INSTALLATION NOTES for NetBSD/_MACH _VER



Be sure to read _ALL_ of this document before you try to install
NetBSD/_MACH.



What is NetBSD?
---- -- ------

The NetBSD Operating System is a fully functional UN*X-like system
derived from the Berkeley Networking Release 2 (Net/2), 4.4BSD-Lite,
and 4.4BSD-Lite2 sources.  NetBSD runs on many architectures and is
being ported to more.

NetBSD is a creation of the members of the Internet community.
Without the unique cooperation and coordination the net makes
possible, it's likely that this release wouldn't have come about.

The NetBSD _VER release is a landmark. Building upon the successful
NetBSD 1.2 release, we have provided numerous and significant
functional enhancements, including support for many new devices,
integration of many bug fixes, new and updated kernel subsystems, and
many userland enhancements.  The results of these improvements is a
stable operating system fit for production use that rivals most
commercially available systems.

It is impossible to summarize the 18 months of development that went
into the NetBSD _VER release. Some of the significant changes include:

	Support for machine independent device drivers has been
	radically improved with the addition of the "bus.h" interface,
	providing a high quality abstraction for machine and
	architecture independent device access.

	The bus_dma interface has also been integrated, providing a
	machine-independent abstraction for DMA mapping. This permits many
	good things, including (among many) clean multi-platform
	bounce buffer support.

	Framework support for ISA "Plug and Play" has been added, as
	well as support for numerous "Plug and Play" devices.

	APM support has been added to NetBSD/i386.

	An initial cut of multi-platform PCMCIA support has been added.

	Support for ATAPI devices (initially just ATAPI CD-ROM drives)
	has been added.

	Support for Sun 3/80s (sun3x architecture) has been added.

	Support for R4000 DECstations has been added.

	Integration/merger of 4.4BSD Lite-2 sources into userland
	programs has nearly been completed.

	Most of userland now compiles with high levels of gcc warnings
	turned on, which has lead to the discovery and elimination of
	many bugs.
	
	The i386 boot blocks have been completely replaced with a new,
	libsa based two stage boot system. This has permitted
	integration of compressed boot support (see below).

	Many ports now support booting of compressed kernels, and
	feature new "Single Floppy" install systems that boot
	compressed install kernels and ramdisks. We intend to do
	substantial work on improving ease of installation in the
	future.

	"ypserv" has been added, thus completing our support for the
	"yp" network information system suite.

	Support for the Linux "ext2fs" filesystem and for FAT32 "msdosfs"
	filesystems has been added.

	TCP now has a SYN "compressed state engine" which provides
	increased robustness under high levels of received SYNs (as in
	the case of "SYN flood" attacks.)  (Much of this code was
	derived from sources provided by BSDI.)

	An initial implementation of Path MTU discovery has been
	integrated (though it is not turned on by default).

	An initial kernel based random number generator pseudodevice has
	been added.

	Several major fixes have been integrated for the VM subsystem,
	including the fix of a notorious VM leak, improved
	synchronization between mmap()ed and open()ed files, and
	massively improved performance in low real memory conditions.

	A new swap subsystem has radically improved configuration and
	management of swap devices and adds swapping to files.

	Userland ntp support, including xntpd, has been integrated.

	The audio subsystems have been substantially debugged and
	improved, and now offer substantial emulation of the OSS audio
	interface, thus providing the ability to cleanly run emulated
	Linux and FreeBSD versions of sound intensive programs.

	A "packages" system has been adapted from FreeBSD and will
	provide binary package installations for third party
	applications.

	The XFree86 X source tree has been made a supported part of
	the NetBSD distribution, and X servers (if built for this
	port), libraries and utilities are now shipped with our releases.

	The ftp(1) program has been made astoundingly overfunctional.
	It supports command line editing, tab completion, status bars,
	automatic download of URLs specified on the command line,
	firewall support and many other features.

	All ports now use "new" config. Old config has been laid to rest.

	The ARP subsystem and API has been rewritten to make it less
	ethernet-centric.

	A new if_media subsystem has been added which allows network
	interfaces to be configured using media type names rather than
	device-specific mode bits.

