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From: edguer@ces.cwru.edu (Aydin Edguer)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd
Subject: comp.unix.bsd Frequently Asked Questions [FAQ] (with answers)
Followup-To: comp.unix.bsd
Date: 5 May 1993 19:01:47 GMT
Organization: Computer Engineering and Science, Case Western Reserve University
Lines: 417
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <1s92ur$39a@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>
Reply-To: edguer@ces.cwru.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: sentinel.ces.cwru.edu
Summary: FAQ
Version: 0.2 [DRAFT]
Last-modified: 5 May 92 00:00:01 EST
comp.unix.bsd Frequently Asked Questions [FAQ] (with answers)
-1- What is the purpose of this newsgroup?
-2- How can I search this list to find the answers?
-3- What is "BSD"?
-4- What is the current release of BSD UNIX?
-5- What is happening with CSRG?
-6- What is happening with the USL v. BSDI lawsuit?
-7- How does 4.4BSD-alpha differ from Net/2?
-8- What computers does BSD UNIX currently run on?
-9- Where can I get more information on BSD UNIX?
-10- Were there ever any commercial BSD-derived operating systems?
-11- What are some of the current BSD-derived operating systems?
-12- Are there any *free* UNIX systems available?
-13- Where can I find 386BSD sources and binaries?
-14- Where can I find Linux sources and binaries?
-15- How can I find answers to other questions?
Please send suggested corrections and additions to: edguer@ces.cwru.edu
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: -1- What is the purpose of this newsgroup?
From the agreed-upon charter which established comp.unix.bsd, comp.unix.bsd
exists:
To be an umoderated newgroup that provides a forum for discussion
of BSD-derived operating systems and related topics including new
releases and upgrade issues.
This newsgroup is NOT for the discussion of specific software bugs in
BSD-derived operating systems. We suggest you use comp.os.386bsd.bugs,
comp.bugs.4bsd, comp.bugs.2bsd for such postings. This is a reasonable
place to compare software bugs between BSD-derived systems.
------------------------------
Subject: -2- How can I search this list to find the answers?
This FAQ follows the RFC1153 recommendations for message digests and
thus should easily be viewed by newsreaders that understand message
digests.
This FAQ also uses the Subject: lines with the answer to each question
and thus it should be easy to step through the answers with the "^G" command
in rn.
This FAQ marks each question with a "dash number dash" so that using
a regular expression search pattern you can easily get directly to any
question in the document.
------------------------------
Subject: -3- What is "BSD"?
BSD stands for Berkeley Software Distribution. The Berkeley Software
Distributions are the products of the Computer Systems Research Group
(CSRG) of the University of California at Berkeley.
------------------------------
Subject: -4- What is the current release of BSD UNIX?
The current release of BSD UNIX is 4.4BSD-alpha. 4.4BSD-alpha is a complete
distribution of all BSD sources including encumbered sources. It requires a
USL (AT&T) source license for UNIX 32V or later. It includes binaries for
the HP 9000/300 family of CPUs.
To request an order form, please contact the distribution office by phone
at 510-642-7780, by email at bsd-dist@cs.berkeley.edu, or by U.S. Mail at:
CSRG
Department of EECS
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720
The current release of unencumbered software (no USL license required) is
"BSD Networking Software, Release #2" AKA BSD Networking Release 2 (Net/2).
Distribution of Net/2 by the University has been suspended pending the
resolution of the USL v. BSDI (and UC Regents) lawsuit. Plans for the
release of the unencumbered software in 4.4BSD are also on hold.
Net/2 is still available via anonymous FTP from a number of sites.
------------------------------
Subject: -5- What is happening with CSRG?
As announced on June 19, 1992, CSRG is going to go away after the final
release of 4.4BSD. A complete explanation can be found in V1.96 of
comp.bugs.4bsd.ucb-fixes.
<ftp://okeefe.cs.berkeley.edu/4.3/ucb-fixes/ucb-fixes.tar.Z>
The release date of 4.4BSD has not been finalized. There have been many
delays due to the USL v. BSDI (and UC Regents) lawsuit.
------------------------------
Subject: -6- What is happening with the USL v. BSDI lawsuit?
On April 20, 1992, UNIX SYSTEM LABORATORIES (USL) filed suit against
BERKELEY SOFTWARE DESIGN, INC. (BSDI) for trademark infringement, false
advertising and unfair competition.
