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<article>
  <articleinfo>
    <title>&os; &release.current; README</title>

    <corpauthor>The &os; Project</corpauthor>

    <pubdate>$FreeBSD$</pubdate>

    <copyright>
      <year>2000</year>
      <year>2001</year>
      <year>2002</year>
      <year>2003</year>
      <year>2004</year>
      <year>2005</year>
      <year>2006</year>
      <year>2007</year>
      <year>2008</year>
      <holder role="mailto:doc@FreeBSD.org">The &os; Documentation Project</holder>
    </copyright>

    <legalnotice id="trademarks" role="trademarks">
      &tm-attrib.freebsd;
      &tm-attrib.intel;
      &tm-attrib.opengroup;
      &tm-attrib.sparc;
      &tm-attrib.general;
    </legalnotice>
  </articleinfo>

  <abstract>
    <para>This document gives a brief introduction to &os;
      &release.current;.  It includes some information on how to
      obtain &os;, a listing of various ways to contact the &os;
      Project, and pointers to some other sources of
      information.</para>
  </abstract>

  <sect1 id="intro">
    <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
        AMD64 and Intel EM64T based PC hardware (&arch.amd64;),
        Intel, AMD, Cyrix or NexGen <quote>x86</quote> based PC hardware (&arch.i386;),
        Intel Itanium Processor based computers (&arch.ia64;),
        NEC PC-9801/9821 series PCs and compatibles (&arch.pc98;),
        and &ultrasparc; machines (&arch.sparc64;).  Versions
        for the &arm; (&arch.arm;), &mips; (&arch.mips;), and
        &powerpc; (&arch.powerpc;) 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>

      <para releasetype="current">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 releasetype="current">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 releasetype="current">For those more interested in doing business with &os; than
        in experimenting with new &os; technology, formal releases
        (such as &release.prev.stable;) are frequently more appropriate.
        Releases undergo a period of testing and quality assurance
        checking to ensure high reliability and dependability.</para>

      <para releasetype="snapshot">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 releasetype="snapshot">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 releasetype="snapshot">For those more interested in doing business with &os; than
        in experimenting with new &os; technology, formal releases
        (such as &release.prev.stable;) are frequently more appropriate.
        Releases undergo a period of testing and quality assurance
        checking to ensure high reliability and dependability.</para>

      <para releasetype="release">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 id="obtain">
    <title>Obtaining &os;</title>

    <para>&os; may be obtained in a variety of ways.  This section
      focuses on those ways that are primarily useful 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, or other extra material.</para>

      <para>A list of the CDROM and DVD publishers known to the
        project are listed in the <ulink
        url="&url.books.handbook;/mirrors.html"><quote>Obtaining
        &os;</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="&url.books.handbook;/mirrors-ftp.html">FTP
        Sites</ulink> section of the Handbook.
        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.  You can also find useful
        information for mirror sites at the <ulink
        url="&url.articles.hubs;/">Mirroring
        &os;</ulink> article.</para>

      <para>Mirrors generally contain the ISO images generally used to
        create a CDROM of a &os; release.  They usually also contain
        floppy disk images (for applicable platforms), as well as the
        files necessary to do an installation over the network.
        Finally mirrors sites usually contain a set of packages for
        the most current 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>

      <para>Being a largely-volunteer effort, the &os;
        Project is always happy to have extra hands willing to help&mdash;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.  If you
        have slow or expensive mail access, or are only interested in
        keeping up with major &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.  Visit the <ulink url="&url.base;/mailman/listinfo">
        &os; Mailman Info Page</ulink>.  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 <ulink
        url="&url.base;/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 Mailman interface
          instead.</para>
      </important>
    </sect2>

    <sect2>
      <title>Submitting Problem Reports</title>

      <para>Suggestions, bug reports and contributions of code are
        always valued&mdash;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.
        <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>For more information, <ulink
        url="&url.articles.problem-reports;/"><quote>Writing
        &os; Problem Reports</quote></ulink>, available on the &os; Web
        site, has a number of helpful hints on writing and submitting
        effective problem reports.</para>
    </sect2>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="seealso">
    <title>Further Reading</title>

    <para>There are many sources of information about &os;; some are
      included with this distribution, while others are available
      on-line or in print versions.</para>

    <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 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 the previous release (&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>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>On platforms that support &man.sysinstall.8; (currently
        &arch.amd64;, &arch.i386;, &arch.ia64;, &arch.pc98;, and &arch.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
        &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="&url.base;/releases/"></ulink> (as
          well as any sites which keep up-to-date mirrors of this
          location).</para>
      </note>
    </sect2>

    <sect2>
      <title>Manual Pages</title>

      <para>As with almost all &unix; like operating systems, &os; comes
        with a set of on-line manual pages, accessed through the
        &man.man.1; command or through the <ulink
        url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi">hypertext manual
        pages gateway</ulink> on the &os; Web site.  In general, the
        manual pages provide information on the different commands and
        APIs available to the &os; user.</para>

      <para>In some cases, manual pages are written to give
        information on particular topics.  Notable examples of such
        manual pages are &man.tuning.7; (a guide to performance tuning),
        &man.security.7; (an introduction to &os; security), and
        &man.style.9; (a style guide to kernel coding).</para>
    </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="&url.books.handbook;/">Handbook</ulink>
        and <ulink
        url="&url.books.faq;/">FAQ</ulink>
        are always available from the <ulink
        url="&url.base;/docs.html">&os; 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.  In particular,
        note that the Handbook contains a step-by-step guide to
        installing &os;.</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="&url.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 id="acknowledgements">
    <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="&url.articles.contributors;/"><quote>Contributors
      to &os;</quote></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>

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