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From: burgess@hrd769.brooks.af.mil (Dave Burgess)
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.announce,comp.answers,news.answers
Subject: [comp.os.386bsd] BNR/2 derived BSD for PCs FAQ (Part 2 of 10)
Followup-To: comp.os.386bsd.misc
Date: 31 Mar 1994 21:37:29 -0000
Organization: Armstrong Laboratory, Brooks AFB, TX
Lines: 1125
Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu
Distribution: world
Expires: 04/18/94
Message-ID: <386bsd-faq-2-765149856@hrd769.brooks.af.mil>
References: <386bsd-faq-1-765149856@hrd769.brooks.af.mil>
Reply-To: 386bsd-faq@hrd769.brooks.af.mil (386bsd FAQ Maintainer)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hrd769.brooks.af.mil
Posted-By: auto-faq 2.4
Archive-name: 386bsd-faq/part2
Section 1. (General Network Information)
General information
This section of the FAQ is about the electronic support network
that exists for 386bsd.
1.0 What is 386BSD? (Taken from the INSTALL.NOTES by the Jolitz's)
Welcome to 386BSD Release 0.1, the second edition of the 386BSD
operating system created by William and Lynne Jolitz. Like its
predecessor, 386BSD Release 0.0, Release 0.1 comprises an entire
and complete UNIX-like operating system for the 80386/80486-based
AT Personal Computer.
386BSD Release 0.1 is an enhanced version of the original release
done by William F. Jolitz, the developer of 386BSD. 386BSD
Release 0.0 was based on the Networking Software, Release 2 from
the University of California at Berkeley EECS Department, and
included much of the 386BSD work done earlier by Bill and
contributed by us to the University. The latest release, 386BSD
Release 0.1, contains new work by the developer and many new items
which have been freely contributed by other software developers
for incorporation into 386BSD (see the file CONTRIB.LIST). These
contributions have increased the functionality and made it more
robust. As a courtesy to the developer and the many people who
have generously contributed these software enhancements, we request
that users abide by and properly maintain all attributions,
copyrights, and copylefts contained within this release.
386BSD is intended to foster new research and development in
operating systems and networking technology by providing this base
technology in a broadly accessible manner. As such, like its
predecessor, 386BSD Release 0.1 is freely redistributable and
modifiable.
1.0.1 What are these other Free BSD systems?
For reasons best left to private E-Mail, there have been two
different 'product lines' that have been established for
development of BSD systems. They are NetBSD and FreeBSD. Both,
individually, have virtually deprecated the original 386bsd.
The "raison d'etre" for each is different and each has a different
set of goals. The purpose for FreeBSD is to develop a stable
working environment for [3-9]86 systems. The emphasis has been
on upgrading utility programs and incorporating changes that make
the system more stable.
NetBSD, on the other hand, is a development effort whose main
thrust is on mulitple platform support and staying more current
with BSD 4.4.
Both systems are excellent choices for the casual user or people
who are interested in studying the internals of an operating
system. While the products are nearly commercial quality, they
are both maintained by volunteers.
1.0.2 I just downloaded all of 386bsd version 0.1 and I get can't get
[some feature] to work? Do you have any suggestions?
Yes. Get either FreeBSD or NetBSD.
The original 386BSD software was kind of buggy when it was put
up for anonymous FTP last year. It has been modified significantly
since then, and now exists in a different form. There are people
who will argue that the original 386BSD was completely unusable,
but that is generally an overstatement.
Over 100 patches were applied to the original system, with hundreds
more waiting in the wings. To get this 'patched' version of
386bsd, get FreeBSD instead. To get a version that split from
386bsd to try and stay more in line with the BSD 4.4 system, and
also provide a multiplatform development system, get NetBSD.
Getting one of these two systems will provide you with a more
complete system, with newer utilities, and many bugs already
fixed.
1.1 Feature summary
Among the many features of these BNR/2 systems:
* Floppy disk based Installation
* Hard drive partitioning for use with MS-DOS partitions
* Compressed, multivolume CPIO dump format binary/source/other
distribution sets on MS-DOS floppies.
* 387 support or emulation.
* SCSI support.
* CD-ROM support.
* NFS, TCP/IP and full networking.
* MS-DOS file system access (in newer *BSD systems).
* PPP and SLIP protocol support.
* System upgrades through Carnegie Mellon University's 'sup'
utility.
* Shared Library Support (in alpha or beta testing, depending
on the environment).
1.2 The future of 386BSD.
{ This section is included for historical purposes only. Most
of the information in here is either wildly out of date or just
plain wrong. I decided to include it mostly to show how far
we have come... dbb }
Forecasting the future is always a tricky business. There is work
underway to implement version 0.2 of 386bsd. In addition, many
people are involved in a project to put together a 386bsd version
(FreeBSD) which will be a complete distribution set including all
relevant patches and updates to new versions of many of the
software packages that are currently available. It is available
by anonymous FTP from FreeBSD.cdrom.com
In addition, NetBSD (a direct descendent of 386bsd) is available
for anonymous FTP from sun-lamp.cs.berkeley.edu. The purposes of
these two apparent competitors appear to be at odds, but in
fact are very similar. NetBSD has taken a 'stable, production
quality, free OS' as one of its primary goals, where 386bsd
pursues the high ideal of the ultimate OS research platform.
There is considerable cross pollination of the two. The frequent
debates on style and concept that appear in comp.os.386bsd.*
are testimony to that point. NetBSD and FreeBSD are still both
very viable operating system alternatives, with differing goals.
