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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 165592 2006-12-28 21:12:57Z bmah $</pubdate> 1681327Sbmah 1782666Sbmah <copyright> 1882666Sbmah <year>2000</year> 1982666Sbmah <year>2001</year> 2088820Sbmah <year>2002</year> 21108829Sbmah <year>2003</year> 22130964Sden <year>2004</year> 23145265Shrs <year>2005</year> 24165592Sbmah <year>2006</year> 25134817Shrs <holder role="mailto:doc@FreeBSD.org">The &os; Documentation Project</holder> 2682666Sbmah </copyright> 27119884Ssimon 28119884Ssimon <legalnotice id="trademarks" role="trademarks"> 29119884Ssimon &tm-attrib.freebsd; 30119884Ssimon &tm-attrib.intel; 31119884Ssimon &tm-attrib.opengroup; 32119884Ssimon &tm-attrib.sparc; 33119884Ssimon &tm-attrib.general; 34119884Ssimon </legalnotice> 3582666Sbmah </articleinfo> 3681327Sbmah 3782666Sbmah <abstract> 3882666Sbmah <para>This document gives a brief introduction to &os; 3988959Sbmah &release.current;. It includes some information on how to 4088959Sbmah obtain &os;, a listing of various ways to contact the &os; 4188959Sbmah Project, and pointers to some other sources of 4288959Sbmah information.</para> 4382666Sbmah </abstract> 4481327Sbmah 45109143Sroam <sect1 id="intro"> 4682666Sbmah <title>Introduction</title> 4781327Sbmah 4882666Sbmah <para>This distribution is a &release.type; of &os; &release.current;, the 4982666Sbmah latest point along the &release.branch; branch.</para> 5081327Sbmah 5182666Sbmah <sect2> 5282666Sbmah <title>About &os;</title> 5381327Sbmah 5482666Sbmah <para>&os; is an operating system based on 4.4 BSD Lite for 55135116Shrs DEC/Compaq/HP Alpha/AXP computers (alpha), 56135116Shrs AMD64 and Intel EM64T based PC hardware (amd64), 57135116Shrs Intel, AMD, Cyrix or NexGen <quote>x86</quote> based PC hardware (i386), 58135116Shrs Intel Itanium Processor based computers (ia64), 59135116Shrs NEC PC-9801/9821 series PCs and compatibles (pc98), 60135116Shrs and &ultrasparc; machines (sparc64). Versions 61135116Shrs for the &powerpc; (powerpc), and &mips; (mips) 62135116Shrs architectures are currently under 6382666Sbmah development as well. &os; works with a wide variety of 6482666Sbmah peripherals and configurations and can be used for everything 6582666Sbmah from software development to games to Internet Service 6682666Sbmah Provision.</para> 6781327Sbmah 6882666Sbmah <para>This release of &os; contains everything you need to run 6982666Sbmah such a system, including full source code for the kernel and 7082666Sbmah all utilities in the base distribution. With the source 7182666Sbmah distribution installed, you can literally recompile the entire 7282666Sbmah system from scratch with one command, making it ideal for 7382666Sbmah students, researchers, or users who simply want to see how it 7482666Sbmah all works.</para> 7581327Sbmah 7682666Sbmah <para>A large collection of third-party ported software (the 7782666Sbmah <quote>Ports Collection</quote>) is also provided to make it 78114787Sbmah easy to obtain and install all your favorite traditional &unix; 7982666Sbmah utilities for &os;. Each <quote>port</quote> consists of a 8082666Sbmah set of scripts to retrieve, configure, build, and install a 8182666Sbmah piece of software, with a single command. Over &os.numports; 8282666Sbmah ports, from editors to programming languages to graphical 8382666Sbmah applications, make &os; a powerful and comprehensive operating 8482666Sbmah environment that extends far beyond what's provided by many 85114787Sbmah commercial versions of &unix;. Most ports are also available as 8682666Sbmah pre-compiled <quote>packages</quote>, which can be quickly 8782666Sbmah installed from the installation program.