	Many kernel interface manual pages have been added to manual
	section 9.

	Several ports support much more hardware.

	Many updates to bring NetBSD closer to standards compliance.

	Most third party packages have been updated to the latest stable
	release.

As has been noted, there have also been innumerable bug fixes.	

Kernel interfaces have continued to be refined, and more subsystems
and device drivers are shared among the different ports. You can look
for this trend to continue.

NetBSD _VER also includes some refinement to the NetBSD binary emulation
system (which includes FreeBSD, HP-UX, iBCS2, Linux, OSF/1, SunOS, SVR4,
Solaris and Ultrix compatibility), bringing NetBSD closer to the goal of
making the emulation as accurate as possible.

In the near future, we hope to integrate a fully rewritten Virtual
Memory subsystem, kernel threads, and SMP support.

#include "whatis"


The Future of NetBSD:
--- ------ -- ------

The NetBSD Foundation has been incorporated as a non-profit
organization.  Its purpose is to encourage, foster and promote the
free exchange of computer software, namely the NetBSD Operating
System.  The foundation will allow for many things to be handled more
smoothly than could be done with our previous informal organization.
In particular, it provides the framework to deal with other parties
that wish to become involved in the NetBSD Project.

The NetBSD Foundation will help improve the quality of NetBSD by:

	* providing better organization to keep track of development
	  efforts, including co-ordination with groups working in 
	  related fields.

	* providing a framework to receive donations of goods and
          services and to own the resources necessary to run the
          NetBSD Project.

        * providing a better position from which to undertake
          promotional activities.

        * periodically organizing workshops for developers and other
          interested people to discuss ongoing work.

We hope to have regular releases of the full binary and source trees,
but these are difficult to coordinate, especially with all of the
architectures which we now support!  

We hope to support even _more_ hardware in the future, and have a
rather large number of other ideas about what can be done to improve
NetBSD.  

We intend to continue our current practice of making the
NetBSD-current development source available on a daily basis.

We intend to integrate free, positive changes from whatever sources
will provide them, providing that they are well thought-out and
increase the usability of the system.

Above all, we hope to create a stable and accessible system, and to be
responsive to the needs and desires of NetBSD users, because it is for
and because of them that NetBSD exists.


Sources of NetBSD:
------- -- ------

#include "mirrors"

NetBSD _VER Release Contents:
------ --- ------- --------

The NetBSD _VER release is organized in the following way:

.../NetBSD-_VER/
		BUGS			Known bugs list (incomplete
					and out of date).

		CHANGES			Changes since NetBSD's last
					release (and before).

		LAST_MINUTE		Last minute changes.

		MIRRORS			A list of sites that mirror
					the NetBSD _VER distribution.

		README.files		README describing the
					distribution's contents.

		TODO			NetBSD's todo list (incomplete
					and out of date).

		patches/		Post-release source code
					patches.

		source/			Source distribution sets; see
					below.

In addition to the files and directories listed above, there is one
directory per architecture, for each of the architectures for which
NetBSD _VER has a binary distribution.  There are also
'README.export-control' files sprinkled liberally throughout the
distribution tree, which point out that there are some portions of the
distribution (i.e. the `domestic' portion) that may be subject to
export regulations of the United States.   It is your responsibility
to determine whether or not it is legal for you to export these portions
and to act accordingly.

The source distribution sets can be found in subdirectories of the
"source" subdirectory of the distribution tree.  They contain the 
complete sources to the system.  The source distribution sets 
are as follows:

	secrsrc.tgz:
		This set contains the "domestic" sources.  These
		sources may be subject to United States export
		regulations.
		[  412K gzipped,  1.8M uncompressed ]

	gnusrc.tgz:
		This set contains the "gnu" sources, including
		the source for the compiler, assembler, groff,
		and the other GNU utilities in the binary distribution
		sets.
		[ 15.6M gzipped, 66.4M uncompressed ]

	syssrc.tgz:
		This set contains the sources to the NetBSD _VER
		kernel, config(8), and dbsym(8).
		[ 10.7M gzipped, 50.0M uncompressed ]

	sharesrc.tgz:
		This set contains the "share" sources, which include
		the sources for the man pages not associated with
		any particular program, the sources for the
		typesettable document set, the dictionaries, and more.
		[  2.9M gzipped, 11.1M uncompressed ]

	src.tgz:
		This set contains all of the NetBSD _VER sources which
		are not mentioned above.
		[ 13.9M gzipped, 60.7M uncompressed ]