To see the Future of 386bsd as seen by Bill and Lynne Jolitz, I
suggest you read the INSTALL.NOTES that come with 386bsd.
1.3 386BSD software projects in progress
The list of software projects in progress is just too volatile
to go into a static document like the FAQ. Suffice it to say, if
there is something you want to do using 386bsd; ask first to see
what has been done.
Nate Williams (nate@bsd.coe.montana.edu) has volunteered to be
the focal point for software projects for 386BSD. His job will
be to get people with similar interests together to minimize
wasted effort and people working at cross purposes.
Folks that are interested in software projects for NetBSD
should contact netbsd-comments@sun-lamp.cs.berkeley.edu and
let that mailing list know the same information.
1.3.1 Contacting software authors
Whenever you are working on a port of a software package, it is
always a good idea to contact the original author and offer
whatever changes you needed to make in order to port the software.
That way, subsequent releases of the package may include changes
that allow all users of 386bsd the advantage of reusing your work
over and over.
Also, once you have ported a package to *BSD, you might want to
send a note to either Nate Williams (nate@bsd.coe.montana.edu)
letting him know that you have completed a package and where it
is available. For NetBSD, contact
netbsd-comments@sun-lamp.cs.berkeley.edu.
If the port was a simple recompile of the source and install, a
note to one of the newsgroups telling the story could be considered
appropriate as well.
In keeping with that, if you find a 'bug' in 386bsd, or find a
problem that causes you some headaches and find a solution, you
should contact the author of the particular driver/module/program
and let them know. In addition, you could also post the problem
and/or fix to "comp.os.386bsd.bugs".
Both NetBSD and FreeBSD have implemented 'bugfiler', so if you
are connected to the net, you can use that to send out your
bug. See the documentation that comes with your system to find
out more.
1.4 Minimum hardware configuration recommended
There has been considerable debate about what the REAL minimum
configuration for 386bsd is. Some would claim that it is the
smallest computer that an installation will succeed on. Others
claim that it is the smallest usable computer (based on RAM and
speed constraints) and others would claim that it should be
based on using 'X'-windows.
For specific hardware, see Section 8 (still in development).
The smallest installable platform is an 80386, using an MGA card,
with at least 2Meg of RAM and a 20 Megabyte hard disk. While not
all SCSI cards (especially EISA) are supported, a great many are
either in the base distribution or through patches. This
configuration is tricky to prepare, and will certainly be hard to
use, but it is possible.
A comfortable installation which includes source and binary
distributions, as well as other utilities will work in about
100Meg of hard drive.
'X' requires at least a Hercules MGA; for masochists only, from
what I understand.
See section 8 for more details.
1.5 Where to get the source and binaries
1.5.1 Forms available (floppy, FTP, CD-ROM)
386bsd is available in just about every format known to man, with
the possible exception of stone tablets and papyrus.
1.5.1.1 Where can I get the distribution on floppy or tape?
Many people will copy files onto diskettes or tapes if you
coordinate it with them ahead of time. In addition, many
companies offer 386bsd on various types of media for money.
Austin Code Works and others (usually advertisers in PC
magazines) offer the base 0.1 "official" distribution for a fee.
Note that there are virtually no restrictions on distributing
the 386bsd distributions. Basically, wherever you can find it,
you can get it. This goes for FreeBSD and NetBSD as well.
1.5.1.2 Where can I get the distribution via FTP?
The files you should look for specifically when using FTP are
directories called srcdist, bindist, and etcdist. These
directories will hold the files for each of the distributions.
Once you have received the files via FTP, you can either load
them directly onto your system and then un archive them using
'extract' or one of the other methods suggested in Section 2 of
the FAQ, in the section about installing with 'real partitioning'.
The list of sites that have 386BSD is covered in section 1.8 below.
This list is produced automatically by using a utility called
'archie' and is updated for every new version of the FAQ. If you
try to access a site from this list and find that they either
don't have FTP enabled, or don't have 386bsd loaded any more,
a polite letter to the admin of the system asking them to
update their 'archie' entries is good manners.
1.5.1.3 Where can I get the distribution on CD ROM?
Infomagic sells a UNIX CD-ROM that has 386BSD. Their FAX number
is 609-683-5502.
Profit Press has 386BSD dated 7/21/92 on their "Mega Win OS/2"
CD-ROM. This is in the format of BINDIST, ETCDIST, SRCDIST and
BOOTABLE.
Profit Press
2956 N. Campbell Ave
Tucson, Arizona 85719
(602) 577-9696
Their order line is 1-800-843-7990
Look for their advertisements in the back pages of Computer
Shopper. The Mega series is $29.00 each or $69.00 for all three
plus a fourth "Demo Disk".
In all likelihood, the version 386bsd that is available on CD-ROM
will be the 0.1 version, without any patches. Keep this in mind
when ordering, since the first thing most people want to do is
bring the system up to the current patch level. If you do not want
the original 0.1 version, be sure to ask where the distribution
came from and which version of *BSD it is.
