All the documentation on this site can be downloaded in a variety of + different formats (HTML, Postscript, PDF, and more) and compression + schemes (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
+ (faq)
+ Frequently Asked Questions, and answers, covering all
+ aspects of FreeBSD.
The FreeBSD Handbook
+ (handbook)
+ A constantly evolving, comprehensive resource for FreeBSD
+ users.
The
+ FreeBSD Developer's Handbook (developers-handbook)
+ For people who want to develop software for FreeBSD (and not
+ just people who are developing FreeBSD itself).
The
+ FreeBSD Architecture Handbook (arch-handbook)
+ For FreeBSD system developers. This book covers the
+ architectural details of many important FreeBSD kernel
+ subsystems.
The Porter's
+ Handbook (porters-handbook)
+ Essential reading if you plan on providing a port of a third
+ party piece of software.
The PMake Tutorial
+ (pmake)
+ A tutorial for the make utility. This book is essential
+ reading for anyone who wants to understand all the details of using
+ make of reading and writing makefiles.
Chapter 2
+ of "The Design and Implementation of the 4.4BSD Operating
+ System" (design-44bsd)
+ 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"
+ (corp-net-guide)
+ Donated by Addison-Wesley, provides an in-depth look at using
+ FreeBSD to provide printing services to Windows, NT, and Novell
+ hosts.
The FreeBSD
+ Documentation Project Primer for New Contributors
+ (fdp-primer)
+ Everything you need to know in order to start contributing to the
+ FreeBSD Documentation Project.
The
+ Roadmap for 5-STABLE (5-roadmap)
+ Describes medium-term development and release engineering
+ plans leading to the 5-STABLE branch point.
Integration
+ of Checkpoint VPN-1/Firewall-1 and FreeBSD IPsec
+ (checkpoint)
+ How to configure Checkpoint VPN-1/Firewall-1 and FreeBSD
+ IPsec.
The
+ Committer's Guide (committers-guide)
+ Introductory information for FreeBSD committers.
Console
+ Server Tutorial (console-server)
+ How to setup a FreeBSD based console server with a cheap
+ multi-port serial card.
Contributing
+ to FreeBSD (contributing)
+ How to contribute to the FreeBSD Project.
The
+ List of FreeBSD Contributors (contributors)
+ A list of organizations and individuals who have helped
+ enhance FreeBSD.
Setting up a
+ CVS repository - The FreeBSD way (cvs-freebsd)
+ How to set up a CVS repository that uses the same CVSROOT
+ infrastructure as the FreeBSD project.
CVSup
+ Advanced Points (cvsup-advanced)
+ An article with some tips about the subtleties of
+ CVSup.
Dialup
+ firewalling with FreeBSD (dialup-firewall)
+ How to set up a firewall using PPP and ipfw over a dialup link
+ with dynamically assigned IP addresses.
Creating
+ a diskless X server (diskless-x)
+ How to create a diskless X server.
The Euro symbol
+ on FreeBSD (euro)
+ How to configure FreeBSD and related applications to display the
+ new Euro symbol.
Explaining
+ BSD (explaining-bsd)
+ An answer to the question ``What is BSD?''
FreeBSD
+ From Scratch (fbsd-from-scratch)
+ How to automatically compile, install and configure a system from
+ scratch (i.e. to an empty file system), including your favorite
+ ports.
Filtering
+ Bridges (filtering-bridges)
+ Configuring firewalls and filtering on FreeBSD hosts acting as
+ bridges rather than routers.
Fonts and
+ FreeBSD (fonts)
+ A description of the various font technologies in FreeBSD, and
+ how to use them with different programs.
Formatting
+ media on FreeBSD (formatting-media)
+ How to slice, partition, and format fixed and removable media on
+ FreeBSD.
How
+ to get the best results from the FreeBSD-questions mailing list
+ (freebsd-questions)
+ Tips and tricks to help you maximize the chances of getting
+ useful information from the -questions mailing list.
Working with Hats
+ (hats)
+ A committer's guide to working with ``hats'' (other
+ committers with authority over specific areas of
+ FreeBSD).
Mirroring FreeBSD
+ (hubs)
+
The all in one guide for mirroring the FreeBSD website,
+ CVSup servers, FTP servers, and more.
Independent
+ Verification of IPsec Functionality in FreeBSD
+ (ipsec-must)
+ A method for experimentally verifying IPsec
+ functionality.
Java, and
+ Jakarta Tomcat (java-tomcat)
+ Information on setting up Java and Jakarta Tomcat on a FreeBSD
+ system.
FreeBSD on Laptops
+ (laptop)
+ Information about running FreeBSD on a laptop.