It is worth noting that unless all of the source distribution sets
are installed (except the domestic set), you can't rebuild and install
the system from scratch, straight out of the box.  However, all that is
required to rebuild the system in that case is a trivial modification 
to one Makefile.

Most of the above source sets are located in the source/sets
subdirectory of the distribution tree. The secrsrc.tgz set is
contained in the source/security subdirectory. This set, which is
available only to users in the United States and Canada, contains the
sources normally found in /usr/src/domestic -- primarily kerberos and
other cryptographic security related software. (Remember, because of
United States law, it may not be legal to distribute this set to
locations outside of the United States and Canada.)

The source sets are distributed as compressed tar files. They may be
unpacked into /usr/src with the command:

	cat set_name.tgz | gunzip | (cd /; tar xpf - )

The sets/Split/ and security/Split/ subdirectories contain split
versions of the source sets for those users who need to load the
source sets from floppy or otherwise need a split distribution. The
split sets are are named "set_name.xx" where "set_name" is the
distribution set name, and "xx" is the sequence number of the file,
starting with "aa" for the first file in the distribution set, then
"ab" for the next, and so on.  All of these files except the last one
of each set should be exactly 240,640 bytes long.  (The last file is
just long enough to contain the remainder of the data for that
distribution set.)

The split distributions may be reassembled and extracted with "cat" as
follows:

	cat set_name.??  | gunzip | (cd /; tar xpf - )

In each of the source distribution set directories, there is a file
named "CKSUMS" which contains the checksums of the files in that
directory, as generated by the cksum(1) utility.  You can use cksum to
check the integrity of the archives, if you suspect that one of the
files is corrupt and have access to a cksum binary. Checksums based on
other algorithms may also be present -- see the release(7) man page
for details.

#include "contents"


NetBSD System Requirements and Supported Devices:
------ ------ ------------ --- --------- -------

#include "hardware"


Getting the NetBSD System on to Useful Media:
------- --- ------ ------ -- -- ------ -----

#include "xfer"


Preparing your System for NetBSD Installation:
--------- ---- ------ --- ------ ------------

#include "prep"


Installing the NetBSD System:
---------- --- ------ ------

#include "install"


Upgrading a previously-installed NetBSD System:
--------- - ---------- --------- ------ ------

#include "upgrade"


Compatibility Issues With Previous NetBSD Releases:
------------- ------ ---- -------- ------ --------

Users upgrading from previous versions of NetBSD may wish to bear the
following problems and compatibility issues in mind when upgrading to
NetBSD _VER:

* Swap configuration

  Description:
	All swap partitions are now configured by the swapctl(8)
	program. The kernel no longer configures a "default" swap
	partition. Because of this, all swap partitions (even the old
	"default") must be listed in /etc/fstab.

	Many users of previous releases relied on the kernel
	configuring a "default" swap partition and did not list any
	swap space in /etc/fstab at all -- such users will now have no
	swap space configured unless they list swap partitions in
	/etc/fstab!

	Common symptoms of of this problem include machine crashes
	during builds, and similar memory intensive activities.

  Fix:
	The most common position for a swap partition is the `b'
	partition of the drive the root file system is on.  For
	diskless systems, check the new swapctl(8) manual for more
	detail on how this is done.  Example fstab entries:

		/dev/sd0b	none	swap	sw,priority=0
		/dev/sd1b	none	swap	sw,priority=5

* NFS daemons and other programs in /sbin moved

  Description:
	The NFS daemons (nfsd, nfsiod, mountd) have been moved from
	the /sbin to the /usr/sbin directory. When new binaries are
	loaded over old ones during upgrade, most programs get
	overlaid and replaced, but unless these binaries are
	explicitly removed they will not disappear. The installation
	subsystems on some NetBSD architectures will not properly
	remove these binaries.

