A wide variety of documentation is available for FreeBSD, on this web site, on other web sites, and available over the counter.
All the documentation on this site can be downloaded in a variety of different formats (HTML, Postscript, PDF, and more) and compression schemes (GZip, BZip2, Zip) from the FreeBSD FTP site.
This documentation is provided and maintained by the FreeBSD Documentation Project, and we are always looking for people to contribute new documentation and maintain existing documentation.
The FreeBSD
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions, and answers, covering all
aspects of FreeBSD.
The FreeBSD
Handbook
A constantly evolving, comprehensive resource for FreeBSD
users.
The
FreeBSD Developer's Handbook
For people who want to develop software for FreeBSD (and not
just people who are developing FreeBSD itself).
Chapter 2
of "The Design and Implementation of the 4.4BSD Operating
System"
Donated by Addison-Wesley, provides a design overview of 4.4BSD,
from which FreeBSD was originally derived.
Chapter
8 of "The FreeBSD Corporate Networker's Guide"
Donated by Addison-Wesley, provides an in-depth look at using
FreeBSD to provide printing services to Windows, NT, and Novell
hosts.
The Pedantic
PPP Primer
Everything you need to know about configuring PPP on
FreeBSD.
The Porter's
Handbook
Essential reading if you plan on providing a port of a third
party piece of software.
The FreeBSD
Documentation Project Primer for New Contributors
Everything you need to know in order to start contributing to the
FreeBSD Documentation Project.
The
Committer's Guide
Introductory information for FreeBSD committers.
Console
Server Tutorial
How to setup a FreeBSD based console server with a cheap
multi-port serial card.
Contributing
to FreeBSD
How to contribute to the FreeBSD Project.
The
List of FreeBSD Contributors
A list of organizations and individuals who have helped
enhance FreeBSD.
CVSup
Advanced Points
An article with some tips about the subtleties of CVSup.
Dialup
firewalling with FreeBSD
How to set up a firewall using PPP and ipfw over a dialup link
with dynamically assigned IP addresses.
Creating
a diskless X server
How to create a diskless X server.
Filtering
Bridges
Configuring firewalls and filtering on FreeBSD hosts acting as
bridges rather than routers.
Fonts and
FreeBSD
A description of the various font technologies in FreeBSD, and
how to use them with different programs.
Formatting
media on FreeBSD
How to slice, partition, and format fixed and removable media on
FreeBSD.
How
to get the best results from the FreeBSD-questions mailing list
Tips and tricks to help you maximize the chances of getting
useful information from the -questions mailing list.
FreeBSD
on Laptops
Information about running FreeBSD on a laptop.
An MH
Primer
An introduction to using the MH mail reader on
FreeBSD.
Using
FreeBSD with other operating systems
How to install FreeBSD alongside one or more different operating
systems on the same computer.
FreeBSD
First Steps
For people coming to FreeBSD and Unix for the first
time.
Programming Tools on FreeBSD
This document has moved into The
Developer's Handbook.
PXE booting
FreeBSD
How to create an Intel PXE server using FreeBSD, and how to
configure a FreeBSD client to boot from a PXE server.
Serial
and UART devices
Detailed information about the use of serial ports on FreeBSD,
including several multi-port serial cards.
FreeBSD
and Solid State Devices
The use of solid state disk devices in FreeBSD.
Storage Devices
Detailed information about using storage devices with FreeBSD,
including ESDI disks, and SCSI disks, tape drives, and CDROM
drives.
Bootstrapping
+ Vinum: A Foundation for Reliable Servers
+ A gentle introduction to failure-resilient servers and
+ step-by-step instructions for building one with Vinum.
Design
elements of the FreeBSD VM system
An easy to follow description of the design of the FreeBSD
virtual memory system.
Zip-drives
and FreeBSD
How to format, mount, and use an Iomega Zip (SCSI, IDE, or
parallel) Drive on FreeBSD.
4.4BSD Documents: This is a hypertext version of the 4.4BSD documents from /usr/share/doc, where you will find the documents on a FreeBSD machine (if you install the doc distribution).
Info Documents: This is a hypertext version of the Info documents from /usr/share/info, where you will find the Info documents on a FreeBSD machine (if you install the info distribution).
Various independent efforts have also produced a great deal of useful information about FreeBSD.
A Comprehensive Guide to FreeBSD - an attempt at a more readable, "book-like" tutorial explaining the FreeBSD Operating System. Intended for people new to both FreeBSD and UNIX. Currently a work in progress.
Computer Bits, an Internet online magazine, has, since March 1996, been running an excellent series of FreeBSD related articles in their column titled The Network Community, by Ted Mittelstaedt.
These articles cover everything from setting up a FreeBSD based mail server to doing Network Address Translation for other hosts.
Kirk McKusick, one of the original architects of BSD at U.C. Berkeley, teaches two 4.4BSD Kernel Internals courses using FreeBSD. For those unable to attend the courses in person, a video tape series is also now available.
FreeBSD How-To's for the Lazy and Hopeless is another somewhat more light-hearted attempt to provide more readable "how-to" style information on setting up and configuring FreeBSD.
The Linux+FreeBSD mini-HOWTO describes how to use Linux and FreeBSD on the same system. It introduces FreeBSD and discusses how the two operating systems can cooperate, e.g. by sharing swap space.
FreeBSD Installation Details for Newbies. This document has been imported into The FreeBSD Handbook.
Writing an ISA device driver. This document has been imported into The Developers Handbook.
FreeBSD Assembly Language Programming Tutorial. This document has been imported into The Developers Handbook.
The Open Directory Project offers an excellent selection of links for FreeBSD, including a list of prominent users which can be helpful for marketing purposes.
Articles in the press about FreeBSD.
The FreeBSD project's current statement about its Year 2000 compatibility.
A monthly (sometimes bi-weekly) newsletter announcing recent developments in the FreeBSD arena. Subscribe to freebsd-announce to receive this newsletter via e-mail.
If you like digging your fingers into source code, here is a hypertext version of the FreeBSD kernel source. This is brought to you courtesy of Warren Toomey.
The industry leader in BSD news.
A monthly collection of easy to read (we hope) articles written by FreeBSD users and administrators just like you.
Like FreeBSD itself, this documentation is the product of a volunteer effort. The goals of the project are outlined here, as are the procedures for submitting corrections and new material.
The FreeBSD Diary is a collection of how-to entries aimed at UNIX novices. The aim is to provide a set of step-by-step guides to installing and configuring various ports.
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