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: releng/11.0/release/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/readme/article.xml 305992 2016-09-19 18:40:54Z gjb $</pubdate> 22 23 <copyright> 24 <year>2016</year> 25 <holder role="mailto:doc@FreeBSD.org">The &os; Documentation Project</holder> 26 </copyright> 27 28 <legalnotice xml:id="trademarks" role="trademarks"> 29 &tm-attrib.freebsd; 30 &tm-attrib.intel; 31 &tm-attrib.opengroup; 32 &tm-attrib.sparc; 33 &tm-attrib.general; 34 </legalnotice> 35 36 <abstract> 37 <para>This document gives a brief introduction to &os; 38 &release.current;. It includes some information on how to 39 obtain &os;, a listing of various ways to contact the &os; 40 Project, and pointers to some other sources of 41 information.</para> 42 </abstract> 43 </info> 44 45 <sect1 xml:id="intro"> 46 <title>Introduction</title> 47 48 <para>This distribution is a &release.type; of &os; &release.current;, the 49 latest point along the &release.branch; branch.</para> 50 51 <sect2> 52 <title>About &os;</title> 53 54 <para>&os; is an operating system based on 4.4 BSD Lite for 55 AMD64 and Intel EM64T based PC hardware (&arch.amd64;), 56 Intel, AMD, Cyrix or NexGen <quote>x86</quote> based PC hardware (&arch.i386;), 57 NEC PC-9801/9821 series PCs and compatibles (&arch.pc98;), 58 and &ultrasparc; machines (&arch.sparc64;). Versions 59 for the &arm; (&arch.arm;), &mips; (&arch.mips;), and 60 &powerpc; (&arch.powerpc;) architectures are currently under 61 development as well. &os; works with a wide variety of 62 peripherals and configurations and can be used for everything 63 from software development to games to Internet Service 64 Provision.</para> 65 66 <para>This release of &os; contains everything you need to run 67 such a system, including full source code for the kernel and 68 all utilities in the base distribution. With the source 69 distribution installed, you can literally recompile the entire 70 system from scratch with one command, making it ideal for 71 students, researchers, or users who simply want to see how it 72 all works.</para> 73 74 <para>A large collection of third-party ported software (the 75 <quote>Ports Collection</quote>) is also provided to make it 76 easy to obtain and install all your favorite traditional &unix; 77 utilities for &os;. Each <quote>port</quote> consists of a 78 set of scripts to retrieve, configure, build, and install a 79 piece of software, with a single command. Over &os.numports; 80 ports, from editors to programming languages to graphical 81 applications, make &os; a powerful and comprehensive operating 82 environment that extends far beyond what's provided by many 83 commercial versions of &unix;. Most ports are also available as 84 pre-compiled <quote>packages</quote>, which can be quickly 85 installed from the installation program.</para> 86 </sect2> 87 88 <sect2> 89 <title>Target Audience</title> 90 91 <para releasetype="current">This &release.type; is aimed primarily at early adopters 92 and various other users who want to get involved with the 93 ongoing development of &os;. While the &os; development team 94 tries its best to ensure that each &release.type; works as 95 advertised, &release.branch; is very much a 96 work-in-progress.</para> 97 98 <para releasetype="current">The basic requirements for using this &release.type; are 99 technical proficiency with &os; and an understanding of the 100 ongoing development process of &os; &release.branch; (as 101 discussed on the &a.current;).</para> 102 103 <para releasetype="current">For those more interested in doing business with &os; than 104 in experimenting with new &os; technology, formal releases 105 (such as &release.prev.stable;) are frequently more appropriate. 106 Releases undergo a period of testing and quality assurance 107 checking to ensure high reliability and dependability.</para> 108 109 <para releasetype="snapshot">This &release.type; is aimed primarily at early adopters 110 and various other users who want to get involved with the 111 ongoing development of &os;. While the &os; development team 112 tries its best to ensure that each &release.type; works as 113 advertised, &release.branch; is very much a 114 work-in-progress.