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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; 1082350Sbmah<!ENTITY % misc PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES DocBook Miscellaneous FreeBSD Entities//EN"> 1182350Sbmah%misc; 1276082Sbmah]> 1376082Sbmah 1476082Sbmah<article> 1582666Sbmah <articleinfo> 1682666Sbmah <title>&os; &release.current; README</title> 1781327Sbmah 1882666Sbmah <corpauthor>The &os; Project</corpauthor> 1981484Sbmah 2082666Sbmah <pubdate>$FreeBSD: head/release/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/readme/article.sgml 88959 2002-01-06 17:17:55Z bmah $</pubdate> 2181327Sbmah 2282666Sbmah <copyright> 2382666Sbmah <year>2000</year> 2482666Sbmah <year>2001</year> 2588820Sbmah <year>2002</year> 2682666Sbmah <holder role="mailto:doc@FreeBSD.org">The FreeBSD Documentation Project</holder> 2782666Sbmah </copyright> 2882666Sbmah </articleinfo> 2981327Sbmah 3082666Sbmah <abstract> 3182666Sbmah <para>This document gives a brief introduction to &os; 3288959Sbmah &release.current;. It includes some information on how to 3388959Sbmah obtain &os;, a listing of various ways to contact the &os; 3488959Sbmah Project, and pointers to some other sources of 3588959Sbmah information.</para> 3682666Sbmah </abstract> 3781327Sbmah 3882666Sbmah <sect1> 3982666Sbmah <title>Introduction</title> 4081327Sbmah 4182666Sbmah <para>This distribution is a &release.type; of &os; &release.current;, the 4282666Sbmah latest point along the &release.branch; branch.</para> 4381327Sbmah 4482666Sbmah <sect2> 4582666Sbmah <title>About &os;</title> 4681327Sbmah 4782666Sbmah <para>&os; is an operating system based on 4.4 BSD Lite for 4882666Sbmah Intel, AMD, Cyrix or NexGen <quote>x86</quote> based PC 4982666Sbmah hardware and Compaq (formerly DEC) Alpha computers. Versions 5083092Sbmah for the IA64, PowerPC, and Sparc64 architectures are currently under 5182666Sbmah development as well. &os; works with a wide variety of 5282666Sbmah peripherals and configurations and can be used for everything 5382666Sbmah from software development to games to Internet Service 5482666Sbmah Provision.</para> 5581327Sbmah 5682666Sbmah <para>This release of &os; contains everything you need to run 5782666Sbmah such a system, including full source code for the kernel and 5882666Sbmah all utilities in the base distribution. With the source 5982666Sbmah distribution installed, you can literally recompile the entire 6082666Sbmah system from scratch with one command, making it ideal for 6182666Sbmah students, researchers, or users who simply want to see how it 6282666Sbmah all works.</para> 6381327Sbmah 6482666Sbmah <para>A large collection of third-party ported software (the 6582666Sbmah <quote>Ports Collection</quote>) is also provided to make it 6682666Sbmah easy to obtain and install all your favorite traditional UNIX 6782666Sbmah utilities for &os;. Each <quote>port</quote> consists of a 6882666Sbmah set of scripts to retrieve, configure, build, and install a 6982666Sbmah piece of software, with a single command. Over &os.numports; 7082666Sbmah ports, from editors to programming languages to graphical 7182666Sbmah applications, make &os; a powerful and comprehensive operating 7282666Sbmah environment that extends far beyond what's provided by many 7382666Sbmah commercial versions of UNIX. Most ports are also available as 7482666Sbmah pre-compiled <quote>packages</quote>, which can be quickly 7582666Sbmah installed from the installation program.</para> 7682666Sbmah </sect2> 7782666Sbmah 7882666Sbmah <sect2> 7982666Sbmah <title>Target Audience</title> 8082666Sbmah 8181339Sbmah<![ %release.type.snapshot; [ 8281327Sbmah 8382666Sbmah <para>This &release.type; is aimed primarily at early adopters 8482666Sbmah and various other users who want to get involved with the 8582666Sbmah ongoing development of &os;. While the &os; development team 8682666Sbmah tries its best to ensure that each &release.type; works as 8782666Sbmah advertised, &release.branch; is very much a 8882666Sbmah work-in-progress.