For our European users, I have included these notes from Julian
Stacey (stacey@guug.de) and Christian Seyb (cs@gold.muc.de)
concerning locations and methods for getting 386bsd in Europe on
both CD-ROM and floppies.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The following CDROM is available for DM 98,-- (app. $60) and contains
the following software:
- Linux SLS V1.03, Kernel 0.99.11 and utilities for Linux
- 386BSD version 0.1 including patch-kit 0.2.4
- NetBSD version 0.8
- Utilities for 386BSD and NetBSD
- The Berkely Second Networking Distribution
- GNU software (gcc 2.4.5, emacs 19.17, gmake 3.68, etc)
- X11R5 up to patch 25 and lots of Contributed Software
- TeX version 3.14
- The Internet RFCs up to RFC1493
- News, mail and mailbox software and many utilities for Unix
To: CDROM Versand
Helga Seyb
Fuchsweg 86
Tel: +49-8106-302210
85598 Baldham Fax: +49-8106-302310
Germany Bbs/Fax: +49-8106-34593
(Ed. Note: This appears to be an advertisement, but the price is right
and appears to be reasonable. Christian and Helga may have the same
last name by coincidence :-) If you want more ordering information,
please feel free to give Helga a call.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Munich Germany:
Buy the monthly "c't magazin fuer computer technik" (Price 8.5 DM)
(~1.7 = $1) & look in back pages, I saw:
Mail Order:
JF Lehmanns Buchhandlung, fuer EDV,
Zuelpicher Str 182, D-50937 Koeln, Germany
Free catalogue for X, Linux, 386bsd, 1.
Confusing advert seems to offer X11R5 + GNU + 386BSD
on CD Rom "InfoMagic Vol2 No2" for Price: 149 DM.
Tel. 0130 4372 (always busy, claims to be free,
so don't know if +49 130 4372 viable)
Fax: +49 221 415995
Shops in Berlin, Koeln, Regensburg, Ulm.
(Editorial Notes: DM149 is about $75-$90 US (or a little more)
and 0130 numbers are Toll Free in Germany only.)
Mail Order:
Computer Solutions Software GmbH
Postfach 1180, D-85561 Grafing (Muenchen), Germany
Tel +49 8092 5018
Fax +49 8092 31727
23 * 3.5" 1.4M flops @ Price: DM199
Order No:/Best Nr: 5099
Shop:
Columbus Datentechnik,
Theresienstr 63, D-80333 Muenchen, Germany
Tel +49 89 5232021
Lynne wrote a short follow-up, letting us know that these
companies do not send them any money.
(Linux was advertised in the mag. @ 89DM, both Linux & 386BSD
distributions were offered as something over 20 1M floppies )
This announcement in from Jordan Hubbard:
On the morning of 30 December, 1993, and after many many delays,
the first official release of FreeBSD 1.0 began shipping on CDROM.
This CD is being sold through Walnut Creek CDROM, our ongoing
sponsors in the FreeBSD project, and without whom we would have had
a substantially more difficult (if not impossible) time producing it.
While I will _always_ encourage obtaining FreeBSD through "free"
channels (the Internet, friends, suspicious individuals in dark
alleys), and given that none of us will make any money from CD
sales, or ever have from FreeBSD in general given that WC's
sponsorship is confined to the loan of centralized development
hardware and network access, I still hope that some of you will
find the CD distribution medium convenient enough to order a
FreeBSD CD from Walnut Creek, thus indirectly supporting our
future development work.
If this marriage between commercial and free software interests
proves to be mututally beneficial (which still remains to be seen,
from Walnut Creek's point of view), it is my hope that it may serve
as a model for similar future endeavors. It is an unfortunate fact
that developing free software at this scale costs money, even with
the developers donating their time and efforts, and financing some
of it through the sale of convenient distribution media is one of
the least venal ways I know of going about it.
This CD contains a full FreeBSD 1.0.2 source & binary release, the
sources and binaries for XFree86 2.0, and numerous sources from the
FreeBSD "ports collection". Where space permitted, sources were
provided in both "packed" and "unpacked" forms for easy access both
as an on-line resource and as a source for compressed downloads in BBS
or release-construction situations. The CD is fully ISO9660 compatable
and has been mastered using RockRidge extensions for long filenames on
systems that support it (like FreeBSD! :-).
It is, of course, possible to install the system off the CD from
scratch, given some basic willingness to read a little documentation
and a few blank floppy disks.
For the sake of convenience, I append the ordering information
distilled from FreeBSD's /usr/src/RELNOTES.FreeBSD below.
Ordering information:
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. A current catalog can
be obtained via ftp from ftp.cdrom.com:/cdrom/catalog.
Cost is $39.95. Shipping (per order, not per disc if ordering
multiple disks) is $5 in the US, Canada, or Mexico and $10.00
overseas. They accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and
ship COD within the United States. California residents please
add 8.25% sales tax.
roman@public.btr.com (Roman Yanovsky roman@btr.com) sent in this
note. I have editted it down some, but left in the bulk of the
BNR2 stuff in case you need more information:
Subject: Linux Slackware and FreeBSD CD-ROM with X-windows etc.
Trans-Ameritech presents "The best Linux plus FreeBSD CDROM ever"
Great news for the Linux community! SLACKWARE - the critically
acclaimed best Linux distribution - is now available on a CDROM
from a company known for fastest delivery and best customer
service. The new release is a result of a combined effort by
Patrick Volkerding (creator of the Slackware distribution) and
Trans-Ameritech and is based on Slackware 1.1.1
In addition to the binary and compressed source distributions,
the CDROM contains an uncompressed file-system that can be
directly mounted and used. This file-system has many man-pages,
info files, games, applications etc.
