1) Fix from Bruce:
[unix-history] / contrib / FAQ / FreeBSD.FAQ
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1
2 FreeBSD
3 Freqently Asked Questions
4 For Version 1.1 and above
5 Please mail all suggestions and additions to FreeBSD-FAQ@freefall.cdrom.com
6
7
7fa46f7a 8Revision: $Id: FreeBSD.FAQ,v 1.11 1994/04/20 11:45:30 jkh Exp $
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9
10
11Table of Contents
12-----------------
13
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140 Preface
151 Installation
162 Hardware Compatibility
173 Commercial applications
184 User Applications
195 Misc Questions
206 Kernel Configuration
217 System Admin
228 Networking
239 Serial Communications
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24
25
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260 Preface
27---------
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28
29Welcome to the FreeBSD 1.1 FAQ! This document tries to answer some of
30the most frequently asked questions about FreeBSD 1.1 (or later, unless
31specifically indicated). If there's something you're having trouble
32with and you just don't see it here, then please send mail to:
33
34 freebsd-questions@freefall.cdrom.com
35
36
37Some of the instructions here will also refer to auxilliary utilities
38in the /usr/src/contrib/FAQ directory. CDROM purchasers and net folks who've
39grabbed the FreeBSD 1.1 `srcdist' will have these files. If you don't have
40the source distribution, then you can either grab the whole thing from:
41
42 freebsd.cdrom.com:~ftp/pub/FreeBSD/FreeBSD-1.1
43
44Or you can grab only those files you're interested in straight out of the
45FreeBSD-current distribution in:
46
47 freebsd.cdrom.com:~ftp/pub/FreeBSD/FreeBSD-current/src
48
58b988d7 490.1 What is FreeBSD?
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50
51FreeBSD is a UN*X type operating system based on William Jolitz's port
52of UCB's Networking Release 2 to the i386, 386BSD. It is no longer
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53correct to say that FreeBSD is only 386BSD with the patchkit applied! There
54have been many additions and bug fixes made throughout the entire system,
55some of the highlights of which are:
56
57 More robust and extensive PC device support
58 SysV IPC, messaging and semaphores
59 Shared Libraries
60 Much improved virtual memory code
61 Better console driver support
62 Network booting (diskless) support
63 /proc filesystem
64 Yellow Pages support
65 `LDT' support for WINE (primitive but developing Windows emulation)
66 Too many additional utilities and applications to mention
67
9be3e9fc 68
58b988d7 690.2 What are the FreeBSD mailing lists, and how can I get on them?
9be3e9fc 70
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71The following mailing lists are provided for FreeBSD users and developers.
72For more information, send to majordomo@freefall.cdrom.com and include a
73single line saying "help" in the body of your message.
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74
75freebsd-hackers: Useful for persons wishing to work on the internals.
76freebsd-questions: General questions on FreeBSD.
77freebsd-bugs: Where bugs should be sent.
32e6aeb0 78freebsd-commit: This list caries the commit messages for freefall. Useful
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79 for tracking ongoing work.
80freebsd-scsi: Mailing list for SCSI developers.
81freebsd-current: This list is for persons wishing to run FreeBSD-current
32e6aeb0 82 and caries announcements and discussions on current.
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83
84Please see also the FreeBSD mailing list FAQ in:
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85
86 /usr/src/contrib/FAQ/OTHER-FAQS/FreeBSD.mailing-list.FAQ
9be3e9fc 87
58b988d7 880.3 What are the various FreeBSD news groups?
9be3e9fc 89
32e6aeb0 90While there are no groups currently dedicated to FreeBSD, you may find the
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91following groups useful.
92
93comp.os.386bsd.announce: For announcements
94comp.os.386bsd.questions: For questions
95comp.os.386bsd.development: For working on the internals
96comp.os.386bsd.bugs: About bugs
97comp.os.386bsd.misc: For items that don't fit anywhere else
98
32e6aeb0 99NOTE: These groups cover all the *BSDs (FreeBSD, NetBSD, 386BSD).
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100
101
102
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1031 Installation
104--------------
9be3e9fc 105
58b988d7 1061.1: I just installed my system and rebooted. Now I can't find the
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107 extract or configure programs, where did they go?
108
28d2f186 109These two commands are just shell functions defined in /.profile. To
58b988d7 110get these back, or boot FreeBSD with a `-s' at the boot prompt.