</para> 115 116 <para releasetype="snapshot">The basic requirements for using this &release.type; are 117 technical proficiency with &os; and an understanding of the 118 ongoing development process of &os; &release.branch; (as 119 discussed on the &a.current;).</para> 120 121 <para releasetype="snapshot">For those more interested in doing business with &os; than 122 in experimenting with new &os; technology, formal releases 123 (such as &release.prev.stable;) are frequently more appropriate. 124 Releases undergo a period of testing and quality assurance 125 checking to ensure high reliability and dependability.</para> 126 127 <para releasetype="release">This &release.type; of &os; is suitable for all users. It 128 has undergone a period of testing and quality assurance 129 checking to ensure the highest reliability and 130 dependability.</para> 131 </sect2> 132 </sect1> 133 134 <sect1 xml:id="obtain"> 135 <title>Obtaining &os;</title> 136 137 <para>&os; may be obtained in a variety of ways. This section 138 focuses on those ways that are primarily useful for obtaining a 139 complete &os; distribution, rather than updating an existing 140 installation.</para> 141 142 <sect2> 143 <title>CDROM and DVD</title> 144 145 <para>&os; -RELEASE distributions may be ordered on CDROM or DVD 146 from several publishers. This is frequently the most 147 convenient way to obtain &os; for new installations, as it 148 provides a convenient way to quickly reinstall the system if 149 necessary. Some distributions include some of the optional, 150 precompiled <quote>packages</quote> from the &os; Ports 151 Collection, or other extra material.</para> 152 153 <para>A list of the CDROM and DVD publishers known to the 154 project are listed in the <link xlink:href="&url.books.handbook;/mirrors.html"><quote>Obtaining 155 &os;</quote></link> appendix to the Handbook.</para> 156 </sect2> 157 158 <sect2> 159 <title>FTP</title> 160 161 <para>You can use FTP to retrieve &os; and any or all of its 162 optional packages from <uri xlink:href="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/">ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/</uri>, which is the official 163 &os; release site, or any of its 164 <quote>mirrors</quote>.</para> 165 166 <para>Lists of locations that mirror &os; can be found in the 167 <link xlink:href="&url.books.handbook;/mirrors-ftp.html">FTP 168 Sites</link> section of the Handbook. 169 Finding a close (in networking terms) mirror from which to 170 download the distribution is highly recommended.</para> 171 172 <para>Additional mirror sites are always welcome. Contact 173 <email>freebsd-admin@FreeBSD.org</email> for more details on 174 becoming an official mirror site. You can also find useful 175 information for mirror sites at the <link xlink:href="&url.articles.hubs;/">Mirroring 176 &os;</link> article.</para> 177 178 <para>Mirrors generally contain the ISO images generally used to 179 create a CDROM of a &os; release. They usually also contain 180 floppy disk images (for applicable platforms), as well as the 181 files necessary to do an installation over the network. 182 Finally mirrors sites usually contain a set of packages for 183 the most current release.</para> 184 </sect2> 185 </sect1> 186 187 <sect1 xml:id="contacting"> 188 <title>Contacting the &os; Project</title> 189 190 <sect2> 191 <title>Email and Mailing Lists</title> 192 193 <para>For any questions or general technical support issues, 194 please send mail to the &a.questions;.</para> 195 196 <para>If you're tracking the &release.branch; development efforts, you 197 <emphasis>must</emphasis> join the &a.current;, in order to 198 keep abreast of recent developments and changes that may 199 affect the way you use and maintain the system.</para> 200 201 <para>Being a largely-volunteer effort, the &os; 202 Project is always happy to have extra hands willing to help—there are already far more desired enhancements than 203 there is time to implement them. To contact the developers on 204 technical matters, or with offers of help, please send mail to 205 the &a.hackers;.