Reviewed by: jkh

Submitted by:	jkh gclarkii paul satoshi freebsd-hackers
These are the FAQ files, reorganized a bit and updated marginally for 2.0.
There is *still more work to be done* in updating, so if some of your FAQ text
is below, please check it over!  We've also got a lot of FAQ entries still
to write (examples: "how do I upgrade?" "what's new in 2.0?" "how do I
install on a notebook/second drive/from DOS/etc etc etc?"

1 files changed, 162 insertions, 0 deletions

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+                        THE FREEBSD CURRENT POLICY 
+
+Last updated: $Date: 1994/05/07 11:39:26 $
+
+This document attempts to explain the rationale behind FreeBSD-current,
+what you should expect should you decide to run it, and states some
+prerequisites for making sure the process goes as smoothly as possible.
+
+
+1.  What is FreeBSD-current?
+
+FreeBSD-current is, quite literally, nothing more than a daily snapshot of
+the working sources for FreeBSD.  These include work in progress, experimental
+changes, and transitional mechanisms that may or may not be present in
+the next official release of the software.  While many of us compile
+almost daily from FreeBSD-current sources, there are periods of time when
+the sources are literally uncompilable.  These problems are generally resolved
+as expeditiously as possible, but whether or not FreeBSD-current sources bring
+disaster or greatly desired functionality can literally be a matter of which
+part of any given 24 hour period you grabbed them in!  Please read on..
+
+Under certain circumstances we will sometimes make binaries for parts of
+FreeBSD-current available, but only because we're interested in getting
+something tested, not because we're in the business of providing binary
+releases of current.  If we don't offer, please don't ask!  It takes far
+too much time to do this as a general task.
+
+
+2. Who needs FreeBSD-current?
+
+FreeBSD-current is made generally available for 3 primary interest groups:
+
+    1.  Members of the FreeBSD group who are actively working on one
+        part or another of the source tree and for whom keeping `current'
+        is an absolute requirement.
+
+    2.  Members of the FreeBSD group who are active ALPHA/BETA testers
+        and willing to spend time working through problems in order to
+        ensure that FreeBSD-current remains as sane as possible.  These
+        are also people who wish to make topical suggestions on changes
+        and the general direction of FreeBSD.
+
+    3.  Peripheral members of the FreeBSD (or some other) group who merely
+        wish to keep an eye on things and use the current sources for
+        reference purposes (e.g. for *reading*, not running).  These
+        people also make the occasional comment or contribute code.
+
+
+3. What is FreeBSD-current _NOT_?
+
+    1.  A fast-track to getting pre-release bits because there's something
+        you heard was pretty cool in there and you want to be the first on
+        your block to have it.
+
+    2.  A quick way of getting bug fixes.
+
+    3.  In any way "officially supported" by us.
+
+        We do our best to help people genuinely in one of the 3
+        "legitimate" FreeBSD-current catagories, but we simply DO NOT
+        HAVE THE TIME to help every person who jumps into FreeBSD-current
+        with more enthusiasm than knowledge of how to deal with
+        experimental system software.  This is not because we're mean and
+        nasty people who don't like helping people out (we wouldn't even be
+        doing FreeBSD if we were), it's literally because we can't answer
+        400 messages a day AND actually work on FreeBSD!  I'm sure if
+        given the choice between having us answer lots of questions or
+        continue to improve FreeBSD, most of you would vote for us
+        improving it (and so would we! :-).
+
+
+4.  Ok.  I still think I "qualify" for FreeBSD-current, so what do I do?
+
+    1.  Join the freebsd-hackers and freebsd-commit mailing lists.
+        This is not just a good idea, it's ESSENTIAL.  If you aren't on
+        freebsd-hackers, you won't read the comments that people are
+        making about the current state of the system and thus will end
+        up stumbling over a lot of problems that others have already
+        found and solved.  Even more importantly, you will miss out on
+        potentially critical information (e.g. "Yo, Everybody!  Before you
+        rebuild /usr/src, you MUST rebuild the kernel or your system
+        will crash horribly!").
+
+        The freebsd-commit list will allow you to see the commit log
+        entry for each change as its made.  This can also contain
+        important information, and will let you know what parts of the
+        system are being actively changed.
+
+        To join these lists, send mail to `majordomo@freefall.cdrom.com'
+        and say:
+
+            subscribe freebsd-hackers
+            subscribe freebsd-commit
+
+        In the body of your message.  Optionally, you can also say `help'
+        and MajorDomo will send you full help on how to subscribe and
+        unsubscribe to the various other mailing lists we support.
+
+    2.  Grab the sources from freebsd.cdrom.com.  You can do this in
+        two ways:
+
+        1.  Use the CMU `sup' program (Software Update Protocol).
+            This is the most recommended method, since it allows you
+            to grab the entire collection once and then only what's
+            changed from then on.  Many people run sup from cron
+            and keep their sources up-to-date automatically.
+
+            To get a binary of the sup program for FreeBSD, as well
+            as the documentation and some sample configuration files,
+            look in:
+
+            freefall.cdrom.com:~ftp/pub/sup
+
+        2.  Use ftp.  The source tree for FreeBSD-current is always
+            "exported" on:
+
+             freebsd.cdrom.com:~ftp/pub/FreeBSD/FreeBSD-current
+
+            We use `wu-ftpd' which allows compressed/tar'd grabbing
+            of whole trees.  e.g. you see:
+
+            usr.bin/lex
+
+            You can do:
+
+            ftp> cd usr.bin
+            ftp> get lex.tar.Z
+
+            And it will get the whole directory for you as a compressed
+            tar file.
+
+        3.  If you're grabbing the sources to run, and not just look at,
+            then grab ALL of current, not just selected portions.  The
+            reason for this is that various parts of the source depend on
+            updates elsewhere and trying to compile just a subset is almost
+            guaranteed to get you into trouble.
+
+        4.  Before compiling current, read the Makefile in /usr/src
+            carefully.  You'll see one-time targets like `bootstrapld'
+            which *MUST* be run as part of the upgrading process.  Reading
+            freebsd-hackers will keep you up-to-date on other bootstrapping
+            procedures that sometimes become necessary as we move towards
+            the next release.
+
+        5.  Be active!  If you're running FreeBSD-current, we want to know
+            what you have to say about it, especially if you have suggestions
+            for enhancements or bug fixes.  Suggestions with accompanying code
+            are received most enthusiastically! :-)
+
+
+Thank you for taking the time to read this all the way through.  We're
+always very keen to remain "open" and share the fruits of our labor
+with the widest possible audience, but sharing development sources has
+always had certain pitfalls associated with it (which is why most
+commercial organizations won't even consider it) and I want to make
+sure that people at least come into this with their eyes open, and
+don't make the leap unless they're good at working without a net!
+
+                                    Jordan
+
+
+