</para> 8981327Sbmah 9082666Sbmah <para>The basic requirements for using this &release.type are 9182666Sbmah technical proficiency with &os; and an understanding of the 9283425Sbmah ongoing development process of &os; &release.branch; (as 9382666Sbmah discussed on the &a.current;).</para> 9482666Sbmah 9582666Sbmah <para>For those more interested in doing business with &os; than 9682666Sbmah in experimenting with new &os; technology, formal releases 9782666Sbmah (such as &release.prev;) are frequently more appropriate. 9882666Sbmah Releases undergo a period of testing and quality assurance 9982666Sbmah checking to ensure high reliability and dependability.</para> 10082666Sbmah 10181339Sbmah]]> 10281339Sbmah 10381339Sbmah<![ %release.type.release; [ 10482666Sbmah 10582666Sbmah <para>This &release.type; of &os; is suitable for all users. It 10682666Sbmah has undergone a period of testing and quality assurance 10782666Sbmah checking to ensure the highest reliability and 10882666Sbmah dependability.</para> 10982666Sbmah 11081339Sbmah]]> 11181339Sbmah 11282666Sbmah </sect2> 11382666Sbmah </sect1> 11481339Sbmah 11582666Sbmah <sect1> 11682666Sbmah <title>Obtaining &os;</title> 11781327Sbmah 11882666Sbmah <para>&os; may be obtained in a variety of ways. This section 11988959Sbmah focuses on those ways that are primarily useful for obtaining a 12082666Sbmah complete &os; distribution, rather than updating an existing 12182666Sbmah installation.</para> 12281327Sbmah 12382666Sbmah <sect2> 12482666Sbmah <title>CDROM and DVD</title> 12581327Sbmah 12682666Sbmah <para>&os; -RELEASE distributions may be ordered on CDROM or DVD 12782666Sbmah from several publishers. This is frequently the most 12882666Sbmah convenient way to obtain &os; for new installations, as it 12982666Sbmah provides a convenient way to quickly reinstall the system if 13082666Sbmah necessary. Some distributions include some of the optional, 13182666Sbmah precompiled <quote>packages</quote> from the &os; Ports 13282666Sbmah Collection.</para> 13381327Sbmah 13482666Sbmah <para>A list of the CDROM and DVD publishers known to the 13582666Sbmah project are listed in the <ulink 13682666Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors.html"><quote>Obtaining 13782666Sbmah FreeBSD</quote></ulink> appendix to the Handbook.</para> 13882666Sbmah </sect2> 13981327Sbmah 14082666Sbmah <sect2> 14182666Sbmah <title>FTP</title> 14281327Sbmah 14382666Sbmah <para>You can use FTP to retrieve &os; and any or all of its 14482666Sbmah optional packages from <ulink 14582666Sbmah url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/"></ulink>, which is the official 14682666Sbmah &os; release site, or any of its 14782666Sbmah <quote>mirrors</quote>.</para> 14881327Sbmah 14982666Sbmah <para>Lists of locations that mirror &os; can be found in the 15082666Sbmah <ulink 15182666Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors-ftp.html">FTP 15282666Sbmah Sites</ulink> section of the Handbook, or on the <ulink 15382666Sbmah url="http://www.freebsdmirrors.org/"></ulink> Web pages. 15482666Sbmah Finding a close (in networking terms) mirror from which to 15582666Sbmah download the distribution is highly recommended.</para> 15681327Sbmah 15782666Sbmah <para>Additional mirror sites are always welcome. Contact 15882666Sbmah <email>freebsd-admin@FreeBSD.org</email> for more details on 15982666Sbmah becoming an official mirror site.</para> 16081327Sbmah 16182666Sbmah <para>Mirrors generally contain the floppy disk images necessary 16282666Sbmah to begin an installation, as well as the distribution files 16388959Sbmah needed for the install process itself. Many mirrors also 16488959Sbmah contain the ISO images necessary to create a CDROM of 16582666Sbmah a &os; release.</para> 16681327Sbmah 16782666Sbmah </sect2> 16882666Sbmah </sect1> 16981327Sbmah 17082666Sbmah <sect1 id="contacting"> 17182666Sbmah <title>Contacting the &os; Project</title> 17281327Sbmah 17382666Sbmah <sect2> 17482666Sbmah <title>Email and Mailing Lists</title> 17581327Sbmah 17682666Sbmah <para>For any questions or general technical support issues, 17782666Sbmah please send mail to the &a.questions;.