</para> 8882666Sbmah </sect2> 8982666Sbmah 9082666Sbmah <sect2> 9182666Sbmah <title>Target Audience</title> 9282666Sbmah 93134116Shrs<![ %release.type.current; [ 94134116Shrs 95134116Shrs <para>This &release.type; is aimed primarily at early adopters 96134116Shrs and various other users who want to get involved with the 97134116Shrs ongoing development of &os;. While the &os; development team 98134116Shrs tries its best to ensure that each &release.type; works as 99134116Shrs advertised, &release.branch; is very much a 100134116Shrs work-in-progress.</para> 101134116Shrs 102134116Shrs <para>The basic requirements for using this &release.type; are 103134116Shrs technical proficiency with &os; and an understanding of the 104134116Shrs ongoing development process of &os; &release.branch; (as 105134116Shrs discussed on the &a.current;).</para> 106134116Shrs 107134116Shrs <para>For those more interested in doing business with &os; than 108134116Shrs in experimenting with new &os; technology, formal releases 109134116Shrs (such as &release.prev.stable;) are frequently more appropriate. 110134116Shrs Releases undergo a period of testing and quality assurance 111134116Shrs checking to ensure high reliability and dependability.</para> 112134116Shrs 113134116Shrs]]> 114134116Shrs 11581339Sbmah<![ %release.type.snapshot; [ 11681327Sbmah 11782666Sbmah <para>This &release.type; is aimed primarily at early adopters 11882666Sbmah and various other users who want to get involved with the 11982666Sbmah ongoing development of &os;. While the &os; development team 12082666Sbmah tries its best to ensure that each &release.type; works as 12182666Sbmah advertised, &release.branch; is very much a 12282666Sbmah work-in-progress.</para> 12381327Sbmah 12493244Skeramida <para>The basic requirements for using this &release.type; are 12582666Sbmah technical proficiency with &os; and an understanding of the 12683425Sbmah ongoing development process of &os; &release.branch; (as 12782666Sbmah discussed on the &a.current;).</para> 12882666Sbmah 12982666Sbmah <para>For those more interested in doing business with &os; than 13082666Sbmah in experimenting with new &os; technology, formal releases 13192482Smurray (such as &release.prev.stable;) are frequently more appropriate. 13282666Sbmah Releases undergo a period of testing and quality assurance 13382666Sbmah checking to ensure high reliability and dependability.</para> 13482666Sbmah 13581339Sbmah]]> 13681339Sbmah 13781339Sbmah<![ %release.type.release; [ 13882666Sbmah 13982666Sbmah <para>This &release.type; of &os; is suitable for all users. It 14082666Sbmah has undergone a period of testing and quality assurance 14182666Sbmah checking to ensure the highest reliability and 14282666Sbmah dependability.</para> 14382666Sbmah 14481339Sbmah]]> 14581339Sbmah 14682666Sbmah </sect2> 14782666Sbmah </sect1> 14881339Sbmah 149109143Sroam <sect1 id="obtain"> 15082666Sbmah <title>Obtaining &os;</title> 15181327Sbmah 15282666Sbmah <para>&os; may be obtained in a variety of ways. This section 15388959Sbmah focuses on those ways that are primarily useful for obtaining a 15482666Sbmah complete &os; distribution, rather than updating an existing 15582666Sbmah installation.</para> 15681327Sbmah 15782666Sbmah <sect2> 15882666Sbmah <title>CDROM and DVD</title> 15981327Sbmah 16082666Sbmah <para>&os; -RELEASE distributions may be ordered on CDROM or DVD 16182666Sbmah from several publishers. This is frequently the most 16282666Sbmah convenient way to obtain &os; for new installations, as it 16382666Sbmah provides a convenient way to quickly reinstall the system if 16482666Sbmah necessary. Some distributions include some of the optional, 16582666Sbmah precompiled <quote>packages</quote> from the &os; Ports 16682666Sbmah Collection.