This release combines the best features of all existing CDROM
releases of the Linux operating system:
* The installation is highly automated by the Slackware scripts
fine tuned to this CDROM but leaves a lot of room for customization.
This is the "official" Slackware CDROM. The great advantage of
Slackware is the ease of installing/deleting individual packages
and sets. Install only what you really need!
[ more Linux deleted ]
* For hacker's reference an uncompressed FreeBSD source tree is
provided.
* On the BSD side there is a full source and binary distribution
of the "final" FreeBSD 1.0
* If you have questions or problems Trans-Ameritech provides free
support via e-mail within 24 hours.
* We ship the same day as we get the order.
The new CDROM is available for $30 plus shipping/handling. If you
are a current customer, it is only $20. New releases will be
available every 3 month. Subscription is available.
[ I couldn't find the address for Trans-Ameritech in this last
note at all. Perhaps next time. ]
This information is offered with no warranties, guarantees,
franchise offers, or recommendations.
1.6 Electronic Information Groups for 386BSD
1.6.1 Usenet newsgroups
General BSD questions can be posted to comp.1.bsd. Bear
in mind, however; that your questions to this group should
really be about BSD in general, not a specific implementation
detail of *BSD.
Listed below are the Usenet newsgroups that were developed to
support 386bsd and its descendents.
comp.os.386bsd.announce
Announcements relating to the 386bsd operating system. (Moderated)
Posts should be mailed to "386bsd-announce@agate.berkeley.edu".
comp.os.386bsd.apps
Applications which run under 386bsd. Not all sites will
carry comp.os.386bsd.apps, since it kind of 'showed up'.
comp.os.386bsd.bugs
Bugs and fixes for the 386bsd OS and its clients.
comp.os.386bsd.development
Working on 386bsd internals.
comp.os.386bsd.misc
General aspects of 386bsd not covered by other groups.
comp.os.386bsd.questions
General questions about 386bsd.
1.6.2 Newsgroup archives.
These sites maintain a historical record of the traffic in the Usenet
Newsgroups indicated. There are others, but I haven't gotten their
names yet.
Host Name IP address Location Newsgroups archived
-------------------- -------------- -------------- ----------------
minnie.cs.adfa.oz.au 131.236.20.70 Australia comp.1.bsd
src.doc.ic.ac.uk 146.169.2.1 London, UK comp.os.386bsd.*
1.6.3 BNR/2 Derived bsd mailing lists.
There are at least two mailing lists for 386bsd. Both are for
discussions of the patchkit and patches. Last I heard, neither
of them is particularly active any more. They are:
386bsd_patchkit@cs.montana.edu:
This list is primarily for discussion of the patchkit and other
patch procedure discussions.
patches@cs.montana.edu:
This list is for patch submissions.
NOTE: The patchkit is discussed in detail in Section 2 of the FAQ.
Also, the patchkit has been effectively deprecated. Sending to
these lists may or may not get you the kind of info you are looking
for.
In addition to the pure 386bsd lists mentioned above, there are
mailing lists available for FreeBSD and NetBSD. Information about
the NetBSD lists and how to use majordomo (the list handler) is
available by mailing to majordomo@sun-lamp.cs.berkeley.edu.
There are three mailing lists for FreeBSD and they are:
FreeBSD-hackers: for hackers
FreeBSD-questions: misc questions
FreeBSD-bugs: bug reports
Send to FreeBSD-hackers-request@freefall.cdrom.com to be added
to the hackers list, and *-questions-request@freefall... to be
added to the questions list.
1.6.4 Other electronic resources.
There are many bulletin boards throughout the world that have
386bsd software and information available. Also, there are
CompuServe and other on-line services that have 386bsd
discussions. It is even rumored that Bill and Lynne have been
active on Compuserve talking about 386BSD Version 1.0 (or 0.2,
or whatever it is going to be).
1.6.5 System Updates.
There are at least two different ways of getting the updates for the
current source tree for both FreeBSD and NetBSD. The first is the
traditional FTP method, and the other is using a utility called 'sup'.
This program keeps a log of the source modules that have been updated
and sends out only those files that have been changed. Included below
are some instructions from John Brezak <brezak@apollo.hp.com> on how
to run sup for NetBSD. The sup procedures for FreeBSD are similar:
Instructions for installing NetBSD sources and releases using SUP
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1.3 1993/11/3
SUP is a network installation package written by CMU used to distribute
software. For more details on SUP refer to the man pages.
Sup works by reading a configuration file (supfile) and using this
information to determine what "collections" of files will be loaded
from the collection repository. Here is an example of a supfile to
load the NetBSD current release.
[ Note: lines have been broken for readability; do NOT use '\' in
supfiles ]
src release=current host=sun-lamp.cs.berkeley.edu hostbase=/b/anon_ftp base=/usr prefix=/usr backup
ksrc release=current host=sun-lamp.cs.berkeley.edu hostbase=/b/anon_ftp base=/usr prefix=/usr backup
security release=current host=sun-lamp.cs.berkeley.edu hostbase=/b/anon_ftp base=/usr prefix=/usr backup
gamessrc release=current host=sun-lamp.cs.berkeley.edu hostbase=/b/anon_ftp base=/usr prefix=/usr backup
regress release=current host=sun-lamp.cs.berkeley.edu hostbase=/b/anon_ftp base=/usr prefix=/usr backup
#othersrc release=current host=sun-lamp.cs.berkeley.edu hostbase=/b/anon_ftp base=/usr prefix=/usr backup
This supfile will load the "current" collections for "src", "ksrc",
"security", "gamessrc", and "regress" in the /usr directory on the
local machine. The "othersrc" collection will not be loaded because
it is commented out.
