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Mailing lists
Mailing
lists are the primary support channel for FreeBSD users, with
numerous mailing lists covering different topic areas. When in doubt
about what list to post a question to, post to freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG. You can browse or
search the
mailing list archives at www.freebsd.org.
Several non-English mailing lists are also available:
If you create other freebsd mailing lists, let us know about them.
Newsgroups
There are a few FreeBSD specific newsgroups, along with
numerous other newsgroups on topics of interest to FreeBSD users, though
the mailing lists remain the most reliable way to get in touch with the
FreeBSD developers. For miscellaneous FreeBSD discussion, see comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc.
For important announcements, see comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.announce.
The
BSD Usenet News Searcher have archives of all
BSD-related Usenet newsgroups from June 1992 onwards.
WEB Resources
Our WEB pages remain one of the best sources of information, and
are also mirrored at many sites around the world. Try connecting to
www.yourcountry.freebsd.org (e.g. www.de.freebsd.org for
Germany or www.au.freebsd.org for
Australia), or select a mirror from the list on the home page. The same naming convention
is also used for FTP servers.
In addition to the mirrors, several non-English web resources
are available:
For information on recent FreeBSD progress and releases, see the
Newsflash page.
To register to receive the FreeBSD Newsletter and/or subscribe to
the announcement mailing list, please see the Registration page.
GNATS
Problem Report Database
Current FreeBSD problem reports are tracked using the GNATS database.
Problem reports may also be submitted to the development team using the
send-pr(1) command on
a FreeBSD system or by sending an email message to freebsd-bugs@FreeBSD.ORG.
Please note that send-pr is preferred
since messages sent to the mailing list are not tracked as
official problem reports!
CVS (the
Concurrent Version System) is the tool we use for keeping our sources
under control. Every change (with accompanying log message explaining
its purpose) from FreeBSD 2.0 to the present is stored here, and can be
easily viewed from here (click on the link). To obtain a complete copy
of the FreeBSD CVS repository or any of the development branches inside
it, you may choose any one of following options:
- cvsup if you're looking
for on-demand, low overhead access using a custom utility (written in
Modula-3 no less).
- anoncvs
if you're looking for on-demand access that has higher overhead than
cvsup (in terms of wall time and bytes xferred) but is easier to use
for checking out small pieces of the tree and requires nothing more
than the cvs tools already bundled with FreeBSD.
- CTM if you're looking for
very low overhead, batch-mode access (basically, patches through
email) access.
- The web interface
if you're looking to simply browse the repository in search of a
specific change or file revision.
- Finally, if you've got bandwidth to burn or you prefer / are forced
to use FTP, you can simply mirror the CVS repository from ftp.freebsd.org.
Mirrors of the CVS Repository cgi script are available in California, Germany,
Japan and Spain (English, Spanish).
User Groups
FreeBSD's widespread popularity has spawned a number of user groups
around the world. If you know of a FreeBSD user group not listed here,
let us know about it.
Australia
Europe
- Denmark The Danish *BSD user group, BSD/DK, is being created.
Send mail subscription request to bsd-dk-request@hotel.prosa.dk.
No initial meeting planned yet.
- Duisburg, Germany The Cosmo-Project is a user
group with a difference. Instead of just meeting, they actively
develop projects such as robots. Most users use FreeBSD, but it isn't
a specifically FreeBSD-related group.
- Hamburg, Germany The BSDHH (BSD User
Group Hamburg) meets on the first Wednesday of the month at 7.00pm in
the Chinese restaurant Lotosblüte, Löwenstraße 22 in
Hamburg-Eppendorf. Most members are FreeBSD users, although users of
all BSD flavors are welcome.
- United Kingdom The FreeBSD UKUG (FreeBSD UK
User's Group) exists for the benefit of FreeBSD users in the United
Kingdom. Please follow the link for details.
North America
- Chicago IL The Chicago FreeBSD
Users Group (ChiFUG).
- The Connecticut Free Unix user's Group
(CFUG) is devoted to free unix, but has resources for almost all
Unixen. Their area of operation is Connecticut and Western
Massachusetts. More information can be found at http://www.cfug.org.
- The Houston TX (Houston FreeBSD Users Group)
formed March 1999. Our goal is to promote and educate Houston
computer users on FreeBSD Unix. We meet on the fourth Thursday of the
month. The group operates a mailing list at http://www.houfug.org/mailman/listinfo/hou-freebsd
Contact Ingrid Kast Fuller for more information.
- Kansas KULUA (Kansas Unix & Linux Users
Association) is a Free Unix user group based in Lawrence, Kansas, but
with users throughout eastern Kansas and western Missouri. We have
about 120 members and meet biweekly. Visit the web site or email kulua@kulua.org for more
information.
- Los Angeles CA The Yahoo
Club group is a foundation for a Los Angeles based BSD user
group.
- New Mexico FUUNM (Free Unix Users of New
Mexico) meets on the 2nd Saturday of the month from 4:30-6:00pm at the
Farris Engineering Center, room 141, University of new Mexico. This
is not specifically a FreeBSD user group, but if you are in the area,
your presence is welcome. The group operates a mailing list (fuunm@astro.phys.unm.edu).
Contact Alan Lundin for
more information.
- New York NY D'Artagnan's FreeBSD
Users Group.