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111
112
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1131.2: I want to install FreeBSD onto a SCSI disk that has more than
114 1024 cylinders. How do I do it?
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115
116This depends. If you don't have DOS (or another operating system) on the
117system, you can just keep the drive in native mode and simply make sure that
118your root partition is below 1024 so the bios can boot the kernel from it.
119It you also have DOS/some other OS on the drive then your best bet is to find
120out what parameters that it thinks you have before installing FreeBSD. When
121FreeBSD's installation procedure prompts you for these values, you should then
122enter them rather than simply going with the defaults.
123
124There is a freely available utility distributed with FreeBSD called `pfdisk'
125(located in the tools/ subdirectory) which can be used for this purpose.
126
127
58b988d7 1281.3: When I boot FreeBSD it says "Missing Operating System".
9be3e9fc 129
58b988d7 130See above (1.2). This is classicaly a case of FreeBSD and DOS or some other
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131OS conflicting over their ideas of disk geometry. You will have to reinstall
132FreeBSD, but obeying the instructions given above will almost always get you
133going.
134
135
58b988d7 1361.4: I have an IDE drive with lots of bad blocks on it and FreeBSD doesn't
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137 seem to install properly.
138
139FreeBSD's bad block (bad144) handling is still not 100% (to put it charitably)
140and it must unfortunately be said that if you've got an IDE or ESDI drive
141with lots of bad blocks, then FreeBSD is probably not for you! That said, it
142does work on thousands of IDE based systems, so you'd do well to try it first
32e6aeb0 143before simply giving up.
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145IDE drives are *supposed* to come with built-in bad-block remapping;
146if you have documentation for your drive, you may want to see if this
147feature has been disabled on your drive. However, ESDI, RLL, and
148ST-506 drives normally do not do this.
149
9be3e9fc 150
58b988d7 1511.5: I have 32MB of memory, should I expect any special problems?
9be3e9fc 152
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153If you have an IDE controller, no. Likewise, if you have a full EISA
154system with EISA disk controller or a working local bus controller
155(read further) you'll have no problems. If you have an ISA system, or
156an EISA system with an ISA disk controller then you will most
157certainly have problems with the upper 16MB of memory due to the ISA
15824 bit DMA limitation (which ISA cards in EISA systems will also
159exhibit). If you have a local bus disk controller, then you should be
160OK, UNLESS it's a Buslogic Bt445S with a revision less than `D' (BIOS
1613.36 or earlier). Never fear, however, as all is not lost.
162FreeBSD-current (and the upcoming FreeBSD 1.2) have bounce-buffer
163support that make all of the above scenarios work with a full 32MB of
164memory or more. You are therefore advised to simply pull 16MB of
165memory out, install, and then see about upgrading to FreeBSD-current
166or FreeBSD 1.2 (when it comes out) so that you can put it back.
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167
168
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1691.6: Do I need to install the complete sources?
170
171In general, no. However, we would strongly recommend that you
172install, at a minimum, the `base' source kit, which includes several
173of the files mentioned here, and the `sys' (kernel) source kit, which
174includes sources for the kernel. There is nothing in the system which
175requires the presence of the sources to operate, however, except for
176the kernel-configuration program config(8). With the exception of the
177kernel sources, our build structure is set up so that you can
178read-only mount the sources from elsewhere via NFS and still be able
179to make new binaries. (Because of the kernel-source restriction, we
180recommend that you not mount this on /usr/src directly, but rather in
181some other location with appropriate symbolic links to duplicate the
182top-level structure of the source tree.)
183
184Having the sources on-line and knowing how to build a system with them
185will make it much easier for you to upgrade to future releases of
186FreeBSD.
187
1881.7: DES encryption software can not be exported from the United
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189 States. If I live outside the US, how can I encrypt passwords?
190
191Since the DES encryption algorithm, which is used by passwd(1) and
192friends to encrypt passwords cannot legally be exported from the US,
193non-US users should not download this software from US ftp sites.
