*BSD News Article 87993


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Date: Thu, 30 Jan 1997 20:37:27 +0100
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Subject: Re: [comp.unix.bsd] NetBSD, FreeBSD, and OpenBSD FAQ (Part 1 of 10)
References: <386bsd-faq-1-854352003@cynjut.neonramp.com>
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Dave Burgess wrote:
> 
> Posted-By: auto-faq 3.1.1.2
> Archive-name: 386bsd-faq/part1
> 
>                         Frequently Asked Questions
>                    386BSD, NetBSD, FreeBSD, OpenBSD and
>                        other BSD derived Operating
>                                  Systems.
> 
>                            EXTREMELY UNOFFICIAL
> 
>   Original FAQ by:
>         Terry Lambert
> 
>   New New FAQ by:
>         Dave Burgess
> 
>         burgess@cynjut.neonramp.com
> 
>                            Last Update:  23 Jan 1997
> 
> Section -1. (Where else to look)
> 
>         In the distribution of each of the *BSD systems, there is a LOT
>         of documentation.  If you are completely unfamiliar with Unix,
>         there is a reading list recommended in Section 1 of the FAQ.
>         There are also various documents in the /usr/share/doc directory
>         on the installed system.  Many of these give detailed information
>         about the design, history, and use of many of the pieces of the
>         *BSD system you are interested.  Once you are familiar with
>         Unix-like systems, you can probably graduate to the 'man'
>         program.  The 'man' program is a series of manual pages which
>         describe various parts of the system (kernel stuff, file
>         formats, commands, 'C' standard functions, etc.) in enough
>         detail to generally get you where you want to be.  The command
>         'man man' will give you a lot of details.  The other command
>         which might help is called 'apropos' (pronounced ap'-rO-pO).
>         This command searches the title lines of every manual page
>         looking for a match in the word you include as an argument.  If
>         you have the system running, try the command 'apropos ttys' to
>         get a feel for all the stuff that's out there.
> 
> Section 0.  (Basic FAQ information)
> 
> 0.0     Master Index.
> 
>         0.0          Master Index.
>         0.1          A brief history of the *BSD family.
>         0.1.1        Which of the 4.3 BSD files were identified as
>                      encumbered? What's all this about `binary-only files'?
>                      Will BSDI continue to ship source code? What did NetBSD
>                      and FreeBSD do about the encumbered files?
>         0.1.2        How close is NetBSD (or FreeBSD) to BSD 4.4?
>         0.1.3        Where can I get more information about the *BSD family
>                      of Operating Systems?
>         0.2          About this FAQ.
>         0.2a         What are the differences between *BSD and (your favorite
>                      operating system name here)?
>         0.2b         Which is better, (your favorite operating system name
>                      here) or *BSD?
>         0.2c         Is 386bsd better than (your favorite operating system
>                      name here)?
>         0.2.1        So what ARE the differences between the *BSD family and
>                      Linux?
>         0.2.2        I want to start up a thread about why *BSD is or isn't
>                      as good as some other operating system. Can anyone
>                      suggest a good reason why I shouldn't?
>         0.2.3        Are all of the Berkeley derived systems binary
>                      compatible? If not, what are the differences?
>         0.3          Are there any resources on the Net (like URLs)
>                      associated with the BSD family of operating systems?
>         0.4          How to add your pet answer to the FAQ.
>         0.5          Administrivia.
>         0.6          Does anyone reading this have any sense of humor at all?
> 
>         1.0          I just downloaded all of 386bsd version 0.1 and I can't
>                      get [some feature] to work? Do you have any suggestions?
> 
>         1.1          Minimum hardware configuration recommended
>         1.4          Where to get the source and binaries
>         1.4.1        Where can I get the distribution on CD ROM?
>         1.5.3        *BSD system mailing lists.
>         1.5.4        System Updates.
>         1.6          Documentation available
>         1.6.1        BSD manuals
>         1.6.2        BSD books
>         1.6.6        The O'Reilly and Associates BSD 4.4 Set.
