666Sbmah discussed on the &a.current;).</para> 12682666Sbmah 12782666Sbmah <para>For those more interested in doing business with &os; than 12882666Sbmah in experimenting with new &os; technology, formal releases 12992482Smurray (such as &release.prev.stable;) are frequently more appropriate. 13082666Sbmah Releases undergo a period of testing and quality assurance 13182666Sbmah checking to ensure high reliability and dependability.</para> 13282666Sbmah 13381339Sbmah]]> 13481339Sbmah 13581339Sbmah<![ %release.type.release; [ 13682666Sbmah 13782666Sbmah <para>This &release.type; of &os; is suitable for all users. It 13882666Sbmah has undergone a period of testing and quality assurance 13982666Sbmah checking to ensure the highest reliability and 14082666Sbmah dependability.</para> 14182666Sbmah 14281339Sbmah]]> 14381339Sbmah 14482666Sbmah </sect2> 14582666Sbmah </sect1> 14681339Sbmah 147109143Sroam <sect1 id="obtain"> 14882666Sbmah <title>Obtaining &os;</title> 14981327Sbmah 15082666Sbmah <para>&os; may be obtained in a variety of ways. This section 15188959Sbmah focuses on those ways that are primarily useful for obtaining a 15282666Sbmah complete &os; distribution, rather than updating an existing 15382666Sbmah installation.</para> 15481327Sbmah 15582666Sbmah <sect2> 15682666Sbmah <title>CDROM and DVD</title> 15781327Sbmah 15882666Sbmah <para>&os; -RELEASE distributions may be ordered on CDROM or DVD 15982666Sbmah from several publishers. This is frequently the most 16082666Sbmah convenient way to obtain &os; for new installations, as it 16182666Sbmah provides a convenient way to quickly reinstall the system if 16282666Sbmah necessary. Some distributions include some of the optional, 16382666Sbmah precompiled <quote>packages</quote> from the &os; Ports 16482666Sbmah Collection.</para> 16581327Sbmah 16682666Sbmah <para>A list of the CDROM and DVD publishers known to the 16782666Sbmah project are listed in the <ulink 168134817Shrs url="&url.books.handbook;/mirrors.html"><quote>Obtaining 169134817Shrs &os;</quote></ulink> appendix to the Handbook.</para> 17082666Sbmah </sect2> 17181327Sbmah 17282666Sbmah <sect2> 17382666Sbmah <title>FTP</title> 17481327Sbmah 17582666Sbmah <para>You can use FTP to retrieve &os; and any or all of its 17682666Sbmah optional packages from <ulink 17782666Sbmah url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/"></ulink>, which is the official 17882666Sbmah &os; release site, or any of its 17982666Sbmah <quote>mirrors</quote>.</para> 18081327Sbmah 18182666Sbmah <para>Lists of locations that mirror &os; can be found in the 18282666Sbmah <ulink 183134817Shrs url="&url.books.handbook;/mirrors-ftp.html">FTP 18482666Sbmah Sites</ulink> section of the Handbook, or on the <ulink 185127867Sphantom url="http://mirrorlist.FreeBSD.org/"></ulink> Web pages. 18682666Sbmah Finding a close (in networking terms) mirror from which to 18782666Sbmah download the distribution is highly recommended.</para> 18881327Sbmah 18982666Sbmah <para>Additional mirror sites are always welcome. Contact 19082666Sbmah <email>freebsd-admin@FreeBSD.org</email> for more details on 19191249Skeramida becoming an official mirror site. You can also find useful 19291249Skeramida information for mirror sites at the <ulink 193134817Shrs URL="&url.articles.hubs;/">Mirroring 194134817Shrs &os;</ulink> article.</para> 19581327Sbmah 19682666Sbmah <para>Mirrors generally contain the floppy disk images necessary 19782666Sbmah to begin an installation, as well as the distribution files 19888959Sbmah needed for the install process itself. Many mirrors also 19988959Sbmah contain the ISO images necessary to create a CDROM of 20082666Sbmah a &os; release.</para> 20181327Sbmah 20282666Sbmah </sect2> 20382666Sbmah </sect1> 20481327Sbmah 20582666Sbmah <sect1 id="contacting"> 20682666Sbmah <title>Contacting the &os; Project</title> 20781327Sbmah 20882666Sbmah <sect2> 20982666Sbmah <title>Email and Mailing Lists</title> 21081327Sbmah 21182666Sbmah <para>For any questions or general technical support issues, 21282666Sbmah please send mail to the &a.questions;.