194
195There is however a replacement libcrypt available, based on sources
196written in Australia by David Burren. This code is now available on
197some non-US FreeBSD mirror sites. Sources for the unencumbered
198librypt, and binaries of the programs which use it, can be obtained
199from the following ftp sites:
7fa46f7a 200
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201 South Africa: braae.ru.ac.za:/pub/FreeBSD/securedist/
202 owl.und.ac.za (currently uncertain)
203 Iceland: ftp.veda.is:/pub/crypt/FreeBSD/
204
205The non-US securedist can be used as a direct replacement for the
206encumbered US securedist. This securedist package is installed the
207same way as the US package (see installation notes for details).
208If you are going to install DES encryption, you should do so as soon
209as possible, before installing other software.
210
211Non-US users should please not download any encryption software from
212the USA. This can get the maintainers of the sites from which the
213software is downloaded into severe legal difficulties.
214
215A non-US distribution of Kerberos is also being developed, and current
216versions can generally be obtained by anonymous ftp from braae.ru.ac.za.
217
218There is also a mailing list for the discussion of non-US encryption
7fa46f7a 219software. For more information, send an email message with a single
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220line saying "help" in the body of your message to majordomo@braae.ru.ac.za.
221
222
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2232 Hardware compatibility
224------------------------
9be3e9fc 225
58b988d7 2262.1: What kind of hard drives does FreeBSD run on?
9be3e9fc 227
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228FreeBSD supports ST-506 (sometimes called ``MFM''), RLL, and ESDI
229drives, which are usually connected to WD-1002, WD-1003, or WD-1006
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230controllers (although clones should also work). FreeBSD also supports
231IDE and SCSI hard drives.
9be3e9fc 232
58b988d7 2332.2: What SCSI controllers are supported?
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234
235FreeBSD supports the following SCSI controllers:
236
28d2f186 237Adaptec AH-1542 Series <ISA>
9be3e9fc 238 AH-1742 Series <EISA>
58b988d7 239Buslogic BT-445 Series <VLB> (but see section 1.5)
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240 BT-545 Series <ISA>
241 BT-742 Series <EISA>
242UltraStor UH-14f Series <ISA>
4a219cbb 243 UH-34f Series <EISA/VLB>
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244
245There is supposed to be a UltraStor 24f driver floating around, but we're
246not sure where (could someone please point us at it?). Note that we do
247NOT support `Future Domain' or `IN2000' SCSI controllers, typically
248the little $50 specials you get with some CDROM drives. You will have to
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249buy a more mainstream (and capable) SCSI controller. The Buslogic
250controllers are currently the easiest to get.
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251
252
58b988d7 2532.3: What CD-ROM drives are supported by FreeBSD?
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254
255Any SCSI drive connected to a supported controller.
256Mitsumi LU002(8bit), LU005(16bit) and FX001D(16bit 2x Speed).
257
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258FreeBSD does NOT support drives connected to a Sound Blaster or
259non-SCSI SONY or Panasonic drives. A general rule of thumb when
260selecting a CDROM drive for FreeBSD use is to buy a very standard SCSI
261model; they cost more, but deliver very solid performance in return.
262Do not be fooled by very cheap drives that, in turn, deliver VERY LOW
263performance! As always, you get what you pay for.
264
265The Mitsumi driver is known to be extremely slow compared to SCSI
266drives.
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267
268
58b988d7 2692.4: What multi-port serial cards are supported by FreeBSD?
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270
271AST/4 and BOCA 4/8 port cards. Some unnamed clone cards have also been
272known to work, especially those that claim to be AST compatible. Check
273the man page for `sio' to get more information on configuring such cards.
274
275
58b988d7 2762.5: Does FreeBSD support the AHA-2742 SCSI adapter from Adaptec?
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277
278No, FreeBSD does not. This is due to Adaptec's unwillingness to supply
279programing information under other than non-disclosure. This is unfortunate.
280
281
58b988d7 2822.6: I have a XXXX bus mouse. Is it supported and if so, how do I set
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283 it up for XFree86?
284
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285FreeBSD supports the Logitech and ATI Inport bus mice. You need to
286add the following line to the kernel config file and recompile for the
287Logitech and ATI mice:
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288
289 device mse0 at isa? port 0x23c tty irq6 vector mseintr
290
291
58b988d7 2922.7: I have a PS/2 mouse (`keyboard' mouse) [Alternatively: I have a
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293 laptop with a trackball mouse]. How do I use it?
