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diff --git a/FAQ/preface.sgml b/FAQ/preface.sgml deleted file mode 100644 index b5249d385a..0000000000 --- a/FAQ/preface.sgml +++ /dev/null @@ -1,502 +0,0 @@ -<!-- $Id: preface.sgml,v 1.6 1998-03-30 21:44:15 eivind Exp $ --> -<!-- The FreeBSD Documentation Project --> - - <sect> - <heading>Preface<label id="preface"></heading> - - <p>Welcome to the FreeBSD 2.X FAQ! - - <sect1> - <heading>What is the purpose of this FAQ?</heading> - - <p>As is usual with Usenet FAQs, this document aims to cover the most - frequently asked questions concerning the FreeBSD operating system - (and of course answer them!). Although originally intended to reduce - bandwidth and avoid the same old questions being asked over and over - again, FAQs have become recognized as valuable information resources. - - <p>Every effort has been made to make this FAQ as informative as - possible; if you have any suggestions as to how it may be improved, - please feel free to mail them to the <url url="mailto:pds@FreeBSD.ORG" - name="FAQ maintainer">. - - <sect1> - <heading>What is FreeBSD?</heading> - - <p>Briefly, FreeBSD 2.X is a UN*X-like operating system based on - U.C. Berkeley's 4.4BSD-lite release for the i386 platform. It is - also based indirectly on William Jolitz's port of U.C. Berkeley's - Net/2 to the i386, known as 386BSD, though very little of the 386BSD - code remains. A fuller description of what FreeBSD is and how - it can work for you may be found on the <url url="http://www.freebsd.org" - name="FreeBSD home page">. - - <p>FreeBSD is used by companies, Internet Service Providers, researchers, - computer professionals, students and home users all over the world - in their work, education and recreation. See some of them in the - <url url="http://www.freebsd.org/gallery.html" name="FreeBSD Gallery."> - - <p>For more detailed information on FreeBSD, please see the - <url url="../handbook/handbook.html" name="FreeBSD Handbook."> - - <sect1> - <heading>What are the goals of FreeBSD?</heading> - - <p>The goals of the FreeBSD Project are to provide software that may - be used for any purpose and without strings attached. Many of us - have a significant investment in the code (and project) and would - certainly not mind a little financial compensation now and then, - but we're definitely not prepared to insist on it. We believe - that our first and foremost "mission" is to provide code to any - and all comers, and for whatever purpose, so that the code gets - the widest possible use and provides the widest possible benefit. - This is, we believe, one of the most fundamental goals of Free - Software and one that we enthusiastically support. - - <p>That code in our source tree which falls under the GNU Public License - (GPL) or GNU Library Public License (GLPL) comes with slightly more - strings attached, though at least on the side of enforced - access rather than the usual opposite. Due to the additional - complexities that can evolve in the commercial use of GPL software, - we do, however, endeavor to replace such software with submissions - under the more relaxed BSD copyright whenever possible. - - <sect1> - <heading>Why is it called FreeBSD?</heading> - - <p> - <itemize> - <item>It may be used free of charge, even by commercial users. - - <item>Full source for the operating system is freely available, and - the minimum possible restrictions have been placed upon its - use, distribution and incorporation into other work (commercial - or non-commercial). - - <item>Anyone who has an improvement and/or bug fix is free to submit - their code and have it added to the source tree (subject to - one or two obvious provisos). - </itemize> - - <p>For those of our readers whose first language is not English, it - may be worth pointing out that the word ``free'' is being used in two - ways here, one meaning ``at no cost'', the other meaning ``you can do - whatever you like''. Apart from one or two things you <tt /cannot/ - do with the FreeBSD code, for example pretending you wrote it, you - really can do whatever you like with it. - - <sect1> - <heading>What is the latest version of FreeBSD?