The supfile line is made up of keywords that describe the collection's
location on the sup server and where and how it will be loaded on the
local host.
release - the release of the collection to load.
host - the 'host' where the SUP repository resides. NetBSD
uses sun-lamp.cs.berkeley.edu .
hostbase- the pathname on the host to the base of the
collection. The hostbase for NetBSD is "/b/anon_ftp".
base - where you want to install it locally.
prefix - used to locate the "sup" directory to write sup's
info about updates. Usually the same as base.
This supfile can also set some options. The "old" option tells sup
to check all files for changes, not just those that are newer than
the last sup update. Normally sup will overwrite local files with the
changed file from the repository. If the sup collection specifies
that an existing file should be renamed to a backup, the "backup"
option in the supfile activates this. The "delete" option tells
sup to delete any files locally that are no longer in the
collection - be careful with this one. The "keep" option will
cause sup to NOT update files that have been changes locally.
The "compress" option will use gzip to compress the files before
transfer and gunzip them on the receiving end. This option can be
used to cut down on the number of transmitted bytes.
You may want to set 'base' and 'prefix' to something other than /usr
if you want to preserve your existing src tree.
The sup repository on sun-lamp.cs.berkeley.edu currently offers these
collections.
src, ksrc, security
The sources for NetBSD
othersrc
The current sources for contributed parts of NetBSD. This
contains the sources for sup.
regress
The current sources for the NetBSD regression test suite.
If you only want the kernel sources for a specific port there are some
sub packages that you can use instead of the "ksrc" one. If you are
using the sub packages, be sure to also sup the "ksrc-common" package.
ksrc-common
Kernel sources common to all ports.
ksrc-1, ksrc-sparc, ksrc-hp300, ksrc-amiga, ksrc-mac,
ksrc-pc532, ksrc-pmax, ksrc-sun3
Kernel sources for a particular port.
The security package is not to be sup'ed by sites outside of the U. S.,
read the "README.export-control" file for details.
Each collection can have multiple releases (as specified by the "release"
keyword).
IMPORTANT!!
Be aware that the current release is simply a snapshot of the daily
state of NetBSD development and is not guaranteed to build (or even
work) - use at your own risk !
Stable releases of NetBSD are available via SUP. Instructions are
included with the release announcement.
Before running sup, be sure that your /etc/services contains these
entries.
supfilesrv 871/tcp # for SUP
supfiledbg 1127/tcp
To try sup without really updating anything use the '-f' flag. The '-v'
flag means verbose and can be used to see what sup is doing.
sup -fv supfile
The sup binary, sup man page and sample supfiles can be ftp'ed from
sun-lamp.cs.berkeley.edu:~ftp/pub/sup . Comments should be directed
to "sup@sun-lamp.cs.berkeley.edu".
A mailing list exists for users of the NetBSD "current" release. To
join, mail to 'majordemo@sun-lamp.cs.berkeley.edu' with a mail body
of "info". The reply will describe the mailing lists for NetBSD. The
you will want to subscribe to te "current-users" mailing list.
We will use this list to announce any special changes made to the
"current" tree.
1.7 Documentation available
There are two types of documentation for 386bsd. First is the
set that covers the operation and theory used in BSD-Unix.
These sources are often excellent for background and understanding
of the current implementation of 386bsd. Second is the set of
manuals written specifically for 386bsd. Most of these are books
and magazine articles written by Bill and Lynne Jolitz.
1.7.1 BSD manuals
The full set of BSD documentation is available via anonymous FTP
from ocf.berkeley.edu in /pub/Library/Computer/doc4.3. To print
this documentation on 386bsd systems, replace the ditroff
references in the Makefile with 'groff -e -t -msU {SRC} >out.ps'
to generate PostScript format files. Use different options to
make the output conform to other print styles.
The etc distribution also comes with a documentation directory
~/share/doc which has nearly 3Meg of documentation about 386bsd.
In addition, on-line manuals are available in the binary
distribution set. It contains specific information on the use
of UNIX utilities and commands. Type "man man" for information
on the online manual.
1.7.2 BSD books
There is an excellent set of works recommended by Bill and Lynne
in the INSTALL.NOTES. In addition, several other books have been
recommended by Andrew Moore and others.
For learning how to work in the Unix environment, the standard text
is "The Unix Programming Environment," by Kernighan and Pike.
For Unix Administration, the best is "Unix System Administration
Handbook," by Nemeth, Snyder and Seebass.
For systems level programming (i.e., systems calls), I recommend
"Advanced Unix Programming," by Marc Rochkind. Unfortunately it is
out-dated and oriented towards System V.
A new book "Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment," by W.
Richard Stevens is very up-to-date, and an excellent reference,
especially for dealing with POSIX standards issues.
For network programming, "Unix Network Programming," by W. Richard
Stevens is highly regarded.
The 4.3BSD Unix Manuals contain loads of invaluable tutorials and
historical papers in addition to hard copies of on-line documentation.
The six volume set is available from Usenix for $60.00 (email:
office@usenix.org)
I could go on, but let me mention just two more - if you have a full
386BSD installation, you may want to learn the bash shell (in
/usr/othersrc/public). This is an extension of the Bourne shell (sh)
with features from both the C shell (Csh) and the Korn shell (Ksh).
