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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; 876082Sbmah<!ENTITY % release PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES Release Specification//EN"> 976082Sbmah%release; 1076082Sbmah]> 1176082Sbmah 1276082Sbmah<article> 1381327Sbmah<articleinfo> 1481327Sbmah <title>&os; &release.current; README</title> 1581327Sbmah 1681327Sbmah <corpauthor>The &os; Project</corpauthor> 1781484Sbmah 1881327Sbmah <pubdate>$FreeBSD: head/release/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/readme/article.sgml 81484 2001-08-10 21:18:35Z bmah $</pubdate> 1981327Sbmah 2081327Sbmah <copyright> 2181327Sbmah <year>2000</year> 2281327Sbmah <year>2001</year> 2381327Sbmah <holder role="mailto:doc@FreeBSD.org">The FreeBSD Documentation Project</holder> 2481327Sbmah </copyright> 2581327Sbmah</articleinfo> 2681327Sbmah<abstract> 2781327Sbmah <para>This document gives a brief introduction to &os; 2881327Sbmah &release.current;. It includes a roadmap to the other release 2981327Sbmah documentation files, as well as some pointers on obtaining &os; and 3081327Sbmah contacting the &os; development team.</para> 3181327Sbmah</abstract> 3281327Sbmah<sect1> 3381327Sbmah <title>Introduction</title> 3481327Sbmah 3581327Sbmah <para>This distribution is a &release.type; of &os; &release.current;, the 3681327Sbmah latest point along the &release.branch; branch.</para> 3781327Sbmah 3881327Sbmah <sect2> 3981327Sbmah <title>About &os;</title> 4081327Sbmah 4181327Sbmah <para>&os; is an operating system based on 4.4 BSD 4281327Sbmah Lite for Intel, AMD, Cyrix or NexGen <quote>x86</quote> based PC 4381327Sbmah hardware and Compaq (formerly DEC) Alpha computers. Versions for 4481327Sbmah the IA64 and PowerPC architectures are currently under 4581327Sbmah development as well. &os; works with a 4681327Sbmah wide variety of peripherals and configurations and can be 4781327Sbmah used for everything from software development to games to Internet Service 4881327Sbmah Provision.</para> 4981327Sbmah 5081327Sbmah <para>This release of &os; contains everything you need to run 5181327Sbmah such a system, including full source code for the kernel and all 5281327Sbmah utilities in the base distribution. With the 5381327Sbmah source distribution installed, you can literally recompile the entire 5481327Sbmah system from scratch with one command, making it ideal for students, 5581327Sbmah researchers, or users who simply want to see how it all works.</para> 5681327Sbmah 5781327Sbmah <para>A large collection of third-party ported software (the 5881327Sbmah <quote>Ports Collection</quote>) is also provided to make it easy 5981327Sbmah to obtain and install all your favorite traditional UNIX 6081327Sbmah utilities for &os;. Each 6181327Sbmah <quote>port</quote> consists of a set of scripts to retrieve, 6281327Sbmah configure, build, and install a piece of software, with a single 6381327Sbmah command. Over 5000 ports, from editors to programming 6481327Sbmah languages to graphical applications, make &os; a powerful and 6581327Sbmah comprehensive operating environment that extends far beyond what's 6681327Sbmah provided by many commercial versions of UNIX. Most ports are also 6781327Sbmah available as pre-compiled <quote>packages</quote>, which can be 6881327Sbmah quickly installed from the installation program.</para> 6981339Sbmah </sect2> 7081327Sbmah 7181339Sbmah <sect2> 7281339Sbmah <title>Target Audience</title> 7381327Sbmah 7481339Sbmah<![ %release.type.snapshot; [ 7581339Sbmah <para>This &release.type; is aimed primarily at early adopters and 7681339Sbmah various other users who want to get involved with the ongoing 7781339Sbmah development of &os;. While the &os; development team tries its 7881339Sbmah best to ensure that each &release.type; works as 7981339Sbmah advertised, &release.branch; is very much a work-in-progress.</para> 8081327Sbmah 8181339Sbmah <para>The basic requirements for using this &release.type are 8281339Sbmah technical proficiency with &os; and an understanding of the ongoing 8381339Sbmah development process of &os; &release.current; 8481339Sbmah (as discussed on the &a.current;).</para> 8581327Sbmah 8681339Sbmah <para>For those more interested 8781339Sbmah in doing business with &os; than in experimenting with new &os; 8881339Sbmah technology, formal releases (such as &release.prev;) are frequently more 8981339Sbmah appropriate. Releases undergo a period of testing and quality 9081339Sbmah assurance checking to ensure high reliability and dependability.