</para> 17881327Sbmah 17983425Sbmah <para>If you're tracking the &release.branch; development efforts, you 18082666Sbmah <emphasis>must</emphasis> join the &a.current;, in order to 18182666Sbmah keep abreast of recent developments and changes that may 18282666Sbmah affect the way you use and maintain the system. 18381327Sbmah 18488959Sbmah <para>Being a largely-volunteer effort, the &os; 18588959Sbmah Project is always happy to have extra hands willing to help—there are already far more desired enhancements than 18682666Sbmah there is time to implement them. To contact the developers on 18782666Sbmah technical matters, or with offers of help, please send mail to 18882666Sbmah the &a.hackers;.</para> 18981327Sbmah 19082666Sbmah <para>Please note that these mailing lists can experience 19188959Sbmah <emphasis>significant</emphasis> amounts of traffic. If you 19288959Sbmah have slow or expensive mail access, or are only interested in 19388959Sbmah keeping up with major &os; events, you may find it 19482666Sbmah preferable to subscribe instead to the &a.announce;.</para> 19581327Sbmah 19682666Sbmah <para>All of the mailing lists can be freely joined by anyone 19782666Sbmah wishing to do so. Send mail to &a.majordomo; and include the 19882666Sbmah keyword <literal>help</literal> on a line by itself somewhere 19982666Sbmah in the body of the message. This will give you more 20082666Sbmah information on joining the various lists, accessing archives, 20182666Sbmah etc. There are a number of mailing lists targeted at special 20282666Sbmah interest groups not mentioned here; more information can be 20382666Sbmah obtained either through majordomo or the <ulink 20482666Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/support.html#mailing-list">mailing 20582666Sbmah lists section</ulink> of the &os; Web site.</para> 20681327Sbmah 20782666Sbmah <important> 20882666Sbmah <para>Do <emphasis>not</emphasis> send email to the lists 20982666Sbmah asking to be subscribed. Use the &a.majordomo; address 21082666Sbmah instead.</para> 21182666Sbmah </important> 21282666Sbmah </sect2> 21381327Sbmah 21482666Sbmah <sect2> 21582666Sbmah <title>Submitting Problem Reports</title> 21681327Sbmah 21782666Sbmah <para>Suggestions, bug reports and contributions of code are 21888959Sbmah always valued—please do not hesitate to report any 21982666Sbmah problems you may find. Bug reports with attached fixes are of 22082666Sbmah course even more welcome.</para> 22181327Sbmah 22282666Sbmah <para>The preferred method to submit bug reports from a machine 22382666Sbmah with Internet mail connectivity is to use the &man.send-pr.1; 22482666Sbmah command or use the Web form at <ulink 22582666Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/send-pr.html">http://www.FreeBSD.org/send-pr.html</ulink>. 22682666Sbmah <quote>Problem Reports</quote> (PRs) submitted in this way 22782666Sbmah will be filed and their progress tracked; the &os; developers 22882666Sbmah will do their best to respond to all reported bugs as soon as 22982666Sbmah possible. <ulink 23082666Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/query-pr-summary.cgi">A list 23182666Sbmah of all active PRs</ulink> is available on the &os; Web site; 23282666Sbmah this list is useful to see what potential problems other users 23382666Sbmah have encountered.</para> 23481327Sbmah 23582666Sbmah <para>Note that &man.send-pr.1; itself is a shell script that 23682666Sbmah should be easy to move even onto a non-&os; system. Using 23782666Sbmah this interface is highly preferred. If, for some reason, you 23882666Sbmah are unable to use &man.send-pr.1; to submit a bug report, you 23982666Sbmah can try to send it to the &a.bugs;.</para> 24081327Sbmah 24188959Sbmah <para>For more information, <ulink 24288959Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/problem-reports/"><quote>Writing 24388959Sbmah FreeBSD Problem Reports</quote></ulink>, available on the &os; Web 24488959Sbmah site, has a number of helpful hints on writing and submitting 24588959Sbmah effective problem reports.</para> 24682666Sbmah </sect2> 24782666Sbmah </sect1> 24881339Sbmah 24982666Sbmah <sect1> 25082666Sbmah <title>Further Reading</title> 25181339Sbmah 25288959Sbmah <para>There are many sources of information about &os;; some are 25388959Sbmah included with this distribution, while others are available 25488959Sbmah on-line or in print versions.