	Due to changes in the NFS subsystem, the old NFS daemon
	binaries will not work correctly, and will cause serious
	problems. Unfortunately, the default startup script (/etc/rc)
	will run the old binaries in /sbin if they are present instead
	of the new ones in /usr/sbin.

	Some other programs (dumpfs, dumplfs and quotacheck) have also
	been moved from /sbin to /usr/sbin, and old versions may be
	left behind by accident. They, too, may cause difficulties.

  Fix:
	Remove the old daemon binaries (/sbin/nfsiod, /sbin/nfsd,
	/sbin/mountd, etc.) after your upgrade has finished. You may
	wish to do an "ls -lt /sbin | more" to help determine which
	binaries were not replaced/removed during your upgrade.

* AMANDA, The Advanced Maryland Automatic Network Disk Archiver,
  from http://www.amanda.org

  Description:
	Due to a change in the output of dump(8) to ensure
	consistency in the messages, AMANDA's dump output
	parser breaks.

	Error messages such as the following may be an
	indication that this problem is present:

		FAILURE AND STRANGE DUMP SUMMARY:
		  hostname      wd0e lev 1 FAILED [no backup size line]
	  
  Versions affected:
	2.3.0.4, and most likely earlier versions

  Workaround/Fix:
	One of:
	* Apply the patch found at:
	    ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/misc/patches/amanda-pre-2.4.patch
	* Upgrade to AMANDA 2.4.0 or newer. The side effect of this is
	  that the network protocol is incompatible with earlier
	  versions.


Using online NetBSD documentation
----- ------ ------ -------------

Documentation is available if you first install the manual
distribution set.  Traditionally, the "man pages" (documentation)
are denoted by 'name(section)'.  Some examples of this are

	intro(1),
	man(1),
	apropros(1),
	passwd(1), and
	passwd(5).

The section numbers group the topics into several categories, but three
are of primary interest:  user commands are in section 1, file formats
are in section 5, and administrative information is in section 8.

The 'man' command is used to view the documentation on a topic, and is
started by entering 'man [section] topic'.  The brackets [] around the
section should not be entered, but rather indicate that the section is
optional.  If you don't ask for a particular section, the topic with the
least-numbered section name will be displayed.  For instance, after
logging in, enter 

	man passwd

to read the documentation for passwd(1).  To view the documentation for
passwd(5), enter

	man 5 passwd

instead.

If you are unsure of what man page you are looking for, enter

	apropos subject-word

where "subject-word" is your topic of interest; a list of possibly 
related man pages will be displayed.


Administrivia:
-------------

If you've got something to say, do so!  We'd like your input.
There are various mailing lists available via the mailing list
server at <majordomo@NetBSD.ORG>.  To get help on using the mailing
list server, send mail to that address with an empty body, and it will
reply with instructions.

There are various mailing lists set up to deal with comments and
questions about this release.  Please send comments to:

	netbsd-comments@NetBSD.ORG

To report bugs, use the 'send-pr' command shipped with NetBSD,
and fill in as much information about the problem as you can.  Good
bug reports include lots of details.  Additionally, bug reports can
be sent by mail to:

	netbsd-bugs@NetBSD.ORG

Use of 'send-pr' is encouraged, however, because bugs reported with it
are entered into the NetBSD bugs database, and thus can't slip through
the cracks.

There are also port-specific mailing lists, to discuss aspects of
each port of NetBSD.  Use majordomo to find their addresses.  If
you're interested in doing a serious amount of work on a specific
port, you probably should contact the "owner" of that port (listed
below).

If you'd like to help with this effort, and have an idea as to how
you could be useful, send mail and/or subscribe to:

	netbsd-help@NetBSD.ORG

As a favor, please avoid mailing huge documents or files to these
mailing lists.  Instead, put the material you would have sent up
for FTP somewhere, then mail the appropriate list about it, or, if
you'd rather not do that, mail the list saying you'll send the data
to those who want it.