294
32e6aeb0 295For the PS/2 mouse you need to look in /usr/src/contrib/FAQ/programs/psm,
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296which is John Solhed's port of the Linux PS/2 mouse driver.
297
298Follow the directions in the package. You will also need to change your
299Xconfig file to point to the mouse.
300
301
58b988d7 3022.8: What types of tape drives are supported under FreeBSD?
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303
304FreeBSD supports SCSI, QIC-02 and QIC-40/80 (Floppy based) tape drives.
305This includes Exabyte and DAT drives.
306
307
58b988d7 3082.9: What sound cards are supported by FreeBSD?
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309
310FreeBSD supports the SoundBlaster, SoundBlaster Pro, Pro Audio Spectrum 16,
311AdLib and Gravis UltraSound sound cards. There is also limited support
312for MPU-401 and compatible midi cards. The SoundBlaster 16 and
313SoundBlaster 16 ASP cards are not yet supported.
314NOTE: This is only for sound! This driver does not support CD-ROMs, SCSI
315or joysticks on these cards.
316
317
58b988d7 3182.10: What network cards does FreeBSD support?
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319
320There is support for the following cards:
9be3e9fc 321
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322`ed' driver:
323 NE2000 and 1000
324 WD/SMC 8003,8013 and Elite Ultra (8216)
325 3Com 3c503
326 And clones of the above
327
328`ie' driver:
329 AT&T EN100/StarLAN 10
330
331`il' driver:
332 Isolan AT 4141-0
333 Isolink 4110
334
335`ep' driver:
336 3com 3c509 (*)
337
338
339(*)The `ep' driver is known to have some problems; see the
340/usr/src/KNOWNBUGS file for more details.
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341
342
58b988d7 3432.11: I have a 386/486sx/486SLC machine without a math co-processor.
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344 Will this cause me any problems?
345
346Generally no, but there are circumstances where you will take a hit,
347either in performance or accuracy of the math emulation code (see
58b988d7 348section 4.1). In particular, drawing arcs in X will be VERY slow.
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349It is highly recommended that you lay out the $50 or so for a math
350co-processor; it's well worth it. NOTE: Some math co-processors
351are better than others. It pains us to say it, but nobody ever got
352fired for buying Intel. Unless you're sure it works with FreeBSD,
353beware of clones.
354
355
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3563 Commercial Applications
357-------------------------
9be3e9fc 358
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359Note: This section is still very sparse, though we're hoping, of
360course, that companies will add to it! :) The FreeBSD group has no
361financial interest in any of the companies listed here but simply
362lists them as a public service (and feels that commercial interest in
363FreeBSD can have very positive effects on FreeBSD's long-term
364viability). We encourage commercial software vendors to send their
365entries here for inclusion.
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366
367
58b988d7 3683.1 Where can I get Motif for FreeBSD?
9be3e9fc 369
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370Sequoia International provides commercial quality Motif 1.2.3
371development kits for FreeBSD 1.1 (with full shared library support) under
372the product name of `SWiM'. Due to licensing restrictions from the OSF, and
373the fact that Sequoia needs to make a living, these are NOT FREE, but
374nonetheless quite reasonably priced in comparison to many other commercial
375Motif distributions. Send electronic mail to `info@seq.com' for further
376information.
9be3e9fc 377
58b988d7 3783.2 What about other commercial quality development systems for FreeBSD?
9be3e9fc 379
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380ParcPlace Systems, Inc., who currently provides their excellent
381`Object Interface & Object Builder' GUI development environment
382free of charge to Linux users, is considering the the FreeBSD
383platform and will make their intentions known fairly shortly.
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384
385
386
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3874 User Applications
388-------------------
9be3e9fc 389
58b988d7 3904.1: I want to run X, how do I go about it?
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391
392First, get the XFree86 distribution of X11R5 from XFree86.cdrom.com. The
393version you want for FreeBSD 1.1 and later is XFree86 2.1. Follow the
394instructions for installation carefully. You may then wish to read the
395documentation for the ConfigXF86 tool, which assists you in configuring
396XFree86 for your particular graphics card/mouse/etc.
397
398
58b988d7 3994.1: I've been trying to run ghostscript on a 386 (or 486sx) with no
80df965c 400 math co-processor and I keep getting errors. Whats up?
