The rapid pace of FreeBSD progress makes print media
- impractical as a means for following the latest
- developments. Electronic resources are the best, if not often the
- only way stay informed of the latest advances. Since
- FreeBSD is a volunteer effort, the user community itself also generally
- serves as a `technical support department' of sorts, with electronic mail
- and Usenet news being the most effective way of reaching that community.
+
The rapid pace of FreeBSD progress makes print media impractical as a
+ means of following the latest developments. Electronic resources are
+ the best, if not often the only, way stay informed of the latest advances.
+ Since FreeBSD is a volunteer effort, the user community itself also
+ generally serves as a `technical support department' of sorts, with
+ electronic mail and USENET news being the most effective way of reaching
+ that community.
The most important points of contact with the FreeBSD
user community are outlined below. If you are aware of other
@@ -30,9 +30,12 @@ you will reach both us and a concentrated FreeBSD audience, invariably
assuring a better (or at least faster) response.
The charters for the various lists are given at the bottom of this
-document. Please read the charter before joining a list since we must
-strive to keep the signal to noise ratio of the lists high, especially
-in the technical ones.
+document. Please read the charter before joining or sending
+mail to any list. Most of our list subscribers now receive many hundreds
+of FreeBSD related messages every day, and by setting down charters
+and rules for proper use we are striving to keep the signal-to-noise ratio
+of the lists high. To do less would see the mailing lists ultimately fail
+as an effective communications medium for the project.
Archives are kept for all of the mailing lists and can be searched
using the . The keyword searchable archive
offers an excellent way of finding answers to frequently asked
questions and should be consulted before posting a question.
-List summary
+List summary
General lists: The following are general lists which
anyone is free to join:
@@ -57,8 +60,10 @@ freebsd-questions User questions
Technical lists: The following lists are for technical discussion.
-You should read the charter carefully before joining one, keeping any
-messages sent to a list within the scope of the guidelines.
+You should read the
+for each list carefully before joining or sending mail to one as there are firm
+guidelines for their use and content.
List Purpose
----------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -78,10 +83,11 @@ freebsd-scsi The SCSI subsystem
freebsd-smp Design discussions for [A]Symmetric MultiProcessing
-Limited lists: The following lists require approval to join,
-though anyone is free to send suggestions and comments to them. It is a
-good idea establish a presence in the technical lists before asking
-to join one of these limited lists.
+Limited lists: The following lists require approval from
+ to join,
+though anyone is free to send messages to them which fall within the
+scope of their charters. It is also a good idea establish a presence
+in the technical lists before asking to join one of these limited lists.
List Purpose
----------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -95,6 +101,8 @@ freebsd-user-groups User group coordination
CVS lists: The following lists are for people interested in
seeing the log messages for changes to various areas of the source tree.
+They are Read-Only lists and should not have mail sent to them.
+
List name Source area Area Description (source for)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -116,7 +124,7 @@ cvs-usrbin /usr/src/usr.bin Use binaries
cvs-usrsbin /usr/src/usr.sbin System binaries
-How to subscribe
+How to subscribe
All mailing lists live on FreeBSD.ORG, so to post to a
given list you simply mail to listname@FreeBSD.ORG. It
@@ -156,19 +164,66 @@ lists on a technical track. If you are only interested in the "high points"
then it is suggested that you join freebsd-announce, which is intended only
for infrequent traffic.
-List charters
+List charters
Administrative issues
-
+
+
AllFreeBSD mailing lists have certain basic rules
+which must be adhered to by anyone using them. Failure to adhere
+to these rules will result in two (2) written warnings from the
+FreeBSD ,
+after which, on a third offense, the poster will removed from all
+FreeBSD mailing lists and filtered against further posting to them.
+We regret that such rules and measures are necessary at all, but
+today's Internet is a pretty harsh environment, it would seem.
+
+
Rules of the road:
+
+The topic of any posting should adhere to the basic charter of the list
+ it is posted to, e.g. if the list is about technical issues then your
+ posting should contain technical discussion. Ongoing irrelevant chatter
+ or flaming only detracts from the value of the mailing list for everyone
+ on it and will not be tolerated. For free-form discussion on no
+ particular topic, the mailing list is freely available and should
+ be used instead.
+
+No posting should be made to more than 2 mailing lists, and only
+ to 2 when a clear and obvious need to post to both lists exists.
+ In most cases, there is already a great deal of subscriber overlap
+ and except for the most esoteric mixes (say "-stable & -scsi"), there
+ really is no reason to post to more than one mailing list at a time.
+ If a message is sent to you in such a way that multiple mailing lists
+ appear on the Cc line then the cc line should also be trimmed before
+ sending it out again.
+ You are still responsible for your own cross-postings, no
+ matter who the originator might have been.
+
+Personal attacks and profanity (in the context of an argument) are
+ not allowed, and that includes users and developers alike. Gross
+ breaches of netiquette, like excerpting or reposting private mail
+ when permission to do so was not and would not be forthcoming,
+ is frowned upon but not specifically enforced. However,
+ there are also very few cases where such content would fit within the
+ charter of a list and it would therefore probably rate a warning
+ (or ban) on that basis alone.