Thanks go to:
------ -- --

Members and former members of UCB's Computer Systems Research Group,
including (but not limited to):
	Keith Bostic
	Ralph Campbell
	Mike Karels
	Marshall Kirk McKusick
for their ongoing work on BSD systems, support, and encouragement.

Also, our thanks go to:
	Mike Hibler
	Rick Macklem
	Jan-Simon Pendry
	Chris Torek
for answering lots of questions, fixing bugs, and doing the various work
they've done.

UC Berkeley's Experimental Computing Facility provided a home for
sun-lamp in the past, people to look after it, and a sense of humor.
Rob Robertson, too, has added his unique sense of humor to things, and
for a long time provided the primary FTP site for NetBSD.

Best Internet Communications for hosting the NetBSD FTP and SUP server.

Cygnus Support for hosting the NetBSD Mail server.

Without CVS, this project would be impossible to manage, so our hats
go off to Brian Berliner, Jeff Polk, and the various other people
who've had a hand in making CVS a useful tool.

Dave Burgess <burgess@cynjut.infonet.net> has been maintaining the
386BSD/NetBSD/FreeBSD FAQ for quite some time, and deserves to be
recognized for it.

The following people (in alphabetical order) have made donations or
loans of hardware and/or money, to support NetBSD development, and
deserve credit for it:
#include "donations"
(If you're not on that list and should be, tell us!  We probably were
not able to get in touch with you, to verify that you wanted to be
listed.)

Finally, we thank all of the people who've put sweat and tears into
developing NetBSD since its inception in January, 1993.  (Obviously,
there are a lot more people who deserve thanks here.  If you're one of
them, and would like to mentioned, tell us!)


We are:
-- ---
(in alphabetical order)

The NetBSD core group:
J.T. Conklin		<jtc@NetBSD.ORG>
Charles Hannum		<mycroft@NetBSD.ORG>
Paul Kranenburg		<pk@NetBSD.ORG>
Jason Thorpe		<thorpej@NetBSD.ORG>
Christos Zoulas 	<christos@NetBSD.ORG>

The port-masters (and their ports):
Mark Brinicombe		<mark@NetBSD.ORG>		(arm32)
Jeremy Cooper		<jeremy@NetBSD.ORG>		(sun3x)
Chuck Cranor		<chuck@NetBSD.ORG>		(mvme68k)
Charles Hannum		<mycroft@NetBSD.ORG>		(i386)
Chris Hopps		<chopps@NetBSD.ORG>		(amiga)
Paul Kranenburg		<pk@NetBSD.ORG>			(sparc)
Anders Magnusson	<ragge@NetBSD.ORG>		(vax)
Phil Nelson		<phil@NetBSD.ORG>		(pc532)
Masaru Oki		<oki@NetBSD.ORG>		(x68k)
Scott Reynolds		<scottr@NetBSD.ORG>		(mac68k)
Gordon Ross		<gwr@NetBSD.ORG>		(sun3, sun3x)
Jonathan Stone		<jonathan@NetBSD.ORG>		(pmax)
Jason Thorpe		<thorpej@NetBSD.ORG>		(hp300)
Frank van der Linden	<fvdl@NetBSD.ORG>		(i386)
Leo Weppelman		<leo@NetBSD.ORG>		(atari)

The NetBSD _VER Release Engineering team:
Ted Lemon		<mellon@NetBSD.ORG>
Perry Metzger		<perry@NetBSD.ORG>
Jason Thorpe		<thorpej@NetBSD.ORG>

