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1<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?> 2<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//DTD DocBook XML V5.0-Based Extension//EN" 3 "../../../share/xml/freebsd50.dtd" [ 4<!ENTITY % release PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES Release Specification//EN" "release.ent"> 5 %release; 6]> 7<!-- 8 Local Variables: 9 mode: sgml 10 sgml-indent-data: t 11 sgml-omittag: nil 12 sgml-always-quote-attributes: t 13 End: 14--> 15<article xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" version="5.0"> 16 <info><title>&os; &release.current; README</title> 17 18 19 <author><orgname>The &os; Project</orgname></author> 20 21 <pubdate>$FreeBSD: stable/10/release/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/readme/article.xml 270684 2014-08-26 23:51:01Z gjb $</pubdate> 22 23 <copyright> 24 <year>2000</year> 25 <year>2001</year> 26 <year>2002</year> 27 <year>2003</year> 28 <year>2004</year> 29 <year>2005</year> 30 <year>2006</year> 31 <year>2007</year> 32 <year>2008</year> 33 <year>2009</year> 34 <year>2010</year> 35 <year>2011</year> 36 <year>2012</year> 37 <year>2013</year> 38 <year>2014</year> 39 <holder role="mailto:doc@FreeBSD.org">The &os; Documentation Project</holder> 40 </copyright> 41 42 <legalnotice xml:id="trademarks" role="trademarks"> 43 &tm-attrib.freebsd; 44 &tm-attrib.intel; 45 &tm-attrib.opengroup; 46 &tm-attrib.sparc; 47 &tm-attrib.general; 48 </legalnotice> 49 50 <abstract> 51 <para>This document gives a brief introduction to &os; 52 &release.current;. It includes some information on how to 53 obtain &os;, a listing of various ways to contact the &os; 54 Project, and pointers to some other sources of 55 information.</para> 56 </abstract> 57 </info> 58 59 <sect1 xml:id="intro"> 60 <title>Introduction</title> 61 62 <para>This distribution is a &release.type; of &os; &release.current;, the 63 latest point along the &release.branch; branch.</para> 64 65 <sect2> 66 <title>About &os;</title> 67 68 <para>&os; is an operating system based on 4.4 BSD Lite for 69 AMD64 and Intel EM64T based PC hardware (&arch.amd64;), 70 Intel, AMD, Cyrix or NexGen <quote>x86</quote> based PC hardware (&arch.i386;), 71 Intel Itanium Processor based computers (&arch.ia64;), 72 NEC PC-9801/9821 series PCs and compatibles (&arch.pc98;), 73 and &ultrasparc; machines (&arch.sparc64;). Versions 74 for the &arm; (&arch.arm;), &mips; (&arch.mips;), and 75 &powerpc; (&arch.powerpc;) architectures are currently under 76 development as well. &os; works with a wide variety of 77 peripherals and configurations and can be used for everything 78 from software development to games to Internet Service 79 Provision.</para> 80 81 <para>This release of &os; contains everything you need to run 82 such a system, including full source code for the kernel and 83 all utilities in the base distribution. With the source 84 distribution installed, you can literally recompile the entire 85 system from scratch with one command, making it ideal for 86 students, researchers, or users who simply want to see how it 87 all works.</para> 88 89 <para>A large collection of third-party ported software (the 90 <quote>Ports Collection</quote>) is also provided to make it 91 easy to obtain and install all your favorite traditional &unix; 92 utilities for &os;. Each <quote>port</quote> consists of a 93 set of scripts to retrieve, configure, build, and install a 94 piece of software, with a single command. Over &os.numports; 95 ports, from editors to programming languages to graphical 96 applications, make &os; a powerful and comprehensive operating 97 environment that extends far beyond what's provided by many 98 commercial versions of &unix;. Most ports are also available as 99 pre-compiled <quote>packages</quote>, which can be quickly 100 installed from the installation program.</para> 101 </sect2> 102 103 <sect2> 104 <title>Target Audience</title> 105 106 <para releasetype="current">This &release.type; is aimed primarily at early adopters 107 and various other users who want to get involved with the 108 ongoing development of &os;. While the &os; development team 109 tries its best to ensure that each &release.type; works as 110 advertised, &release.branch; is very much a 111 work-in-progress.</para> 112 113 <para releasetype="current">The basic requirements for using this &release.type; are 114 technical proficiency with &os; and an understanding of the 115 ongoing development process of &os; &release.branch; (as 116 discussed on the &a.stable;).