423 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
423 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
<!-- $Id: submitters.sgml,v 1.13 1996/01/05 08:36:27 jkh Exp $ -->
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<!-- The FreeBSD Documentation Project -->
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<chapt><heading>Contributing to FreeBSD<label id="submitters"></heading>
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<p><em>Contributed by &a.jkh;.</em>
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<p>So you want to contribute something to FreeBSD? That's great!
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We can always use the help, and FreeBSD is one of those systems
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that <em>relies</em> on the contributions of its user base in order
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to survive. Your contributions are not only appreciated, they're
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vital to FreeBSD's continued growth!
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<p>Contrary to what some people might also have you believe, you don't
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need to be a hot-shot programmer or a close personal friend of the
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FreeBSD core team in order to have your contributions accepted. The
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FreeBSD Project's development is done by a large and growing number of
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international contributors who's ages and areas of technical expertise
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vary greatly, and there is always more work to be done than there are
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people available to do it.
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<p>Since the FreeBSD project is responsible for an entire operating
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system environment (and its installation) rather than just a kernel or
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a few scattered utilities, our "TODO" list also spans a very wide
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range of tasks, from documentation, beta testing and presentation to
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highly specialized types of kernel development. No matter what your
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skill level, there's almost certainly something you can do to help the
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project!
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<p>Commmercial entities engaged in FreeBSD-related enterprises are
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also encouraged to contact us. Need a special extention to make your
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product work? You'll find us receptive to your requests, given that
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they aren't too outlandish. Working on a value-added product? Please
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let us know! We may be able to work cooperatively on some aspect of
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it. The free software world is challenging a lot of existing
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assumptions about how software is developed, sold, and maintained
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throughout its life cycle, and we urge you to at least give it a
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second look.
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<sect><heading>What's needed</heading>
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<p>The following list of tasks and sub-projects represents something
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of an amalgam of the various core team TODO lists and user requests
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we've collected over the last couple of months. Where possible, tasks
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have been ranked by degree of urgency. If you're interested in
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working on one of the tasks you see here, send mail to the coordinator
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listed by clicking on their names. If no coordinator has been
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appointed, maybe you'd like to volunteer?
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<sect1><heading>Urgently needed</heading>
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<p>The following tasks are considered to be urgent, usually because
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they represent something that is badly broken:
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<enum>
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<item>Fix the DOS file system. Coordinator: <tt><htmlurl
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url="mailto:hackers@freebsd.org" name="Hackers (no coordinator)"></tt>.
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<item>Fix the union file system. Coordinator: <tt><htmlurl
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url="mailto:dyson@freebsd.org" name="John Dyson"></tt>
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</enum>
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<sect1><heading>Not urgently needed</heading>
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<p>The following tasks need to be done, but not with any particular
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urgency:
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<enum>
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<item>Put something here.
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</enum>
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<sect1><heading>Would be nice to have</heading>
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<p>The following tasks are purely cosmetic or represent such an
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investment of work that it's not likely that anyone will get them done
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anytime soon:
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<p>The first 20 items are from Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org>
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<enum>
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<item>Ability to make BIOS calls from protected mode using V86 mode
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on the processor and return the results via a mapped interrupt
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IPC mechanism to the protected mode caller.
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<item>Drivers built into the kernel that use the BIOS call mechanism
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to allow them to be independent of the actual underlying hardware
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the same way that DOS is independent of the underlying hardware.
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This includes NetWork and ASPI drivers loaded in DOS prior to
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BSD being loaded by a DOS-based loader program, which means
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potential polling, which means DOS-not-busy interrupt generation
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for V86 machines by the protected mode kernel.
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<item>An image format that allows tagging of such drivers data and
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text areas in the default kernel executable so that that portion
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of the kernel address space may be recovered at a later time,
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after hardware specific protected mode drivers have been loaded
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and activated. This includes seperation of BIOS based drivers
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from each other, since it is better to run with a BIOS based
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driver in all cases than to not run at all.
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<item>Abstraction of the bus interface mechanism. Currently, PCMCIA,
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EISA, and PCI busses are assumed to be bridged from ISA. This
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is not something which should be assumed.
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<item>A configuration manager that knows about PNP events, including
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power management events, insertion, extraction, and bus (PNP ISA
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and PCMCIA bridging chips) vs. card level event management.