</para> 206 207 <para>Please note that these mailing lists can experience 208 <emphasis>significant</emphasis> amounts of traffic. If you 209 have slow or expensive mail access, or are only interested in 210 keeping up with major &os; events, you may find it 211 preferable to subscribe instead to the &a.announce;.</para> 212 213 <para>All of the mailing lists can be freely joined by anyone 214 wishing to do so. Visit the <link xlink:href="&url.base;/mailman/listinfo"> 215 &os; Mailman Info Page</link>. This will give you more 216 information on joining the various lists, accessing archives, 217 etc. There are a number of mailing lists targeted at special 218 interest groups not mentioned here; more information can be 219 obtained either from the Mailman pages or the <link xlink:href="&url.base;/support.html#mailing-list">mailing 220 lists section</link> of the &os; Web site.</para> 221 222 <important> 223 <para>Do <emphasis>not</emphasis> send email to the lists 224 asking to be subscribed. Use the Mailman interface 225 instead.</para> 226 </important> 227 </sect2> 228 229 <sect2> 230 <title>Submitting Problem Reports</title> 231 232 <para>Suggestions, bug reports and contributions of code are 233 always valued—please do not hesitate to report any 234 problems you may find. Bug reports with attached fixes are of 235 course even more welcome.</para> 236 237 <para>The preferred method to submit bug reports from a machine 238 with Internet connectivity is to use the 239 <application>Bugzilla</application> bug tracker. 240 <quote>Problem Reports</quote> (PRs) submitted in this way 241 will be filed and their progress tracked; the &os; developers 242 will do their best to respond to all reported bugs as soon as 243 possible. <link 244 xlink:href="https://bugs.FreeBSD.org/search/">A list of all 245 active PRs</link> is available on the &os; Web site; this 246 list is useful to see what potential problems other users have 247 encountered.</para> 248 249 <para>Note that &man.send-pr.1; is deprecated.</para> 250 251 <para>For more information, <link 252 xlink:href="&url.articles.problem-reports;/"><quote>Writing 253 &os; Problem Reports</quote></link>, available on the &os; 254 Web site, has a number of helpful hints on writing and 255 submitting effective problem reports.</para> 256 </sect2> 257 </sect1> 258 259 <sect1 xml:id="seealso"> 260 <title>Further Reading</title> 261 262 <para>There are many sources of information about &os;; some are 263 included with this distribution, while others are available 264 on-line or in print versions.</para> 265 266 <sect2 xml:id="release-docs"> 267 <title>Release Documentation</title> 268 269 <para>A number of other files provide more specific information 270 about this &release.type; distribution. These files are 271 provided in various formats. Most distributions will include 272 both ASCII text (<filename>.TXT</filename>) and HTML 273 (<filename>.HTM</filename>) renditions. Some distributions 274 may also include other formats such as Portable Document Format 275 (<filename>.PDF</filename>). 276 277 <itemizedlist> 278 <listitem> 279 <para><filename>README.TXT</filename>: This file, which 280 gives some general information about &os; as well as 281 some cursory notes about obtaining a 282 distribution.</para> 283 </listitem> 284 285 <listitem> 286 <para><filename>RELNOTES.TXT</filename>: The release 287 notes, showing what's new and different in &os; 288 &release.current; compared to the previous release (&os; 289 &release.prev;).</para> 290 </listitem> 291 292 <listitem> 293 <para><filename>HARDWARE.TXT</filename>: The hardware 294 compatibility list, showing devices with which &os; has 295 been tested and is known to work.</para> 296 </listitem> 297 298 <listitem> 299 <para><filename>ERRATA.TXT</filename>: Release errata. 300 Late-breaking, post-release information can be found in 301 this file, which is principally applicable to releases 302 (as opposed to snapshots). It is important to consult 303 this file before installing a release of &os;, as it 304 contains the latest information on problems which have 305 been found and fixed since the release was 306 created.