---
title: "FreeBSD 2.2.5 Release Notes"
sidenav: download
---

= FreeBSD 2.2.5 Release Notes

....
                                 RELEASE NOTES
                             FreeBSD 2.2.5-RELEASE

o For information about the layout of the release directory, see
  the ABOUT.TXT file.  If you are installing from floppies, it is
  especially important that you *read this section!*

o It is also important to check the ERRATA.TXT file for any
  late-breaking issues with this release.  This file contains the
  latest information on significant bugs, security problems or
  other similar issues which an administrator should be aware of.

o For installation instructions, see the INSTALL.TXT and HARDWARE.TXT
  files.

For the most up-to-date releases along the RELENG_2_2 branch (which
is now proceeding onwards toward release 2.2.6), please install from:

        ftp://releng22.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/

Or for the latest 3.0-current (HEAD branch) snapshot releases,
please install from:

        ftp://current.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD


1. What's new since 2.2.2
-------------------------

Better support for Cyrix and AMD processors.

The "world" target in /usr/src/Makefile has been made more
independent of the host system, allowing for easier bootstrapping
via source from very old systems.

Many many fixes to the documentation.

Many security enhancements, as reported through CERT and other
computer security organizations.

The installation program was further updated and fixed, some
year-old bogons finally eliminated for 2.2.5.

Important subsystems such as BIND and sendmail updated.

Support for ethernet media selection.   Replacing the far
more arcane "link" flag usage, a new media flag to ifconfig
permits specific interfaces on multi-port ethernet cards to
be selected by name (man ifconfig for more details).

Significant improvements to the AHC (Adaptec 394x/294X) driver
and AIC7xxx assembler.

Enhancements to the serial boot code and GDB remote support.

Make work-around available for CMD640 chipset (see /sys/i386/conf/LINT).

Newer 3Com 3c589D PCMCIA cards are now supported.

A new VGA library (/usr/src/lib/libvgl) now exists for doing simple
VGA graphics to syscons ttys (sort of like Linux's libSVGA).

The TCP connection timeout in lpd & friends can now be specified by a
printcap(5) capability, preventing it from hanging for too long when
working in an environment with many network printservers.

User-mode ppp updated with various fixes and enhancements from 3.0-current.
It's worth re-reading the manual page since some of the following changes
may disturb peoples current configurations:

  o The "set debug" command is now "set log".
  o The LCP log has been split into an LCP, IPCP and CCP log, so any
    "set log LCP" lines will need to be changed to "set log LCP IPCP CCP"
    to see the same output as before.
  o Ppp now uses syslogd to write its log files.
  o Ppp now has LQR disabled and openmode active by default.
  o Ppp now installs as group "network", with mode 4550.  You must add group
    69 (network) to /etc/group.  If you wish to allow users to run "ppp
    -direct ...", you must enable them by making them a member of group
    "network".  Client-side ppp now requires user id 0.

Refer to the ppp(8) man page and the relevent section of the handbook for
full details.


2. Supported Configurations
---------------------------

FreeBSD currently runs on a wide variety of ISA, VLB, EISA and PCI bus
based PC's, ranging from 386sx to Pentium class machines (though the
386sx is not recommended).  Support for generic IDE or ESDI drive
configurations, various SCSI controller, network and serial cards is
also provided.

What follows is a list of all peripherals currently known to work with
FreeBSD.  Other configurations may also work, we have simply not as yet
received confirmation of this.


2.1. Disk Controllers
---------------------

WD1003 (any generic MFM/RLL)
WD1007 (any generic IDE/ESDI)
IDE
ATA

Adaptec 1535 ISA SCSI controllers
Adaptec 154x series ISA SCSI controllers
Adaptec 174x series EISA SCSI controller in standard and enhanced mode.
Adaptec 274X/284X/2940/3940 (Narrow/Wide/Twin) series ISA/EISA/PCI SCSI
controllers.
Adaptec AIC7850 on-board SCSI controllers.

Support for the following controllers is rather weak:
Adaptec 1510 series ISA SCSI controllers (not for bootable devices)
Adaptec 152x series ISA SCSI controllers
Adaptec AIC-6260 and AIC-6360 based boards, which includes the AHA-152x
and SoundBlaster SCSI cards.

** Note: You cannot boot from the SoundBlaster cards as they have no
   on-board BIOS, such being necessary for mapping the boot device into the
   system BIOS I/O vectors.  They're perfectly usable for external tapes,
   CDROMs, etc, however.  The same goes for any other AIC-6x60 based card
   without a boot ROM.  Some systems DO have a boot ROM, which is generally
   indicated by some sort of message when the system is first powered up
   or reset, and in such cases you *will* also be able to boot from them.
   Check your system/board documentation for more details.

