1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
|
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta name="generator" content="HTML Tidy, see www.w3.org" />
<title>FreeBSD 5.1-RELEASE README</title>
<meta name="GENERATOR"
content="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.73 " />
<link rel="STYLESHEET" type="text/css" href="docbook.css" />
</head>
<body class="ARTICLE" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"
link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF">
<div class="ARTICLE">
<div class="TITLEPAGE">
<h1 class="TITLE"><a id="AEN2" name="AEN2">FreeBSD
5.1-RELEASE README</a></h1>
<h3 class="CORPAUTHOR">The FreeBSD Project</h3>
<p class="COPYRIGHT">Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002,
2003 by The FreeBSD Documentation Project</p>
<p class="PUBDATE">$FreeBSD:
src/release/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/readme/article.sgml,v 1.26
2003/05/06 20:01:07 bmah Exp $<br />
</p>
<hr />
</div>
<blockquote class="ABSTRACT">
<div class="ABSTRACT">
<a id="AEN12" name="AEN12"></a>
<p>This document gives a brief introduction to FreeBSD
5.1-RELEASE. It includes some information on how to
obtain FreeBSD, a listing of various ways to contact the
FreeBSD Project, and pointers to some other sources of
information.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="SECT1">
<hr />
<h1 class="SECT1"><a id="INTRO" name="INTRO">1
Introduction</a></h1>
<p>This distribution is a release of FreeBSD 5.1-RELEASE,
the latest point along the 5-CURRENT branch.</p>
<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN17" name="AEN17">1.1 About
FreeBSD</a></h2>
<p>FreeBSD is an operating system based on 4.4 BSD Lite
for Intel, AMD, Cyrix or NexGen ``x86'' based PC hardware
(i386), NEC PC-9801/9821 series PCs and compatibles
(pc98), DEC/Compaq/HP Alpha computers (alpha), and
UltraSPARC machines (sparc64). Versions for the IA64
(ia64), PowerPC (powerpc), and AMD ``Hammer'' (amd64)
architectures are currently under development as well.
FreeBSD works with a wide variety of peripherals and
configurations and can be used for everything from
software development to games to Internet Service
Provision.</p>
<p>This release of FreeBSD 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.</p>
<p>A large collection of third-party ported software (the
``Ports Collection'') is also provided to make it easy to
obtain and install all your favorite traditional <span
class="TRADEMARK">UNIX</span>® utilities for FreeBSD.
Each ``port'' consists of a set of scripts to retrieve,
configure, build, and install a piece of software, with a
single command. Over 8,500 ports, from editors to
programming languages to graphical applications, make
FreeBSD a powerful and comprehensive operating
environment that extends far beyond what's provided by
many commercial versions of <span
class="TRADEMARK">UNIX</span>®. Most ports are also
available as pre-compiled ``packages'', which can be
quickly installed from the installation program.</p>
</div>
<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN29" name="AEN29">1.2 Target
Audience</a></h2>
<p>This release of FreeBSD is suitable for all users. It
has undergone a period of testing and quality assurance
checking to ensure the highest reliability and
dependability.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="SECT1">
<hr />
<h1 class="SECT1"><a id="OBTAIN" name="OBTAIN">2 Obtaining
FreeBSD</a></h1>
<p>FreeBSD may be obtained in a variety of ways. This
section focuses on those ways that are primarily useful for
obtaining a complete FreeBSD distribution, rather than
updating an existing installation.</p>
<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN35" name="AEN35">2.1 CDROM
and DVD</a></h2>
<p>FreeBSD -RELEASE distributions may be ordered on CDROM
or DVD from several publishers. This is frequently the
most convenient way to obtain FreeBSD for new
installations, as it provides a convenient way to quickly
reinstall the system if necessary. Some distributions
include some of the optional, precompiled ``packages''
from the FreeBSD Ports Collection.</p>
<p>A list of the CDROM and DVD publishers known to the
project are listed in the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors.html"
target="_top">``Obtaining FreeBSD''</a> appendix to the
Handbook.</p>
</div>
<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN42" name="AEN42">2.2
FTP</a></h2>
<p>You can use FTP to retrieve FreeBSD and any or all of
its optional packages from <a
href="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/"
target="_top">ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/</a>, which is the