On July 24, 1992, USL expanded their lawsuit to cover BSDI and the
REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA for violations of "statutory
and common law intellectual property and contractual rights".
On March 3, 1993, Judge Debevoise denied USL's request for a preliminary
injunction preventing the Regents and BSDI from developing, promoting,
reproducing, and distributing computer software products.
The lawsuit is still underway and comments, questions, and debate are
directed to the newsgroup alt.suit.att-bsdi. Please do not send them
to comp.unix.bsd.
Copies of the USL complaints, some of the court documents and press releases
are available for anonymous FTP from:
<ftp://bsdi.com/bsdi-info/usl/*>
------------------------------
Subject: -7- How does 4.4BSD-alpha differ from Net/2?
Things introduced in 4.4-alpha [7 Jul 92]
* support for DEC DECstation 3100, 5000 workstations (MIPS R2000, R3000)
* support for Sun SPARCstation 1, 2 workstations (Sun SPARC)
* support for Sony NEWS 3200, 3400 workstations (MIPS R3000)
* support for Omron Luna workstations (Motorola 680X0)
* NFS leases
- from Rick Macklem @ University of Guelph
* Log structured filesystem
- from SPRITE - Rosenblum & John Ousterhout
* Loopback filesystem
- from Jan-Simon Pendry
* Stackable filesystems
- from John Heidemann @ UCLA
* 64 bit file sizes
* 32 bit uid & gid
* 32 bit dev_t
* new FileSystem organization
+ ufs
- ufs filesystem routines common to the UFS on-disk format
- ffs (fat) fast file system
- lfs log file system
- mfs memory file system
+ nfs
* new kvm library and kernel program interface
* New autoconfiguration
- from Chris Torek
* Machine independent SCSI support
- from Chris Torek
* POSIX 1003.4 nanosecond timers
* library support for fast file hierarchy traversal
* IP Multicast support
- from Steve Deering
Things introduced in Net/2 [Jun 91]
* support for Intel 386/486 processors
- Net/2 is not a complete system, it will not compile and function.
* A new Virtual Memory system based on Mach 2.5.
* new Process Management internals
+ new session, proc, and user data structures
. this is basically a reorg of the high kernel, using malloc among
other things. It's intended to start the kernel toward threads
and multi-processors.
* Support for X.25 connections.
* new db(3) routines permit easy database structures
* new standard shell (ash)
Things introduced in 4.3-Reno [6 Jul 90]
* Support for the HP 9000/300 series (Motorola 680X0)
* almost all P1003.1 interfaces
* new terminal driver
* new filesystem support
+ ffs (fat) fast file system
+ mfs memory file system
+ nfs network file system
* new quota system
+ supports both user and group quotas
* OSI Network Protocols
+ TP-4
+ CLNP
+ ISODE
- FTAM
- VT
- X.500
* SLIP
+ Van Jacobson "header prediction" algorithm
* bpf Berkeley Packet Filter
* Kerberos 4
* new sleep interface (tsleep)
Things introduced in Net1 [Nov 1988]
[none? Net1 was largely the AT&T-free files from 4.3BSD-Tahoe]
Things introduced in 4.3-Tahoe [Jun 1988]
* Support for the Tahoe architecture
+ Tahoe (CCI Power 6/32, 6/32SX; Unisys 7000/xx; Harris HCX7, HCX9)
* A new general purpose kernel memory allocator
* Disk labels
* Fat Fast File System
* New TCP algorithms
+ Van Jacobson "slow-start" algorithm
+ Phil Karn retransmission timer "RTT" algorithm
------------------------------
Subject: -8- What computers does BSD UNIX currently run on?
The last full release from CSRG at UCB was the July, 1992 release of
4.4BSD-alpha. The 4.4BSD-alpha release included support for the following
computer systems:
Mfr/Model Microproc Port by
* HP 9000/3X0 (MC68K) Univ. of Utah
* Omron Luna (MC68K) Omron
* DEC DECstation 3100 (MIPS R2000) Ralph Campbell
* DEC DECstation 5000 (MIPS R3000) Ralph Campbell
* Sony NEWS 3200, 3400 (MIPS R3000) Sony
* IBM PC (i386/i486) Bill Jolitz
* SPARCstation 1,2 (SPARC) Chris Torek
(Sun4c) SLC, ELC, IPC, IPX, 1, 1+, 2
The Tahoe and VAX architectures are being deprecated, and the CSRG does
not have the manpower necessary to write the code to make the new virtual
memory system support them. People outside the CSRG have discussed doing
this work, but nothing has been done yet.