</para> 16781327Sbmah 16882666Sbmah <para>A list of the CDROM and DVD publishers known to the 16982666Sbmah project are listed in the <ulink 170134817Shrs url="&url.books.handbook;/mirrors.html"><quote>Obtaining 171134817Shrs &os;</quote></ulink> appendix to the Handbook.</para> 17282666Sbmah </sect2> 17381327Sbmah 17482666Sbmah <sect2> 17582666Sbmah <title>FTP</title> 17681327Sbmah 17782666Sbmah <para>You can use FTP to retrieve &os; and any or all of its 17882666Sbmah optional packages from <ulink 17982666Sbmah url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/"></ulink>, which is the official 18082666Sbmah &os; release site, or any of its 18182666Sbmah <quote>mirrors</quote>.</para> 18281327Sbmah 18382666Sbmah <para>Lists of locations that mirror &os; can be found in the 18482666Sbmah <ulink 185134817Shrs url="&url.books.handbook;/mirrors-ftp.html">FTP 18682666Sbmah Sites</ulink> section of the Handbook, or on the <ulink 187127867Sphantom url="http://mirrorlist.FreeBSD.org/"></ulink> Web pages. 18882666Sbmah Finding a close (in networking terms) mirror from which to 18982666Sbmah download the distribution is highly recommended.</para> 19081327Sbmah 19182666Sbmah <para>Additional mirror sites are always welcome. Contact 19282666Sbmah <email>freebsd-admin@FreeBSD.org</email> for more details on 19391249Skeramida becoming an official mirror site. You can also find useful 19491249Skeramida information for mirror sites at the <ulink 195134817Shrs URL="&url.articles.hubs;/">Mirroring 196134817Shrs &os;</ulink> article.</para> 19781327Sbmah 19882666Sbmah <para>Mirrors generally contain the floppy disk images necessary 19982666Sbmah to begin an installation, as well as the distribution files 20088959Sbmah needed for the install process itself. Many mirrors also 20188959Sbmah contain the ISO images necessary to create a CDROM of 20282666Sbmah a &os; release.</para> 20381327Sbmah 20482666Sbmah </sect2> 20582666Sbmah </sect1> 20681327Sbmah 20782666Sbmah <sect1 id="contacting"> 20882666Sbmah <title>Contacting the &os; Project</title> 20981327Sbmah 21082666Sbmah <sect2> 21182666Sbmah <title>Email and Mailing Lists</title> 21281327Sbmah 21382666Sbmah <para>For any questions or general technical support issues, 21482666Sbmah please send mail to the &a.questions;.</para> 21581327Sbmah 21683425Sbmah <para>If you're tracking the &release.branch; development efforts, you 21782666Sbmah <emphasis>must</emphasis> join the &a.current;, in order to 21882666Sbmah keep abreast of recent developments and changes that may 21993244Skeramida affect the way you use and maintain the system.</para> 22081327Sbmah 22188959Sbmah <para>Being a largely-volunteer effort, the &os; 22288959Sbmah Project is always happy to have extra hands willing to help—there are already far more desired enhancements than 22382666Sbmah there is time to implement them. To contact the developers on 22482666Sbmah technical matters, or with offers of help, please send mail to 22582666Sbmah the &a.hackers;.</para> 22681327Sbmah 22782666Sbmah <para>Please note that these mailing lists can experience 22888959Sbmah <emphasis>significant</emphasis> amounts of traffic. If you 22988959Sbmah have slow or expensive mail access, or are only interested in 23088959Sbmah keeping up with major &os; events, you may find it 23182666Sbmah preferable to subscribe instead to the &a.announce;.