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<item>A topological sort mechanism for assigning reassignable addresses
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that do not collide with other reassignable and non-reassignable
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device space resource usage by fixed devices.
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<item>A registration based mechanism for hardware services registration.
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Specifically, a device centric registration mechanism for timer
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and sound and other system critical service providers. Consider
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Timer2 and Timer0 and speaker services as one example of a single
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monithic service provider.
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<item>A kernel exported symbol space in the kernel data space acessable
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by an LKM loader mechanism that does relocation and symbol space
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manipulation. The intent of this interface is to support the
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ability to demand load and unload kernel modules.
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<item>NetWare Server (protected mode ODI driver) loader and subservices
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to allow the use of ODI card drivers supplied with network cards.
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The same thing for NDIS drivers and NetWare SCSI drivers.
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<item>An "upgrade system" option that works on Linux boxes instead
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of just previous rev FreeBSD boxes.
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<item>Splitting of the console driver into abstraction layers, both to
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make it easier to port and to kill the X and ThinkPad and PS/2
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mouse and LED and console switching and bouncing NumLock problems
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once and for all.
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<item>Other kernel emulation environments for other foreign drivers
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as opportunity permits. SCO and Solaris are good candidates,
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followed by UnixWare, etc.
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<item>Processor emulation environments for execution of foreign binaries.
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This is easier than it sounds if the system call interface doesn't
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change much.
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<item>Streams to allow the use of commercial streams drivers.
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<item>Kernel multithreading (requires kernel preemption).
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<item>Symmetric Multiprocessing with kernel preemption (requires kernel
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preemption).
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<item>A concerted effort at support for portable computers. This is
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somewhat handled by changing PCMCIA bridging rules and power
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management event handling. But there are things like detecting
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internal vs. external display and picking a different screen
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resoloution based on that fact, not spinning down the disk if
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the machine is in dock, and allowing dock-based cards to disappear
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without affecting the machines ability to boot (same issue for
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PCMCIA).
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<item>Reorganization of the source tree for multiple platform ports.
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<item>A "make world" that "makes the world" (rename the current one
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to "make regress" if that's all it is good for).
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<item>A 4M (preferrably smaller!) memory footprint.
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</enum>
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<sect><heading>How to contribute</heading>
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<p>Contributions to the system generally fall into one or more of
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the following 6 categories:
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<sect1><heading>Bug reports and general commentary</heading>
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<p>If you have a bug to report or a suggestion to make:
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<itemize>
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<item>An idea or suggestion of general technical interest should be
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mailed to <tt><htmlurl url="mailto:hackers@freebsd.org"
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name="<hackers@freebsd.org>"></tt>.
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Likewise, people with an interest
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in such things (and a tolerance for a <em>high</em>
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volume of mail!) may
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subscribe to the hackers mailing list by sending mail to
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<tt><htmlurl url="mailto:majordomo@freebsd.org"
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name="<majordomo@freebsd.org>"></tt>.
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See <ref id="eresources:mail" name="mailing lists">
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for more information about this and other mailing lists.
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<item>An actual bug report should be filed by using the
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<tt>send-pr(1)</tt> program. This will prompt
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you for various fields to fill in. Simply go to the fields
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surrounded by <tt><></tt>'s and fill in your own
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information in place of
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what's suggested there. You should receive confirmation of your
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bug report and a tracking number. Keep this tracking number and use
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it in any subsequent correspondence.
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If you do not receive confirmation in a timely fashion (3 days to
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a week, depending on your email connection) or are, for some
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reason, unable to use the <tt>send-pr(1)</tt> command,
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then you may also file a bug report by sending mail to
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<tt><htmlurl url="mailto:bugs@freebsd.org"
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name="<bugs@freebsd.org>"></tt>.
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</itemize>
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<sect1><heading>Changes to the documentation</heading>
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<p>Changes to the documentation are overseen by the FreeBSD Documentation
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Project, which can be reached at <tt><htmlurl url="mailto:doc@freebsd.org"
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name="<doc@freebsd.org>"></tt>. This does not generally include
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changes to manual pages, which should be considered under the category
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of "changes to existing source code."