</para> 117 118 <para releasetype="current">For those more interested in doing business with &os; than 119 in experimenting with new &os; technology, formal releases 120 (such as &release.prev.stable;) are frequently more appropriate. 121 Releases undergo a period of testing and quality assurance 122 checking to ensure high reliability and dependability.</para> 123 124 <para releasetype="snapshot">This &release.type; is aimed primarily at early adopters 125 and various other users who want to get involved with the 126 ongoing development of &os;. While the &os; development team 127 tries its best to ensure that each &release.type; works as 128 advertised, &release.branch; is very much a 129 work-in-progress.</para> 130 131 <para releasetype="snapshot">The basic requirements for using this &release.type; are 132 technical proficiency with &os; and an understanding of the 133 ongoing development process of &os; &release.branch; (as 134 discussed on the &a.stable;).</para> 135 136 <para releasetype="snapshot">For those more interested in doing business with &os; than 137 in experimenting with new &os; technology, formal releases 138 (such as &release.prev.stable;) are frequently more appropriate. 139 Releases undergo a period of testing and quality assurance 140 checking to ensure high reliability and dependability.</para> 141 142 <para releasetype="release">This &release.type; of &os; is suitable for all users. It 143 has undergone a period of testing and quality assurance 144 checking to ensure the highest reliability and 145 dependability.</para> 146 </sect2> 147 </sect1> 148 149 <sect1 xml:id="obtain"> 150 <title>Obtaining &os;</title> 151 152 <para>&os; may be obtained in a variety of ways. This section 153 focuses on those ways that are primarily useful for obtaining a 154 complete &os; distribution, rather than updating an existing 155 installation.</para> 156 157 <sect2> 158 <title>CDROM and DVD</title> 159 160 <para>&os; -RELEASE distributions may be ordered on CDROM or DVD 161 from several publishers. This is frequently the most 162 convenient way to obtain &os; for new installations, as it 163 provides a convenient way to quickly reinstall the system if 164 necessary. Some distributions include some of the optional, 165 precompiled <quote>packages</quote> from the &os; Ports 166 Collection, or other extra material.</para> 167 168 <para>A list of the CDROM and DVD publishers known to the 169 project are listed in the <link xlink:href="&url.books.handbook;/mirrors.html"><quote>Obtaining 170 &os;</quote></link> appendix to the Handbook.</para> 171 </sect2> 172 173 <sect2> 174 <title>FTP</title> 175 176 <para>You can use FTP to retrieve &os; and any or all of its 177 optional packages from <uri xlink:href="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/">ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/</uri>, which is the official 178 &os; release site, or any of its 179 <quote>mirrors</quote>.</para> 180 181 <para>Lists of locations that mirror &os; can be found in the 182 <link xlink:href="&url.books.handbook;/mirrors-ftp.html">FTP 183 Sites</link> section of the Handbook. 184 Finding a close (in networking terms) mirror from which to 185 download the distribution is highly recommended.</para> 186 187 <para>Additional mirror sites are always welcome. Contact 188 <email>freebsd-admin@FreeBSD.org</email> for more details on 189 becoming an official mirror site. You can also find useful 190 information for mirror sites at the <link xlink:href="&url.articles.hubs;/">Mirroring 191 &os;</link> article.</para> 192 193 <para>Mirrors generally contain the ISO images generally used to 194 create a CDROM of a &os; release. They usually also contain 195 floppy disk images (for applicable platforms), as well as the 196 files necessary to do an installation over the network. 197 Finally mirrors sites usually contain a set of packages for 198 the most current release.</para> 199 </sect2> 200 </sect1> 201 202 <sect1 xml:id="contacting"> 203 <title>Contacting the &os; Project</title> 204 205 <sect2> 206 <title>Email and Mailing Lists</title> 207 208 <para>For any questions or general technical support issues, 209 please send mail to the &a.questions;.