- New York NY FUNY (FreeBSD Users of New York) had its
inaugural meeting in February 1999. It is based in NYC and serves the
surrounding metropolitan area.
- Northern Arizona Yavapai Free Unix Users
Group is now forming for *BSD/Linux, etc., users in Northern Arizona.
Please contact Russell Carter (
rcarter@consys.com) for details.
- Orlando, FL BUGO (BSD Users Group of
Orlando) is a group based in Orlando, FL that aims to bring a
friendly forum to all UNIX users in the central Florida area,
and hopefully beyond. See the BUGO web
page for further details.
- Phoenix AZ The Phoenix BSD Users group is
fully open for business. Anyone from the Phoenix area please feel
free to join in http://bsd.phoenix.az.us.
- Portland, OR The Portland (Oregon) FreeBSD
Users group meets on the third Thursday of each month. Mail Rick Hamell.
- Reno NV RUUG (Reno Unix Users Group) meets
monthly in Reno Nevada and discusses the use of FreeBSD and Linux.
Contact Eric Blood or Todd Crenshaw for more
information.
- Rhode Island The Rhode Island Free Unix
Group supports every form of UNIX that can be obtained freely. They
can be contacted at: http://users.tmok.com/~rifug
or by e-mail at: rifug@entropy.tmok.com
- San Francisco Bay Area BAFUG (Bay Area FreeBSD Users
Group) meets semi-monthly at Silicon
Reef. Those interested in attending should visit the web site
or send mail to the mailing
list
- Seattle WA The Seattle FreeBSD Users Group
(SeaFUG) meets on a monthly basis. Those interested in attending
should vist the web site or contact Bill Swingle for more
info.
- The Tampa Florida users group is now being
formed. Interested parties can join the mailing list by sending mail
to bsd-tug-request@bangheadhere.org
with subscribe in the body. The first meeting was planned
for mid May 1999.
- Greater Toronto Area, Ontario: GTAFUG, a new group with majordomo
mailing list and regular meetings planned.
- Tucson AZ TFUG: Tucson Free Unix Group,
Arizona.
- Washington DC (DC Metropolitan Area)
FreeBSD User Group is now forming. Please contact Richard Cramer,
Sytex Access Ltd. at 703-425-2515, or preferred, email at rcramer@sytex.net to be put on a
member distribution list. Initial meeting to be held in May.
- Wichita, Kansas: A new FreeBSD user's
group has been created in Wichita, Ks. We are fairly new and working
on our site, but I wanted to get it up as soon as we had it availble.
We do not currently meet. Visit our site http://wafug.dynip.com or E-mail
the group organizer (ben177@yahoo.com) for more
information!
- Windsor, Ontario The Windsor Unix Users
Group (Windsor, Ontario, Canada) is now forming for *BSD, Solaris,
SCO, etc. This is not specifically a FreeBSD user group, but we do
already have members running FreeBSD. The group operates a mailing
list (wuug-list@unixpower.org). More information can be found by
going to the web site for WUUG, which is located at http://unix.windsor.on.ca/
- Wisconsin FreeBSD-Milwaukee
Wisconsin meets occasionally and has a mailing list: freebsd-mke-l@ns.sol.net.
send mail to freebsd-mke-l-request@ns.sol.net
to subscribe.
Rest of the world
- Israel The Israeli BSD Users Group is an
effort to promote the use of *BSD throught the country, and to act as
a center of information for all BSD users. It is currently run by
FreeBSD users, but all users of bsd Variants are welcome aboard. We
have a mailing list, hosted at bsd-il@osem.co.il. To
subscribe, simply send mail to majordomo@osem.co.il, with
the line "subscribe bsd-il" as the message body.
- New Zealand The New Zealand FreeBSD User's
group is located in Wellington. No meetings have been scheduled
yet.
In addition to the mainstream development path of FreeBSD, a number of
developer groups are working on the cutting edge to expand FreeBSD's
range of applications in new directions.
Security resources available to FreeBSD users:
PGP Key for Security Officers, advisories, patches and mailing lists.
Whether you are just starting out with FreeBSD, or need to
complete a large project, a consultant or two might be your answer.
General UNIX Information
The X Window System
- The XFree86 Project provides
users of a variety of Intel based Unix systems, including FreeBSD,
with an excellent X Window system.
- The WINE project is working to
provide the ability to run MS-Windows software on Intel based Unix
systems such as FreeBSD, NetBSD and Linux.
Hardware
- The comp.answers pc-hardware-faq
is a great reference for people building their own machines.
- Laptop users looking for PCCARD (aka PCMCIA) support not already
provided in the FreeBSD base distribution should see the PAO distribution page for
the latest and greatest experimental laptop support.
- Intel Secrets -- What Intel Doesn't
Want You To Know - lots of information about Intel chips.
- Aad
Offerman's Chip List - reference material on chips used in PC
clones.
- ASUS makes motherboards that
work well with FreeBSD.
- The FreeBSD hardware guide makes
some specific recommendations for hardware that's known to work well
with FreeBSD.
Related Operating System Projects
- NetBSD is
another free 4.4BSD-Lite based operating system which runs on several
different architectures.
- OpenBSD
is another 4.4BSD derivative.
- Linux is
another free Unix-like system.
- Lites
is a 4.4 BSD Lite based server and emulation library that provides
free unix functionality to a Mach based system.
- The GNU
HURD project is another effort to develop a free
Unix-like operating system.
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