382 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
382 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//DTD DocBook V4.1-Based Extension//EN" [
|
|
<!ENTITY % man PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES DocBook Manual Page Entities//EN">
|
|
%man;
|
|
<!ENTITY % authors PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES DocBook Author Entities//EN">
|
|
%authors;
|
|
<!ENTITY % mlists PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES DocBook Mailing List Entities//EN">
|
|
%mlists;
|
|
<!ENTITY % release PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES Release Specification//EN">
|
|
%release;
|
|
<!ENTITY % misc PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES DocBook Miscellaneous FreeBSD Entities//EN">
|
|
%misc;
|
|
]>
|
|
|
|
<article>
|
|
<articleinfo>
|
|
<title>&os; &release.current; README</title>
|
|
|
|
<corpauthor>The &os; Project</corpauthor>
|
|
|
|
<pubdate>$FreeBSD$</pubdate>
|
|
|
|
<copyright>
|
|
<year>2000</year>
|
|
<year>2001</year>
|
|
<holder role="mailto:doc@FreeBSD.org">The FreeBSD Documentation Project</holder>
|
|
</copyright>
|
|
</articleinfo>
|
|
|
|
<abstract>
|
|
<para>This document gives a brief introduction to &os;
|
|
&release.current;. It includes a roadmap to the other release
|
|
documentation files, as well as some pointers on obtaining &os; and
|
|
contacting the &os; development team.</para>
|
|
</abstract>
|
|
|
|
<sect1>
|
|
<title>Introduction</title>
|
|
|
|
<para>This distribution is a &release.type; of &os; &release.current;, the
|
|
latest point along the &release.branch; branch.</para>
|
|
|
|
<sect2>
|
|
<title>About &os;</title>
|
|
|
|
<para>&os; is an operating system based on 4.4 BSD Lite for
|
|
Intel, AMD, Cyrix or NexGen <quote>x86</quote> based PC
|
|
hardware and Compaq (formerly DEC) Alpha computers. Versions
|
|
for the IA64, PowerPC, and Sparc64 architectures are currently under
|
|
development as well. &os; works with a wide variety of
|
|
peripherals and configurations and can be used for everything
|
|
from software development to games to Internet Service
|
|
Provision.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>This release of &os; contains everything you need to run
|
|
such a system, including full source code for the kernel and
|
|
all utilities in the base distribution. With the source
|
|
distribution installed, you can literally recompile the entire
|
|
system from scratch with one command, making it ideal for
|
|
students, researchers, or users who simply want to see how it
|
|
all works.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>A large collection of third-party ported software (the
|
|
<quote>Ports Collection</quote>) is also provided to make it
|
|
easy to obtain and install all your favorite traditional UNIX
|
|
utilities for &os;. Each <quote>port</quote> consists of a
|
|
set of scripts to retrieve, configure, build, and install a
|
|
piece of software, with a single command. Over &os.numports;
|
|
ports, from editors to programming languages to graphical
|
|
applications, make &os; a powerful and comprehensive operating
|
|
environment that extends far beyond what's provided by many
|
|
commercial versions of UNIX. Most ports are also available as
|
|
pre-compiled <quote>packages</quote>, which can be quickly
|
|
installed from the installation program.</para>
|
|
</sect2>
|
|
|
|
<sect2>
|
|
<title>Target Audience</title>
|
|
|
|
<![ %release.type.snapshot; [
|
|
|
|
<para>This &release.type; is aimed primarily at early adopters
|
|
and various other users who want to get involved with the
|
|
ongoing development of &os;. While the &os; development team
|
|
tries its best to ensure that each &release.type; works as
|
|
advertised, &release.branch; is very much a
|
|
work-in-progress.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>The basic requirements for using this &release.type are
|
|
technical proficiency with &os; and an understanding of the
|
|
ongoing development process of &os; &release.branch; (as
|
|
discussed on the &a.current;).</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>For those more interested in doing business with &os; than
|
|
in experimenting with new &os; technology, formal releases
|
|
(such as &release.prev;) are frequently more appropriate.
