---
title: "FreeBSD 4.6-RELEASE Announcement"
sidenav: download
---

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<p><b>Date:</b> Sat, 15 Jun 2002 16:34:26 -0700<br clear="none" />
  <b>From:</b> "Bruce A. Mah" &lt;bmah@FreeBSD.org&gt;<br clear="none" />
  <b>To:</b> freebsd-announce@FreeBSD.org<br clear="none" />
  <b>Subject:</b> FreeBSD 4.6-RELEASE is now available</p>

<p>I am happy to announce the availability of FreeBSD 4.6-RELEASE, the
  very latest release on the FreeBSD -STABLE development branch. Since
  FreeBSD 4.5-RELEASE in January 2002, we have made hundreds of fixes,
  updated many system components, and addressed a wide variety of
  security issues.</p>

<p>One of the most significant changes in FreeBSD 4.6 is the adoption
  of XFree86 4.2.0 as the default version of the X Windows System. We
  encourage users (particularly those upgrading from older
  installations of XFree86) to consult the relevant section of the
  FreeBSD Handbook for information on installing and configuring
  XFree86 4.2.0. This information can be found on-line at:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/x11.html" shape="rect">http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/x11.html</a></p>

<p>On systems with the doc distribution installed, it can also be
  found at:</p>

<p><tt>/usr/share/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/x11.html</tt></p>

<p>A number of enhancements to network device drivers have been made,
  as well as updates to the ATA storage subsystem.</p>

<p>Some contributed programs have been updated, such as sendmail
  (updated to 8.12.3) and the ISC DHCP client (updated to
  3.0.1RC8).</p>

<p>For more information about the most significant changes with this
  release of FreeBSD, please see the release notes:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/4.6R/relnotes.html" shape="rect">http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/4.6R/relnotes.html</a></p>

<p>It is also useful to peruse the errata file, as it contains
  late-breaking news about the release:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/4.6R/errata.html" shape="rect">http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/4.6R/errata.html</a></p>

<p>For more information about FreeBSD release engineering activities
  (including a schedule of upcoming releases), please see:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/releng/" shape="rect">http://www.FreeBSD.org/releng/</a></p>

<h1>Availability</h1>

<p>FreeBSD 4.6-RELEASE supports the i386 and alpha architectures and
  can be installed directly over the net using the boot floppies or
  copied to a local NFS/FTP server.  Distributions for the i386 are
  available now.  As of this writing, the final builds for the alpha
  architecture are in progress and will be made available shortly.</p>

<p>We can't promise that all the mirror sites will carry the larger
  ISO images, but they will at least be available from:</p>

<ul>
  <li><a href="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/" shape="rect">ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/</a></li>
  <li><a href="ftp://ftp2.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/" shape="rect">ftp://ftp2.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/</a></li>
  <li><a href="ftp://ftp.au.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/" shape="rect">ftp://ftp.au.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/</a></li>
  <li><a href="ftp://ftp.cz.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/" shape="rect">ftp://ftp.cz.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/</a></li>
  <li><a href="ftp://ftp.lt.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/" shape="rect">ftp://ftp.lt.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/</a></li>
  <li><a href="ftp://freebsd.nctu.edu.tw/FreeBSD/" shape="rect">ftp://freebsd.nctu.edu.tw/FreeBSD/</a></li>
</ul>

<p>If you can't afford FreeBSD on media, are impatient, or just want
  to use it for evangelism purposes, then by all means download the
  ISO images, otherwise please continue to support the FreeBSD Project
  by purchasing media from one of our supporting vendors. The
  following companies have contributed substantially to the
  development of FreeBSD:</p>