+
+Advertising of non-FreeBSD related products or services are
+ strictly prohibited and will result in an immediate ban if it
+ is clear that the offender is advertising by spam.
+
+
+
+
Individual list charters:Important events / milestones
This is the mailing list for people interested only in occasional
announcements of significant freebsd events. This includes
announcements about snapshots and other releases. It contains
announcements of new FreeBSD capabilities. It may contain calls
-for volunteers etc. This is a low volume list.
+for volunteers etc. This is a low volume, strictly moderated mailing list.
Architecture and design discussions
This is the mailing list for people discussing FreeBSD architectural
@@ -176,11 +231,12 @@ issues. It is a closed list, and not for general subscription.
Bug reports
This is the mailing list for reporting bugs in FreeBSD
-Whenever possible, bugs should be
-submitted using "send-pr".
+Whenever possible, bugs should be submitted using the "send-pr(1)"
+command or the to it.
Non technical items related to the
- community
+ FreeBSD community
This list contains the overflow from the other lists about
non-technical, social information. It includes discussion about
whether Jordan looks like a toon ferret or not, whether or not to
@@ -193,6 +249,8 @@ technical lists, but the follow ups should be directed to this
FreeBSD core team
This is an internal mailing list for use by the core members.
+Messages can be sent to it when a serious FreeBSD-related matter
+requires arbitration or high-level scrutiny.
Discussions about the use of
FreeBSD-current This is the mailing list for users
@@ -200,12 +258,15 @@ of freebsd-current. It includes warnings about new features
coming out in -current that will affect the users, and
instructions on steps that must be taken to remain -current.
Anyone running "current" must subscribe to this list.
+This is a technical mailing list for which strictly technical
+content is expected.
Discussions about the use of
FreeBSD-current This is the digest version of the
freebsd-current mailing list. The digest consists of all
messages sent to freebsd-current bundled together and mailed out
as a single message. The average digest size is about 40kB.
+This list is Read-Only and should not be posted to.
Discussions about the use of
FreeBSD-stable This is the mailing list for users
@@ -213,6 +274,8 @@ of freebsd-stable. It includes warnings about new features
coming out in -stable that will affect the users, and
instructions on steps that must be taken to remain -stable.
Anyone running ``stable'' should subscribe to this list.
+This is a technical mailing list for which strictly technical
+content is expected.
Documentation project
This mailing list belongs to the FreeBSD Doc Project and is for
@@ -220,6 +283,8 @@ the discussion of documentation related issues and projects.
Filesystems
Discussions concerning FreeBSD filesystems.
+This is a technical mailing list for which strictly technical
+content is expected.
Technical discussions
This is a forum for technical discussions related to FreeBSD. This
@@ -227,12 +292,15 @@ is the primary technical mailing list. It
is for individuals actively working on FreeBSD, to bring up problems
or discuss alternative solutions. Individuals interested in
following the technical discussion are also welcome.
+This is a technical mailing list for which strictly technical
+content is expected.
Technical
discussions This is the digest version of the
freebsd-hackers mailing list. The digest consists of all
messages sent to freebsd-hackers bundled together and mailed out
as a single message. The average digest size is about 40kB.
+This list is Read-Only and should not be posted to.
General discussion of FreeBSD
hardware General discussion about the types of
@@ -241,25 +309,33 @@ concerning what to buy or avoid.
Installation discussion
This mailing list is for discussing FreeBSD installation
-development for the future releases.
+development for the future releases and is closed.
Issues for Internet Service Providers
This mailing list is for discussing topics relevant to Internet
Service Providers (ISPs) using FreeBSD.
+This is a technical mailing list for which strictly technical
+content is expected.
Multimedia discussions
This is a forum about multimedia applications using FreeBSD.
Discussion center around multimedia applications, their installation, their
development and their support within FreeBSD
+This is a technical mailing list for which strictly technical
+content is expected.
Porting to Non-Intel
platforms Cross-platform freebsd issues, general
discussion and proposals for non-Intel FreeBSD ports.
+This is a technical mailing list for which strictly technical
+content is expected.
Discussion of "ports"
Discussions concerning FreeBSD's "ports collection" (/usr/ports), proposed
ports, modifications to ports collection infrastructure and general
coordination efforts.
+This is a technical mailing list for which strictly technical
+content is expected.
User questions
This is the mailing list for questions about FreeBSD. You should not
@@ -275,10 +351,14 @@ digest size is about 40kB.
SCSI subsystem
This is the mailing list for people working on the scsi subsystem
for FreeBSD.
+This is a technical mailing list for which strictly technical
+content is expected.
Security issues
FreeBSD computer security issues (DES, Kerberos, known security holes and
fixes, etc).
+This is a technical mailing list for which strictly technical
+content is expected.
Security Notifications
Notifications of FreeBSD security problems and fixes. This is not
@@ -289,7 +369,7 @@ This is the mailing list for the coordinators from each of the
local area Users Groups to discuss matters with each other and a
designated individual from the Core Team. This mail list should
be limited to meeting synopsis and coordination of projects that span
-User Groups.
+User Groups. It is a closed list.