</heading> - - <p>Version <url url="ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/2.2.5-RELEASE" - name="2.2.5"> is the latest <em>stable</em> version; it was released - in October, 1997. This is also the latest <em>release</em> version. - - <p>Briefly explained, <bf>-stable</bf> is aimed at the ISP or other - corporate user who wants stability and a low change count over - the wizzy new features of the latest release. At the moment, these - versions are one and the same, but it shouldn't be long before the - <bf>-current</bf> branch is polished enough for general release. - - <p>This is not to say that a 3.0-current snapshot is unusable for - business services, and many people who need some 3.0 specific feature - (newer compiler technology, faster networking code, etc) have decided - to take a chance with it with very good results. We simply do not - wish to "certify" 3.0 as mission-worthy until it's been better - shaken-out. - - <sect1> - <heading>What is FreeBSD-current?<label id="current"></heading> - - <p><url url="../handbook/current.html" name="FreeBSD-current"> is the - development version of the operating system, which will in due - course become 3.0-RELEASE. As such, it is really only of interest - to developers working on the system and die-hard hobbyists. - See the <url url="../handbook/current.html" name="relevant section"> - in the <url url="../handbook/handbook.html" name="handbook"> for - details on running -current. - - <p>If you are not familiar with the operating system or are not - capable of identifying the difference between a real problem and - a temporary problem, you should not use FreeBSD-current. This - branch sometimes evolves quite quickly and can be un-buildable - for a number of days at a time. People that use FreeBSD-current - are expected to be able to analyze any problems and only report them - if they are deemed to be mistakes rather than ``glitches''. Questions - such as ``make world produces some error about groups'' on the - -current mailing list are sometimes treated with contempt. - - <p>Every now and again, a <url url="../releases/snapshots.html" - name="snapshot"> release is also made of this -current development - code, CDROM distributions of the occasional snapshot even now being - made available. The goals behind each snapshot release are: - - <itemize> - <item>To test the latest version of the installation software. - - <item>To give people who would like to run -current but who don't - have the time and/or bandwidth to follow it on a day-to-day - basis an easy way of bootstrapping it onto their systems. - - <item>To preserve a fixed reference point for the code in question, - just in case we break something really badly later. (Although - CVS normally prevents anything horrible like this happening :) - - <item>To ensure that any new features in need of testing have the - greatest possible number of potential testers. - </itemize> - - <p>No claims are made that any snapshot can be considered - ``production quality'' for any purpose. For stability - and tested mettle, you will have to stick to full releases. - - <p>Snapshot releases are directly available from <url - url="ftp://current.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/"> and are generated, - on the average, once a day for both the 3.0-current and 2.2-stable - branches. - - <sect1> - <heading>What is the FreeBSD-stable concept?</heading> - - <p>Back when FreeBSD 2.0.5 was released, we decided to branch FreeBSD - development into two parts. One branch was named <url - url="../handbook/stable.html" name="-stable">, with the - intention that only well-tested bug fixes and small incremental - enhancements would be made to it (for Internet Service Providers - and other commercial enterprises for whom sudden shifts or - experimental features are quite undesirable). The other branch was - <url url="../handbook/current.html" name="-current">, which - essentially has been one unbroken line leading towards 3.0-RELEASE - (and beyond) since 2.0 was released. If a little ASCII art would - help, this is how it looks: - -<verb> - 2.0 - | - | - | [2.1-stable] - *BRANCH* 2.0.5 -> 2.1 -> 2.1.5 -> 2.1.6 -> 2.1.7.1 [2.1-stable ends] - | (Mar 1997) - | - | - | [2.2-stable] - *BRANCH* 2.2.1 -> 2.2.2-RELEASE -> 2.2.5-RELEASE -> ... - | (Mar 1997) (Oct 1997) - | - | - 3.0-SNAPs (started Q1 1997) - | - | - 3.0.0-RELEASE (Q1 1998) - | - \|/ - + - [future 3.x releases] -</verb> - - <p>The -current branch is slowly progressing towards 3.0 and beyond, - whereas the previous 2.1-stable branch was superceded by the - release of 2.2.0, the new "stability branch" aka 2.2-stable. - 3.0-current will continue to be where the active development takes - place, up until the actual release of 3.0. At that point, 3.0 will - become yet another branch and 3.1-current will become the next - "current branch". - - <sect1> - <heading>Why did the 2.1-stable branch end with 2.1.7.1?</heading> - - <p>While we'd certainly like to be able to continue 3 branches of - development, we've found that the version control tools available to - us are not particularly well-suited for this; in fact, they quickly - result in a maintenance nightmare for any branch which lives much - beyond 2-3 months. The 2.1-stable branch has, by contrast, lasted for - well over a year and what little sanity the FreeBSD developers have - left would be in serious jeopardy if we continued in this way. - Perhaps in the future we'll figure out another model which gives - everyone what they want, and we are working on such a model, but in - the meantime it's probably best to think of the old -stable coming - to an end with <url - url="ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/pub/2.1.7.1-RELEASE" - name="2.1.7.1-RELEASE"> (the final point release after 2.1.7), and - the new -stable beginning with 2.2.2. - - <sect1> - <heading>When are FreeBSD releases made?</heading> - - <p>As a general principle, the FreeBSD core team only release a new - version of FreeBSD when they believe that there are sufficient new - features and/or bug fixes to justify one, and are satisfied that the - changes made have settled down sufficiently to avoid compromising the - stability of the release. Many users regard this caution as one of - the best things about FreeBSD, although it can be a little - frustrating when waiting for all the latest goodies to become - available... - - <p>Releases are made about every 6 months on average. - - <p>For people needing (or wanting) a little more excitement, there are - SNAPs released more frequently, particularly during the month or so - leading up to a release. - - <sect1> - <heading>Is FreeBSD only available for PCs ?</heading> - - <p>At present, yes, though a port to the DEC Alpha architecture - is under way. If your machine has a different architecture and - you need something right now, we suggest you look at - <url url="http://www.netbsd.org/" name="NetBSD"> or - <url url="http://www.openbsd.org/" name="OpenBSD">. - - <sect1> - <heading> Who is responsible for FreeBSD?</heading> - - <p>The key decisions concerning the FreeBSD project, such as the - overall direction of the project and who is allowed to add code to - the source tree, are made by a <url url="../handbook/staff:core.html" - name="core team"> of some 17 people. There is a much larger team of - around 80+ <url url="../handbook/staff:committers.html" - name="committers"> who are authorized to make changes directly to the - FreeBSD source tree. - - <p>However, most non-trivial changes are discussed in advance in the - <ref id="mailing" name="mailing lists">, and there are no restrictions - on who may take part in the discussion. - - <sect1> - <heading>Where can I get FreeBSD?<label id="where-get"></heading> - - <p>Every significant release of FreeBSD is available via anonymous ftp - from the <url url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.ORG/pub/FreeBSD/" - name="FreeBSD FTP site">: - - <itemize> - <item>For the current 2.2-stable release, 2.2.5R see the - <url url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.ORG/pub/FreeBSD/2.2.5-RELEASE/" - name="2.2.5-RELEASE"> directory. - - <item>For the current 3.0-current release, 3.0-SNAP, see the - <url url="ftp://current.