</para> 210 211 <para>If you're tracking the &release.branch; development efforts, you 212 <emphasis>must</emphasis> join the &a.stable;, in order to 213 keep abreast of recent developments and changes that may 214 affect the way you use and maintain the system.</para> 215 216 <para>Being a largely-volunteer effort, the &os; 217 Project is always happy to have extra hands willing to help—there are already far more desired enhancements than 218 there is time to implement them. To contact the developers on 219 technical matters, or with offers of help, please send mail to 220 the &a.hackers;.</para> 221 222 <para>Please note that these mailing lists can experience 223 <emphasis>significant</emphasis> amounts of traffic. If you 224 have slow or expensive mail access, or are only interested in 225 keeping up with major &os; events, you may find it 226 preferable to subscribe instead to the &a.announce;.</para> 227 228 <para>All of the mailing lists can be freely joined by anyone 229 wishing to do so. Visit the <link xlink:href="&url.base;/mailman/listinfo"> 230 &os; Mailman Info Page</link>. This will give you more 231 information on joining the various lists, accessing archives, 232 etc. There are a number of mailing lists targeted at special 233 interest groups not mentioned here; more information can be 234 obtained either from the Mailman pages or the <link xlink:href="&url.base;/support.html#mailing-list">mailing 235 lists section</link> of the &os; Web site.</para> 236 237 <important> 238 <para>Do <emphasis>not</emphasis> send email to the lists 239 asking to be subscribed. Use the Mailman interface 240 instead.</para> 241 </important> 242 </sect2> 243 244 <sect2> 245 <title>Submitting Problem Reports</title> 246 247 <para>Suggestions, bug reports and contributions of code are 248 always valued—please do not hesitate to report any 249 problems you may find. Bug reports with attached fixes are of 250 course even more welcome.</para> 251 252 <para>The preferred method to submit bug reports from a machine 253 with Internet connectivity is to use the <application>Bugzilla</application> 254 bug tracker. 255 <quote>Problem Reports</quote> (PRs) submitted in this way 256 will be filed and their progress tracked; the &os; developers 257 will do their best to respond to all reported bugs as soon as 258 possible. <link xlink:href="https://bugs.FreeBSD.org/search/">A list 259 of all active PRs</link> is available on the &os; Web site; 260 this list is useful to see what potential problems other users 261 have encountered.</para> 262 263 <para>Note that &man.send-pr.1; is deprecated.</para> 264 265 <para>For more information, <link xlink:href="&url.articles.problem-reports;/"><quote>Writing 266 &os; Problem Reports</quote></link>, available on the &os; Web 267 site, has a number of helpful hints on writing and submitting 268 effective problem reports.</para> 269 </sect2> 270 </sect1> 271 272 <sect1 xml:id="seealso"> 273 <title>Further Reading</title> 274 275 <para>There are many sources of information about &os;; some are 276 included with this distribution, while others are available 277 on-line or in print versions.</para> 278 279 <sect2 xml:id="release-docs"> 280 <title>Release Documentation</title> 281 282 <para>A number of other files provide more specific information 283 about this &release.type; distribution. These files are 284 provided in various formats. Most distributions will include 285 both ASCII text (<filename>.TXT</filename>) and HTML 286 (<filename>.HTM</filename>) renditions. Some distributions 287 may also include other formats such as Portable Document Format 288 (<filename>.PDF</filename>). 289 290 <itemizedlist> 291 <listitem> 292 <para><filename>README.TXT</filename>: This file, which 293 gives some general information about &os; as well as 294 some cursory notes about obtaining a 295 distribution.</para> 296 </listitem> 297 298 <listitem> 299 <para><filename>RELNOTES.TXT</filename>: The release 300 notes, showing what's new and different in &os; 301 &release.current; compared to the previous release (&os; 302 &release.prev;).</para> 303 </listitem> 304 305 <listitem> 306 <para><filename>HARDWARE.TXT</filename>: The hardware 307 compatibility list, showing devices with which &os; has 308 been tested and is known to work.</para> 309 </listitem> 310 311 <listitem> 312 <para><filename>ERRATA.TXT</filename>: Release errata. 