</para> 23281327Sbmah 23382666Sbmah <para>All of the mailing lists can be freely joined by anyone 234134817Shrs wishing to do so. Visit the <ulink url="&url.base;/mailman/listinfo"> 235134817Shrs &os; Mailman Info Page</ulink>. This will give you more 23682666Sbmah information on joining the various lists, accessing archives, 23782666Sbmah etc. There are a number of mailing lists targeted at special 23882666Sbmah interest groups not mentioned here; more information can be 239114787Sbmah obtained either from the Mailman pages or the <ulink 240134817Shrs url="&url.base;/support.html#mailing-list">mailing 24182666Sbmah lists section</ulink> of the &os; Web site.</para> 24281327Sbmah 24382666Sbmah <important> 24482666Sbmah <para>Do <emphasis>not</emphasis> send email to the lists 245114787Sbmah asking to be subscribed. Use the Mailman interface 24682666Sbmah instead.</para> 24782666Sbmah </important> 24882666Sbmah </sect2> 24981327Sbmah 25082666Sbmah <sect2> 25182666Sbmah <title>Submitting Problem Reports</title> 25281327Sbmah 25382666Sbmah <para>Suggestions, bug reports and contributions of code are 25488959Sbmah always valued—please do not hesitate to report any 25582666Sbmah problems you may find. Bug reports with attached fixes are of 25682666Sbmah course even more welcome.</para> 25781327Sbmah 25882666Sbmah <para>The preferred method to submit bug reports from a machine 25982666Sbmah with Internet mail connectivity is to use the &man.send-pr.1; 260114787Sbmah command. 26182666Sbmah <quote>Problem Reports</quote> (PRs) submitted in this way 26282666Sbmah will be filed and their progress tracked; the &os; developers 26382666Sbmah will do their best to respond to all reported bugs as soon as 26482666Sbmah possible. <ulink 26582666Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/query-pr-summary.cgi">A list 26682666Sbmah of all active PRs</ulink> is available on the &os; Web site; 26782666Sbmah this list is useful to see what potential problems other users 26882666Sbmah have encountered.</para> 26981327Sbmah 27082666Sbmah <para>Note that &man.send-pr.1; itself is a shell script that 27182666Sbmah should be easy to move even onto a non-&os; system. Using 27282666Sbmah this interface is highly preferred. If, for some reason, you 27382666Sbmah are unable to use &man.send-pr.1; to submit a bug report, you 27482666Sbmah can try to send it to the &a.bugs;.</para> 27581327Sbmah 27688959Sbmah <para>For more information, <ulink 277134840Sden url="&url.articles.problem-reports;/"><quote>Writing 278134817Shrs &os; Problem Reports</quote></ulink>, available on the &os; Web 27988959Sbmah site, has a number of helpful hints on writing and submitting 28088959Sbmah effective problem reports.</para> 28182666Sbmah </sect2> 28282666Sbmah </sect1> 28381339Sbmah 284109143Sroam <sect1 id="seealso"> 28582666Sbmah <title>Further Reading</title> 28681339Sbmah 28788959Sbmah <para>There are many sources of information about &os;; some are 28888959Sbmah included with this distribution, while others are available 28988959Sbmah on-line or in print versions.</para> 29088959Sbmah 29182666Sbmah <sect2 id="release-docs"> 29282666Sbmah <title>Release Documentation</title> 29381339Sbmah 29482666Sbmah <para>A number of other files provide more specific information 29582666Sbmah about this &release.type; distribution. These files are 29682666Sbmah provided in various formats. Most distributions will include 29782666Sbmah both ASCII text (<filename>.TXT</filename>) and HTML 29882666Sbmah (<filename>.HTM</filename>) renditions. Some distributions 29982666Sbmah may also include other formats such as PostScript 30082666Sbmah (<filename>.PS</filename>) or Portable Document Format 30182666Sbmah (<filename>.PDF</filename>). 