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<sect1><heading>Changes to existing source code</heading>
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<p>An addition or change to the existing source code is a somewhat trickier
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affair and depends a lot on how far out of date you are with the current
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state of the core FreeBSD development. There is a special on-going release
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of FreeBSD known as ``FreeBSD-current'' which is made available in
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a variety of ways for the convenience of developers working
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actively on the system. See <ref id="current" name="Staying
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current with FreeBSD"> for more information about getting and using
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FreeBSD-current.
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Working from older sources unfortunately means that your changes may
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sometimes be too obsolete or too divergent for easy re-integration into
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FreeBSD. Chances of this can be minimized somewhat by subscribing to the
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<tt><announce@freebsd.org></tt> and
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<tt><current@freebsd.org></tt> mailing lists, where discussions
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on the current state of the system take place.
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Assuming that you can manage to secure fairly up-to-date sources to base
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your changes on, the next step is to produce a set of diffs to send to the
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FreeBSD maintainers. This is done with the <tt>diff(1)</tt> command,
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with the `context diff' form being preferred. For example:
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<tscreen><verb>
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diff -c oldfile newfile
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</verb></tscreen>
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or
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<tscreen><verb>
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diff -c -r olddir newdir
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</verb></tscreen>
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would generate such a set of context diffs for the given source file
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or directory hierarchy. See the man page for <tt>diff(1)</tt> for more
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details.
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Once you have a set of diffs (which you may test with the
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<tt>patch(1)</tt> command), you should bundle them up in an
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email message and send it, along with a brief description of
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what the diffs are for, to
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<tt><htmlurl url="mailto:hackers@freebsd.org"
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name="<hackers@freebsd.org>"></tt>. Someone will very
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likely get back in touch with you in 24 hours or less,
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assuming of course that your diffs are interesting! :-)
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If your changes don't express themselves well as diffs alone
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(e.g. you've perhaps added, deleted or renamed files as well)
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then you may be better off bundling any new files, diffs and
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instructions for deleting/renaming others into a <tt>tar</tt>
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file and running the <tt>uuencode(1)</tt> program on it before
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sending the output of that to <tt><htmlurl url="mailto:hackers@freebsd.org"
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name="<hackers@freebsd.org>"></tt>.
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See the man pages on <tt>tar(1)</tt> and <tt>uuencode(1)</tt> for more
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information on bundling files this way.
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If your change is of a potentially sensitive nature, e.g.
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you're unsure of copyright issues governing its further distribution
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or you're simply not ready to release it without a tighter review first,
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then you should send it to <tt><htmlurl url="mailto:core@freebsd.org"
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name="<core@freebsd.org>"></tt> rather than
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<tt><hackers@freebsd.org></tt>. The core mailing list
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reaches a much smaller group of people who do much of the
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day-to-day work on FreeBSD. Note that this group is also
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<em>very busy</em> and so you should only send mail to them
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in cases where mailing to hackers is truly impractical.
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<sect1><heading>Contributions of new code</heading>
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<p>In the case of a significant contribution of a large body
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work, or the addition of an important new feature to FreeBSD,
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it becomes almost always necessary to either send changes as
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uuencoded tar files or upload them to our ftp site <url
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url="ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/incoming">.
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When working with large amounts of code, the touchy subject of
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copyrights also invariably comes up. Acceptable copyrights
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for code included in FreeBSD are:
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<enum>
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<item>The BSD copyright. This copyright is most preferred
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due to its ``no strings attached'' nature and general
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attractiveness to commercial enterprises. Far from
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discouraging such commercial use, the FreeBSD Project
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actively encourages such participation by commercial interests
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who might eventually be inclined to invest something of their own
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into FreeBSD.
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<item>The GNU Public License, or ``GPL''. This license isn't quite
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as popular with us due to the amount of extra effort demanded
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of anyone using the code for commercial purposes, but given
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the sheer quantity of GPL'd code we currently require (compiler,
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assembler, text formatter, etc) it would be silly to refuse
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additional contributions under this license. Code under the GPL
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also goes into a different part of the tree, that being
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<tt>/sys/gnu</tt> or <tt>/usr/src/gnu</tt>, and is therefore
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easily identifiable to anyone for whom the GPL presents a problem.