</para> 25588959Sbmah 25682666Sbmah <sect2 id="release-docs"> 25782666Sbmah <title>Release Documentation</title> 25881339Sbmah 25982666Sbmah <para>A number of other files provide more specific information 26082666Sbmah about this &release.type; distribution. These files are 26182666Sbmah provided in various formats. Most distributions will include 26282666Sbmah both ASCII text (<filename>.TXT</filename>) and HTML 26382666Sbmah (<filename>.HTM</filename>) renditions. Some distributions 26482666Sbmah may also include other formats such as PostScript 26582666Sbmah (<filename>.PS</filename>) or Portable Document Format 26682666Sbmah (<filename>.PDF</filename>). 26781339Sbmah 26882666Sbmah <itemizedlist> 26982666Sbmah <listitem> 27082666Sbmah <para><filename>README.TXT</filename>: This file, which 27182666Sbmah gives some general information about &os; as well as 27282666Sbmah some cursory notes about obtaining a 27382666Sbmah distribution.</para> 27482666Sbmah </listitem> 27581339Sbmah 27682666Sbmah <listitem> 27782666Sbmah <para><filename>RELNOTES.TXT</filename>: The release 27882666Sbmah notes, showing what's new and different in &os; 27988959Sbmah &release.current; compared to the previous release (&os; 28088959Sbmah &release.prev;).</para> 28182666Sbmah </listitem> 28281339Sbmah 28382666Sbmah <listitem> 28482666Sbmah <para><filename>HARDWARE.TXT</filename>: The hardware 28586152Solgeni compatibility list, showing devices with which &os; has 28682666Sbmah been tested and is known to work.</para> 28782666Sbmah </listitem> 28881339Sbmah 28982666Sbmah <listitem> 29082666Sbmah <para><filename>INSTALL.TXT</filename>: Installation 29182666Sbmah instructions for installing &os; from its distribution 29282666Sbmah media.</para> 29382666Sbmah </listitem> 29481339Sbmah 29582666Sbmah <listitem> 29682666Sbmah <para><filename>ERRATA.TXT</filename>: Release errata. 29782666Sbmah Late-breaking, post-release information can be found in 29882666Sbmah this file, which is principally applicable to releases 29982666Sbmah (as opposed to snapshots). It is important to consult 30082666Sbmah this file before installing a release of &os;, as it 30182666Sbmah contains the latest information on problems which have 30282666Sbmah been found and fixed since the release was 30382666Sbmah created.</para> 30482666Sbmah </listitem> 30582666Sbmah </itemizedlist> 30688959Sbmah 30788959Sbmah <note> 30888959Sbmah <para>Several of these documents (in particular, 30988959Sbmah <filename>RELNOTES.TXT</filename>, 31088959Sbmah <filename>HARDWARE.TXT</filename>, and 31188959Sbmah <filename>INSTALL.TXT</filename>) contain information that 31288959Sbmah is specific to a particular hardware architecture. For 31388959Sbmah example, the alpha release notes contain information not 31488959Sbmah applicable to the i386, and vice versa. The architecture 31588959Sbmah for which each document applies will be listed in that 31688959Sbmah document's title.</para> 31788959Sbmah </note> 31888959Sbmah 31982666Sbmah </para> 32081339Sbmah 32188959Sbmah <para>These documents are generally available via the 32283425Sbmah Documentation menu during installation. Once the system is 32383425Sbmah installed, you can revisit this menu by running the 32483425Sbmah &man.sysinstall.8; utility.</para> 32581339Sbmah 32682666Sbmah <note> 32782666Sbmah <para>It is extremely important to read the errata for any 32882666Sbmah given release before installing it, to learn about any 32982666Sbmah <quote>late-breaking news</quote> or post-release problems. 33082666Sbmah The errata file accompanying each release (most likely right 33182666Sbmah next to this file) is already out of date by definition, but 33282666Sbmah other copies are kept updated on the Internet and should be 33382666Sbmah consulted as the <quote>current errata</quote> for this 33482666Sbmah release. These other copies of the errata are located at 33582666Sbmah <ulink url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/"></ulink> (as 33682666Sbmah well as any sites which keep up-to-date mirrors of this 33782666Sbmah location).