</para> 9181339Sbmah]]> 9281339Sbmah 9381339Sbmah<![ %release.type.release; [ 9481339Sbmah <para>This &release.type; of &os; is suitable for all users. It has 9581339Sbmah undergone a period of testing and quality assurance 9681339Sbmah checking to ensure the highest reliability and dependability.</para> 9781339Sbmah]]> 9881339Sbmah 9981339Sbmah </sect2> 10081484Sbmah</sect1> 10181339Sbmah 10281327Sbmah<sect1> 10381327Sbmah <title>Obtaining &os;</title> 10481327Sbmah 10581327Sbmah <para>&os; may be obtained in a variety of ways. This section 10681327Sbmah focuses on those ways that are primarily of use for obtaining a 10781327Sbmah complete &os; distribution, rather than updating an existing 10881327Sbmah installation.</para> 10981327Sbmah 11081327Sbmah <sect2> 11181327Sbmah <title>CDROM and DVD</title> 11281327Sbmah 11381327Sbmah <para>&os; -RELEASE distributions (for example, 4.3-RELEASE) may 11481327Sbmah be ordered on CDROM or DVD from several publishers. This is 11581327Sbmah frequently the most convenient way to obtain &os; for new 11681327Sbmah installations, as it provides a convenient way to quickly 11781327Sbmah reinstall the system if necessary. Some distributions include 11881327Sbmah some of the optional, precompiled <quote>packages</quote> from the 11981327Sbmah &os; Ports Collection.</para> 12081327Sbmah 12181327Sbmah <para>A list of the CDROM and DVD 12281327Sbmah publishers known to the project are listed in the <ulink 12381327Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors.html"><quote>Obtaining 12481327Sbmah FreeBSD</quote></ulink> appendix to the Handbook.</para> 12581327Sbmah </sect2> 12681327Sbmah 12781327Sbmah <sect2> 12881327Sbmah <title>FTP</title> 12981327Sbmah 13081327Sbmah <para>You can use FTP to retrieve &os; and any or all of its 13181327Sbmah optional packages from <ulink 13281327Sbmah url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/"></ulink>, which 13381327Sbmah is the 13481327Sbmah official &os; release site, or any of its <quote>mirrors</quote>.</para> 13581327Sbmah 13681327Sbmah <para>Lists of locations that mirror &os; 13781327Sbmah can be found in the <ulink 13881327Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors-ftp.html">FTP 13981327Sbmah Sites</ulink> section of the Handbook, or on the 14081327Sbmah <ulink url="http://www.freebsdmirrors.org/"></ulink> Web pages. 14181327Sbmah Finding a close (in networking terms) mirror from which to 14281327Sbmah download the distribution is highly recommended.</para> 14381327Sbmah 14481327Sbmah <para>Additional mirror sites are 14581327Sbmah always welcome. 14681327Sbmah Contact <email>freebsd-admin@FreeBSD.org</email> for more 14781327Sbmah details on becoming an official mirror site.</para> 14881327Sbmah 14981327Sbmah <para>Mirrors generally contain the floppy disk images necessary 15081327Sbmah to begin an installation, as well as the distribution files needed 15181327Sbmah for the install process itself. Some mirrors also contain some of 15281327Sbmah the ISO images necessary to create a CDROM of a &os; release.</para> 15381327Sbmah 15481327Sbmah </sect2> 15581327Sbmah</sect1> 15681327Sbmah<sect1 id="contacting"> 15781327Sbmah <title>Contacting the &os; Project</title> 15881327Sbmah 15981327Sbmah <sect2> 16081327Sbmah <title>Email and Mailing Lists</title> 16181327Sbmah <para>For any questions or general technical support issues, please send 16281327Sbmah mail to the &a.questions;.</para> 16381327Sbmah 16481327Sbmah <para>If you're tracking the -current development efforts, you 16581327Sbmah <emphasis>must</emphasis> join the &a.current;, in order to keep 16681327Sbmah abreast of recent developments and changes that may affect the way 16781327Sbmah you use and maintain the system. 16881327Sbmah 16981327Sbmah <para>Additionally, being a largely-volunteer effort, the &os; 17081327Sbmah Project is always happy to 17181327Sbmah have extra hands willing to help — there are already far more 17281327Sbmah desired enhancements than there is time to implement them. 17381327Sbmah To contact the developers on technical matters, or with offers of help, please 17481327Sbmah send mail to the &a.hackers;.</para> 17581327Sbmah 17681327Sbmah <para>Please note that these mailing lists can experience 17781327Sbmah <emphasis>significant</emphasis> amounts of traffic and if you have 17881327Sbmah slow or expensive mail access and are only interested in keeping up 17981327Sbmah with significant &os; events, you may find it preferable to 18081327Sbmah subscribe instead to the &a.announce;.