30281339Sbmah 30382666Sbmah <itemizedlist> 30482666Sbmah <listitem> 30582666Sbmah <para><filename>README.TXT</filename>: This file, which 30682666Sbmah gives some general information about &os; as well as 30782666Sbmah some cursory notes about obtaining a 30882666Sbmah distribution.</para> 30982666Sbmah </listitem> 31081339Sbmah 31182666Sbmah <listitem> 31282666Sbmah <para><filename>RELNOTES.TXT</filename>: The release 31382666Sbmah notes, showing what's new and different in &os; 31488959Sbmah &release.current; compared to the previous release (&os; 31588959Sbmah &release.prev;).</para> 31682666Sbmah </listitem> 31781339Sbmah 31882666Sbmah <listitem> 31982666Sbmah <para><filename>HARDWARE.TXT</filename>: The hardware 32086152Solgeni compatibility list, showing devices with which &os; has 32182666Sbmah been tested and is known to work.</para> 32282666Sbmah </listitem> 32381339Sbmah 32482666Sbmah <listitem> 32582666Sbmah <para><filename>INSTALL.TXT</filename>: Installation 32682666Sbmah instructions for installing &os; from its distribution 32782666Sbmah media.</para> 32882666Sbmah </listitem> 32981339Sbmah 33082666Sbmah <listitem> 33182666Sbmah <para><filename>ERRATA.TXT</filename>: Release errata. 33282666Sbmah Late-breaking, post-release information can be found in 33382666Sbmah this file, which is principally applicable to releases 33482666Sbmah (as opposed to snapshots). It is important to consult 33582666Sbmah this file before installing a release of &os;, as it 33682666Sbmah contains the latest information on problems which have 33782666Sbmah been found and fixed since the release was 33882666Sbmah created.</para> 33982666Sbmah </listitem> 34082666Sbmah </itemizedlist> 34188959Sbmah 34288959Sbmah <note> 34388959Sbmah <para>Several of these documents (in particular, 344165592Sbmah <filename>HARDWARE.TXT</filename> and 34588959Sbmah <filename>INSTALL.TXT</filename>) contain information that 34688959Sbmah is specific to a particular hardware architecture. For 347165592Sbmah example, the alpha hardware notes contain information not 348119884Ssimon applicable to the &i386;, and vice versa. The architecture 34988959Sbmah for which each document applies will be listed in that 35088959Sbmah document's title.</para> 35188959Sbmah </note> 35288959Sbmah 35382666Sbmah </para> 35481339Sbmah 35593443Sbmah <para>On platforms that support &man.sysinstall.8; (currently 356119884Ssimon alpha, &i386;, ia64, pc98, and &sparc64;), these documents are generally available via the 35783425Sbmah Documentation menu during installation. Once the system is 35893443Sbmah installed, you can revisit this menu by re-running the 35983425Sbmah &man.sysinstall.8; utility.</para> 36081339Sbmah 36182666Sbmah <note> 36282666Sbmah <para>It is extremely important to read the errata for any 36382666Sbmah given release before installing it, to learn about any 36482666Sbmah <quote>late-breaking news</quote> or post-release problems. 36582666Sbmah The errata file accompanying each release (most likely right 36682666Sbmah next to this file) is already out of date by definition, but 36782666Sbmah other copies are kept updated on the Internet and should be 36882666Sbmah consulted as the <quote>current errata</quote> for this 36982666Sbmah release. These other copies of the errata are located at 370134817Shrs <ulink url="&url.base;/releases/"></ulink> (as 37182666Sbmah well as any sites which keep up-to-date mirrors of this 37282666Sbmah location).</para> 37382666Sbmah </note> 37482666Sbmah </sect2> 37583425Sbmah 37683425Sbmah <sect2> 37788959Sbmah <title>Manual Pages</title> 37888959Sbmah 379119884Ssimon <para>As with almost all &unix; like operating systems, &os; comes 38088959Sbmah with a set of on-line manual pages, accessed through the 38188959Sbmah &man.man.1; command or through the <ulink 38288959Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi">hypertext manual 38388959Sbmah pages gateway</ulink> on the &os; Web site. In general, the 38488959Sbmah manual pages provide information on the different commands and 38588959Sbmah APIs available to the &os; user.