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401
402The problem here is due to the current FreeBSD math-emulator. You need to
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403pick up the sources to an alternate emulation package, which you may find in:
404
28d7fa3d 405 /usr/src/contrib/FAQ/programs/fpu-emu
9be3e9fc 406
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407Follow the instructions supplied.
408
9be3e9fc 409This is a port of an older Linux math-emulator. At some point, FreeBSD's
80df965c 410default math emulator will be good enough that you can forget about
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411having to do this.
412
413
58b988d7 4144.2: If I want something like seyon, term, kermit, emacs or any one of
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415 hundreds of popular freeware utilities, is there a good place to
416 search through first?
417
418Yes, the FreeBSD `ports collection' was put together for just that purpose.
419It contains some of the most often requested languages, editors, mail and
420news reading programs, network software and many many megabytes of other
421types of useful goodies. CDROM people will probably have the ports collection
422already in /usr/ports, other folks can get at the latest snapshot of the
423entire collection in:
424
425 freebsd.cdrom.com:~ftp/pub/FreeBSD/FreeBSD-current/ports
426
427Note that freebsd's ftp server permits getting entire directories as one
428(optionally gzip'd or compressed) tar file. Read the ftp welcome banner
429carefully for details.
430
431
58b988d7 4324.3: I want all this neat software, but I haven't got the space or
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433 CPU power to compile it all myself. Is there any way of getting
434 binaries?
435
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436Yes. We support the concept of a `package', which is essentially a
437gzip'd binary distribution with a little extra intelligence imbeded in
438it for doing any custom installation work required. Packages can also
439be installed or deinstalled again easily without having to know the
440gory details. CDROM people will have a packages/ directory on their
441CD, others can get the currently available packages from:
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442
443 freebsd.cdrom.com:~ftp/pub/FreeBSD/packages-1.1
444
445Note that all ports may not be available as packages, and that new
446packages are constantly being added. It is always a good idea to
447check periodically to see which packages are available. A README
448file in the packages directory provides more details on the care
449and feeding of the package software, so no explicit details will
450be given here.
451
7fa46f7a 452
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4535 Misc Questions
454----------------
9be3e9fc 455
58b988d7 4565.1: I've heard of something called FreeBSD-current. How do I run it, and
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457 where can I get more information?
458
459Read the file /usr/src/contrib/FAQ/OTHER-FAQS/FreeBSD.current.policy, it
460will tell you all you need to know.
461
462
58b988d7 4635.2: What is this thing called `sup', and how do I use it?
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464
465SUP stands for Software Update Protocol, and was developed by CMU for
466keeping their development trees in sync. We use it to keep remote sites
467in sync with our central development sources.
468
469To use it, you need to have direct internet connectivity (not just
470mail or news). First, pick up the sup_bin.tgz package from:
471
472 freebsd.cdrom.com:/pub/FreeBSD/packages
473
474Second, read the file /usr/src/contrib/FAQ/OTHER-FAQS/FreeBSD.sup.faq.
475
476This file describes how to setup sup on your machine. You may also
28d2f186 477want to look at /usr/src/contrib/FAQ/OTHER-FAQS/FreeBSD.*.supfile,
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478which are a set of supfiles for supping from freefall.cdrom.com
479
480
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4815.3: How do I create customized installation disks that I can give
482 out to other people at my site?
483
484The entire process of creating installation disks and source and
485binary archives is automated by various targets in
486/usr/src/etc/Makefile. The information there should be enough to get
487you started.
9be3e9fc 488
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4895.4: How do I re-build my system without clobbering the existing
490 installed binaries?
491
492If you define the environment variable DESTDIR while running `make
493world' or `make install', the newly-created binaries will be deposited
494in a directory tree identical to the installed one, rooted at
495${DESTDIR}. Some random combination of shared libraries modifications
496and program rebuilds can cause this to fail in `make world', however.
497
498
4996 Kernel Configuration
500----------------------
501
5026.1: When I compile a kernel with multi-port serial code, it tells me
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503 that only the first port is probed and the rest skiped due to
504 interupt conflicts. How do I fix this?