313 Late-breaking, post-release information can be found in 314 this file, which is principally applicable to releases 315 (as opposed to snapshots). It is important to consult 316 this file before installing a release of &os;, as it 317 contains the latest information on problems which have 318 been found and fixed since the release was 319 created.</para> 320 </listitem> 321 </itemizedlist> 322 </para> 323 324 <para>On platforms that support &man.bsdinstall.8; (currently 325 &arch.amd64;, &arch.i386;, &arch.ia64;, &arch.pc98;, and &arch.sparc64;), these documents are generally available via the 326 Documentation menu during installation. Once the system is 327 installed, you can revisit this menu by re-running the 328 &man.bsdinstall.8; utility.</para> 329 330 <note> 331 <para>It is extremely important to read the errata for any 332 given release before installing it, to learn about any 333 <quote>late-breaking news</quote> or post-release problems. 334 The errata file accompanying each release (most likely right 335 next to this file) is already out of date by definition, but 336 other copies are kept updated on the Internet and should be 337 consulted as the <quote>current errata</quote> for this 338 release. These other copies of the errata are located at 339 <uri xlink:href="&url.base;/releases/">&url.base;/releases/</uri> (as 340 well as any sites which keep up-to-date mirrors of this 341 location).</para> 342 </note> 343 </sect2> 344 345 <sect2> 346 <title>Manual Pages</title> 347 348 <para>As with almost all &unix; like operating systems, &os; comes 349 with a set of on-line manual pages, accessed through the 350 &man.man.1; command or through the <link xlink:href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi">hypertext manual 351 pages gateway</link> on the &os; Web site. In general, the 352 manual pages provide information on the different commands and 353 APIs available to the &os; user.</para> 354 355 <para>In some cases, manual pages are written to give 356 information on particular topics. Notable examples of such 357 manual pages are &man.tuning.7; (a guide to performance tuning), 358 &man.security.7; (an introduction to &os; security), and 359 &man.style.9; (a style guide to kernel coding).</para> 360 </sect2> 361 362 <sect2> 363 <title>Books and Articles</title> 364 365 <para>Two highly-useful collections of &os;-related information, 366 maintained by the &os; Project, 367 are the &os; Handbook and &os; FAQ (Frequently Asked 368 Questions document). On-line versions of the <link xlink:href="&url.books.handbook;/">Handbook</link> 369 and <link xlink:href="&url.books.faq;/">FAQ</link> 370 are always available from the <link xlink:href="&url.base;/docs.html">&os; Documentation 371 page</link> or its mirrors. If you install the 372 <filename>doc</filename> distribution set, you can use a Web 373 browser to read the Handbook and FAQ locally. In particular, 374 note that the Handbook contains a step-by-step guide to 375 installing &os;.</para> 376 377 <para>A number of on-line books and articles, also maintained by 378 the &os; Project, cover more-specialized, &os;-related topics. 379 This material spans a wide range of topics, from effective use 380 of the mailing lists, to dual-booting &os; with other 381 operating systems, to guidelines for new committers. Like the 382 Handbook and FAQ, these documents are available from the &os; 383 Documentation Page or in the <filename>doc</filename> 384 distribution set.</para> 385 386 <para>A listing of other books and documents about &os; can be 387 found in the <link xlink:href="&url.books.handbook;/bibliography.html">bibliography</link> 388 of the &os; Handbook. Because of &os;'s strong &unix; heritage, 389 many other articles and books written for &unix; systems are 390 applicable as well, some of which are also listed in the 391 bibliography.</para> 392 </sect2> 393 </sect1> 394 395 <sect1 xml:id="acknowledgements"> 396 <title>Acknowledgments</title> 397 398 <para>&os; represents the cumulative work of many hundreds, if not 399 thousands, of individuals from around the world who have worked 400 countless hours to bring about this &release.type;. For a 401 complete list of &os; developers and contributors, please see 402 <link xlink:href="&url.articles.contributors;/"><quote>Contributors 403 to &os;</quote></link> on the &os; Web site or any of its 404 mirrors.</para> 405 406 <para>Special thanks also go to the many thousands of &os; users 407 and testers all over the world, without whom this &release.type; 408 simply would not have been possible.</para> 409 </sect1> 410</article> 411