The Korn shell is described in "The Kornshell," by Korn (of course).
Second, I recommend you look at "The AWK Programming Language," by
Aho, Weinberger and Kernighan. This is a very nice prototyping
language - powerful and easy to use.
Another excellent reference book for 386bsd is "The Design and
Implementation of the 4.3BSD UNIX Operating system" by Samuel J.
Leffler, Marshall Kirk McKusick, Michael J. Karels, John S.
Quarterman, 1989, Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-06196-1. While this
book is out of date in many sections, it is purported to be an
excellent source of historical information, if nothing else.
Chris Demetriou recommends the sections on the treatment of
file systems, caching and the networking layer. The sections in
this books which do not apply to 386bsd include the VM section,
bootstrapping, and autoconfig.
In addition, there are many other books which, for one reason or
another, have not made it into this brief list. Rest assured that
this is not intended to be an exhaustive list by any means. In
fact, Lynne Jolitz has offered to supply the FAQ with her preferred
reading list describing the current and future versions of 386bsd.
1.7.3 The Jolitz Book
Bill and Lynne Jolitz are writing a book about 386bsd. It will
be announced once it is ready. A tentative date of late 1992
was once offered, but since it is now 1994 and no book has
been announced, we can assume that it will be later than the
original estimate.
1.7.4 Dr. Dobbs' journal
For users who wish to understand the internals of the BNR/2 BSD
family of Operating Systems originally developed and/or ported by
William F. Jolitz from 1989 to the present, the most immediate
and available reference is the feature series entitled
"Porting UNIX to the 386: A Practical Approach", appearing in Dr.
Dobbs' Journal, USA (January 1991 to July 1992) and UNIX and iX
Magazines, Germany (June 1991 to present). For inquiries on the
article series (including reprints), contact the magazines for
information.
"Porting UNIX to the 386: A Practical Approach" (feature series)
by Jolitz and Jolitz
1/91: DDJ "Designing a Software Specification"
2/91: DDJ "Three Initial PC Utilities"
3/91: DDJ "The Standalone System"
4/91: DDJ "Copyright, Copyleft, and Competitive Advantage"
4/91: DDJ "Language Tools Cross-Support"
5/91: DDJ "The Initial Root Filesystem"
6/91: DDJ "Research and the Commercial Sector: Where Does
BSD Fit In?"
7/91: DDJ "A Stripped-Down Kernel"
8/91: DDJ "The Basic Kernel"
9/91: DDJ "Multiprogramming and Multiprocessing, Part I"
10/91: DDJ "Multiprogramming and Multiprocessing, Part II"
11/91: DDJ "Device Autoconfiguration"
2/92: DDJ "UNIX Device Drivers, Part I"
3/92: DDJ "UNIX Device Drivers, Part II"
4/92: DDJ "UNIX Device Drivers, Part III"
5/92: DDJ "Missing Pieces, Part I"
6/92: DDJ "Missing Pieces, Part II"
7/92: DDJ "The Final Step: Running Light with 386BSD"
You can contact M&T Books (DDJ) for reprints if you can't get them from
your technical library:
1-800-356-2002 (inside CA)
1-800-444-4881 (better In NA Backorder number)
1-415-358-9500 (international)
6/91: UNIX Magazin "Portierung von BSD-UNIX auf den 80386. Heimlich
Liebe."
7/91: UNIX Magazin "Steighilfe."
8/91: UNIX Magazin "Systemverwaltung durch Tabellen"
9/91: UNIX Magazin "Sicher bewegen auf fremdem Terrain"
10/91: UNIX Magazin "Damit die Fehlersuche nicht zum Hurdenspringen
wird"
11/91: UNIX Magazin "Alles in eine Schublade"
12/91: UNIX Magazin "Feuer und Wasser"
1/92: UNIX Magazin "Rekursives Speicher-Mapping"
2/92: UNIX Magazin "Tanz auf dem Eis"
3/92: UNIX Magazin "Aus Hanschen wird Hans"
4/92: UNIX Magazin "Das Geheimnis des Multiprogramming"
5/92: UNIX Magazin "Zeitmanagement scheibenweise"
6/92: UNIX Magazin "Magie des Kernels"
7/92: UNIX Magazin "Erkenne Dich Selbst"
9/92: UNIX Magazin "Niemand is eine Insel"
10/92: UNIX Magazin "Treiberlatein"
12/92: UNIX Magazin "Einlandung erforderlich"
1/93: iX Magazin "Wir unterbrechen das Programm"
2/93: iX Magazin "Liste gut, alles gut"
3/93: iX Magazin "Blick ins Allerheiligste"
4/93: iX Magazin "Von Bl"ocken, Ringen und Zeichen"
NOTE: The series in UNIX Magazin was moved to IX Magazin in 1/93.
The article in the April issue was the last one in the series.
In addition, other major articles which discuss 386BSD in detail:
8/92: UNIX Magazin "Interview mit Bill Jolitz. Das passiert mit
386BSD" by Jurgen Fey
8/92: DDJ "Very High-Speed Networking" by W.F. Jolitz
12/92: DDJ "Inside the ISO-9660 Filesystem Format" by Jolitz and
Jolitz
Reprints of the first 19 parts on the UNIX Magazin series are available
from:
iX Redaktion
Stichwort: 386BSD-Serie
Verlag Heinz Heise GmbH & Co KG
Helstorfer Str. 7
D-30625 Hannover, Germany
Some of the parts are without code listings due to the unclear
status of the BSD releases stemming from the Net/2 release. Dr.