>         1.6.7        Other FAQ's on the net that are relevant
>         1.7.1        Official distribution sites
>         2.0          Install process
>         2.0.1        Boot disks (versions and media formats)
>         2.0.1.1      I have the base system installed, and now I want to
>                      install the rest of the system. Where did the 'extract'
>                      program go?
>         2.0.1.2a     The floppy booted, but now the hard disk won't boot?
>         2.0.1.2b     I am trying to reinstall. I run install and it loops
>                      asking me if I want to use the whole disk?
>         2.0.1.4      What are the options on the boot prompt?
>         2.0.1.5      I just used the '-s' option on the boot, but I can't
>                      write anything onto the disk. What is wrong? If I use a
>                      plain 'mount' command it tells me that my root file
>                      system is read-only.
>         2.1          Binary distribution
>         2.1.1        I want to install by NFS but I am having all kinds of
>                      problems connecting to the Sun server where the files
>                      are.
>         2.2          Configuration
>         2.5.1        Partitions
>         2.5.1.1      What is a 'disklabel' and why do I need one?
>         2.2.1.2      What other kinds of information do I need if I really
>                      want to tune my hard drive's performance in conjunction
>                      with a newfs?
>         2.2.2        Common Disk Label Problems.
>         2.2.2.1      Increasing the *BSD partition size.
>         2.2.2.2      I can access the DOS partition on my second disk from
>                      Unix but not DOS? Any suggestions?
>         2.2.2.3      I want to use my entire 2 Gig drive as the root
>                      partition. Why doesn't it work?
>         2.5.3        How do I set up the system so that I can boot from more
>                      than one operating system/file-loader without using
>                      floppies?
>         2.2.3        How do I get the system to boot from the second hard
>                      drive?
>         2.2.4        How do I disklabel my second hard drive?
>         2.2.5        NetBSD and FreeBSD cannot handle disk geometry
>                      translations, but it turns out that my disk geometry is
>                      translated. It has five zones, each with a different
>                      sec/track! What kind of things can I do about the disk
>                      translation my hard disk controller uses?
>         2.2.6        I am having trouble installing on the EIDE hard drive.
>                      What are some of the things that I need to look into?
>         2.2.7        My disk label is complaining about '256 heads' in the
>                      disklabel. This is obviously bogus, but it doesn't seem
>                      to be hurting anything. Is it Okay or should I fix it?
>         2.2.8        What are the options for the boot up prompt?
>         2.2.9        I am having trouble installing WRT 'syslogd: bind: Can't
>                      assign requested address' errors. What are some of the
>                      things I should look at? I also am having trouble with
>                      the network: 'starting network ... ifconfig: localhost:
>                      badvalue'.
>         2.2.10       When I start up my system, it hangs for three or four
>                      minutes during the 'netstart' program. Our network
>                      nameserver is working OK, and I use it all the time; my
>                      resolv.conf file says to use the network nameserver. Why
>                      would netstart have such problems using it?
>         2.2.11       I am having trouble getting net aliases to work. What
>                      could some of the problems be?
>         2.2.12       I'm having trouble with the networking code
>                      (specifically the PPP stuff to my ISP). How can I debug
>                      NetBSD's networking?
>         2.2.13       I want to hard wire my SCSI devices to a particular
>                      device number. Is that possible?
>         2.3          Common installation problems.
>         2.3.2        Endless reboot cycles.
>         2.4          The computer just sits there, or 'that isn't right'.
>         2.4.1        The boot disk works all right on one computer but not
>                      another.
>         2.4.2        Really strange errors in the various *BSD flavors.
>         2.4.2.2      Using the new code in NetBSD, I get a "panic: pdti
>                      206067" in pmap_enter(). What should I do?
>         2.4.3a       I get the error "isr 15 and error: isr 17" on an NE2000
>                      card.
>         2.4.3b       I have some card on IRQ2 and it doesn't work; why?
>         2.4.3c       I am getting lousy performance out of my network card.
>                      What are some of the other possibilities?