official FreeBSD release site, or any of its
``mirrors''.</p>
<p>Lists of locations that mirror FreeBSD can be found in
the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors-ftp.html"
target="_top">FTP Sites</a> section of the Handbook, or
on the <a href="http://mirrorlist.freebsd.org/"
target="_top">http://mirrorlist.freebsd.org/</a> Web
pages. Finding a close (in networking terms) mirror from
which to download the distribution is highly
recommended.</p>
<p>Additional mirror sites are always welcome. Contact
<tt class="EMAIL"><<a
href="mailto:freebsd-admin@FreeBSD.org">freebsd-admin@FreeBSD.org</a>></tt>
for more details on becoming an official mirror site. You
can also find useful information for mirror sites at the
<a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/hubs/"
target="_top">Mirroring FreeBSD</a> article.</p>
<p>Mirrors generally contain the floppy disk images
necessary to begin an installation, as well as the
distribution files needed for the install process itself.
Many mirrors also contain the ISO images necessary to
create a CDROM of a FreeBSD release.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="SECT1">
<hr />
<h1 class="SECT1"><a id="CONTACTING" name="CONTACTING">3
Contacting the FreeBSD Project</a></h1>
<div class="SECT2">
<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN56" name="AEN56">3.1 Email
and Mailing Lists</a></h2>
<p>For any questions or general technical support issues,
please send mail to the <a
href="http://lists.FreeBSD.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions"
target="_top">FreeBSD general questions mailing
list</a>.</p>
<p>If you're tracking the 5-CURRENT development efforts,
you <span class="emphasis"><i
class="EMPHASIS">must</i></span> join the <a
href="http://lists.FreeBSD.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-current"
target="_top">FreeBSD-CURRENT mailing list</a>, in order
to keep abreast of recent developments and changes that
may affect the way you use and maintain the system.</p>
<p>Being a largely-volunteer effort, the FreeBSD 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
href="http://lists.FreeBSD.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers"
target="_top">FreeBSD technical discussions mailing
list</a>.</p>
<p>Please note that these mailing lists can experience
<span class="emphasis"><i
class="EMPHASIS">significant</i></span> amounts of
traffic. If you have slow or expensive mail access, or
are only interested in keeping up with major FreeBSD
events, you may find it preferable to subscribe instead
to the <a
href="http://lists.FreeBSD.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-announce"
target="_top">FreeBSD announcements mailing
list</a>.</p>
<p>All of the mailing lists can be freely joined by
anyone wishing to do so. Visit the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/mailman/listinfo"
target="_top">FreeBSD Mailman Info Page</a>. 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 from the
Mailman pages or the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/support.html#mailing-list"
target="_top">mailing lists section</a> of the FreeBSD
Web site.</p>
<div class="IMPORTANT">
<blockquote class="IMPORTANT">
<p><b>Important:</b> Do <span class="emphasis"><i
class="EMPHASIS">not</i></span> send email to the
lists asking to be subscribed. Use the Mailman
interface instead.</p>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN74" name="AEN74">3.2
Submitting Problem Reports</a></h2>
<p>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.</p>
<p>The preferred method to submit bug reports from a
machine with Internet mail connectivity is to use the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=send-pr&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+5.1-release">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span
class="REFENTRYTITLE">send-pr</span>(1)</span></a>
command. ``Problem Reports'' (PRs) submitted in this way
will be filed and their progress tracked; the FreeBSD
developers will do their best to respond to all reported
bugs as soon as possible. <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/query-pr-summary.cgi"
target="_top">A list of all active PRs</a> is available
on the FreeBSD Web site; this list is useful to see what
potential problems other users have encountered.</p>
<p>Note that <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=send-pr&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+5.1-release">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span
class="REFENTRYTITLE">send-pr</span>(1)</span></a> itself