FreeBSD: An Open Source Alternative to Linux
+ (linux-comparison)
+ A white paper explaining the differences between Linux
+ and FreeBSD.
Frequently
+ Asked Questions About The FreeBSD Mailing Lists
+ (mailing-list-faq)
+ How to best use the mailing lists, such as how to help
+ avoid frequently-repeated discussions.
An MH Primer
+ (mh)
+ An introduction to using the MH mail reader on
+ FreeBSD.
Using
+ FreeBSD with other operating systems (multi-os)
+ How to install FreeBSD alongside one or more different operating
+ systems on the same computer.
FreeBSD
+ First Steps (new-users)
+ For people coming to FreeBSD and &unix; for the first
+ time.
Pluggable
+ Authentication Modules (pam)
+ A guide to the PAM system and modules under
+ FreeBSD.
Package
+ building procedures (portbuild)
+ Describes the approach used by the FreeBSD port
+ manager team to regularly build ports into packages.
+ It describes the portbuild cluster, as well as the tools
+ needed to do incremental, experimental, and official release
+ package builds.
FreeBSD
+ Problem Report Handling Guidelines (pr-guidelines)
+ Recommended practices for handling FreeBSD problem
+ reports.
Writing
+ FreeBSD Problem Reports (problem-reports)
+ How to best formulate and submit a problem report to the
+ FreeBSD Project.
PXE booting
+ FreeBSD (pxe)
+ How to create an Intel PXE server using FreeBSD, and how to
+ configure a FreeBSD client to boot from a PXE server.
FreeBSD as
+ a greylist mail server (relaydelay)
+ Implementing a greylist mail server on FreeBSD
+ using Sendmail, MySQL, Perl and the relaydelay
+ software. This is an excellent method to use in the
+ fight against spam.
FreeBSD
+ Release Engineering (releng)
+ Describes the approach used by the FreeBSD release
+ engineering team to make production quality releases of the
+ FreeBSD Operating System. It describes the tools available
+ for those interested in producing customized FreeBSD releases
+ for corporate rollouts or commercial productization.
FreeBSD
+ Release Engineering for Third Party Packages
+ (releng-packages)
+ Describes the approach used by the FreeBSD
+ release engineering team to produce a high quality package set
+ suitable for official FreeBSD release media. This document is
+ a work in progress, but eventually it will cover the process
+ used to build a clean package set on the FreeBSD.org "Ports
+ Cluster", how to configure any other set of machines as a
+ ports cluster, how to split up the packages for the release
+ media, and how to verify that a package set is
+ consistent.
Serial
+ and UART devices (serial-uart)
+ Detailed information about the use of serial ports on FreeBSD,
+ including several multi-port serial cards.
FreeBSD
+ and Solid State Devices (solid-state)
+ The use of solid state disk devices in FreeBSD.
Storage Devices
+ (storage-devices)
+ Detailed information about using storage devices with FreeBSD,
+ including ESDI disks, and SCSI disks, tape drives, and CDROM
+ drives.
Choosing the
+ FreeBSD Version That Is Right For You (version-guide)
+ How to decide which version of FreeBSD is right for your
+ needs. Topics include the releases, branches, the difference
+ between -CURRENT and -STABLE, and the current scheduling goals
+ of the project.
Bootstrapping
+ Vinum: A Foundation for Reliable Servers (vinum)
+ A gentle introduction to failure-resilient servers and
+ step-by-step instructions for building one with Vinum.
Design
+ elements of the FreeBSD VM system (vm-design)
+ An easy to follow description of the design of the FreeBSD
+ virtual memory system.
Zip-drives
+ and FreeBSD (zip-drive)
+ How to format, mount, and use an Iomega Zip (SCSI, IDE, or
+ parallel) Drive on FreeBSD.
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.
+Niels Jorgensen has authored an academic study on the + dynamics of the FreeBSD development process: + ``Putting it All in the Trunk, Incremental Software + Development in the FreeBSD Open Source Project'' + [Information Systems Journal (2001) 11, 321-336].
+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.
+ +Some of the more popular articles include: + Setting up a FreeBSD-based mail server, + Network Address Translation, and + Building a fax server.
+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.
+Dynamic + Kernel Linker (KLD) Facility Programming Tutorial.
+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 + SMP support page contains information on the SMP support + in FreeBSD 4.X and earlier.
+Appendix A from the college textbook + Operating Systems Concepts by Silberschatz, Galvin and + Gagne has been made available online in + PDF format. + The appendix is dedicated to FreeBSD and offers a good + introduction to FreeBSD's internals.
+