freebsd-src/README

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       FreeBSD 2.0  ---  ALPHA Release                 ,        ,
   -----------------------------------------          /(        )`
                                                      \ \___   / |
Welcome to the ALPHA release of FreeBSD 2.0 - the     /- _  `-/  '
first public snapshot of our new 4.4BSD Lite based   (/\/ \ \   /\
operating system environment.  This install proce-   / /   | `    \
dure is also at the ALPHA stage, and contains only   O O   ) /    |
the minimum functionality required by an             `-^--'`<     '
*EXPERIENCED* person to install the system.         (_.)  _  )   /
It is our hope, of course, that the feedback         `.___/`    /
provided from this snapshot will                       `-----' /
greatly assist us in making the release   <----.     __ / __   \
of 2.0 much more user friendly.  Your     <----|====O)))==) \) /====
comments and criticisms are very          <----'    `--' `.__,' \
valuable to us, so please don't hesitate               |        |
in contacting us!  Full details on where and            \       /	/\
how to provide feedback are given below.           ______( (_  / \______/
                                                 ,'  ,-----'   |
This install procedure is ALPHA code, and        `--{__________)
may very possibly *DESTROY* the contents of your
ENTIRE DISK!  Please do not proceed with this installation
without adequately backing up your data first!



=============================================
WHAT'S NEW IN THIS RELEASE (preliminary list)
=============================================

4.4 Lite
--------
As previously stated, this release is based entirely on CSRG's
latest (and last) BSD release - 4.4 Lite.  This features as number
of improvements over 4.2BSD (Net/2), not least of which are:

o	Legal approval of Novell & U.C. Berkeley.  After the settlement
	of the longstanding lawsuit between USL/UCB/Novell/BSDI, all
	parties were (strongly) encouraged to move to 4.4 Lite in order
	to avoid future legal entanglements.  The fact that we've now done
	so should make this release much more attractive to potential
	commercial users.

o	Many new filesystem types, such as stackable filesystems, union
	filesystems, "portals", kernfs, a simple log-structured filesystem, a
	new version of NFS (NQNFS), etc.  While some of these new filesystems
	are also rather unpolished and will require significant additional
	work to be truly robust, they're a good start.

o	64bit offsets, allowing filesystems of up to 2^63 bytes in size.

o	Further work towards full POSIX compliance.


And many many other features.  For more documentation, it is recommended
that you purchase the 4.4BSD Document Set from O'Reilly Associates and the
USENIX Association.  ISBN 1-56592-082-1


IP multicast support
--------------------

The IP multicast support has been upgraded from the woefully ancient
1.x code in 4.4-Lite to the most current and up-to-date 3.3 release
from Steve D. and Ajit.  The non-forwarding code is known to work (for
some limited test cases).  The multicast forwarder and user-mode
multicast routing process are known to compile, but have not been
significantly tested (hopefully this will happen before 2.0 release).

Owner:			wollman
Sources involved:	sys/netinet, usr.sbin/mrouted


Loadable Kernel Modules
-----------------------

David Greenman incorporated NetBSD's port of Terry Lambert's loadable
kernel module support.  Garrett Wollman wrote the support for loadable
file systems, and S<>ren Schmidt did the same for loadable execution
classes.

Owner:			core
Sources involved:	sys/kern, sbin/modload, sbin/modunload,
			usr.bin/modstat


Loadable filesystems
--------------------

Most filesystems are now dynamically loadable on demand, with the
exception of the UFS family (FFS, LFS, and MFS).  With the exception
of NFS, all such filestystems can be unloaded when all references are
unmounted.  To support this functionality, the getvfsbyname(3)
family of functions has been added to the C library and the lsvfs(1)
command provides the same information at the shell level.  Be aware of
the following current restrictions:

	- /usr/bin may not reside on a dynamically loaded filesystem.
	- There must be a writable /tmp directory available
	  before filesystems are loaded (moving / to the top of your
	  /etc/fstab file will accomplish this).
	- Some of the more esoteric filesystems simply don't work when loaded
	  dynamically (though they often don't work "static", either.)

Owner:			wollman
Sources involved:	sys/*fs, lkm/*fs, usr.bin/lsvfs, lib/libc/gen


S/Key
-----

Since version 1.1.5, FreeBSD has supported the S/Key one time password scheme.
The version used is derived from the logdaemon package of Wietse Venema.
Some of the features new in 2.0 are:
	- New access control table format to impose the use of S/Keys
	  based on: hostname, ip address, port, username, group id.
	- S/Key support can be disabled by not having the access control
	  table.
The second item explains the absence of skey.access in the installed /etc.
To enable S/Key support, create a file skey.access in /etc and fill it
according to your needs. See also skey.access(5) and the example in
/usr/share/examples/etc/skey.access.