<table border="0">
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td align="left" rowspan="1" colspan="1">FreeBSD Mall, Inc.</td>
      <td align="left" rowspan="1" colspan="1"><a href="http://www.freebsdmall.com/" shape="rect">http://www.freebsdmall.com/</a></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td align="left" rowspan="1" colspan="1">FreeBSD Services Ltd.</td>
      <td align="left" rowspan="1" colspan="1"><a href="http://www.freebsd-services.com/" shape="rect">http://www.freebsd-services.com/</a></td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
      <td align="left" rowspan="1" colspan="1">Daemon News</td>
      <td align="left" rowspan="1" colspan="1"><a href="http://www.bsdmall.com/freebsd1.html" shape="rect">http://www.bsdmall.com/freebsd1.html</a></td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

<p>Each CD or DVD set contains the FreeBSD installation and
  application package bits for the i386 ("PC") architecture. For a set
  of distfiles used to build ports in the ports collection, please see
  the FreeBSD Toolkit, a 6 CD set containing extra bits which no
  longer fit on the 4 CD set, or the DVD distribution from FreeBSD
  Services Ltd.</p>

<p>FreeBSD is also available via anonymous FTP from mirror sites in
  the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria,
  Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France,
  Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Korea,
  Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania,
  Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Slovak Republic, Slovenia,
  Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Trantor, Ukraine, and the United
  Kingdom.</p>

<p>Before trying the central FTP site, please check your regional
  mirror(s) first by going to:</p>

<p>ftp://ftp.&lt;yourdomain&gt;.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD</p>

<p>Any additional mirror sites will be labeled ftp2, ftp3 and so
  on.</p>

<p>More information about FreeBSD mirror sites can be found at:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors-ftp.html" shape="rect">http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors-ftp.html</a></p>

<p>For instructions on installing FreeBSD, please see Chapter 2 of The
  FreeBSD Handbook. It provides a complete installation walk-through
  for users new to FreeBSD, and can be found online at:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/install.html" shape="rect">http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/install.html</a></p>

<h1>Acknowledgments</h1>

<p>Many companies donated equipment, network access, or man-hours to
  finance the release engineering activities for FreeBSD 4.6,
  including Compaq, Yahoo!, and The FreeBSD Mall.</p>

<p>In addition to myself, the release engineering team for
  4.6-RELEASE includes:</p>

<table border="0">
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Murray Stokely &lt;<a href="mailto:murray@FreeBSD.org" shape="rect">murray@FreeBSD.org</a>&gt;</td>
      <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Release Engineering Lead, i386 Builds</td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
      <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Robert Watson &lt;<a href="mailto:rwatson@FreeBSD.org" shape="rect">rwatson@FreeBSD.org</a>&gt;</td>
      <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Release Engineering</td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
      <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">John Baldwin &lt;<a href="mailto:jhb@FreeBSD.org" shape="rect">jhb@FreeBSD.org</a>&gt;</td>
      <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Release Engineering, alpha Builds</td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
      <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Brian Somers &lt;<a href="mailto:brian@FreeBSD.org" shape="rect">brian@FreeBSD.org</a>&gt;</td>
      <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Release Engineering</td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
      <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Steve Price &lt;<a href="mailto:steve@FreeBSD.org" shape="rect">steve@FreeBSD.org</a>&gt;</td>
      <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Package Splits</td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
      <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Will Andrews &lt;<a href="mailto:will@FreeBSD.org" shape="rect">will@FreeBSD.org</a>&gt;</td>
      <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Package Splits</td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
      <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Kris Kennaway &lt;<a href="mailto:kris@FreeBSD.org" shape="rect">kris@FreeBSD.org</a>&gt;</td>
      <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Package Building</td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
      <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">David O'Brien &lt;<a href="mailto:obrien@FreeBSD.org" shape="rect">obrien@FreeBSD.org</a>&gt;</td>
      <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">XFree86 Integration</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

<p>Please join me in thanking them for all the hard work which went
  into making this release. Many thanks are also due to the FreeBSD
  committers (committers@FreeBSD.org), without whom there would be
  nothing to release, and thousands of FreeBSD users world-wide who
  have contributed bug fixes, features, and suggestions.</p>

<p>Enjoy!</p>

<p>Bruce A. Mah<br clear="none" />
(For the FreeBSD Release Engineering Team)</p>


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