is a shell script that should be easy to move even onto a
non-FreeBSD system. Using this interface is highly
preferred. If, for some reason, you are unable to use <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=send-pr&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+5.1-release">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span
class="REFENTRYTITLE">send-pr</span>(1)</span></a> to
submit a bug report, you can try to send it to the <a
href="http://lists.FreeBSD.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-bugs"
target="_top">FreeBSD problem reports mailing
list</a>.</p>
<p>For more information, <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/problem-reports/"
target="_top">``Writing FreeBSD Problem Reports''</a>,
available on the FreeBSD Web site, has a number of
helpful hints on writing and submitting effective problem
reports.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="SECT1">
<hr />
<h1 class="SECT1"><a id="SEEALSO" name="SEEALSO">4 Further
Reading</a></h1>
<p>There are many sources of information about FreeBSD;
some are included with this distribution, while others are
available on-line or in print versions.</p>
<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="RELEASE-DOCS"
name="RELEASE-DOCS">4.1 Release Documentation</a></h2>
<p>A number of other files provide more specific
information about this release distribution. These files
are provided in various formats. Most distributions will
include both ASCII text (<tt class="FILENAME">.TXT</tt>)
and HTML (<tt class="FILENAME">.HTM</tt>) renditions.
Some distributions may also include other formats such as
PostScript (<tt class="FILENAME">.PS</tt>) or Portable
Document Format (<tt class="FILENAME">.PDF</tt>).</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><tt class="FILENAME">README.TXT</tt>: This file,
which gives some general information about FreeBSD as
well as some cursory notes about obtaining a
distribution.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><tt class="FILENAME">EARLY.TXT</tt>: A guide for
early adopters of FreeBSD 5.1-RELEASE. Highly
recommended reading for users new to FreeBSD
5-CURRENT and/or the 5.<tt
class="REPLACEABLE"><i>X</i></tt> series of
releases.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><tt class="FILENAME">RELNOTES.TXT</tt>: The
release notes, showing what's new and different in
FreeBSD 5.1-RELEASE compared to the previous release
(FreeBSD 5.0-RELEASE).</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><tt class="FILENAME">HARDWARE.TXT</tt>: The
hardware compatibility list, showing devices with
which FreeBSD has been tested and is known to
work.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><tt class="FILENAME">INSTALL.TXT</tt>:
Installation instructions for installing FreeBSD from
its distribution media.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><tt class="FILENAME">ERRATA.TXT</tt>: 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 FreeBSD, as it contains the latest
information on problems which have been found and
fixed since the release was created.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="NOTE">
<blockquote class="NOTE">
<p><b>Note:</b> Several of these documents (in
particular, <tt class="FILENAME">RELNOTES.TXT</tt>,
<tt class="FILENAME">HARDWARE.TXT</tt>, and <tt
class="FILENAME">INSTALL.TXT</tt>) contain
information that is specific to a particular hardware
architecture. For example, the alpha release notes
contain information not applicable to the i386, and
vice versa. The architecture for which each document
applies will be listed in that document's title.</p>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br />
<br />
<p>On platforms that support <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=sysinstall&sektion=8&manpath=FreeBSD+5.1-release">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span
class="REFENTRYTITLE">sysinstall</span>(8)</span></a>
(currently alpha, i386, ia64, pc98, and sparc64), these
documents are generally available via the Documentation
menu during installation. Once the system is installed,
you can revisit this menu by re-running the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=sysinstall&sektion=8&manpath=FreeBSD+5.1-release">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span
class="REFENTRYTITLE">sysinstall</span>(8)</span></a>
utility.</p>
<div class="NOTE">
<blockquote class="NOTE">
<p><b>Note:</b> It is extremely important to read the
errata for any given release before installing it, to
learn about any ``late-breaking news'' 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 ``current errata'' for this release.