</para> 18181327Sbmah 18281327Sbmah <para>All of the mailing lists can be freely joined by anyone 18381327Sbmah wishing to do so. Send mail to &a.majordomo; 18481327Sbmah and include the keyword <literal>help</literal> on a line by itself 18581327Sbmah somewhere in the body of the message. This will give you more 18681327Sbmah information on joining the various lists, accessing archives, etc. 18781327Sbmah There are a number of mailing lists targeted at special interest 18881327Sbmah groups not mentioned here; more information can be obtained either 18981327Sbmah through majordomo or the <ulink 19081327Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/support.html#mailing-list">mailing lists 19181327Sbmah section</ulink> of the &os; Web site.</para> 19281327Sbmah 19381327Sbmah <important> 19481327Sbmah <para>Do <emphasis>not</emphasis> send email to the lists asking to 19581327Sbmah be subscribed. Use the &a.majordomo; address 19681327Sbmah instead.</para> 19781327Sbmah </important> 19881327Sbmah </sect2> 19981327Sbmah 20081327Sbmah <sect2> 20181327Sbmah <title>Submitting Problem Reports</title> 20281327Sbmah 20381327Sbmah <para>Suggestions, bug reports and contributions of code are 20481327Sbmah always valued — please do not hesitate to report any problems you 20581327Sbmah may find. Bug reports with attached fixes are of course even more 20681327Sbmah welcome.</para> 20781327Sbmah 20881327Sbmah <para>The preferred method to submit bug reports from a machine with 20981327Sbmah Internet mail connectivity is to use the &man.send-pr.1; command or 21081327Sbmah use the Web form at <ulink 21181327Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/send-pr.html">http://www.FreeBSD.org/send-pr.html</ulink>. 21281327Sbmah <quote>Problem Reports</quote> (PRs) submitted in this way will be filed and 21381327Sbmah their progress tracked; the &os; developers will do their best to respond to all 21481327Sbmah reported bugs as soon as possible. <ulink url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/query-pr-summary.cgi">A list of all active PRs</ulink> is 21581327Sbmah available on the &os; Web site; this list is useful to see what 21681327Sbmah potential problems other users have encountered.</para> 21781327Sbmah 21881327Sbmah <para>Note that &man.send-pr.1; itself is a shell script that should 21981327Sbmah be easy to move even onto a non-&os; system. Using this interface 22081327Sbmah is highly preferred. 22181327Sbmah If, for some reason, you are unable to use &man.send-pr.1; to 22281327Sbmah submit a bug report, you can try to send it to the &a.bugs;.</para> 22381327Sbmah 22481327Sbmah <para>In any case, before submitting a PR, 22581327Sbmah please try to determine whether the problem might have already been 22681327Sbmah fixed since.</para> 22781327Sbmah 22881327Sbmah </sect2> 22981327Sbmah 23081327Sbmah</sect1> 23181339Sbmah 23281327Sbmah<sect1> 23381339Sbmah <title>Further Reading</title> 23481339Sbmah 23581339Sbmah <sect2 id="release-docs"> 23681339Sbmah <title>Release Documentation</title> 23781339Sbmah 23881339Sbmah <para>A number of other files provide more specific information 23981339Sbmah about this &release.type; distribution. These files are provided 24081339Sbmah in various formats. Most distributions will include both ASCII 24181339Sbmah text (<filename>.TXT</filename>) and HTML 24281339Sbmah (<filename>.HTM</filename>) renditions. Some distributions may 24381339Sbmah also include other formats such as PostScript 24481339Sbmah (<filename>.PS</filename>) or Portable Document Format 24581339Sbmah (<filename>.PDF</filename>). 24681339Sbmah 24781339Sbmah <itemizedlist> 24881339Sbmah <listitem> 24981339Sbmah <para><filename>README.TXT</filename>: This file, which 25081339Sbmah gives some general information about &os; as well as some 25181339Sbmah cursory notes about obtaining a distribution.</para> 25281339Sbmah </listitem> 25381339Sbmah <listitem> 25481339Sbmah <para><filename>RELNOTES.TXT</filename>: The release notes, 25581339Sbmah showing what's new and different in &os; &release.current; 25681339Sbmah compared to &os; &release.prev;.</para> 25781339Sbmah </listitem> 25881339Sbmah <listitem> 25981339Sbmah <para><filename>HARDWARE.TXT</filename>: The hardware 26081339Sbmah compatability list, showing devices with which &os; has been 26181339Sbmah tested and is known to work.</para> 26281339Sbmah </listitem> 26381339Sbmah <listitem> 26481339Sbmah <para><filename>INSTALL.TXT</filename>: Installation 26581339Sbmah instructions for installing &os; from its distribution 26681339Sbmah media.