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/" name="3.0"> directory. - - <item><url url="ftp://releng22.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/" - name="2.2 Snapshot"> releases are made once a day along the - RELENG_2_2 branch (2.2.5 -> 2.2.x) as it winds its way towards the - next point release on the 2.2 branch. With the occasional - exception of accidental breakage, the RELENG_2_2 branch is - being carefully maintained (no experimental changes, fixes made - only after testing in -current). - - <item><url url="ftp://current.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/" - name="3.0 Snapshot">releases are also made once a day for the - <ref id="current" name="-current"> branch, these being of service - purely to bleeding-edge testers and developers. - </itemize> - - <p>FreeBSD is also available via CDROM, from the following place(s): - - <p>Walnut Creek CDROM<newline> - 4041 Pike Lane, Suite F<newline> - Concord, CA 94520 USA<newline> - Orders: +1 800 786-9907<newline> - Questions: +1 925 674-0783<newline> - FAX: +1 925 674-0821<newline> - email: <url url="mailto:orders@cdrom.com" name="WC Orders address"> - <newline> - WWW: <url url="http://www.cdrom.com/" name="WC Home page"> - <newline> - - <p>In Australia, you may find it at: - - <p>Advanced Multimedia Distributors<newline> - Factory 1/1 Ovata Drive<newline> - Tullamarine, Melbourne<newline> - Victoria<newline> - Australia<newline> - Voice: +61 3 9338 6777<newline> - - CDROM Support BBS<newline> - 17 Irvine St<newline> - Peppermint Grove WA 6011<newline> - Voice: +61 9 385-3793<newline> - Fax: +61 9 385-2360<newline> - - And in the UK: - - The Public Domain & Shareware Library<newline> - Winscombe House, Beacon Rd<newline> - Crowborough<newline> - Sussex. TN6 1UL<newline> - Voice: +44 1892 663-298<newline> - Fax: +44 1892 667-473<newline> - - <sect1> - <heading> - Where do I find info on the FreeBSD mailing lists?<label id="mailing"> - </heading> - - <p>You can find full information in the <url - url="../handbook/eresources:mail.html" - name="Handbook entry on mailing-lists."> - - <sect1> - <heading>What FreeBSD news groups are available?</heading> - - <p>You can find full information in the<url - url="../handbook/eresources:news.html" - name="Handbook entry on newsgroups."> - - <sect1> - <heading> - Are there FreeBSD IRC (Internet Relay Chat) channels? - </heading> - - <p>There are two channels about FreeBSD on IRC: - - <enum> - <item>The main channel is #FreeBSD on the EFNET. You can - use your regular IRC server for it. - - <item>You can point your IRC client to <tt/irc.FreeBSD.org/ - This server is on BSDnet and hosts #FreeBSD. This - is not the same channel. - </enum> - - <sect1> - <heading>Books on FreeBSD</heading> - - <p>Greg Lehey's book ``Installing and Running FreeBSD'' is available - from Walnut Creek and ships with the 2.2.5 CDROM. There is also - a larger book entitled ``The Complete FreeBSD'', which comes with - additional printed manpages and includes the 2.2.5 CDROM set. It - should be available in most good book shops now. - - <p>There is a FreeBSD Documentation Project which you may contact (or - even better, join) on the <tt>doc</tt> mailing list: - <url url="mailto:doc@FreeBSD.ORG" name="<doc@FreeBSD.ORG>">. - This list is for discussion of the FreeBSD documentation. For - actual questions about FreeBSD, there is the <tt>questions</tt> - mailing list: - <url url="mailto:questions@FreeBSD.ORG" - name="<questions@FreeBSD.ORG>">. - - <p>A FreeBSD ``handbook'' is available, and can be found as: - <url url="../handbook/handbook.html" name="the FreeBSD Handbook">. - Note that this is a work in progress, and so parts may be incomplete. - - <p>However, as FreeBSD 2.2.X is based upon Berkeley 4.4BSD-Lite2, most - of the 4.4BSD manuals are applicable to FreeBSD 2.2.X. O'Reilly - and Associates publishes these manuals: - - <itemize> - <item>4.4BSD System Manager's Manual <newline> - By Computer Systems Research Group, UC Berkeley <newline> - 1st Edition June 1994, 804 pages <newline> - ISBN: 