* VAX (86x0, 78x, 750, 730; MicroVAX II, 3200/3500/3600; 82x0)
* Tahoe (CCI Power 6/32, 6/32SX; Unisys 7000/xx; Harris HCX7, HCX9)
------------------------------
Subject: -9- Where can I get more information on BSD UNIX?
If you want to learn more about 4.3BSD and its descendants, you might
start with the following sources:
TITLE: The Design and Implementation of the 4.3 BSD UNIX Operating System
AUTHOR: Leffler, McKusick, Karels, Quarterman
ISBN: 0-201-06196-1
TITLE: The Design and Implementation of the 4.3 BSD UNIX Operating System
Answer Book
AUTHOR: Leffler, McKusick
ISBN: 0-201-54729-9
TITLE: Porting Unix to the 386 [a multipart series]
AUTHOR: Jolitz, Jolitz
JOURNAL: Dr. Dobb's journal.
DATES: January 1, 1991-December 1, 1991, volume 16, number 1-number 12.
DATES: January 1, 1992-July 1, 1992, volume 17, number 1-number 7.
note: Bill and Lynne Jolitz have stated that they are working on a book
on the internals of 386BSD.
------------------------------
Subject: -10- Were there ever any commercial BSD-derived operating systems?
Yes. There were many commercial BSD-derived operating systems.
Although many vendors are switching to an AT&T System V or OSF base,
companies such as Sequent, MIPS, DEC, Sun, IBM, HP, DG, Convex, Alliant,
Tektronix, Apollo, ISI [Integrated Solutions, Inc], and OSF offer or have
offered systems based on BSD code.
The AT&T Research versions of UNIX were based upon 4.1BSD.
IBM used to sell Academic Operating System 4.3 [IBM/4.3].
IBM/4.3 ran on selected models of the IBM RT System and the IBM 6152
Academic System. The product was distributed in source form and required
an AT&T source license.
For trivia fans, there is a company, NBI, who used to sell a UNIX workstation
based on a port of 4.2BSD. The significance of the initials NBI, "Necton
Bilenium Incorporated", was dropped when the company was incorporated.
------------------------------
Subject: -11- What are some of the current BSD-derived operating systems?
Bill Jolitz has released his work on porting the BSD Networking Release 2
(Net/2) to 386/486 based systems. For more information see the section
"Are there any *free* UNIX systems available?"
Berkeley Software Design, Inc. [BSDI] sells and supports BSD/386.
BSD/386 is a derivative of the Net/2 for 386/486 computers.
For more information contact: bsdi-info@bsdi.com Phone: +1 800 800 4BSD
mt Xinu, Inc. sells and supports Mach386. Mach386 is based on a Mach 2.5
kernel with 4.3BSD-Tahoe enhancements and runs on 386/386SX/486 processors.
Mach386 is currently a binary-only release. mt Xinu also produces a similar
Mach *source* distribution called 2.6 MSD which requires an AT&T source
license.
For more information contact: mtxinu-mach@mtxinu.com Phone: +1 510 644 0146
mt Xinu, Inc. sells and supports MORE/bsd. MORE/bsd is based on the
4.3BSD-Tahoe release and runs on VAX and HP 9000/300 series workstations.
For more information contact: info@mtxinu.com Phone +1 510 644 0146
------------------------------
Subject: -12- Are there any *free* UNIX systems available?
Yes, there are "free" UNIX systems.
386BSD is a freely distributable UNIX compatible operating system.
386BSD is based around a port of the BSD Networking Release 2 (Net/2)
written by Bill and Lynne Jolitz and enhanced by a large number of people.
386BSD is a complete system but still requires an experienced programmer
to install it. 386BSD should not be confused with BSDI BSD/386 software.
The newsgroups in the comp.os.386bsd hierarchy are for the discussion of
this port. comp.unix.bsd is not the correct place for 386BSD discussions,
except as they relate to BSD in general.
Linux is a freely distributable UNIX compatible operating system.