Dobbs is reported out of back issues of the articles listed above.
You best bet may be to try your local public or school library.
1.7.5 Other FAQ's on the net that are relevant
There are many FAQs that can be used in conjunction with 386bsd.
These include the FAQs for all of the GNU software, the different
shells that are available, the programming languages that are
available, and many more. In addition, many programs have their
own FAQ which should be referenced whenever that package is being
added. Good examples of the latter are the FAQs for elm, C-News,
and innd.
The observant reader will notice that there are very few 'X'
questions in this FAQ. The XFree86 FAQ is posted regularly to
comp.os.386bsd.*. There is no good reason to include any 'X'
questions in this FAQ, with the exception of the most basic
'Where can I get the 'X' FAQ'.
Most FAQs are available by anonymous FTP from rtfm.mit.edu and
via Usenet News in news.answers and/or comp.answers. This FAQ
is no exception (I hope).
1.8 FTP sites for 386BSD
A standard tool on Internet connected hosts for finding files is
'archie'. Searching the archie archive for either "386BSD" or
"386bsd" yields the following list. For UUCP sites, FTP-Mail
is available from gatekeeper.dec.com. The list below was created
with an 'archie -l' on 08 Feb 1994 searching for 386bsd.
For those folks that have access to telnet, but not FTP, you can use
archie by using telnet and connecting to 132.206.2.3. Log in as
'archie' and use the 'prog' command to find programs of interest.
The list below is included primarily for those folks that have only
uucp, and will need to get their software though UUCP and other
channels.
1.8.1 FTP Site List
This list is automatically generated every time the FAQ is
produced. Please do not request that your host be added to
this list. If your host is represented in an 'archie' list,
it will be reflected here. Several other sites are included
in Section 1.8.4 below.
Host Directory
ascwide.ascii.co.jp /pub2/language/clisp/386bsd/
binkley.cs.mcgill.ca /pub/386bsd/
bloom-picayune.mit.edu /pub/usenet-by-hierarchy/comp/os/386bsd/
brolga.cc.uq.oz.au /pub/386bsd/
etlport.etl.go.jp /pub/386bsd/
etlport.etl.go.jp /pub/ccipr/386bsd/
ftp.cfi.waseda.ac.jp /pub3/fj/fj.sources/386bsd/
ftp.germany.eu.net /pub/comp/FreeBSD/FreeBSD-current/ports/flexfax/port/386bsd/
gatekeeper.dec.com /.0/BSD/386bsd/
gatekeeper.dec.com /.9/plan/lisp/clisp/binaries/386bsd/
grasp1.univ-lyon1.fr /pub/msdos/386bsd/
hpb.mcc.ac.uk /pub/386bsd/
isfs.kuis.kyoto-u.ac.jp /BSD/FreeBSD/FreeBSD-current/ports/flexfax/port/386bsd/
isfs.kuis.kyoto-u.ac.jp /ftpmail/ftp.ae.keio.ac.jp/pub/386bsd/
isfs.kuis.kyoto-u.ac.jp /ftpmail/ftp.iij.ad.jp/pub/386bsd/
isfs.kuis.kyoto-u.ac.jp /ftpmail/ftp.meiji.ac.jp/pub/386bsd/
isfs.kuis.kyoto-u.ac.jp /ftpmail/ftp.phys.keio.ac.jp/pub/386bsd/
isfs.kuis.kyoto-u.ac.jp /ftpmail/ftp.phys.keio.ac.jp/pub/tex/dviout/386bsd/
knot.queensu.ca /pub/tcrunchers/Unix/386bsd
krynn.efd.lth.se /pub/386bsd/
lth.se /pub/netnews/386bsd/
net-1.iastate.edu /pub/386bsd/
oes.orst.edu /pub/386bsd/
orion.oac.uci.edu /pub/386bsd/
rs3.hrz.th-darmstadt.de /pub/programming/languages/lisp/clisp/binaries/386bsd/
scslwide.sony.co.jp /pub/386bsd/
sifon.cc.mcgill.ca /pub/ftp_inc/386bsd/
src.doc.ic.ac.uk /computing/databases/postgres/unofficial-ports/386bsd/
tesla.ee.cornell.edu /pub/386bsd/
theta.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp /pub2/FreeBSD/FreeBSD-current/ports/flexfax/port/386bsd/
ugle.unit.no /pub/386bsd/
1.secs.oakland.edu /pub/386bsd/
world.std.com /src/mail/mh-6.8.3/conf/examples/386bsd
world.std.com /src/telcom/FlexFAX-news/port/386bsd/
world.std.com /src/telcom/FlexFAX/port/386bsd/
The code may soon also to be available, or perhaps is already
available, from both CompuServe and BIX.
1.8.2 Official distribution sites
According to Lynne Jolitz, there is no such thing as an 'official'
386bsd site. The closest we have is 'agate.berkeley.edu' which is
mirrored at several of the sites listed above.
1.8.3 Reference sites
For a brief period, ref.tfs.com was available for use as a reference
system. This system was used as the test-bed for many programs that
were ported to 386bsd by many authors. Unfortunately, ref.tfs.com
has been disabled as a reference system. Once a replacement is
established, it will be noted here.