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</enum>
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<p>Contributions coming under any other type of copyright must be
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carefully reviewed before their inclusion into FreeBSD will
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be considered. Contributions for which particularly restrictive
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commercial copyrights apply are generally rejected, though the
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authors are always encouraged to make such changes available
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through their own channels.
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To place a ``BSD-style'' copyright on your work, include the following
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text at the very beginning of every source code file you wish
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to protect, replacing the text between the `<tt>%%</tt>' with
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the appropriate information.
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<tscreen><verb>
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Copyright (c) %%proper_years_here%%
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%%your_name_here%%, %%your_state%% %%your_zip%%. All rights reserved.
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Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
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modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
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are met:
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1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
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notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer as
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the first lines of this file unmodified.
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2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
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notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
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documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
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3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
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must display the following acknowledgment:
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This product includes software developed by %%your_name_here%%.
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4. The name of the author may not be used to endorse or promote products
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derived from this software without specific prior written permission.
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THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY %%your_name_here%% ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR
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IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES
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OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.
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IN NO EVENT SHALL %%your_name_here%% BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
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INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT
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NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
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DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
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THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
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(INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF
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THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
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$Id: submitters.sgml,v 1.13 1996/01/05 08:36:27 jkh Exp $
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</verb></tscreen>
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For your convenience, a copy of this text can be found in
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<tt>/usr/share/examples/etc/bsd-style-copyright</tt>.
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&porting;
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<sect1><heading>Contributions of money, hardware or Internet access</heading>
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<p>We're always very happy to accept donations to further the cause of
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the FreeBSD Project and, in a volunteer effort like ours, a little can go
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a long way! Donations of hardware are also very important to expanding
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our list of supported peripherals since we generally lack the funds to
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buy such items ourselves.
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<sect2><heading>Donating funds</heading>
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<p>While the FreeBSD Project is not a 501(C3) (non-profit) corporation and
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hence cannot offer special tax incentives for any donations made, any such
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donations will be gratefully accepted on behalf of the project by
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FreeBSD, Inc.
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<p>FreeBSD, Inc. was founded in early 1995 by &a.jkh and &a.davidg with the
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goal of furthering the aims of the FreeBSD Project and giving it a minimal
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corporate presence. Any and all funds donated (as well as any profits
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that may eventually be realized by FreeBSD, Inc.) will be used exclusively
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to further the project's goals.
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Please make any checks payable to FreeBSD, Inc., sent in care of the
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following address:
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<tscreen><verb>
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FreeBSD, Inc.
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246 Park St.
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Clyde CA, 94520
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</verb></tscreen>
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Wire transfers may also be sent directly to:
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<tscreen><verb>
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Bank Of America
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Concord Main Office
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P.O. Box 37176
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San Francisco CA, 94137-5176
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Routing #: 121-000-358
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Account #: 01411-07441 (FreeBSD, Inc.)
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</verb></tscreen>
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If you do not wish to be listed in our `donors' section, please specify
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this in a note accompanying your donation. Thanks!
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<sect2><heading>Donating hardware</heading>
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<p>Donations of hardware in any of the 3 following catagories are also gladly
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accepted by the FreeBSD Project:
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<itemize>
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<item>General purpose hardware such as disk drives, memory or complete
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systems should be sent to the FreeBSD, Inc. address listed in the
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<em>donating funds</em> section.
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<item>Hardware for which ongoing compliance testing is desired.
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We are currently trying to put together a testing lab of all components
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that FreeBSD supports so that proper regression testing can be done with
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each new release. We are still lacking many important pieces (network cards,
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motherboards, etc) and if you'd like to make such a donation, please contact
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&a.davidg for information on which items are still required.
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<item>Hardware currently unsupported by FreeBSD for which you'd like to
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see such support added. Please contact the <htmlurl
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url="mailto:core@freebsd.org" name="FreeBSD Core Team"> before sending
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such items as we'll need to find a developer willing to take on the task
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before we can accept delivery of them.
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</itemize>
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<sect2><heading>Donating internet access</heading>
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<p>We can always use new mirror sites for FTP, WWW or sup.
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If you'd like to be such a mirror, please contact
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<htmlurl url="mailto:admin@freebsd.org" name="the FreeBSD project
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administrators"> for more information.
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