|
|
Releases undergo a period of testing and quality assurance
|
|
checking to ensure high reliability and dependability.</para>
|
|
|
|
]]>
|
|
|
|
<![ %release.type.release; [
|
|
|
|
<para>This &release.type; of &os; is suitable for all users. It
|
|
has undergone a period of testing and quality assurance
|
|
checking to ensure the highest reliability and
|
|
dependability.</para>
|
|
|
|
]]>
|
|
|
|
</sect2>
|
|
</sect1>
|
|
|
|
<sect1>
|
|
<title>Obtaining &os;</title>
|
|
|
|
<para>&os; may be obtained in a variety of ways. This section
|
|
focuses on those ways that are primarily of use for obtaining a
|
|
complete &os; distribution, rather than updating an existing
|
|
installation.</para>
|
|
|
|
<sect2>
|
|
<title>CDROM and DVD</title>
|
|
|
|
<para>&os; -RELEASE distributions may be ordered on CDROM or DVD
|
|
from several publishers. This is frequently the most
|
|
convenient way to obtain &os; for new installations, as it
|
|
provides a convenient way to quickly reinstall the system if
|
|
necessary. Some distributions include some of the optional,
|
|
precompiled <quote>packages</quote> from the &os; Ports
|
|
Collection.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>A list of the CDROM and DVD publishers known to the
|
|
project are listed in the <ulink
|
|
url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors.html"><quote>Obtaining
|
|
FreeBSD</quote></ulink> appendix to the Handbook.</para>
|
|
</sect2>
|
|
|
|
<sect2>
|
|
<title>FTP</title>
|
|
|
|
<para>You can use FTP to retrieve &os; and any or all of its
|
|
optional packages from <ulink
|
|
url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/"></ulink>, which is the official
|
|
&os; release site, or any of its
|
|
<quote>mirrors</quote>.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>Lists of locations that mirror &os; can be found in the
|
|
<ulink
|
|
url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors-ftp.html">FTP
|
|
Sites</ulink> section of the Handbook, or on the <ulink
|
|
url="http://www.freebsdmirrors.org/"></ulink> Web pages.
|
|
Finding a close (in networking terms) mirror from which to
|
|
download the distribution is highly recommended.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>Additional mirror sites are always welcome. Contact
|
|
<email>freebsd-admin@FreeBSD.org</email> for more details on
|
|
becoming an official mirror site.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>Mirrors generally contain the floppy disk images necessary
|
|
to begin an installation, as well as the distribution files
|
|
needed for the install process itself. Some mirrors also
|
|
contain some of the ISO images necessary to create a CDROM of
|
|
a &os; release.</para>
|
|
|
|
</sect2>
|
|
</sect1>
|
|
|
|
<sect1 id="contacting">
|
|
<title>Contacting the &os; Project</title>
|
|
|
|
<sect2>
|
|
<title>Email and Mailing Lists</title>
|
|
|
|
<para>For any questions or general technical support issues,
|
|
please send mail to the &a.questions;.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>If you're tracking the &release.branch; development efforts, you
|
|
<emphasis>must</emphasis> join the &a.current;, in order to
|
|
keep abreast of recent developments and changes that may
|
|
affect the way you use and maintain the system.
|
|
|
|
<para>Additionally, being a largely-volunteer effort, the &os;
|
|
Project is always happy to have extra hands willing to help
|
|
— there are already far more desired enhancements than
|
|
there is time to implement them. To contact the developers on
|
|
technical matters, or with offers of help, please send mail to
|
|
the &a.hackers;.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>Please note that these mailing lists can experience
|
|
<emphasis>significant</emphasis> amounts of traffic and if you
|
|
have slow or expensive mail access and are only interested in
|
|
keeping up with significant &os; events, you may find it
|
|
preferable to subscribe instead to the &a.announce;.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>All of the mailing lists can be freely joined by anyone
|
|
wishing to do so. Send mail to &a.majordomo; and include the
|
|
keyword <literal>help</literal> on a line by itself somewhere
|
|
in the body of the message. This will give you more
|
|
information on joining the various lists, accessing archives,
|
|
etc. There are a number of mailing lists targeted at special
|
|
interest groups not mentioned here; more information can be
|
|
obtained either through majordomo or the <ulink
|
|
url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/support.html#mailing-list">mailing
|
|
lists section</ulink> of the &os; Web site.</para>
|
|
|
|
<important>
|
|
<para>Do <emphasis>not</emphasis> send email to the lists
|
|
asking to be subscribed. Use the &a.majordomo; address
|
|
instead.</para>
|
|
</important>
|
|
</sect2>
|
|
|
|
<sect2>
|
|
<title>Submitting Problem Reports</title>
|
|
|
|
<para>Suggestions, bug reports and contributions of code are
|
|
always valued — please do not hesitate to report any
|
|
problems you may find. Bug reports with attached fixes are of
|
|
course even more welcome.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>The preferred method to submit bug reports from a machine
|
|
with Internet mail connectivity is to use the &man.send-pr.1;
|
|
command or use the Web form at <ulink
|
|
url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/send-pr.html">http://www.FreeBSD.org/send-pr.html</ulink>.
|
|
<quote>Problem Reports</quote> (PRs) submitted in this way
|
|
will be filed and their progress tracked; the &os; developers
|
|
will do their best to respond to all 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 available on the &os; Web site;
|
|
this list is useful to see what potential problems other users
|
|
have encountered.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>Note that &man.send-pr.1; itself is a shell script that
|
|
should be easy to move even onto a non-&os; system. Using
|
|
this interface is highly preferred. If, for some reason, you
|
|
are unable to use &man.send-pr.1; to submit a bug report, you
|
|
can try to send it to the &a.bugs;.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>In any case, before submitting a PR, please try to
|
|
determine whether the problem might have already been fixed
|
|
since.</para>
|
|
</sect2>
|
|
</sect1>
|
|
|
|
<sect1>
|
|
<title>Further Reading</title>
|
|
|
|
<sect2 id="release-docs">
|
|
<title>Release Documentation</title>
|
|
|
|
<para>A number of other files provide more specific information
|
|
about this &release.type; distribution. These files are
|
|
provided in various formats. Most distributions will include
|
|
both ASCII text (<filename>.TXT</filename>) and HTML
|
|
(<filename>.HTM</filename>) renditions. Some distributions
|
|
may also include other formats such as PostScript
|
|
(<filename>.PS</filename>) or Portable Document Format
|
|
(<filename>.PDF</filename>).