505
506The problem here is that FreeBSD has code built-in to keep the kernel from
507getting trashed due to hardware or software conflicts. The way to fix this
508is to leave out the irq settings on other ports besides the first. Here is
509a example:
510
511#
512# Multiport high-speed serial line - 16550 UARTS
513#
514device sio2 at isa? port 0x2a0 tty irq 5 flags 0x501 vector siointr
515device sio3 at isa? port 0x2a8 tty flags 0x501 vector siointr
516device sio4 at isa? port 0x2b0 tty flags 0x501 vector siointr
517device sio5 at isa? port 0x2b8 tty flags 0x501 vector siointr
518
519You may also want to look at the multi-port serial FAQ in
520/usr/src/contrib/FAQ/OTHER-FAQS/multi-port.serial.FAQ.
521
522
58b988d7 5236.2: FreeBSD is supposed to come with support for QIC-40/80 drives but
7fa46f7a 524 when I look, I can't find it.
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525
526You need to uncomment the following line in the generic config file (or add
527it to your config file) and recompile.
528
529controller fdc0 at isa? port "IO_FD1" bio irq 6 drq 2 vector fdintr
530disk fd0 at fdc0 drive 0
531disk fd1 at fdc0 drive 1
532#tape ft0 at fdc0 drive 2
533^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
534
535
58b988d7 5366.3: Does FreeBSD support IPC primitives like those in System V?
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537
538Yes, FreeBSD supports SYSV IPC. This includes shared memory, messages and
539semaphores. You need to add the following lines to your kernel config to
540enable them.
541
542options SYSVSHM
543options "SHMMAXPGS=64" # 256Kb of sharable memory
544options SYSVSEM # enable for semaphores
545options SYSVMSG # enable for messaging
546
547Recompile and install.
548
549
58b988d7 5506.4: Are there any utilities that make configuring a kernel easier?
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551
552Well, yes and no. Look in /sys/i386/doc/options.doc (/sys/doc on post 1.1
553systems) for a list of kernel options you can set, and what they do. For
554a friendlier front-end to the process, see /usr/src/contrib/configit
555
556
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5576.5: Will FreeBSD ever support other architectures?
558
559Several different groups have expressed interest in working on
560multi-architecture support for FreeBSD. If you are interested in
561doing so, please contact the developers at
562<FreeBSD-hackers@freefall.cdrom.com> for more information on our
563strategy for porting.
564
5656.6: I just wrote a device driver for a Foobar Systems, Inc.
566 Integrated Adaptive Gronkulator card. How do I get the
567 appropriate major numbers assigned?
568
569This depends on whether or not you plan on making the driver
570publically available. If you do, then please send us a copy of the
571driver source code, plus the appropriate modifications to files.i386,
572a sample configuration file entry, and the appropriate MAKEDEV code to
573create any special files your device uses. If you do not, or are
574unable to because of licensing restrictions, then character major
575number 32 and block major number 8 have been reserved specifically for
576this purpose; please use them. In any case, we'd appreciate hearing
577about your driver on <FreeBSD-hackers@freefall.cdrom.com>.
9be3e9fc 578
9be3e9fc 579
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5807 System Administration
581-----------------------
582
5837.1: How do I add a user easily? I read the man page and am more confused
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584 than ever! [Alternatively: I didn't read the man page, I never read
585 man pages! :-) ]
586
587Look at Gary Clark's perl package "AddIt", which may be found in
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588/usr/src/contrib/adduser. This is a first attempt at solving the problem
589and may be replaced with a more complex but capable solution later.
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590
591
58b988d7 5927.2: I'm trying to use my printer and keep running into problems. I tried
7fa46f7a 593 looking at /etc/printcap, but it's close to useless. Any ideas?
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594
595Yes, you can pick up Andreas Klemm's apsfilter package from:
596
58b988d7 597ftp.germany.eu.net:pub/comp/i386/Linux/Local.EUnet/People/akl/apsfilter-1.11.gz
9be3e9fc 598
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599This is a complete package for printing text, PS and DVI files. It
600requires ghostscript and dvips.
80df965c 601
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602If you are looking for a simple printcap just for PS and text files,
603try picking up the printcap01 sources in:
80df965c 604
28d7fa3d 605 /usr/src/contrib/FAQ/programs/printcap01
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606
607NOTE: We're looking for printcap entrys for all printers. If you have
608one, or a filter for one, please send it or mail us a pointer to
609FreeBSD-FAQ@freefall.cdrom.com. Thanks!