Owner:			pst, guido
Sources involved:	lib/libskey, usr.bin/key* (plus patches to others)


TCP/IP over parallel (printer) port
-----------------------------------

You can now run TCP/IP over a standard LapLink(tm) cable, if both ends
have a interrupt-driven printerport.  The interface is named "lp0"
where '0' is the same as the lpt# unit number.  This is not compatible
with PLIP.  If you run NFS, try setting MTU to 9180, otherwise leave
it at 1500 unless you have a good reason to change it.  Speed varies
with the CPU-type, with up to 70 kbyte/sec having been seen and 50
kbyte/sec being the norm.

Owner:			phk
Sources involved:	isa/lpt.c


ProAudioSpectrum SCSI-driver
----------------------------

If you have a PAS board with a CD-ROM, and the MS-DOS driver is called
TSLCDR.SYS, then the "pas" driver should work on your card.  You can
attach disks, cdroms and tapes, but due to the nature of the hardware
involved, the transfer rate is limited to < 690 kbyte/sec.  For CD-ROM
use, this is generally more than enough.

Owner:			phk
Sources involved:	isa/pas.c


Gzip'ed binaries
----------------

We have an experimental implementation for direct execution of gzip'ed
binaries in this release.  When enabled, it allows you to simply gzip
your binaries, remove the '.gz' extension and make the file
executable.  There is a big speed and memory consumption penalty for
doing this, but for laptop users it may be worthwhile.  The maximum
savings are generally around 10 Mb of disk space.

Owner:			phk
Sources involved:	kern/imgact_gzip.c kern/inflate.c


Diskless booting
----------------

Diskless booting it in 2.0 and much improved since 1.1.5.  The boot-program
is in src/sys/i386/boot/netboot, and can be run from a MSDOS system or 
burned into an EPROM.  Local swapping is possible.  Presently WD, SMC and
Novell cards are supported.

Owner:			Martin Renters & phk
Sources involved:	i386/boot/netboot, sys/nfs/nfs_vfsops.h


Device configuration database
-----------------------------

The kernel now keeps better track of which device drivers are active and
where the devices are attached; this information is made available to
user programs via the new sysctl(3) management interface.  Current
applications include lsdev(8), which lists the currently configured
devices.  In the future, we expect to use this code to automatically
generate a configuration file for you at installation time.

Owner:			wollman
Sources involved:	sys/i386, sys/scsi, sys/kern/kern_devconf.c,
			sys/sys/devconf.h, usr.sbin/lsdev


Kernel management interface
---------------------------

With 4.4-Lite, we now have a better management interface for the endless
series of kernel variables and parameters which were previously manipulated
by reading and writing /dev/kmem.  Many programs have been rewritten to
use this interface, although many old-style programs still remain.  Some
variables which were never accessible before are now available through
the sysctl(1) program.  In addition to the standard 4.4BSD MIB variables,
we have added support for YP/NIS domains (kern.domainname), controlling
the update daemon (kern.update), retrieving the OS release date
(kern.osreldate), determining the name of the booted kernel (kern.bootfile),
and checking for hardware floating-point support (hw.floatingpoint).
We have also added support to make management queries of devices and
filesystems.

Owner:			core
Sources involved:	sys, usr.bin/sysctl


iBCS2 support
-------------

FreeBSD now supports running iBCS2 compatible binaries (currently
SCO UNIX 3.2.2 & 3.2.4 and ISC 2.2 COFF format are supported).
The iBCS2 emulator is in its early stages, but it is functional, we
havn't been able to do exhaustive testing (lack of commercial apps),
but allmost all of SCO's 3.2.2 binaries are working, so is an old
INFORMIX-2.10 for SCO. Further testing is nessesary to complete this
project. There is also work under way for ELF & XOUT loaders, and
most of the svr4 syscall wrappers have been written.

Owner:			Soren Schmidt (sos) & Sean Eric Fagan (sef)
Sources involved:	sys/i386/ibcs2/* + misc kernel changes.


Have fun, and please let us know of any problems you encounter with
this release!

Comments should be sent to:

	hackers@FreeBSD.org

Bug reports should be sent using the `send-pr' utility, if you
were able to get the system installed; otherwise send mail to:

	bugs@FreeBSD.org

And general questions to:

	questions@FreeBSD.org


Please have patience if your questions are not answered right away -
this is an especially busy time for us, and our volunteer resources
are often strained to the limit (if not somewhat past!).

Thanks!

				The FreeBSD Project team