>         2.4.4        What is the difference between IRQ2 and IRQ9? Are they
>                      really the same, or are they really different?
>         2.4.5        Some of my SCSI devices (like a tape drive) don't work;
>                      why?
>         2.4.8        I want to use the Adaptec 1542C SCSI controller. What
>                      are the problems/tricks you need to know to get it
>                      working?
>         2.4.9        My system boots OK off the floppy, but once I try to
>                      boot from the hard drive, the message "changing root
>                      device to sd0a" appears and the system hangs. What is
>                      the most likely thing that I have done wrong?
>         2.5          Other common problems that are attributed to the
>                      installation process but are caused other places.
>         2.5.1        I want to use more than 16 Megabytes of memory. Will any
>                      of the BSD based systems support it?
>         2.5.2        I tried to use a device in my computer that should be
>                      there. When I did, I got a "Device not configured
>                      error." What do I do now?
>         2.6          Customizing the system to meet my needs.
>         2.6.1        How do I get the system to not display the machine name,
>                      but display our company name?
>         2.6.2        I have a program that, under normal circumstances,
>                      starts once a second. This regularly causes inetd to
>                      terminate the program with a 'server failing (looping),
>                      service terminated' error. How do I fix this?
>         3.0          System Internals
>         3.1          Kernel
>         3.1.1        How do I build a kernel?
>         3.1.1.1      Why does the kernel code for NetBSD still use the old
>                      K&R style declarations when the ANSI declarations are SO
>                      much better?
>         3.1.1.2      How do I port NetBSD to another platform?
>         3.1.2        I want to do one of the following things:
>                      * add a device not in the distributed kernel (third com
>                        port, additional disk or tape, line printer driver,
>                        etc).
>                      * use a patch from the net or the patchkit to fix a
>                        kernel bug.
>                      * add another swap device.
>                      * recompile the kernel to remove extraneous devices so
>                        that it takes up less space.
>                      * configure more pseudo-terminals to allow for more
>                        xterms or network logins.
>         3.1.4        Now that I have a kernel, how do I install it?
>         3.1.6        My system is complaining about stray interrupt 7. Is my
>                      machine going to explode or anything?
>         3.1.7        I keep getting "wd0c: extra interrupt". What does it
>                      mean?
>         3.1.8        I keep getting silo overflow messages, but the system
>                      doesn't seem to mind. Is there a problem?
>         3.1.9        I found a bug in the kernel. How do I report it?
>         3.2          What exactly is this config file, anyway? What are all
>                      of these cryptic notations?
>         3.2.1        Okay, fine. Why shouldn't I just add every device I can
>                      find to the kernel, so I'll never have to recompile this
>                      again?
>         3.2.2        What should I remove from the kernel?
>         3.2.3        I can't get enough remote login sessions or xterm
>                      sessions. I also can only get four sessions working at a
>                      time. What can I do?
>         3.2.4        How do I get ddb, the kernel debugger, compiled into the
>                      kernel and running?
>         3.2.5        I'm getting all kinds of errors when I try to build a
>                      new version of GCC. How can I upgrade GCC to the most
>                      current version?
>         3.2.6        Can I patch the current running OS image?
>         3.2.7        Can I have more than one config file? Should I rename it
>                      to something else? Any other hints?
>         3.2.9        I have been getting a lot of "virtual memory exhausted"
>                      errors when I am compiling a program with a really big
>                      static array. I have 128Meg of memory and 8Gig of swap.
>                      How can this be happening?
>         3.2.10       Where can I learn more about all this?
>         3.2.11       Has the method for system call changed in NetBSD?
>         3.2.12       Does anyone have a system building script that takes
>                      things like building a new config and multiple config
>                      files into account?
>         3.2.12       How do I upgrade from my release version of NetBSD (and
>                      probably FreeBSD) to the '-current' development sources?
> 
>         3.2.13       Is there a Makefile that does all that happy
>                      world-building stuff?
>         3.2.14       Can NetBSD do cross compilation?
>         3.3          X11/XFree86/XS3
>         3.3.1        What options should I define to get the X extensions
>                      included?