</para> 307 </listitem> 308 </itemizedlist> 309 </para> 310 311 <para>On platforms that support &man.bsdinstall.8; (currently 312 &arch.amd64;, &arch.i386;, &arch.pc98;, and &arch.sparc64;), these documents are generally available via the 313 Documentation menu during installation. Once the system is 314 installed, you can revisit this menu by re-running the 315 &man.bsdinstall.8; utility.</para> 316 317 <note> 318 <para>It is extremely important to read the errata for any 319 given release before installing it, to learn about any 320 <quote>late-breaking news</quote> or post-release problems. 321 The errata file accompanying each release (most likely right 322 next to this file) is already out of date by definition, but 323 other copies are kept updated on the Internet and should be 324 consulted as the <quote>current errata</quote> for this 325 release. These other copies of the errata are located at 326 the <uri 327 xlink:href="&url.base;/releases/">&os; &release.current; 328 page</uri> (as well as any sites which keep up-to-date 329 mirrors of this 330 location).</para> 331 </note> 332 </sect2> 333 334 <sect2> 335 <title>Manual Pages</title> 336 337 <para>As with almost all &unix; like operating systems, &os; comes 338 with a set of on-line manual pages, accessed through the 339 &man.man.1; command or through the <link xlink:href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi">hypertext manual 340 pages gateway</link> on the &os; Web site. In general, the 341 manual pages provide information on the different commands and 342 APIs available to the &os; user.</para> 343 344 <para>In some cases, manual pages are written to give 345 information on particular topics. Notable examples of such 346 manual pages are &man.tuning.7; (a guide to performance tuning), 347 &man.security.7; (an introduction to &os; security), and 348 &man.style.9; (a style guide to kernel coding).</para> 349 </sect2> 350 351 <sect2> 352 <title>Books and Articles</title> 353 354 <para>Two highly-useful collections of &os;-related information, 355 maintained by the &os; Project, 356 are the &os; Handbook and &os; FAQ (Frequently Asked 357 Questions document). On-line versions of the <link xlink:href="&url.books.handbook;/">Handbook</link> 358 and <link xlink:href="&url.books.faq;/">FAQ</link> 359 are always available from the <link xlink:href="&url.base;/docs.html">&os; Documentation 360 page</link> or its mirrors. If you install the 361 <filename>doc</filename> distribution set, you can use a Web 362 browser to read the Handbook and FAQ locally. In particular, 363 note that the Handbook contains a step-by-step guide to 364 installing &os;.</para> 365 366 <para>A number of on-line books and articles, also maintained by 367 the &os; Project, cover more-specialized, &os;-related topics. 368 This material spans a wide range of topics, from effective use 369 of the mailing lists, to dual-booting &os; with other 370 operating systems, to guidelines for new committers. Like the 371 Handbook and FAQ, these documents are available from the &os; 372 Documentation Page or in the <filename>doc</filename> 373 distribution set.</para> 374 375 <para>A listing of other books and documents about &os; can be 376 found in the <link xlink:href="&url.books.handbook;/bibliography.html">bibliography</link> 377 of the &os; Handbook. Because of &os;'s strong &unix; heritage, 378 many other articles and books written for &unix; systems are 379 applicable as well, some of which are also listed in the 380 bibliography.</para> 381 </sect2> 382 </sect1> 383 384 <sect1 xml:id="acknowledgements"> 385 <title>Acknowledgments</title> 386 387 <para>&os; represents the cumulative work of many hundreds, if not 388 thousands, of individuals from around the world who have worked 389 countless hours to bring about this &release.type;. For a 390 complete list of &os; developers and contributors, please see 391 <link xlink:href="&url.articles.contributors;/"><quote>Contributors 392 to &os;</quote></link> on the &os; Web site or any of its 393 mirrors.</para> 394 395 <para>Special thanks also go to the many thousands of &os; users 396 and testers all over the world, without whom this &release.type; 397 simply would not have been possible.</para> 398 </sect1> 399</article> 400