610
611
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6128 Networking
613------------
9be3e9fc 614
58b988d7 6158.1: Where can I get information booting FreeBSD `diskless', that is
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616 booting and running a FreeBSD box from a server rather than having
617 a local disk?
618
80df965c 619Please read /sys/i386/netboot/netboot.doc.
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620
621
58b988d7 6228.2: I've heard that you can use a FreeBSD box as a dedicated network
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623 router - is there any easy support for this?
624
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625Internet standards and good engineering practice prohibit us from
626providing packet forwarding by default in FreeBSD. You can enable
627this support by adding `options GATEWAY' to your kernel configuration
628file and recompiling. In most cases, you will also need to run a
629routing process to tell other systems on your network about your
630router; FreeBSD comes with the standard BSD routing daemon routed(8),
631or for more complex situations you may want to try GateD (available by
632FTP from gated.cornell.edu).
633
634It is our duty to warn you that, even when FreeBSD is configured in
635this way, it does not completely comply with the Internet standard
636requirements for routers; however, it comes close enough for ordinary
637usage.
638
639There is a standard `router floppy' that you can boot on a FreeBSD
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640machine to configure it as a network router. Please look in:
641
7fa46f7a 642 freefall.cdrom.com:~ftp/pub/incoming/freertr/
80df965c 643
58b988d7 644and follow the instructions.
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645
646
58b988d7 6478.3: Does FreeBSD support SLIP and PPP?
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648
649Yes. See the man pages for slattach and/or pppd if you're using FreeBSD
650to connect to another site. If you're using FreeBSD as a server for other
651machines, look at the man page for `sliplogin'.
652
58b988d7 6538.4: How do I set up NTP?
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654
655NTP configuration is so complex and widely variable from site to site
656that it would be impossible to make a blanket statement here. Your
657best bet is to ask whoever's in charge of NTP at your site or network
658provider; chances are that they are running a similar version of NTP
659to the one that we provide, and they can probably provide you with the
660right configuration files to get things going.
661
662If you can't find anyone in charge, you should examine the files in
663/usr/src/contrib/xntpd/doc and see if they help any. If not, you
664could ask on the comp.protocols.time.ntp newsgroup, or the
665`ntp@ni.umd.edu' mailing-list.
666
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6678.5: How do I get my network set up? I don't see how to make my
668 /dev/ed0 device!
28d2f186 669
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670In the Berkeley networking framework, network interfaces are only
671accessible directly by kernel code. Please see the /etc/netstart file
672and the manual pages for the various network programs mentioned there
673for more information. If this leaves you totally confused, then you
674should pick up a book describing network administration on another
675BSD-related operating system; with few significant exceptions,
676administering networking on FreeBSD is basically the same as on SunOS
6774.0 or Ultrix.
678
6798.6: How do I get my 3C503 to use the other network port?
680
681Use `ifconfig ed0' to see whether the ALTPHYS flag is set, and then
682use either `ifconfig ed0 altphys' if it was off, or `ifconfig ed0
683-altphys' if it was on.
684
685
6869 Serial Communications
687-----------------------
9be3e9fc 688
58b988d7 6899.1: When I do a set line in kermit it locks up, whats the problem?
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690
691The problem here is that FreeBSD thinks it's talking to a incoming
692modem connection, and is waiting for carrier to come up on it before
693completing the open. To disable modem control, do an:
694
695 stty -f /dev/ttyXX clocal
696
697(Where `ttyXX' is the tty port you're using). If you use a given port
698only for outgoing connections, you may wish to put this command in
699your /etc/rc.local to avoid having to do it every time you reboot
700your system.
701
702
703NOTE: Anyone wishing to submit a FAQ entry on how to get tip and cu working
704 would have it much appreciated! We all use kermit over here! :-)
705
706-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
707If you see a problem with this FAQ, or wish to submit an entry, please mail
708us at FreeBSD-FAQ@freefall.cdrom.com. We appreciate your feedback, and cannot
709make this a better FAQ without your help!
710
711
712 FreeBSD Core Team
713
714-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
715
716ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
717
718Gary Clark II - Our head FreeBSD FAQ maintanance man
719Jordan Hubbard - Janitorial services (I don't do windows)
720Robert Oliver, Jr. - Invaluable feedback and contributions
721The FreeBSD Team - Kvetching, moaning, submitting data
722
723And to any others we've forgotten, apologies and heartfelt thanks!
724