</para> 26781339Sbmah </listitem> 26881339Sbmah <listitem> 26981339Sbmah <para><filename>ERRATA.TXT</filename>: Release errata. 27081339Sbmah Late-breaking, post-release information can be found in this 27181339Sbmah file, which is principally applicable to releases (as opposed to 27281339Sbmah snapshots). It is important to consult this file before 27381339Sbmah installing a release of &os;, as it contains 27481339Sbmah the latest information on problems which have been found and 27581339Sbmah fixed since the release was created.</para> 27681339Sbmah </listitem> 27781339Sbmah </itemizedlist> 27881339Sbmah 27981339Sbmah </para> 28081339Sbmah 28181339Sbmah <para>Most information is also available from the 28281339Sbmah Documentation menu during installation.</para> 28381339Sbmah 28481339Sbmah </sect2> 28581339Sbmah 28681339Sbmah <sect2> 28781339Sbmah 28881339Sbmah <title>Books and Articles</title> 28981339Sbmah 29081339Sbmah <para>Pointers to more documentation on &os; can be found in the 29181339Sbmah <ulink 29281339Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/bibliography.html#BIBLIOGRAPHY-FREEBSD">Books 29381339Sbmah & Magazines Specific to FreeBSD</ulink> section of the &os; Handbook. 29481339Sbmah Because of &os;'s strong UNIX heritage, many other articles and books written 29581339Sbmah for UNIX systems are applicable as well. A selection of these documents 29681339Sbmah can be found in the Handbook's <ulink 29781339Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/bibliography.html">Bibliography</ulink>. 29881339Sbmah </para> 29981339Sbmah 30081339Sbmah <para>If you're new to &os; then you should also read 30181339Sbmah all of the documentation files listed in <xref linkend="release-docs">, 30281339Sbmah all of which are available from the Documentation menu in the 30381339Sbmah installation program. 30481339Sbmah It may seem 30581339Sbmah like a lot to read, but it's important to at least acquaint yourself with 30681339Sbmah the types of information available, should you run into problems later. Once 30781339Sbmah the system is installed, you can also revisit this menu by running 30881339Sbmah the &man.sysinstall.8; utility.</para> 30981339Sbmah 31081339Sbmah <para>On-line 31181339Sbmah versions of the <ulink 31281339Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/">FAQ</ulink> 31381339Sbmah (Frequently Asked Questions document) and <ulink 31481339Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/">Handbook</ulink> are always 31581339Sbmah available from the <ulink 31681339Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/docs.html">FreeBSD Documentation 31781339Sbmah page</ulink> or its mirrors. 31881339Sbmah If you install the 31981339Sbmah <filename>doc</filename> distribution set, you can use a 32081339Sbmah Web browser to read the FAQ and Handbook locally.</para> 32181339Sbmah 32281339Sbmah <note> 32381339Sbmah <para>It is extremely important to read the errata for any given 32481339Sbmah release before installing it, to learn about any 32581339Sbmah <quote>late-breaking news</quote> or post-release problems. 32681339Sbmah The 32781339Sbmah errata file accompanying each release 32881339Sbmah (most likely right next to this file) is already out of 32981339Sbmah date by definition, but other copies are kept updated on the Internet 33081339Sbmah and should be consulted as the <quote>current errata</quote> for 33181339Sbmah this release. These 33281339Sbmah other copies of the errata are located at 33381339Sbmah <ulink url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/"></ulink> 33481339Sbmah (as well as any sites which keep up-to-date mirrors of this 33581339Sbmah location).</para> 33681339Sbmah </note> 33781339Sbmah </sect2> 33881339Sbmah</sect1> 33981339Sbmah 34081339Sbmah<sect1> 34181327Sbmah <title>Acknowledgments</title> 34281327Sbmah 34381327Sbmah <para>&os; represents the cumulative work of many hundreds, if not 34481327Sbmah thousands, of individuals from around the world who have worked 34581327Sbmah countless hours to bring about this &release.type;. 34681327Sbmah For a complete list of &os; developers and contributors, please see 34781327Sbmah <ulink 34881327Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/contributors/">Contributors 34981327Sbmah to FreeBSD</ulink> on the &os; Web site or any of its mirrors.</para> 35081327Sbmah 35181327Sbmah <para>Special thanks also go to the many thousands of &os; users and 35281327Sbmah testers all over the world, without whom this &release.type; simply would 35381327Sbmah not have been possible.</para> 35481327Sbmah 35581327Sbmah</sect1> 35676082Sbmah</article> 357