---
title: "FreeBSD 6.3-RELEASE README"
sidenav: download
---

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<h3 class="CORPAUTHOR">The FreeBSD Project</h3>

<p class="COPYRIGHT">Copyright &copy; 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 The FreeBSD
Documentation Project</p>

<p class="PUBDATE">$FreeBSD: src/release/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/readme/article.sgml,v 1.37
2005/04/19 09:43:53 hrs Exp $<br />
</p>

<div class="LEGALNOTICE"><a id="TRADEMARKS" name="TRADEMARKS"></a>
<p>FreeBSD is a registered trademark of the FreeBSD Foundation.</p>

<p>Intel, Celeron, EtherExpress, i386, i486, Itanium, Pentium, and Xeon are trademarks or
registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and
other countries.</p>

<p>Motif, OSF/1, and UNIX are registered trademarks and IT DialTone and The Open Group
are trademarks of The Open Group in the United States and other countries.</p>

<p>Sparc, Sparc64, SPARCEngine, and UltraSPARC are trademarks of SPARC International, Inc
in the United States and other countries. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based
upon architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc.</p>

<p>Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their
products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this document, and
the FreeBSD Project was aware of the trademark claim, the designations have been followed
by the &#8220;&trade;&#8221; or the &#8220;&reg;&#8221; symbol.</p>
</div>

<hr />
</div>

<blockquote class="ABSTRACT">
<div class="ABSTRACT"><a id="AEN22" name="AEN22"></a>
<p>This document gives a brief introduction to FreeBSD 6.3-RELEASE. It includes some
information on how to obtain FreeBSD, a listing of various ways to contact the FreeBSD
Project, and pointers to some other sources of information.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>

<div class="SECT1">
<hr />
<h2 class="SECT1"><a id="INTRO" name="INTRO">1 Introduction</a></h2>

<p>This distribution is a release of FreeBSD 6.3-RELEASE, the latest point along the
6.3-STABLE branch.</p>

<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h3 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN27" name="AEN27">1.1 About FreeBSD</a></h3>

<p>FreeBSD is an operating system based on 4.4 BSD Lite for DEC/Compaq/HP Alpha/AXP
computers (alpha), AMD64 and Intel EM64T based PC hardware (amd64), Intel, AMD, Cyrix or
NexGen &#8220;x86&#8221; based PC hardware (i386), Intel Itanium Processor based
computers (ia64), NEC PC-9801/9821 series PCs and compatibles (pc98), and <span
class="TRADEMARK">UltraSPARC</span>&reg; machines (sparc64). Versions for the <span
class="TRADEMARK">PowerPC</span>&reg; (powerpc), and <span
class="TRADEMARK">MIPS</span>&reg; (mips) architectures are currently under development
as well. FreeBSD works with a wide variety of peripherals and configurations and can be
used for everything from software development to games to Internet Service Provision.</p>

<p>This release of FreeBSD 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.</p>

<p>A large collection of third-party ported software (the &#8220;Ports Collection&#8221;)
is also provided to make it easy to obtain and install all your favorite traditional
<span class="TRADEMARK">UNIX</span>&reg; utilities for FreeBSD. Each &#8220;port&#8221;
consists of a set of scripts to retrieve, configure, build, and install a piece of
software, with a single command. Over 17,000 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 <span
class="TRADEMARK">UNIX</span>. Most ports are also available as pre-compiled
&#8220;packages&#8221;, which can be quickly installed from the installation program.</p>
</div>

<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h3 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN41" name="AEN41">1.2 Target Audience</a></h3>

<p>This release of FreeBSD is suitable for all users. It has undergone a period of
testing and quality assurance checking to ensure the highest reliability and
dependability.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="SECT1">
<hr />
<h2 class="SECT1"><a id="OBTAIN" name="OBTAIN">2 Obtaining FreeBSD</a></h2>

<p>FreeBSD may be obtained in a variety of ways. This section focuses on those ways that
are primarily useful for obtaining a complete FreeBSD distribution, rather than updating
an existing installation.</p>