</para> 21381327Sbmah 21483425Sbmah <para>If you're tracking the &release.branch; development efforts, you 21582666Sbmah <emphasis>must</emphasis> join the &a.current;, in order to 21682666Sbmah keep abreast of recent developments and changes that may 21793244Skeramida affect the way you use and maintain the system.</para> 21881327Sbmah 21988959Sbmah <para>Being a largely-volunteer effort, the &os; 22088959Sbmah Project is always happy to have extra hands willing to help—there are already far more desired enhancements than 22182666Sbmah there is time to implement them. To contact the developers on 22282666Sbmah technical matters, or with offers of help, please send mail to 22382666Sbmah the &a.hackers;.</para> 22481327Sbmah 22582666Sbmah <para>Please note that these mailing lists can experience 22688959Sbmah <emphasis>significant</emphasis> amounts of traffic. If you 22788959Sbmah have slow or expensive mail access, or are only interested in 22888959Sbmah keeping up with major &os; events, you may find it 22982666Sbmah preferable to subscribe instead to the &a.announce;.</para> 23081327Sbmah 23182666Sbmah <para>All of the mailing lists can be freely joined by anyone 232134817Shrs wishing to do so. Visit the <ulink url="&url.base;/mailman/listinfo"> 233134817Shrs &os; Mailman Info Page</ulink>. This will give you more 23482666Sbmah information on joining the various lists, accessing archives, 23582666Sbmah etc. There are a number of mailing lists targeted at special 23682666Sbmah interest groups not mentioned here; more information can be 237114787Sbmah obtained either from the Mailman pages or the <ulink 238134817Shrs url="&url.base;/support.html#mailing-list">mailing 23982666Sbmah lists section</ulink> of the &os; Web site.</para> 24081327Sbmah 24182666Sbmah <important> 24282666Sbmah <para>Do <emphasis>not</emphasis> send email to the lists 243114787Sbmah asking to be subscribed. Use the Mailman interface 24482666Sbmah instead.</para> 24582666Sbmah </important> 24682666Sbmah </sect2> 24781327Sbmah 24882666Sbmah <sect2> 24982666Sbmah <title>Submitting Problem Reports</title> 25081327Sbmah 25182666Sbmah <para>Suggestions, bug reports and contributions of code are 25288959Sbmah always valued—please do not hesitate to report any 25382666Sbmah problems you may find. Bug reports with attached fixes are of 25482666Sbmah course even more welcome.</para> 25581327Sbmah 25682666Sbmah <para>The preferred method to submit bug reports from a machine 25782666Sbmah with Internet mail connectivity is to use the &man.send-pr.1; 258114787Sbmah command. 25982666Sbmah <quote>Problem Reports</quote> (PRs) submitted in this way 26082666Sbmah will be filed and their progress tracked; the &os; developers 26182666Sbmah will do their best to respond to all reported bugs as soon as 26282666Sbmah possible. <ulink 26382666Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/query-pr-summary.cgi">A list 26482666Sbmah of all active PRs</ulink> is available on the &os; Web site; 26582666Sbmah this list is useful to see what potential problems other users 26682666Sbmah have encountered.</para> 26781327Sbmah 26882666Sbmah <para>Note that &man.send-pr.1; itself is a shell script that 26982666Sbmah should be easy to move even onto a non-&os; system. Using 27082666Sbmah this interface is highly preferred. If, for some reason, you 27182666Sbmah are unable to use &man.send-pr.1; to submit a bug report, you 27282666Sbmah can try to send it to the &a.bugs;.</para> 27381327Sbmah 27488959Sbmah <para>For more information, <ulink 275134840Sden url="&url.articles.problem-reports;/"><quote>Writing 276134817Shrs &os; Problem Reports</quote></ulink>, available on the &os; Web 27788959Sbmah site, has a number of helpful hints on writing and submitting 27888959Sbmah effective problem reports.</para> 27982666Sbmah </sect2> 28082666Sbmah </sect1> 28181339Sbmah 282109143Sroam <sect1 id="seealso"> 28382666Sbmah <title>Further Reading</title> 28481339Sbmah 28588959Sbmah <para>There are many sources of information about &os;; some are 28688959Sbmah included with this distribution, while others are available 28788959Sbmah on-line or in print versions.