Buslogic 545S & 545c
Buslogic 445S/445c VLB SCSI controller
Buslogic 742A, 747S, 747c EISA SCSI controller.
Buslogic 946c PCI SCSI controller
Buslogic 956c PCI SCSI controller

SymBios (formerly NCR) 53C810, 53C825, 53c860 and 53c875 PCI SCSI
controllers:
        ASUS SC-200
        Data Technology DTC3130 (all variants)
        NCR cards (all)
        Symbios cards (all)
        Tekram DC390W, 390U and 390F
        Tyan S1365

Tekram DC390 and DC390T controllers (maybe other cards based on the
AMD 53c974 as well).

NCR5380/NCR53400 ("ProAudio Spectrum") SCSI controller.

DTC 3290 EISA SCSI controller in 1542 emulation mode.

UltraStor 14F, 24F and 34F SCSI controllers.

Seagate ST01/02 SCSI controllers.

Future Domain 8xx/950 series SCSI controllers.

WD7000 SCSI controller.

FreeBSD 2.2.5 will be accompanied by a contributed driver for the
Future Domain 36C20 / Adaptec AHA2920 controller.  This is not fully
supported (yet), but basically functional.  Look into the /xperimnt
section of the CD-ROM.

With all supported SCSI controllers, full support is provided for
SCSI-I & SCSI-II peripherals, including Disks, tape drives (including
DAT and 8mm Exabyte) and CD ROM drives.

The following CD-ROM type systems are supported at this time:
(cd)    SCSI interface (also includes ProAudio Spectrum and
        SoundBlaster SCSI)
(mcd)   Mitsumi proprietary interface (all models, driver is rather stale)
(matcd) Matsushita/Panasonic (Creative SoundBlaster) proprietary
        interface (562/563 models)
(scd)   Sony proprietary interface (all models)
(wcd)   ATAPI IDE interface.


2.2. Ethernet cards
-------------------

Allied-Telesis AT1700 and RE2000 cards

AMD PCnet/PCI (79c970 & 53c974 or 79c974)

SMC Elite 16 WD8013 ethernet interface, and most other WD8003E,
WD8003EBT, WD8003W, WD8013W, WD8003S, WD8003SBT and WD8013EBT
based clones.  SMC Elite Ultra is also supported.

DEC EtherWORKS III NICs (DE203, DE204, and DE205)
DEC EtherWORKS II NICs (DE200, DE201, DE202, and DE422)
DEC DC21040, DC21041, or DC21140 based NICs (SMC Etherpower 8432T, DE245, etc)
DEC FDDI (DEFPA/DEFEA) NICs

Fujitsu MB86960A/MB86965A

HP PC Lan+ cards (model numbers: 27247B and 27252A).

Intel EtherExpress (not recommended due to driver instability)
Intel EtherExpress Pro/10
Intel EtherExpress Pro/100B PCI Fast Ethernet

Isolan AT 4141-0 (16 bit)
Isolink 4110     (8 bit)

Novell NE1000, NE2000, and NE2100 ethernet interface.

3Com 3C501 cards

3Com 3C503 Etherlink II

3Com 3c505 Etherlink/+

3Com 3C507 Etherlink 16/TP

3Com 3C509, 3C579, 3C589 (PCMCIA), 3C590/592/595/900/905 PCI and EISA
(Fast) Etherlink III / (Fast) Etherlink XL

Toshiba ethernet cards

PCMCIA ethernet cards from IBM and National Semiconductor are also
supported.

Note that NO token ring cards are supported at this time as we're
still waiting for someone to donate a driver for one of them.  Any
takers?


2.3. Misc
---------

AST 4 port serial card using shared IRQ.

ARNET 8 port serial card using shared IRQ.
ARNET (now Digiboard) Sync 570/i high-speed serial.

Boca BB1004 4-Port serial card (Modems NOT supported)
Boca IOAT66 6-Port serial card (Modems supported)
Boca BB1008 8-Port serial card (Modems NOT supported)
Boca BB2016 16-Port serial card (Modems supported)

Cyclades Cyclom-y Serial Board.

STB 4 port card using shared IRQ.

SDL Communications Riscom/8 Serial Board.
SDL Communications RISCom/N2 and N2pci high-speed sync serial boards.

Stallion multiport serial boards: EasyIO, EasyConnection 8/32 & 8/64,
ONboard 4/16 and Brumby.

Adlib, SoundBlaster, SoundBlaster Pro, ProAudioSpectrum, Gravis UltraSound
and Roland MPU-401 sound cards.

Connectix QuickCam
Matrox Meteor Video frame grabber
Creative Labs Video Spigot frame grabber
Cortex1 frame grabber
Various Frame grabbers based on Brooktree Bt848 chip.

HP4020, HP6020, Philips CDD2000/CDD2660 and Plasmon CD-R drives.

PS/2 mice

Standard PC Joystick

X-10 power controllers

GPIB and Transputer drivers.

Genius and Mustek hand scanners.

Floppy tape drives (some rather old models only, driver rather stale)


FreeBSD currently does NOT support IBM's microchannel (MCA) bus.


3. Obtaining FreeBSD
--------------------

You may obtain FreeBSD in a variety of ways:

3.1. FTP/Mail
-------------

You can ftp FreeBSD and any or all of its optional packages from
`ftp.FreeBSD.org' - the official FreeBSD release site.