<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h3 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN47" name="AEN47">2.1 CDROM and DVD</a></h3>

<p>FreeBSD -RELEASE distributions may be ordered on CDROM or DVD from several publishers.
This is frequently the most convenient way to obtain FreeBSD for new installations, as it
provides a convenient way to quickly reinstall the system if necessary. Some
distributions include some of the optional, precompiled &#8220;packages&#8221; from the
FreeBSD Ports Collection.</p>

<p>A list of the CDROM and DVD publishers known to the project are listed in the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors.html"
target="_top">&#8220;Obtaining FreeBSD&#8221;</a> appendix to the Handbook.</p>
</div>

<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h3 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN54" name="AEN54">2.2 FTP</a></h3>

<p>You can use FTP to retrieve FreeBSD and any or all of its optional packages from <a
href="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/" target="_top">ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/</a>, which is the
official FreeBSD release site, or any of its &#8220;mirrors&#8221;.</p>

<p>Lists of locations that mirror FreeBSD can be found in the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors-ftp.html"
target="_top">FTP Sites</a> section of the Handbook, or on the <a
href="http://mirrorlist.FreeBSD.org/" target="_top">http://mirrorlist.FreeBSD.org/</a>
Web pages. Finding a close (in networking terms) mirror from which to download the
distribution is highly recommended.</p>

<p>Additional mirror sites are always welcome. Contact <code class="EMAIL">&#60;<a
href="mailto:freebsd-admin@FreeBSD.org">freebsd-admin@FreeBSD.org</a>&#62;</code> for
more details on becoming an official mirror site. You can also find useful information
for mirror sites at the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/hubs/" target="_top">Mirroring
FreeBSD</a> article.</p>

<p>Mirrors generally contain the floppy disk images necessary to begin an installation,
as well as the distribution files needed for the install process itself. Many mirrors
also contain the ISO images necessary to create a CDROM of a FreeBSD release.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="SECT1">
<hr />
<h2 class="SECT1"><a id="CONTACTING" name="CONTACTING">3 Contacting the FreeBSD
Project</a></h2>

<div class="SECT2">
<h3 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN68" name="AEN68">3.1 Email and Mailing Lists</a></h3>

<p>For any questions or general technical support issues, please send mail to the <a
href="http://lists.FreeBSD.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions" target="_top">FreeBSD
general questions mailing list</a>.</p>

<p>If you're tracking the 6.3-STABLE development efforts, you <span class="emphasis"><i
class="EMPHASIS">must</i></span> join the <a
href="http://lists.FreeBSD.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-current"
target="_top">FreeBSD-CURRENT mailing list</a>, in order to keep abreast of recent
developments and changes that may affect the way you use and maintain the system.</p>

<p>Being a largely-volunteer effort, the FreeBSD Project is always happy to have extra
hands willing to help--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
href="http://lists.FreeBSD.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers" target="_top">FreeBSD
technical discussions mailing list</a>.</p>

<p>Please note that these mailing lists can experience <span class="emphasis"><i
class="EMPHASIS">significant</i></span> amounts of traffic. If you have slow or expensive
mail access, or are only interested in keeping up with major FreeBSD events, you may find
it preferable to subscribe instead to the <a
href="http://lists.FreeBSD.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-announce" target="_top">FreeBSD
announcements mailing list</a>.</p>

<p>All of the mailing lists can be freely joined by anyone wishing to do so. Visit the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/mailman/listinfo" target="_top">FreeBSD Mailman Info
Page</a>. 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
<a href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/support.html#mailing-list" target="_top">mailing lists
section</a> of the FreeBSD Web site.</p>

<div class="IMPORTANT">
<blockquote class="IMPORTANT">
<p><b>Important:</b> Do <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">not</i></span> send
email to the lists asking to be subscribed. Use the Mailman interface instead.</p>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>

<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h3 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN86" name="AEN86">3.2 Submitting Problem Reports</a></h3>