</para> 33882666Sbmah </note> 33982666Sbmah </sect2> 34083425Sbmah 34183425Sbmah <sect2> 34288959Sbmah <title>Manual Pages</title> 34388959Sbmah 34488959Sbmah <para>As with almost all UNIX-like operating systems, &os; comes 34588959Sbmah with a set of on-line manual pages, accessed through the 34688959Sbmah &man.man.1; command or through the <ulink 34788959Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi">hypertext manual 34888959Sbmah pages gateway</ulink> on the &os; Web site. In general, the 34988959Sbmah manual pages provide information on the different commands and 35088959Sbmah APIs available to the &os; user.</para> 35188959Sbmah 35288959Sbmah <para>In some cases, manual pages are written to given 35388959Sbmah information on particular topics. Notable examples of such 35488959Sbmah manual pages are &man.tuning.7; (a guide to performance tuning), 35588959Sbmah &man.security.7; (an introduction to &os; security), and 35688959Sbmah &man.style.9; (a style guide to kernel coding).</para> 35788959Sbmah </sect2> 35888959Sbmah 35988959Sbmah <sect2> 36083425Sbmah <title>Books and Articles</title> 36183425Sbmah 36283425Sbmah <para>Two highly-useful collections of &os;-related information, 36383425Sbmah maintained by the &os; Project, 36483425Sbmah are the &os; Handbook and &os; FAQ (Frequently Asked 36583425Sbmah Questions document). On-line versions of the <ulink 36683425Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/">Handbook</ulink> 36783425Sbmah and <ulink 36883425Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/">FAQ</ulink> 36983425Sbmah are always available from the <ulink 37083425Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/docs.html">FreeBSD Documentation 37183425Sbmah page</ulink> or its mirrors. If you install the 37283425Sbmah <filename>doc</filename> distribution set, you can use a Web 37383425Sbmah browser to read the Handbook and FAQ locally.</para> 37483425Sbmah 37584484Sbmah <para>A number of on-line books and articles, also maintained by 37684484Sbmah the &os; Project, cover more-specialized, &os;-related topics. 37784484Sbmah This material spans a wide range of topics, from effective use 37884484Sbmah of the mailing lists, to dual-booting &os; with other 37984484Sbmah operating systems, to guidelines for new committers. Like the 38084484Sbmah Handbook and FAQ, these documents are available from the &os; 38184484Sbmah Documentation Page or in the <filename>doc</filename> 38284484Sbmah distribution set.</para> 38384484Sbmah 38484484Sbmah <para>A listing of other books and documents about &os; can be 38583425Sbmah found in the <ulink 38683425Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/bibliography.html">bibliography</ulink> 38783425Sbmah of the &os; Handbook. Because of &os;'s strong UNIX heritage, 38883425Sbmah many other articles and books written for UNIX systems are 38983425Sbmah applicable as well, some of which are also listed in the 39083425Sbmah bibliography.</para> 39183425Sbmah </sect2> 39282666Sbmah </sect1> 39381327Sbmah 39482666Sbmah <sect1> 39582666Sbmah <title>Acknowledgments</title> 39681327Sbmah 39782666Sbmah <para>&os; represents the cumulative work of many hundreds, if not 39882666Sbmah thousands, of individuals from around the world who have worked 39982666Sbmah countless hours to bring about this &release.type;. For a 40082666Sbmah complete list of &os; developers and contributors, please see 40182666Sbmah <ulink 40288959Sbmah url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/contributors/"><quote>Contributors 40388959Sbmah to FreeBSD</quote></ulink> on the &os; Web site or any of its 40482666Sbmah mirrors.</para> 40581327Sbmah 40682666Sbmah <para>Special thanks also go to the many thousands of &os; users 40782666Sbmah and testers all over the world, without whom this &release.type; 40882666Sbmah simply would not have been possible.</para> 40982666Sbmah </sect1> 41076082Sbmah</article> 41182666Sbmah 41282666Sbmah<!-- 41382666Sbmah Local Variables: 41482666Sbmah mode: sgml 41582666Sbmah sgml-indent-data: t 41682666Sbmah sgml-omittag: nil 41782666Sbmah sgml-always-quote-attributes: t 41882666Sbmah End: 41982666Sbmah--> 420