For other locations that mirror the FreeBSD software see the file
MIRROR.SITES.  Please ftp the distribution from the site closest (in
networking terms) to you.  Additional mirror sites are always welcome!
Contact freebsd-admin@FreeBSD.org for more details if you'd like to
become an official mirror site.

If you do not have access to the Internet and electronic mail is your
only recourse, then you may still fetch the files by sending mail to
`ftpmail@ftpmail.vix.com' - putting the keyword "help" in your message
to get more information on how to fetch files using this mechanism.
Please do note, however, that this will end up sending many *tens of
megabytes* through the mail and should only be employed as an absolute
LAST resort!


3.2. CDROM
----------

FreeBSD 2.2.5-RELEASE and 3.0-SNAPSHOT CDs may be ordered on CDROM from:

        Walnut Creek CDROM
        4041 Pike Lane, Suite D
        Concord CA  94520
        1-800-786-9907, +1-510-674-0783, +1-510-674-0821 (fax)

Or via the Internet from orders@cdrom.com or http://www.cdrom.com.
Their current catalog can be obtained via ftp from:
        ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/cdrom/catalog.

Cost per -RELEASE CD is $39.95 or $24.95 with a FreeBSD subscription.
FreeBSD 3.0-SNAP CDs are $29.95 or $14.95 with a FreeBSD-SNAP subscription
(-RELEASE and -SNAP subscriptions are entirely separate).  With a
subscription, you will automatically receive updates as they are released.
Your credit card will be billed when each disk is shipped and you may cancel
your subscription at any time without further obligation.

Shipping (per order not per disc) is $5 in the US, Canada or Mexico
and $9.00 overseas.  They accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American
Express or checks in U.S. Dollars and ship COD within the United
States.  California residents please add 8.25% sales tax.

Should you be dissatisfied for any reason, the CD comes with an
unconditional return policy.


4. Reporting problems, making suggestions, submitting code.
-----------------------------------------------------------

Your suggestions, bug reports and contributions of code are always
valued - please do not hesitate to report any problems you may find
(preferably with a fix attached, if you can!).

The preferred method to submit bug reports from a machine with
Internet mail connectivity is to use the send-pr command or use the CGI
script at http://www.FreeBSD.org/send-pr.html.  Bug reports
will be dutifully filed by our faithful bugfiler program and you can
be sure that we'll do our best to respond to all reported bugs as soon
as possible.  Bugs filed in this way are also visible on our WEB site
in the support section and are therefore valuable both as bug reports
and as "signposts" for other users concerning potential problems to
watch out for.

If, for some reason, you are unable to use the send-pr command to
submit a bug report, you can try to send it to:

                freebsd-bugs@FreeBSD.org

Note that send-pr itself is a shell script that should be easy to move
even onto a totally different system.  We much prefer if you could use
this interface, since it make it easier to keep track of the problem
reports.  However, before submitting, please try to make sure whether
the problem might have already been fixed since.


Otherwise, for any questions or suggestions, please send mail to:

                freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org


Additionally, being a volunteer effort, we are always happy to have
extra hands willing to help - there are already far more desired
enhancements than we'll ever be able to manage by ourselves!  To
contact us on technical matters, or with offers of help, please send
mail to:

                freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.org


Please note that these mailing lists can experience *significant*
amounts of traffic and if you have slow or expensive mail access and
are only interested in keeping up with significant FreeBSD events, you
may find it preferable to subscribe instead to:

                freebsd-announce@FreeBSD.org


All but the freebsd-bugs groups can be freely joined by anyone wishing
to do so.  Send mail to MajorDomo@FreeBSD.org and include the keyword
`help' on a line by itself somewhere in the body of the message.  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, so send mail to majordomo
and ask about them!


5. Acknowledgements
-------------------

FreeBSD represents the cumulative work of many dozens, if not
hundreds, of individuals from around the world who have worked very
hard to bring you this release.  For a complete list of FreeBSD
project staffers, please see:

        http://www.FreeBSD.org/handbook/staff.html

or, if you've loaded the doc distribution:

        file:/usr/share/doc/handbook/staff.html

Additional FreeBSD helpers and beta testers:

        Coranth Gryphon            Dave Rivers
        Kaleb S. Keithley          Terry Lambert
        David Dawes                Don Lewis

Special mention to:

        Walnut Creek CDROM, without whose help (and continuing support)
        this release would never have been possible.

        Dermot McDonnell for his donation of a Toshiba XM3401B CDROM
        drive.

        Chuck Robey for his donation of a floppy tape streamer for
        testing.

        Larry Altneu and Wilko Bulte for providing us with Wangtek
        and Archive QIC-02 tape drives for testing and driver hacking.

        Everyone at Montana State University for their initial support.

        And to the many thousands of FreeBSD users and testers all over the
        world, without whom this release simply would not have been possible.

We sincerely hope you enjoy this release of FreeBSD!

                        The FreeBSD Project
....

link:../../[Release Home]