Supporting cast:
Steve Allen		<wormey@eskimo.com>
Lennart Augustsson	<augustss@NetBSD.ORG>
Christoph Badura	<bad@NetBSD.ORG>
John Birrell		<jb@NetBSD.ORG>
Manuel Bouyer		<bouyer@NetBSD.ORG>
John Brezak		<brezak@NetBSD.ORG>
Allen Briggs		<briggs@NetBSD.ORG>
Aaron Brown		<abrown@NetBSD.ORG>
David Brownlee		<abs@NetBSD.ORG>
Simon Burge		<simonb@NetBSD.ORG>
Dave Burgess		<burgess@cynjut.infonet.net>
Dave Carrel		<carrel@NetBSD.ORG>
Bill Coldwell		<billc@NetBSD.ORG>
Alistair Crooks		<agc@NetBSD.ORG>
Rob Deker		<deker@NetBSD.ORG>
Chris G. Demetriou	<cgd@NetBSD.ORG>
Matthias Drochner	<drochner@NetBSD.ORG>
Bernd Ernesti		<veego@NetBSD.ORG>
Erik Fair		<fair@NetBSD.ORG>
Hubert Feyrer		<hubertf@NetBSD.ORG>
Brian R. Gaeke		<brg@dgate.org>
Justin Gibbs		<gibbs@NetBSD.ORG>
Adam Glass		<glass@NetBSD.ORG>
Michael Graff		<explorer@NetBSD.ORG>
Brad Grantham		<grantham@tenon.com>
Matthew Green		<mrg@NetBSD.ORG>
Juergen Hannken-Illjes	<hannken@NetBSD.ORG>
Michael L. Hitch	<osymh@NetBSD.ORG>
Marc Horowitz		<marc@NetBSD.ORG>
Matthew Jacob		<mjacob@NetBSD.ORG>
Lonhyn T. Jasinskyj	<lonhyn@NetBSD.ORG>
Lawrence Kesteloot	<kesteloo@cs.unc.edu>
Klaus Klein		<kleink@NetBSD.ORG>
John Kohl 		<jtk@NetBSD.ORG>
Kevin Lahey		<kml@NetBSD.ORG>
Ted Lemon		<mellon@NetBSD.ORG>
Mike Long		<mikel@NetBSD.ORG>
Paul Mackerras	 	<paulus@NetBSD.ORG>
SAITOH Masanobu		<msaitoh@NetBSD.ORG>
Neil J. McRae		<neil@NetBSD.ORG>
Perry Metzger		<perry@NetBSD.ORG>
Luke Mewburn		<lukem@NetBSD.ORG>
der Mouse		<mouse@NetBSD.ORG>
Herb Peyerl		<hpeyerl@NetBSD.ORG>
Matthias Pfaller	<matthias@NetBSD.ORG>
Chris Provenzano	<proven@NetBSD.ORG>
Waldi Ravens		<waldi@moacs.indiv.nl.net>
Darren Reed		<darrenr@NetBSD.ORG>
Kazuki Sakamoto		<sakamoto@NetBSD.ORG>
Curt Sampson		<cjs@NetBSD.ORG>
Wilfredo Sanchez	<wsanchez@NetBSD.ORG>
Karl Schilke (rAT)	<rat@NetBSD.ORG>
Thor Lancelot Simon	<tls@NetBSD.ORG>
Noriyuki Soda		<soda@NetBSD.ORG>
Wolfgang Solfrank	<ws@NetBSD.ORG>
Bill Sommerfeld		<sommerfeld@NetBSD.ORG>
Ignatios Souvatzis	<is@NetBSD.ORG>
Bill Studenmund		<wrstuden@NetBSD.ORG>
Kevin Sullivan		<sullivan@NetBSD.ORG>
Matt Thomas		<matt@NetBSD.ORG>
Enami Tsugutomo		<enami@NetBSD.ORG>
Todd Vierling		<tv@NetBSD.ORG>
Paul Vixie		<vixie@NetBSD.ORG>
Colin Wood		<ender@NetBSD.ORG>
Steve Woodford		<scw@NetBSD.ORG>


Dedication:
----------

   The Release Engineering team would like to dedicate the NetBSD 1.3
   release to the memory of the late Koji Imada, who was killed in a
   motorcycle accident in August, 1997 at the age of 28.  A doctoral
   student in Mathematical Science at Nagoya University, he was a user of
   NetBSD and a contributor to the project since 1993. Well remembered by
   his friends, he was also known as a connoisseur of gins, teas, and the
   motorcycles he loved to ride. His death came as a shock, and he will
   be greatly missed by all of us. May he rest in peace.


Legal Mumbo-jumbo:
----- ----- -----

The following notices are required to satisfy the license terms of
the software that we have mentioned in this document:

#include "legal.common"

#include "legal"