1-56592-080-5 <newline> - - <item>4.4BSD User's Reference Manual <newline> - By Computer Systems Research Group, UC Berkeley <newline> - 1st Edition June 1994, 905 pages <newline> - ISBN: 1-56592-075-9 <newline> - - <item>4.4BSD User's Supplementary Documents <newline> - By Computer Systems Research Group, UC Berkeley <newline> - 1st Edition July 1994, 712 pages <newline> - ISBN: 1-56592-076-7 <newline> - - <item>4.4BSD Programmer's Reference Manual <newline> - By Computer Systems Research Group, UC Berkeley <newline> - 1st Edition June 1994, 886 pages <newline> - ISBN: 1-56592-078-3 <newline> - - <item>4.4BSD Programmer's Supplementary Documents <newline> - By Computer Systems Research Group, UC Berkeley <newline> - 1st Edition July 1994, 596 pages <newline> - ISBN: 1-56592-079-1 <newline> - </itemize> - - <p>A description of these can be found via WWW as: - - <url url="http://gnn.com/gnn/bus/ora/category/bsd.html" - name="4.4BSD books description"> - - <p>For a more in-depth look at the 4.4BSD kernel organization, - you can't go wrong with: - - <p>McKusick, Marshall Kirk, Keith Bostic, Michael J Karels, - and John Quarterman.<newline> - - <p><em>The Design and Implementation of the 4.4BSD Operating - System</em>. Reading, Mass. : Addison-Wesley, 1996.<newline> - ISBN 0-201-54979-4<newline> - - <p>A good book on system administration is: - - <p>Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, Scott Seebass & Trent R. Hein,<newline> - ``Unix System Administration Handbook'', Prentice-Hall, 1995<newline> - ISBN: 0-13-151051-7<newline> - - <p><bf/NOTE/ make sure you get the second edition, with a red cover, - instead of the first edition. - - <p>This book covers the basics, as well as TCP/IP, DNS, NFS, - SLIP/PPP, sendmail, INN/NNTP, printing, etc.. It's expensive - (approx. US$45-$55), but worth it. It also - includes a CDROM with the sources for various tools; most of - these, however, are also on the FreeBSD 2.2.5R CDROM (and the - FreeBSD CDROM often has newer versions). - - <sect1> - <heading>How do I access your Problem Report database?</heading> - - <p>The Problem Report database of all open user change requests - may be queried (or submitted to) by using our web-based PR - <url url="http://www.freebsd.org/send-pr.html" name="submission"> - and <url url="http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr-summary.cgi" - name="query"> interfaces. The <em>send-pr(1)</em> command - can also be used to submit problem reports and change requests via - electronic mail. - - <sect1> - <heading>Other sources of information.</heading> - - <p>The following newsgroups contain pertinent discussion for FreeBSD - users: - - <itemize> - <item><url url="news:comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.announce" - name="comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.announce"> (moderated) - - <item><url url="news:comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc" - name="comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc"> - - <item><url url="news:comp.unix.bsd.misc" name="comp.unix.bsd.misc"> - </itemize> - - <p>Web resources: - - <itemize> - <item>The <url url="http://www.freebsd.org/" name="FreeBSD Home Page">. - - <item><label id="pao">If you have a laptop, be sure and see - <url url="http://www.jp.FreeBSD.org/PAO/" - name="Tatsumi Hosokawa's Mobile Computing page"> in Japan. - - <item><label id="smp">For information on SMP (Symmetric - MultiProcessing), please see the <url - url="http://www.freebsd.org/~fsmp/SMP/SMP.html" - name="SMP support page">. - - <item><label id="multimedia">For information on FreeBSD multimedia - applications, please see the <url - url="http://www.freebsd.org/~faulkner/multimedia/mm.html" - name="multimedia">page. If you're interested specifically in - the <url url="http://www.freebsd.org/~ahasty/Bt848.html" - name="Bt848"> video capture chip, then follow that link. - </itemize> - - <p>The FreeBSD handbook also has a fairly complete - <url url="../handbook/bibliography.html" name="bibliography"> - section which is worth reading if you're looking for actual - books to buy. - - </sect> - |