diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'release/texts/ABOUT.TXT')
| -rw-r--r-- | release/texts/ABOUT.TXT | 197 |
1 files changed, 197 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/release/texts/ABOUT.TXT b/release/texts/ABOUT.TXT new file mode 100644 index 0000000..008a60c --- /dev/null +++ b/release/texts/ABOUT.TXT @@ -0,0 +1,197 @@ +o About FreeBSD: + +What is FreeBSD? FreeBSD is an operating system based on 4.4 BSD Lite +for Intel, AMD, Cyrix or NexGen "x86" based PC hardware. It works +with a very wide variety of PC peripherals and configurations and can +be used for everything from software development to Internet Service +Provision. + +This release of FreeBSD contains everything you need to run such a +system, including full source code for everything. With the source +distribution installed you can literally recompile the entire system +from scratch with one command, making it ideal for students, +researchers or folks who simply want to see how it all works. + +A large collection of 3rd party ported software (the "ports +collection") is also provided to make it easier for you to obtain and +install all your favorite traditional UNIX utilities for FreeBSD. +Over 1000 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 UNIX. + +For more documentation on this system it is recommended that you +purchase the 4.4BSD Document Set from O'Reilly Associates and the +USENIX Association, ISBN 1-56592-082-1. We have no connection with +O'Reilly, we're just satisfied customers! + +If you're new to FreeBSD then you should also read EVERYTHING listed +in the Documentation menu on the boot floppy. It may seem like a lot +to read, but you should at least acquaint yourself with the types of +information available should you later get stuck. Once the system is +installed, you can also revisit this menu and use a WEB browser to +read the installed FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) and Handbook HTML +documentation sets for FreeBSD. You can also use the browser to visit +other WEB sites on the net (such as http://www.freebsd.org) if you +have an Internet connection. + + +DISCLAIMER: While FreeBSD does its best to safeguard against +accidental loss of data, it's still more than possible to WIPE OUT +YOUR ENTIRE DISK with this installation! Please do not proceed to the +final FreeBSD installation menu unless you've adequately backed up any +important data first! We really mean it! + + +o E-mail addresses and tech support info: + +For general questions, please send email to : + + freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org + +Please also have patience if your questions are not answered right +away - this mailing list is staffed purely by volunteers and they also +have real life schedules to contend with. Questions which are asked +intelligently (e.g. not "My system doesn't work! What's wrong!?") +also stand a far greater chance of being answered. If your question +does not contain enough information to allow the responder to generate +a meaningful answer, they generally won't. + +Bug reports submitted with the send-pr command are also logged and +tracked in our bugs database, and you'll be kept informed of any +changes in status during the life of the bug (or feature request). + +Technical comments on this release should be sent (in English!) to: + + freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.org + +Bug reports should be sent using the `send-pr' command or the Web page +at http://www.freebsd.org/send-pr.html. If you cannot use either of +these two methods, you may also send mail to: + + freebsd-bugs@FreeBSD.org + + +PLEASE ALSO BE SURE TO INDICATE WHICH VERSION OF FREEBSD YOU'RE +RUNNING IN ANY BUG REPORTS OR QUESTIONS! + +Sorry for the caps, but you'd be amazed at how many times people +forget this and there are many different release versions of FreeBSD +out there now. It's imperative that we know what you're running so +that we tell if you're suffering from a bug which has already been +fixed. + + +o WWW Resources: + +Our WEB site, http://www.freebsd.org, is also a very good source for +updated information and provides a number of advanced documentation +searching facilities. If you wish to use Netscape as your browser, +several versions may be found in the ports collection under +/usr/ports/www if you've installed the ports collection on your +machine (always a good idea). + +Several other non-commercial browsers are also available in +/usr/ports/www and may be compiled and installed in the same fashion. +Many are also available as pre-compiled packages - see the Packages +entry in the Configuration menu for more details. + +The Handbook and FAQ are also available as on-line documents in +/usr/share/doc and can be read using the ``file:/usr/share/doc'' +syntax in any HTML capable browser. + + +o Distributions: + +A typical FreeBSD distribution directory looks like this: + +ABOUT.TXT bin dict manpages tools +HARDWARE.TXT compat1x des doc packages +INSTALL.TXT compat20 floppies ports +README.TXT compat21 games proflibs +RELNOTES.TXT info src +XF86332 + +If you want to do a CDROM, FTP or NFS installation from this +distribution directory, all you need to do is make a 1.44Mb floppy +from the floppies/boot.flp image file (see floppies/README.TXT for +instructions on how to do this), boot it and follow the instructions. + +If you're trying to do some other type of installation, or are just +curious about how the distribution is organized in general, what +follows is a more thorough description of each item in more detail: + +The *.TXT files obviously contain documentation (ABOUT.TXT being what +you're reading now). + +The XF86332 directory contains the XFree86 project's 3.3.2 release and +consists of a series of gzip'd tar files which contain each component +of the XFree86 distribution. + +The bin, dict, des, doc, games, info, manpages, proflibs, and src +directories contain the primary distribution components of FreeBSD +itself and are split into smaller files for easy packing onto floppies +(should that be necessary). + +The compat1x, compat20 and compat21 directories contain distributions +for compatibility with older releases and are distributed as single +gzip'd tar files - they can be installed during release time or later +by running their `install.sh' scripts. + +A typical distribution (we'll use the info distribution as an example) +looks like this: + +CHECKSUM.MD5 info.ab info.ad info.inf install.sh +info.aa info.ac info.ae info.mtree + +The CHECKSUM.MD5 file contains MD5 signatures for each file, should +data corruption be suspected, and is purely for reference - it is not +used by the actual installation and does not need to be copied with +the rest of the distribution files. The info.a* files are split, +gzip'd tar files, the contents of which can be viewed by doing: + + cat info.a* | tar tvzf - + +During installation, they are automatically concatenated and extracted +by the installation procedure. + +The info.inf file is also necessary since it is read by the installation +program in order to figure out how many pieces to look for when fetching and +concatenating the distribution. When putting distributions onto floppies, +the .inf file MUST occupy the first floppy of each distribution set! + +The info.mtree file is another non-essential file which is provided +for user reference. It contains the MD5 signatures of the *unpacked* +distribution files and can be later used with the mtree(1) program +to verify the installation permissions and checksums against any possible +modifications to the file. When used with the bin distribution, this can +be an excellent way of detecting trojan horse attacks on your system. + +Finally, the install.sh file is for use by those who want to install the +distribution after installation time. To install the info distribution from +CDROM after a system was installed, for example, you'd do: + + cd /cdrom/info + sh install.sh + +And that's all there is to it! Each distribution contains its own +install.sh file for this. + + +The floppies subdirectory contains the floppy installation images and +the floppies/README.TXT file should be read for further information +on them. + +The packages and ports directories contain the FreeBSD packages and +ports collections. Packages may be installed from the packages directory +by running the /stand/sysinstall utility with the argument ``configPackages'' +or by feeding the individual filenames to the pkg_add(1) command. + +The ports collection may be installed like any other distribution +and requires about 30MB unpacked. More information on the ports collection +may be obtained from http://www.freebsd.org/ports or locally from +file:/usr/share/doc/handbook if you've installed the doc distribution. + +Last of all, the tools directory contains various DOS tools for +discovering disk geometries, installing boot managers and the like. +It is purely optional and provided only for user convenience. |