</para> 28888959Sbmah 28982666Sbmah <sect2 id="release-docs"> 29082666Sbmah <title>Release Documentation</title> 29181339Sbmah 29282666Sbmah <para>A number of other files provide more specific information 29382666Sbmah about this &release.type; distribution. These files are 29482666Sbmah provided in various formats. Most distributions will include 29582666Sbmah both ASCII text (<filename>.TXT</filename>) and HTML 29682666Sbmah (<filename>.HTM</filename>) renditions. Some distributions 29782666Sbmah may also include other formats such as PostScript 29882666Sbmah (<filename>.PS</filename>) or Portable Document Format 29982666Sbmah (<filename>.PDF</filename>). 30081339Sbmah 30182666Sbmah <itemizedlist> 30282666Sbmah <listitem> 30382666Sbmah <para><filename>README.TXT</filename>: This file, which 30482666Sbmah gives some general information about &os; as well as 30582666Sbmah some cursory notes about obtaining a 30682666Sbmah distribution.</para> 30782666Sbmah </listitem> 30881339Sbmah 30982666Sbmah <listitem> 310105992Sbmah <para><filename>EARLY.TXT</filename>: A guide for early 311114787Sbmah adopters of &os; &release.current;. Highly recommended 312105992Sbmah reading for users new to &os; &release.branch; and/or the 313134817Shrs 6.<replaceable>X</replaceable> series of releases.</para> 314105992Sbmah </listitem> 315105992Sbmah 316105992Sbmah <listitem> 31782666Sbmah <para><filename>RELNOTES.TXT</filename>: The release 31882666Sbmah notes, showing what's new and different in &os; 31988959Sbmah &release.current; compared to the previous release (&os; 32088959Sbmah &release.prev;).</para> 32182666Sbmah </listitem> 32281339Sbmah 32382666Sbmah <listitem> 32482666Sbmah <para><filename>HARDWARE.TXT</filename>: The hardware 32586152Solgeni compatibility list, showing devices with which &os; has 32682666Sbmah been tested and is known to work.</para> 32782666Sbmah </listitem> 32881339Sbmah 32982666Sbmah <listitem> 33082666Sbmah <para><filename>INSTALL.TXT</filename>: Installation 33182666Sbmah instructions for installing &os; from its distribution 33282666Sbmah media.</para> 33382666Sbmah </listitem> 33481339Sbmah 33582666Sbmah <listitem> 33682666Sbmah <para><filename>ERRATA.TXT</filename>: Release errata. 33782666Sbmah Late-breaking, post-release information can be found in 33882666Sbmah this file, which is principally applicable to releases 33982666Sbmah (as opposed to snapshots). It is important to consult 34082666Sbmah this file before installing a release of &os;, as it 34182666Sbmah contains the latest information on problems which have 34282666Sbmah been found and fixed since the release was 34382666Sbmah created.</para> 34482666Sbmah </listitem> 34582666Sbmah </itemizedlist> 34688959Sbmah 34788959Sbmah <note> 34888959Sbmah <para>Several of these documents (in particular, 34988959Sbmah <filename>RELNOTES.TXT</filename>, 35088959Sbmah <filename>HARDWARE.TXT</filename>, and 35188959Sbmah <filename>INSTALL.TXT</filename>) contain information that 35288959Sbmah is specific to a particular hardware architecture. For 35388959Sbmah example, the alpha release notes contain information not 354119884Ssimon applicable to the &i386;, and vice versa. The architecture 35588959Sbmah for which each document applies will be listed in that 35688959Sbmah document's title.</para> 35788959Sbmah </note> 35888959Sbmah 35982666Sbmah </para> 36081339Sbmah 36193443Sbmah <para>On platforms that support &man.sysinstall.8; (currently 362119884Ssimon alpha, &i386;, ia64, pc98, and &sparc64;), these documents are generally available via the 36383425Sbmah Documentation menu during installation. Once the system is 36493443Sbmah installed, you can revisit this menu by re-running the 36583425Sbmah &man.sysinstall.8; utility.</para> 36681339Sbmah 36782666Sbmah <note> 36882666Sbmah <para>It is extremely important to read the errata for any 36982666Sbmah given release before installing it, to learn about any 37082666Sbmah <quote>late-breaking news</quote> or post-release problems. 37182666Sbmah The errata file accompanying each release (most likely right 37282666Sbmah next to this file) is already out of date by definition, but 37382666Sbmah other copies are kept updated on the Internet and should be 37482666Sbmah consulted as the <quote>current errata</quote> for this 37582666Sbmah release. These other copies of the errata are located at 376134817Shrs <ulink url="&url.base;/releases/"></ulink> (as 37782666Sbmah well as any sites which keep up-to-date mirrors of this 37882666Sbmah location).