>         3.3.2        Where can I get the FAQ for 'X'?
>         3.3.3        Why does X drop characters when using xdm? When I run
>                      xdm from the console, it keeps losing keystrokes and the
>                      shift keys don't always work. Why?
>         3.3.5        Under NetBSD and FreeBSD, xlock (or any other program
>                      that uses passwords) fails to validate user passwords.
>                      Anyone know why?
>         3.5          I want to run 'XYZA' which is dynamically linked and
>                      from 'some other operating system'. What special things
>                      do I have to do to get it working?
>         3.6          You promised to talk about timezones below. Are you
>                      going to?
>         3.6.1        How do you change the timezone on NetBSD (FreeBSD
>                      also?)?
>         3.6.2        The translation between seconds-since-the-epoch and date
>                      differs by about 18 seconds between BSD and other Unixes
>                      when running ntp; why?
>         3.7          How can I implement CVS to track MY changes to the
>                      kernel source tree, yet still follow the -current
>                      development tree?
>         3.8          Optional Op-codes for NetBSD, FreeBSD, and other
>                      systems.
>         4.0          Introduction
>         4.1          Common Kernel-related problems
>         4.1.6        What about the termio, termios, and termcap stuff?
>         4.1.6.1      Sometimes I have trouble with my system resetting the
>                      terminal to seven bit mode. Isn't BSD eight bit clean?
>         4.1.8        How do you implement quotas on Net/2 derived BSD
>                      systems?
>         4.1.9        What are the correct permissions for the /tmp, /usr/tmp,
>                      and /var/tmp directories?
>         4.2          Available kernel add-ons
>         4.2.7        Loadable Kernel Modules
>         4.3          Other program building type problems.
>         4.3.1        I am building a program that requires access to the
>                      crypt library. Either I have it and it isn't getting
>                      copied into the executable, or I don't have it; why?
>         4.3.2        I am having trouble with long file names in my
>                      libraries. It seems like there is a 16 character limit
>                      in the library somewhere.
>         4.3.3        I'm getting annoyed with having this "conflicting types
>                      for `sys_errlist'" problem show up nearly every time I
>                      build a program. What do I need to do?
>         4.4          System Administration Questions
>         4.4.1        Where can I get good books about NetBSD or FreeBSD?
>         4.4.2        I am concerned about system security. What should I do
>                      to protect my system from net attacks?
>         4.4.3        How can I log failed login attempts?
>         4.4.4        Can I use a Concatenated Filesystem with NetBSD?
>         4.4.4.1      Why, when I type "ccdconfig ccd0 16 none /dev/wd0a >
>                      /dev/wd1a", do I get back "ccdconfig: ioctl (CCDIOCSET):
>                      /dev/ccd0d: Device not configured"?
>         4.4.5        I am really new to Unix System Administration. I need
>                      some real basic help.
>         4.4.5.1      What is the System Administrator's user name?
>         4.4.5.2      I can't log in as 'su'. What does that message mean when
>                      I log in as root.
>         4.4.5.3      Are there any books I can 'bootstrap' myself with?
>         4.4.5.4      How about some code examples?
>         4.5          Daemon questions
>         4.5.1        I'd like to use amd to mount a file system (/dev/sd0f
>                      aka /usr/local) on another machine as "/usr/local".
>                      What's the magic?
>         4.5.2        I am having trouble with my nameserver refusing to
>                      accept 'nslookup's from my SunOS machine after I
>                      installed the resolver fix. The exact error message is
>                      "*** Can't find server name for address 194.100.46.2:
>                      Query refused". Can you help?
>         4.5.3        Are there any alternatives to 'NIS' available for
>                      NetBSD, et al.?
>         4.6          Adding new users.
>         4.6.1        Where can I FTP the 'adduser' program?
>         5.0          Introduction
>         5.1.4        A replacement curses program/library.
>         5.2          Floppy Disk problems.
>         5.2.1        How do I get a bootable floppy?