|
|
|
|
<itemizedlist>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para><filename>README.TXT</filename>: This file, which
|
|
gives some general information about &os; as well as
|
|
some cursory notes about obtaining a
|
|
distribution.</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para><filename>RELNOTES.TXT</filename>: The release
|
|
notes, showing what's new and different in &os;
|
|
&release.current; compared to &os;
|
|
&release.prev;.</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para><filename>HARDWARE.TXT</filename>: The hardware
|
|
compatibility list, showing devices with which &os; has
|
|
been tested and is known to work.</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para><filename>INSTALL.TXT</filename>: Installation
|
|
instructions for installing &os; from its distribution
|
|
media.</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para><filename>ERRATA.TXT</filename>: Release errata.
|
|
Late-breaking, post-release information can be found in
|
|
this file, which is principally applicable to releases
|
|
(as opposed to snapshots). It is important to consult
|
|
this file before installing a release of &os;, as it
|
|
contains the latest information on problems which have
|
|
been found and fixed since the release was
|
|
created.</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</itemizedlist>
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>Most of this information is also available from the
|
|
Documentation menu during installation. Once the system is
|
|
installed, you can revisit this menu by running the
|
|
&man.sysinstall.8; utility.</para>
|
|
|
|
<note>
|
|
<para>It is extremely important to read the errata for any
|
|
given release before installing it, to learn about any
|
|
<quote>late-breaking news</quote> or post-release problems.
|
|
The errata file accompanying each release (most likely right
|
|
next to this file) is already out of date by definition, but
|
|
other copies are kept updated on the Internet and should be
|
|
consulted as the <quote>current errata</quote> for this
|
|
release. These other copies of the errata are located at
|
|
<ulink url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/"></ulink> (as
|
|
well as any sites which keep up-to-date mirrors of this
|
|
location).</para>
|
|
</note>
|
|
</sect2>
|
|
|
|
<sect2>
|
|
<title>Books and Articles</title>
|
|
|
|
<para>Two highly-useful collections of &os;-related information,
|
|
maintained by the &os; Project,
|
|
are the &os; Handbook and &os; FAQ (Frequently Asked
|
|
Questions document). On-line versions of the <ulink
|
|
url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/">Handbook</ulink>
|
|
and <ulink
|
|
url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/">FAQ</ulink>
|
|
are always available from the <ulink
|
|
url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/docs.html">FreeBSD Documentation
|
|
page</ulink> or its mirrors. If you install the
|
|
<filename>doc</filename> distribution set, you can use a Web
|
|
browser to read the Handbook and FAQ locally.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>A number of on-line books and articles, also maintained by
|
|
the &os; Project, cover more-specialized, &os;-related topics.
|
|
This material spans a wide range of topics, from effective use
|
|
of the mailing lists, to dual-booting &os; with other
|
|
operating systems, to guidelines for new committers. Like the
|
|
Handbook and FAQ, these documents are available from the &os;
|
|
Documentation Page or in the <filename>doc</filename>
|
|
distribution set.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>A listing of other books and documents about &os; can be
|
|
found in the <ulink
|
|
url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/bibliography.html">bibliography</ulink>
|
|
of the &os; Handbook. Because of &os;'s strong UNIX heritage,
|
|
many other articles and books written for UNIX systems are
|
|
applicable as well, some of which are also listed in the
|
|
bibliography.</para>
|
|
</sect2>
|
|
</sect1>
|
|
|
|
<sect1>
|
|
<title>Acknowledgments</title>
|
|
|
|
<para>&os; represents the cumulative work of many hundreds, if not
|
|
thousands, of individuals from around the world who have worked
|
|
countless hours to bring about this &release.type;. For a
|
|
complete list of &os; developers and contributors, please see
|
|
<ulink
|
|
url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/contributors/">Contributors
|
|
to FreeBSD</ulink> on the &os; Web site or any of its
|
|
mirrors.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>Special thanks also go to the many thousands of &os; users
|
|
and testers all over the world, without whom this &release.type;
|
|
simply would not have been possible.</para>
|
|
</sect1>
|
|
</article>
|
|
|
|
<!--
|
|
Local Variables:
|
|
mode: sgml
|
|
sgml-indent-data: t
|
|
sgml-omittag: nil
|
|
sgml-always-quote-attributes: t
|
|
End:
|
|
-->
|