</para> 37982666Sbmah </note> 38082666Sbmah </sect2> 38183425Sbmah 38283425Sbmah <sect2> 38388959Sbmah <title>Manual Pages</title> 38488959Sbmah 385119884Ssimon <para>As with almost all &unix; like operating systems, &os; comes 38688959Sbmah with a set of on-line manual pages, accessed through the 38788959Sbmah &man.man.1; command or through the <ulink 38888959Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi">hypertext manual 38988959Sbmah pages gateway</ulink> on the &os; Web site. In general, the 39088959Sbmah manual pages provide information on the different commands and 39188959Sbmah APIs available to the &os; user.</para> 39288959Sbmah 393107569Sbmah <para>In some cases, manual pages are written to give 39488959Sbmah information on particular topics. Notable examples of such 39588959Sbmah manual pages are &man.tuning.7; (a guide to performance tuning), 39688959Sbmah &man.security.7; (an introduction to &os; security), and 39788959Sbmah &man.style.9; (a style guide to kernel coding).</para> 39888959Sbmah </sect2> 39988959Sbmah 40088959Sbmah <sect2> 40183425Sbmah <title>Books and Articles</title> 40283425Sbmah 40383425Sbmah <para>Two highly-useful collections of &os;-related information, 40483425Sbmah maintained by the &os; Project, 40583425Sbmah are the &os; Handbook and &os; FAQ (Frequently Asked 40683425Sbmah Questions document). On-line versions of the <ulink 407134817Shrs url="&url.books.handbook;/">Handbook</ulink> 40883425Sbmah and <ulink 409134817Shrs url="&url.books.faq;/">FAQ</ulink> 41083425Sbmah are always available from the <ulink 411134817Shrs url="&url.base;/docs.html">&os; Documentation 41283425Sbmah page</ulink> or its mirrors. If you install the 41383425Sbmah <filename>doc</filename> distribution set, you can use a Web 41483425Sbmah browser to read the Handbook and FAQ locally.</para> 41583425Sbmah 41684484Sbmah <para>A number of on-line books and articles, also maintained by 41784484Sbmah the &os; Project, cover more-specialized, &os;-related topics. 41884484Sbmah This material spans a wide range of topics, from effective use 41984484Sbmah of the mailing lists, to dual-booting &os; with other 42084484Sbmah operating systems, to guidelines for new committers. Like the 42184484Sbmah Handbook and FAQ, these documents are available from the &os; 42284484Sbmah Documentation Page or in the <filename>doc</filename> 42384484Sbmah distribution set.</para> 42484484Sbmah 42584484Sbmah <para>A listing of other books and documents about &os; can be 42683425Sbmah found in the <ulink 427134817Shrs url="&url.books.handbook;/bibliography.html">bibliography</ulink> 428114787Sbmah of the &os; Handbook. Because of &os;'s strong &unix; heritage, 429114787Sbmah many other articles and books written for &unix; systems are 43083425Sbmah applicable as well, some of which are also listed in the 43183425Sbmah bibliography.</para> 43283425Sbmah </sect2> 43382666Sbmah </sect1> 43481327Sbmah 435109143Sroam <sect1 id="acknowledgements"> 43682666Sbmah <title>Acknowledgments</title> 43781327Sbmah 43882666Sbmah <para>&os; represents the cumulative work of many hundreds, if not 43982666Sbmah thousands, of individuals from around the world who have worked 44082666Sbmah countless hours to bring about this &release.type;. For a 44182666Sbmah complete list of &os; developers and contributors, please see 44282666Sbmah <ulink 443134817Shrs url="&url.articles.contributors;/"><quote>Contributors 444134817Shrs to &os;</quote></ulink> on the &os; Web site or any of its 44582666Sbmah mirrors.</para> 44681327Sbmah 44782666Sbmah <para>Special thanks also go to the many thousands of &os; users 44882666Sbmah and testers all over the world, without whom this &release.type; 44982666Sbmah simply would not have been possible.</para> 45082666Sbmah </sect1> 45176082Sbmah</article> 45282666Sbmah 45382666Sbmah<!-- 45482666Sbmah Local Variables: 45582666Sbmah mode: sgml 45682666Sbmah sgml-indent-data: t 45782666Sbmah sgml-omittag: nil 45882666Sbmah sgml-always-quote-attributes: t 45982666Sbmah End: 46082666Sbmah--> 461