>         5.2.2        How do I maximize the space on a mountable floppy disk.
>         5.3          Character Device Driver info
>         5.3.1        Printers
>         5.3.2        Terminals/Keyboards
>         5.3.3        Modems/FAX Modems
>         5.3.3.1      How do I add a modem to *BSD:
>         5.3.3.4      Adding a Dial-in/Dial-out FAX to NetBSD or FreeBSD.
>         5.3.4        What is the trick for getting Kermit to work with rz and
>                      sz?
>         5.4          Tape Drives
>         5.4.1        Does the tape need to be formatted?
>         5.4.2        If I execute the command 'st -f /dev/st0 status', I get:
>                      Archive/Tandberg? tape drive, residual=0, blocksize=512
>                      Density: high = 16 (0x10), medium = 15 (0xf), low = 5
>                      (0x5) ds=0 er=0
>         5.4.3        When is erst0 used?
>         5.4.4        How is density (bpi) computed? I am using 3M DC 6250
>                      cassettes which have a 250MB capacity on the Viper 150.
>                      But computing the bits/inch based on 250MB/tape-length
>                      (1020 ft.), I get a density of 171335 bpi, which is
>                      nowhere near the 10000 bpi associated with QIC-150 in
>                      the st(1) man page. Why the discrepancy?
>         5.4.5        How is an appropriate block size determined (and in what
>                      units are they specified in the st(1) command)?
>         5.4.6        From the 4.3BSD mtio(4) man page, it sounds like data is
>                      typically (traditionally?) stored on tape in
>                      eof-terminated sequences of 1K records.
>         5.4.6.1      Is st's notion of "file" the record sequence between two
>                      eof marks?
>         5.4.6.2      What about a "record"?
>         5.4.6.3      Is a "record" one "block", as determined by st's
>                      "blocksize" command? If not, what is the connection
>                      between them?
>         5.4.6.4      Can I change the "record" size?
>         5.4.6.5      When would I want a block size that is different from
>                      the default? 1KB is the size of writes used by dd or
>                      whatever. QIC specifies 512 byte records (well at least
>                      its what people use..) Whatever you write in will be
>                      broken into 512 byte sections. They must be multiples of
>                      512 though.
>         5.4.7.1      How do I write several archives to a single tape? I
>                      tried without success: $ st -f /dev/rst4 rewind $ tar cf
>                      /dev/nst4 archive1 $ st -f /dev/nrst4 weof $ tar cf
>                      /dev/nst4 archive2 $ st -f /dev/nrst4 weof
>         5.4.7.2      Later, I would expect to be able to access, say,
>                      archive3 via the fsf directive to skip over the first
>                      two archives. What is the correct sequence?
>         5.4.8        Since the Viper 150 writes on QIC-150/120, I guess I
>                      don't need to worry about writing variable-length
>                      records? How about reading a tape written with
>                      variable-length records. Is this possible with the
>                      Viper? If so, what's involved?
>         5.4.9        The very scant documentation that came with my drive
>                      mentions a "selectable buffer disconnect size," whose
>                      default is 16K. This is evidently the "maximum number of
>                      bytes that can be sent over the SCSI bus during a single
>                      data transfer phase." What's that? How is it connected
>                      st's "blocksize" command? Do I want to use 16K blocks,
>                      or might I even want to set the disconnect size to a
>                      higher value?
>         5.4.10       What is "streaming"? When I tar a directory of files to
>                      tape, I notice that the tape often stops. Streaming
>                      means it doesn't stop? How would I get the viper 150 to
>                      stream using tar or cpio or dump?
>         5.4.13       My tape drive doesn't work.
>         5.4.14       I am trying to restore a tape from a FreeBSD machine on
>                      a Sun. What kinds of problems should I expect?
>         5.4.15       What are the jumper settings for the Archive Viper tape
>                      drive?
>         5.4.16       My Viper-150 auto-detects fine; however, the first
>                      attempt to read a tape fails after a boot due to an
>                      "illegal SCSI command". What could be the problem?