Initially written by Linus Torvalds alone, it has since be extended by input
from many people. It implements a subset of System V and POSIX functionality.
There is a separate newsgroup for those interested in Linux, comp.os.linux.
comp.unix.bsd is not the correct place for Linux discussions, except as they
relate to BSD.
The Mach 3.0 operating system is a micro-kernel based operating system.
A port of the Net/2 software to Mach 3.0 as a single monolithic server
running above Mach 3.0 was completed by Randall Dean <rwd+@cs.cmu.edu>.
Due to the USL v. BSDI lawsuit, however, Carnegie-Mellon University is
no longer distributing this port. Please do NOT bother Randall Dean
about this, since he does not control CMU.
There is a separate newsgroup for those interested in Mach, comp.os.mach.
comp.unix.bsd is not the correct place for Mach discussions, except as they
relate to BSD.
The GNU operating system is a UNIX compatible operating system currently
under development. The GNU OS is based around the Mach 3.0 microkernel;
the "Hurd" of servers providing file system, network, terminal, and
operating system services; and the GNU utilities such as bash, gcc, gas,
groff, ghostscript, emacs and more than one hundred other UNIX commands.
The GNU OS will be source compatible with 4.4BSD and POSIX.1 compliant.
Hurd development work began [finally] with the free release of the
Mach 3.0 microkernel. Work proceeds under the direction of Michael Bushnell
of the FSF [Free Software Foundation].
The GNU Hurd does not yet run on any computer [development is being done
on an i386 based system], since it has not been completed.
comp.unix.bsd is not the correct place for GNU discussions, except as they
relate to BSD.
MINIX [1.5] is a version of an operating system that is very similar to UNIX.
MINIX was initially written by Andrew Tanenbaum and has since been extended
with the help of input from many people.
It implements system call compatibility with V7 of the UNIX operating system.
MINIX has been written from scratch, and therefore does not contain any AT&T
code--not in the kernel, the compiler, the utilities, or the libraries.
For this reason it can be made available with the complete source code.
It is not, however, free or freely distributable.
MINIX runs on the IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, 386, and most clones. Versions are
also available for the Atari ST, Macintosh, Amiga, and SPARC.
MINIX is currently a full operating system available for a low price [$169]
from Prentice-Hall. It is described in the book "Operating Systems: Design
and Implementation" [ISBN 0-13-637406-9] by Andrew S. Tanenbaum.
There is a separate newsgroup for the system, comp.os.minix.
comp.unix.bsd is not the correct place for MINIX discussions, except as they
relate to BSD.
------------------------------
Subject: -13- Where can I find 386BSD sources and binaries?
Information on the current archive sites for 386BSD can be found in the
multipart 386BSD FAQ (still under development). Because the 386BSD FAQ
is still under development, it is not officially archived anywhere (yet).
However, you should be able to obtain it via anonymous FTP from:
<ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/comp.os.386bsd.announce/*>
If you do not have anonymous ftp access, you can access the archive by
mail server. Send mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the words
"help" and "index" in the body on separate lines for more information.
------------------------------
Subject: -14- Where can I find Linux sources and binaries?
Information on the current archive sites for Linux can be found in the
multipart Linux FAQ. You can obtain the Linux FAQ via anonymous FTP from:
<ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/linux-faq/*>
If you do not have anonymous ftp access, you can access the archive by
mail server. Send mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the words
"help" and "index" in the body on separate lines for more information.
------------------------------
Subject: -15- How can I find answers to other questions?
By asking the questions in an appropriate manner in an appropriate newsgroup.
To find out about appropriate manners and appropriate newsgroups please read
all the postings in news.announce.newusers. You might also want to take a
peek at some questions that already have answers in the news.answers group.
If you have a question about BSD, then you have found the right place.
Please post your question and ask people to send you the answer via e-mail.
Once you have determined that you have a correct answer, please post a new
message with a Subject: line that begins with "SUMMARY:" followed by your
original subject line and post a BRIEF summarization of your question, the
correct answer, and the people who helped you find the answer.
If you just want to have a frolicking discussion on a topic dealing with
a BSD-derived operating system, then post away, BUT please try to limit
cross-posting and try to redirect follow-ups to the smallest possible
selection of newsgroups. If people are interested in the discussion, they
will follow it [please point out that you have redirected discussion
to one or more newsgroups to help people follow it].
------------------------------