These other copies of the errata are located at <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/"
target="_top">http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/</a>
(as well as any sites which keep up-to-date mirrors
of this location).</p>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN141" name="AEN141">4.2 Manual
Pages</a></h2>
<p>As with almost all <span
class="TRADEMARK">UNIX</span>®-like operating
systems, FreeBSD comes with a set of on-line manual
pages, accessed through the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=man&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+5.1-release">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span
class="REFENTRYTITLE">man</span>(1)</span></a> command or
through the <a href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi"
target="_top">hypertext manual pages gateway</a> on the
FreeBSD Web site. In general, the manual pages provide
information on the different commands and APIs available
to the FreeBSD user.</p>
<p>In some cases, manual pages are written to give
information on particular topics. Notable examples of
such manual pages are <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=tuning&sektion=7&manpath=FreeBSD+5.1-release">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span
class="REFENTRYTITLE">tuning</span>(7)</span></a> (a
guide to performance tuning), <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=security&sektion=7&manpath=FreeBSD+5.1-release">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span
class="REFENTRYTITLE">security</span>(7)</span></a> (an
introduction to FreeBSD security), and <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=style&sektion=9&manpath=FreeBSD+5.1-release">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span
class="REFENTRYTITLE">style</span>(9)</span></a> (a style
guide to kernel coding).</p>
</div>
<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN159" name="AEN159">4.3 Books
and Articles</a></h2>
<p>Two highly-useful collections of FreeBSD-related
information, maintained by the FreeBSD Project, are the
FreeBSD Handbook and FreeBSD FAQ (Frequently Asked
Questions document). On-line versions of the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/"
target="_top">Handbook</a> and <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/"
target="_top">FAQ</a> are always available from the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/docs.html"
target="_top">FreeBSD Documentation page</a> or its
mirrors. If you install the <tt class="FILENAME">doc</tt>
distribution set, you can use a Web browser to read the
Handbook and FAQ locally.</p>
<p>A number of on-line books and articles, also
maintained by the FreeBSD Project, cover
more-specialized, FreeBSD-related topics. This material
spans a wide range of topics, from effective use of the
mailing lists, to dual-booting FreeBSD with other
operating systems, to guidelines for new committers. Like
the Handbook and FAQ, these documents are available from
the FreeBSD Documentation Page or in the <tt
class="FILENAME">doc</tt> distribution set.</p>
<p>A listing of other books and documents about FreeBSD
can be found in the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/bibliography.html"
target="_top">bibliography</a> of the FreeBSD Handbook.
Because of FreeBSD's strong <span
class="TRADEMARK">UNIX</span>® heritage, many other
articles and books written for <span
class="TRADEMARK">UNIX</span>® systems are applicable
as well, some of which are also listed in the
bibliography.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="SECT1">
<hr />
<h1 class="SECT1"><a id="ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS"
name="ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS">5 Acknowledgments</a></h1>
<p>FreeBSD 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.
For a complete list of FreeBSD developers and contributors,
please see <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/contributors/"
target="_top">``Contributors to FreeBSD''</a> on the
FreeBSD Web site or any of its mirrors.</p>
<p>Special thanks also go to the many thousands of FreeBSD
users and testers all over the world, without whom this
release simply would not have been possible.</p>
</div>
</div>
<hr />
<p align="center"><small>This file, and other release-related
documents, can be downloaded from <a
href="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/">ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/</a>.</small></p>
<p align="center"><small>For questions about FreeBSD, read the
<a href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/docs.html">documentation</a>
before contacting <<a
href="mailto:questions@FreeBSD.org">questions@FreeBSD.org</a>>.</small></p>
<p align="center"><small><small>All users of FreeBSD 5-CURRENT
should subscribe to the <<a
href="mailto:current@FreeBSD.org">current@FreeBSD.org</a>>
mailing list.</small></small></p>
<p align="center">For questions about this documentation,
e-mail <<a
href="mailto:doc@FreeBSD.org">doc@FreeBSD.org</a>>.</p>
<br />
<br />
</body>
</html>
|