>         5.4.17       Why haven't we changed the defaults in rdump and
>                      rrestore to something that makes sense? I was trying to
>                      dump a filesystem to a remote tape and ran into an error
>                      complaining about being unable to execute /etc/rmt.
>         5.5          Network Stuff
>         5.5.1        How can I get my system to work as a network router?
>         5.5.2        I recently had a problem where I got a message that said
>                      "panic: kmem_malloc: mb_map too small". What is the
>                      solution to this problem?
>         5.5.3        Does anyone have an example of a working gated.conf
>                      file? I can't figure these instructions out at all.
>         5.5.4        How do I set up Multicasting on my system?
>         5.6          I want to use my ZIP drive. Are there any weird things I
>                      need to know?
>         6.0          Working with DOS and BNR/2 related software.
>         6.1          Formatting a floppy
>         6.2          Sharing the Disk with MS-DOS
>         6.2.1        How can I partition my drive to support both MS-DOS and
>                      *bsd?
>         6.2.2        I can install using the whole disk, but I can't install
>                      when I try to share the drive between *BSD and MS-DOS.
>                      Why?
>         6.2.4        Is there any hope of ever running MS-DOS applications
>                      under any of the free BSD systems?
>         6.2.5        How do I get Linux executables to run under NetBSD?
>         6.3          Accessing the MS-DOS filesystem
>         6.4          NFS/PC-NFS support
>         6.4.1        Can I use 8K packets for NFS? When I try, I have all
>                      kinds of problems. Specifically, I get 'ring buffer
>                      overflows' or the performance is real bad.
>         6.4.2        How do I get around the NFS "Permission denied" error?
>         6.4.3        What does the message "BAD MNT RPC: RPC Authentication
>                      error; why = Invalid client credential" mean when I try
>                      to mount something from another machine?
>         6.4.4        What does the message "Bad MNT RPC: RPC: Authentication
>                      error; why = Client credential too weak" mean when I try
>                      to mount something from another machine?
>         6.4.5        I get a lot of 'ring buffer overflow' messages using NFS
>                      and the ed0 driver. Is there a problem?
>         6.4.6        I am getting really poor performance out of my network,
>                      especially when talking to older networks or when
>                      performing short file transfers. What's the problem?
>         6.4.7        Is there any PC software that will allow me to use my
>                      enormous PC with all of the unsupported hardware as a
>                      PC-NFS server?
>         6.5          How can I use mtools with the 'new' floppy naming
>                      convention?
>         7.0          Communications
>         7.1          SLIP/CSLIP
>         7.2          PPP
>         7.3          TCP/IP
>         7.4          UUCP
>         7.4.1        TIP/CU
>         7.4.2        What is the magic incantation that allows the modem to
>                      dial?
>         7.4.3        My modem on DOS COM3 or DOS COM4 works with DOS, but not
>                      with *BSD. It is set up using IRQ 4 (or 3) respectively.
> 
>         7.5          How do I configure my nameserver?
>         7.6          Terminals
>         7.7          My network manager (or UUCP feed site admin) just
>                      informed me that the way I have installed sendmail
>                      through my UUCP connection and has caused a sendmail
>                      loop. Can you help me get sendmail installed correctly?
>         7.8          Can network attached assets be used by/from NetBSD?
>                      FreeBSD? OpenBSD?
>         7.8.1        Is it possible to Network boot a NetBSD machine from a
>                      network on a diskless Sparc?
>         7.8.2        I have been working with FreeBSD 1.5.1 with some
>                      machines configured as diskless. How can I do the same
>                      for 2.0R (i.e., Which are the magic words to put in the
>                      Kernel configuration file?)
>         8.0          What hardware works!
>         8.3.1        How do I configure multiport cards? Is there a
>                      possibility of using multiport serial boards? How do you
>                      configure an AST/4 in the kernel? It looks like the AST
>                      driver only supports 4-port cards, but it looks like it
>                      would be easy to add support for 8 ports ... or am I
>                      wrong?
>         8.3.3        What is the difference between baud and bits per second?
> 
>