There is now a site in Germany that is acting as a reference site
for 386bsd. The name is "g386bsd.first.gmd.de", also known as
"bsd386.first.gmd.de". Sorry, no anonymous ftp yet. But there is
a "guest" login with the password "guest".
But the most important reason why I had installed the machine on
the network was for all these people who don't have enough space
to compile their own kernel or their own packages. They can do
it on this machine. ATS ( ats@first.gmd.de or ats@cs.tu-berlin.de )
Also, Montana State University has offered accounts on a 386BSD
machine to anyone who has a project they would like to do.
Send email to nate@bsd.coe.montana.edu with the name of your project
and have your account setup. As of this writing, the machine has
access to both NetBSD and 386BSD 0.1 + patchkit sources online. Here
is Nate's announcement.
This is to announce the availability of a machine on the network
available for anyone to do specific 386BSD/NetBSD projects.
Unfortunately, due to a not having a T1 network link, our connection
does not have the bandwidth to do the same job as 'ref' did.
However, this machine can be used by anyone who does not have the
resources to do projects on their own machine, or who does not have
a machine to do a project on it. In addition, I have local copies
of the interim release work and the NetBSD stuff (which are always
a little behind due to them both being done by hand).
Prerequisites for getting an account are simple:
1) telnet access so you can login - No modems are available, and you
wouldn't want to pay for long distance to Montana anyway :-)
2) a specific project to accomplish/attempt
3) a mail message sent to me stating your project and an account name.
The projects don't have to be overly specific, but since I can't
provide access to everyone, I need projects to give to the folks
who provided the resources to me a listing of the projects that
are being worked on.
The machine is a 486/33 with 16MB of memory and 3Gig of disk, some
local and some NFS mounted. The engineering Dept.. of Montana State
University has provided a large part of the resources this machine
has, and backups are being done on a regular basis.
Please send all requests for account to: nate@bsd.coe.montana.edu,
which is the machine that is being provided for the network access.
1.8.4 Unofficial archive sites that have neat stuff!
There are many sites that have things which have either been ported
to 386bsd or are available to the world. Use archie to find these
sites, or read comp.os.386bsd.* for more information.
agate.berkeley.edu:~/0.1-ports
agate.berkeley.edu:~/unofficial/from-ref
Listed here because they don't have access to 'archie' yet...
g386bsd.first.gmd.de -or- bsd386.first.gmd.de:
Sources for 386bsd0.1 and the later patchkits.
Source for NetBSD0.8 and the newer snapshots.
Xfree is installed binary as version 1.3.
Ported software are:
tcsh6.03.00
emacs19-15
gcc-2.4.5
top3-1
perl4.0.36
elvis1.7
bison-1.21
rn and nn.
In addition, ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de has a lot of neat
software and Wolfram Schneider (wosch@cs.tu-berlin.de) has
'ported' the FAQ into LaTeX. It is available in
pub/386BSD/FAQ/tex in both PostScript and DVI formats.
1.8.5 X for 386BSD 0.1 Ported Software List
This is a list of non-core X window system application that
have been ported to 386BSD 0.1. The ftp server and directory
name are listed above and each file or directory name is
followed by a short description. Feel free to send corrections,
additions or suggestions to rich@rice.edu.
agate.berkeley.edu:/pub/386BSD/0.1-ports/x-apps
InterViews C++ GUI class library + WYSIWYG document & graphics editors.
img_1.3 raster image manipulator/viewer
agate.berkeley.edu:/pub/386BSD/386bsd-0.1/unofficial/from-ref/public
Xw widget library
ghostscript-2.5.2 interactive postscript interpreter/viewer
ghostview-1.4.1 front end processor for viewing postscript
gnuplot-3.2 interactive graphics/plotting
gwm generic window manager with lisp interpreter
tk GUI tool kit with Tool command languate (tcl)
interpreter
ups C source level debugger with slick GUI
xbench X server performance measurement tool
xcdplayer GUI for cd player
xfig interactive graphical editor
xlock screen locker
xntpd network time protocol???
xphoon real-time view of lunar phase
xpool game of pool?
xroach yep, a roach crawling on your monitor.
xscreensaver screen blanker/saver
xv raster image viewer
xvgr ?
nova.cc.purdue.edu:/pub/386bsd/submissions
Xdtm-2.5.386bsd X desk top manager
idraw-bin.tar.Z C++ GUI class library + WYSIWYG document &
graphics editors.
img1.3.386bsd.tar.Z see above
mpeg_play.Z animated raster image viewer
small_X11r5.tZ a minimal subset of the core distribution
vogl.tar.Z a library that emulatates Silicon Graphics
GL calls
xview3 sun's GUI development tool kit
sunvis.rtpnc.epa.gov:/pub/386bsd/incoming:
Dirt.tar.Z GUI development tool kit
XBSD8514-0.1.Z 8514 X server port
XS3-0.3-exp.Z S3 X server port
acm.tar.Z aerial combat mission/flight simulator
chess-vort-movie.tar.Z ?
epoch.Z enhanced emacs for X
jpeg.tar.Z jpeg viewer
libXaw3d.a.Z 3D widget library
mpeg-1.2.tar.Z animated raster image viewer
ups-2.45.bin.tar.Z C source level debugger with slick GUI
vort-movie.tar.Z ?
xantfarm.tar.Z screen saver with ants?
xbench.tar.Z X server performance measurement tool
xpipeman.tar.Z game: connect pipes to keep a liquid within
xxgdb.tar.Z GUI for GNU source level debugger