</para> 38688959Sbmah 387107569Sbmah <para>In some cases, manual pages are written to give 38888959Sbmah information on particular topics. Notable examples of such 38988959Sbmah manual pages are &man.tuning.7; (a guide to performance tuning), 39088959Sbmah &man.security.7; (an introduction to &os; security), and 39188959Sbmah &man.style.9; (a style guide to kernel coding).</para> 39288959Sbmah </sect2> 39388959Sbmah 39488959Sbmah <sect2> 39583425Sbmah <title>Books and Articles</title> 39683425Sbmah 39783425Sbmah <para>Two highly-useful collections of &os;-related information, 39883425Sbmah maintained by the &os; Project, 39983425Sbmah are the &os; Handbook and &os; FAQ (Frequently Asked 40083425Sbmah Questions document). On-line versions of the <ulink 401134817Shrs url="&url.books.handbook;/">Handbook</ulink> 40283425Sbmah and <ulink 403134817Shrs url="&url.books.faq;/">FAQ</ulink> 40483425Sbmah are always available from the <ulink 405134817Shrs url="&url.base;/docs.html">&os; Documentation 40683425Sbmah page</ulink> or its mirrors. If you install the 40783425Sbmah <filename>doc</filename> distribution set, you can use a Web 40883425Sbmah browser to read the Handbook and FAQ locally.</para> 40983425Sbmah 41084484Sbmah <para>A number of on-line books and articles, also maintained by 41184484Sbmah the &os; Project, cover more-specialized, &os;-related topics. 41284484Sbmah This material spans a wide range of topics, from effective use 41384484Sbmah of the mailing lists, to dual-booting &os; with other 41484484Sbmah operating systems, to guidelines for new committers. Like the 41584484Sbmah Handbook and FAQ, these documents are available from the &os; 41684484Sbmah Documentation Page or in the <filename>doc</filename> 41784484Sbmah distribution set.</para> 41884484Sbmah 41984484Sbmah <para>A listing of other books and documents about &os; can be 42083425Sbmah found in the <ulink 421134817Shrs url="&url.books.handbook;/bibliography.html">bibliography</ulink> 422114787Sbmah of the &os; Handbook. Because of &os;'s strong &unix; heritage, 423114787Sbmah many other articles and books written for &unix; systems are 42483425Sbmah applicable as well, some of which are also listed in the 42583425Sbmah bibliography.</para> 42683425Sbmah </sect2> 42782666Sbmah </sect1> 42881327Sbmah 429109143Sroam <sect1 id="acknowledgements"> 43082666Sbmah <title>Acknowledgments</title> 43181327Sbmah 43282666Sbmah <para>&os; represents the cumulative work of many hundreds, if not 43382666Sbmah thousands, of individuals from around the world who have worked 43482666Sbmah countless hours to bring about this &release.type;. For a 43582666Sbmah complete list of &os; developers and contributors, please see 43682666Sbmah <ulink 437134817Shrs url="&url.articles.contributors;/"><quote>Contributors 438134817Shrs to &os;</quote></ulink> on the &os; Web site or any of its 43982666Sbmah mirrors.</para> 44081327Sbmah 44182666Sbmah <para>Special thanks also go to the many thousands of &os; users 44282666Sbmah and testers all over the world, without whom this &release.type; 44382666Sbmah simply would not have been possible.</para> 44482666Sbmah </sect1> 44576082Sbmah</article> 44682666Sbmah 44782666Sbmah<!-- 44882666Sbmah Local Variables: 44982666Sbmah mode: sgml 45082666Sbmah sgml-indent-data: t 45182666Sbmah sgml-omittag: nil 45282666Sbmah sgml-always-quote-attributes: t 45382666Sbmah End: 45482666Sbmah--> 455