<p>Suggestions, bug reports and contributions of code are always valued--please do not
hesitate to report any problems you may find. Bug reports with attached fixes are of
course even more welcome.</p>

<p>The preferred method to submit bug reports from a machine with Internet mail
connectivity is to use the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=send-pr&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+6.3-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">send-pr</span>(1)</span></a>
command. &#8220;Problem Reports&#8221; (PRs) submitted in this way will be filed and
their progress tracked; the FreeBSD developers will do their best to respond to all
reported bugs as soon as possible. <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/query-pr-summary.cgi" target="_top">A list of all active
PRs</a> is available on the FreeBSD Web site; this list is useful to see what potential
problems other users have encountered.</p>

<p>Note that <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=send-pr&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+6.3-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">send-pr</span>(1)</span></a>
itself is a shell script that should be easy to move even onto a non-FreeBSD system.
Using this interface is highly preferred. If, for some reason, you are unable to use <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=send-pr&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+6.3-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">send-pr</span>(1)</span></a> to
submit a bug report, you can try to send it to the <a
href="http://lists.FreeBSD.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-bugs" target="_top">FreeBSD
problem reports mailing list</a>.</p>

<p>For more information, <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/problem-reports/"
target="_top">&#8220;Writing FreeBSD Problem Reports&#8221;</a>, available on the FreeBSD
Web site, has a number of helpful hints on writing and submitting effective problem
reports.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="SECT1">
<hr />
<h2 class="SECT1"><a id="SEEALSO" name="SEEALSO">4 Further Reading</a></h2>

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

<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h3 class="SECT2"><a id="RELEASE-DOCS" name="RELEASE-DOCS">4.1 Release
Documentation</a></h3>

<p>A number of other files provide more specific information about this release
distribution. These files are provided in various formats. Most distributions will
include both ASCII text (<tt class="FILENAME">.TXT</tt>) and HTML (<tt
class="FILENAME">.HTM</tt>) renditions. Some distributions may also include other formats
such as PostScript (<tt class="FILENAME">.PS</tt>) or Portable Document Format (<tt
class="FILENAME">.PDF</tt>).</p>

<ul>
<li>
<p><tt class="FILENAME">README.TXT</tt>: This file, which gives some general information
about FreeBSD as well as some cursory notes about obtaining a distribution.</p>
</li>

<li>
<p><tt class="FILENAME">RELNOTES.TXT</tt>: The release notes, showing what's new and
different in FreeBSD 6.3-RELEASE compared to the previous release (FreeBSD
6.2-RELEASE).</p>
</li>

<li>
<p><tt class="FILENAME">HARDWARE.TXT</tt>: The hardware compatibility list, showing
devices with which FreeBSD has been tested and is known to work.</p>
</li>

<li>
<p><tt class="FILENAME">INSTALL.TXT</tt>: Installation instructions for installing
FreeBSD from its distribution media.</p>
</li>

<li>
<p><tt class="FILENAME">ERRATA.TXT</tt>: 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 FreeBSD, as it contains the latest information on problems which have been found and
fixed since the release was created.</p>
</li>
</ul>

<div class="NOTE">
<blockquote class="NOTE">
<p><b>Note:</b> Several of these documents (in particular, <tt
class="FILENAME">RELNOTES.TXT</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">HARDWARE.TXT</tt>, and <tt
class="FILENAME">INSTALL.TXT</tt>) contain information that is specific to a particular
hardware architecture. For example, the alpha release notes contain information not
applicable to the <span class="TRADEMARK">i386</span>&#8482;, and vice versa. The
architecture for which each document applies will be listed in that document's title.</p>
</blockquote>
</div>

<br />
<br />
<p>On platforms that support <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=sysinstall&sektion=8&manpath=FreeBSD+6.3-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">sysinstall</span>(8)</span></a>
(currently alpha, <span class="TRADEMARK">i386</span>, ia64, pc98, and <span
class="TRADEMARK">Sparc64</span>&reg;), 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 <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=sysinstall&sektion=8&manpath=FreeBSD+6.3-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">sysinstall</span>(8)</span></a>
utility.</p>

<div class="NOTE">
<blockquote class="NOTE">
<p><b>Note:</b> It is extremely important to read the errata for any given release before
installing it, to learn about any &#8220;late-breaking news&#8221; 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 &#8220;current errata&#8221; for this release. These other
copies of the errata are located at <a href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/"
target="_top">http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/</a> (as well as any sites which keep
up-to-date mirrors of this location).</p>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>

<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h3 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN152" name="AEN152">4.2 Manual Pages</a></h3>

<p>As with almost all <span class="TRADEMARK">UNIX</span> like operating systems, FreeBSD
comes with a set of on-line manual pages, accessed through the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=man&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+6.3-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">man</span>(1)</span></a> command
or through the <a href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi" target="_top">hypertext
manual pages gateway</a> on the FreeBSD Web site. In general, the manual pages provide
information on the different commands and APIs available to the FreeBSD user.</p>

<p>In some cases, manual pages are written to give information on particular topics.
Notable examples of such manual pages are <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=tuning&sektion=7&manpath=FreeBSD+6.3-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">tuning</span>(7)</span></a> (a
guide to performance tuning), <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=security&sektion=7&manpath=FreeBSD+6.3-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">security</span>(7)</span></a> (an
introduction to FreeBSD security), and <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=style&sektion=9&manpath=FreeBSD+6.3-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">style</span>(9)</span></a> (a
style guide to kernel coding).</p>
</div>

<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h3 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN170" name="AEN170">4.3 Books and Articles</a></h3>

<p>Two highly-useful collections of FreeBSD-related information, maintained by the
FreeBSD Project, are the FreeBSD Handbook and FreeBSD FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions
document). On-line versions of the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/"
target="_top">Handbook</a> and <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/" target="_top">FAQ</a> are
always available from the <a href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/docs.html"
target="_top">FreeBSD Documentation page</a> or its mirrors. If you install the <tt
class="FILENAME">doc</tt> distribution set, you can use a Web browser to read the
Handbook and FAQ locally.</p>

<p>A number of on-line books and articles, also maintained by the FreeBSD Project, cover
more-specialized, FreeBSD-related topics. This material spans a wide range of topics,
from effective use of the mailing lists, to dual-booting FreeBSD with other operating
systems, to guidelines for new committers. Like the Handbook and FAQ, these documents are
available from the FreeBSD Documentation Page or in the <tt class="FILENAME">doc</tt>
distribution set.</p>

<p>A listing of other books and documents about FreeBSD can be found in the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/bibliography.html"
target="_top">bibliography</a> of the FreeBSD Handbook. Because of FreeBSD's strong <span
class="TRADEMARK">UNIX</span> heritage, many other articles and books written for <span
class="TRADEMARK">UNIX</span> systems are applicable as well, some of which are also
listed in the bibliography.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="SECT1">
<hr />
<h2 class="SECT1"><a id="ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS" name="ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS">5
Acknowledgments</a></h2>

<p>FreeBSD 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. For a complete list of FreeBSD developers and contributors, please see <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/contributors/"
target="_top">&#8220;Contributors to FreeBSD&#8221;</a> on the FreeBSD Web site or any of
its mirrors.</p>

<p>Special thanks also go to the many thousands of FreeBSD users and testers all over the
world, without whom this release simply would not have been possible.</p>
</div>
</div>

<hr />
<p align="center"><small>This file, and other release-related documents, can be
downloaded from <a href="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/">ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/</a>.</small></p>

<p align="center"><small>For questions about FreeBSD, read the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/docs.html">documentation</a> before contacting &#60;<a
href="mailto:questions@FreeBSD.org">questions@FreeBSD.org</a>&#62;.</small></p>

<p align="center"><small>For questions about this documentation, e-mail &#60;<a
href="mailto:doc@FreeBSD.org">doc@FreeBSD.org</a>&#62;.</small></p>
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