doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/new-users/article.sgml
Giorgos Keramidas 0b824da1aa Remove all contractions from most of the articles. This solves the
problems with the usage of "its" vs "it's" among other things

Approved by:	nik
2001-10-16 11:53:01 +00:00

1055 lines
40 KiB
Text

<!-- $FreeBSD$ -->
<!-- The FreeBSD Documentation Project -->
<!DOCTYPE ARTICLE PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//DTD DocBook V4.1-Based Extension//EN" [
<!ENTITY % man PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES DocBook Manual Page Entities//EN">
%man;
]>
<article>
<articleinfo>
<title>For People New to Both FreeBSD and Unix</title>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Annelise</firstname>
<surname>Anderson</surname>
<affiliation>
<address><email>andrsn@andrsn.stanford.edu</email></address>
</affiliation>
</author>
</authorgroup>
<pubdate>August 15, 1997</pubdate>
<abstract>
<para>Congratulations on installing FreeBSD! This introduction
is for people new to both FreeBSD <emphasis>and</emphasis>
Un*x&mdash;so it starts with basics. It assumes you are using
version 2.0.5 or later of FreeBSD as distributed by BSDi
or FreeBSD.org, your system (for now) has a single user
(you)&mdash;and you are probably pretty good with DOS/Windows
or OS/2.</para>
</abstract>
</articleinfo>
<sect1>
<title>Logging in and Getting Out</title>
<para>Log in (when you see <prompt >login:</prompt>) as a user you
created during installation or as <firstterm>root</firstterm>.
(Your FreeBSD installation will already have an account for
root; root can go anywhere and do anything, including deleting
essential files, so be careful!) The symbols &prompt.user; and
&prompt.root; in the following stand for the prompt (yours may
be different), with &prompt.user; indicating an ordinary user
and &prompt.root; indicating root.</para>
<para>To log out (and get a new <prompt >login:</prompt> prompt)
type</para>
<informalexample>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>exit</userinput></screen>
</informalexample>
<para>as often as necessary. Yes, press <keysym>enter</keysym>
after commands, and remember that Unix is
case-sensitive&mdash;<command>exit</command>, not
<command>EXIT</command>.</para>
<para>To shut down the machine type</para>
<informalexample>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>/sbin/shutdown -h now</userinput></screen>
</informalexample>
<para>Or to reboot type</para>
<informalexample>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>/sbin/shutdown -r now</userinput></screen>
</informalexample>
<para>or</para>
<informalexample>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>/sbin/reboot</userinput></screen>
</informalexample>
<para>You can also reboot with
<keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>Alt</keycap><keycap>Delete</keycap></keycombo>.
Give it a little time to do its work. This is equivalent to
<command>/sbin/reboot</command> in recent releases of FreeBSD
and is much, much better than hitting the reset button. You
do not want to have to reinstall this thing, do you?</para>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Adding A User with Root Privileges</title>
<para>If you did not create any users when you installed the system
and are thus logged in as root, you should probably create a
user now with</para>
<informalexample>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>adduser</userinput></screen>
</informalexample>
<para>The first time you use adduser, it might ask for some
defaults to save. You might want to make the default shell
&man.csh.1; instead of &man.sh.1;, if it suggests
<command>sh</command> as the default. Otherwise just press
enter to accept each default. These defaults are saved in
<filename>/etc/adduser.conf</filename>, an editable file.</para>
<para>Suppose you create a user <username>jack</username> with
full name <emphasis>Jack Benimble</emphasis>. Give jack a
password if security (even kids around who might pound on the
keyboard) is an issue. When it asks you if you want to invite
jack into other groups, type <groupname>wheel</groupname></para>
<informalexample>
<screen>Login group is ``jack''. Invite jack into other groups: <userinput>wheel</userinput></screen>
</informalexample>
<para>This will make it possible to log in as
<username>jack</username> and use the &man.su.1;
command to become root. Then you will not get scolded any more for
logging in as root.</para>
<para>You can quit <command>adduser</command> any time by typing
<keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>C</keycap></keycombo>,
and at the end you will have a chance to approve your new user or
simply type <keycap>n</keycap> for no. You might want to create
a second new user (jill?) so that when you edit jack's login
files, you will have a hot spare in case something goes
wrong.</para>
<para>Once you have done this, use <command>exit</command> to get
back to a login prompt and log in as <username>jack</username>.
In general, it is a good idea to do as much work as possible as
an ordinary user who does not have the power&mdash;and
risk&mdash;of root.</para>
<para>If you already created a user and you want the user to be
able to <command>su</command> to root, you can log in as root
and edit the file <filename>/etc/group</filename>, adding jack
to the first line (the group <groupname>wheel</groupname>). But
first you need to practice &man.vi.1;, the text editor&mdash;or
use the simpler text editor, &man.ee.1;, installed on recent
version of FreeBSD.</para>
<para>To delete a user, use the <command>rmuser</command>
command.</para>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Looking Around</title>
<para>Logged in as an ordinary user, look around and try out some
commands that will access the sources of help and information
within FreeBSD.</para>
<para>Here are some commands and what they do:</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>id</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Tells you who you are!</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>pwd</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Shows you where you are&mdash;the current working
directory.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>ls</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Lists the files in the current directory.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>ls <option>-F</option></command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Lists the files in the current directory with a
<literal>*</literal> after executables, a
<literal>/</literal> after directories, and an
<literal>@</literal> after symbolic links.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>ls <option>-l</option></command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Lists the files in long format&mdash;size, date,
permissions.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>ls <option>-a</option></command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Lists hidden <quote>dot</quote> files with the others.
If you are root, the <quote>dot</quote> files show up
without the <option>-a</option> switch.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>cd</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Changes directories. <command>cd
<parameter>..</parameter></command> backs up one level;
note the space after <command>cd</command>. <command>cd
<parameter>/usr/local</parameter></command> goes there.
<command>cd <parameter>~</parameter></command> goes to the
home directory of the person logged in&mdash;e.g.,
<filename>/usr/home/jack</filename>. Try <command>cd
<parameter>/cdrom</parameter></command>, and then
<command>ls</command>, to find out if your CDROM is
mounted and working.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>view
<replaceable>filename</replaceable></command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Lets you look at a file (named
<replaceable>filename</replaceable>) without changing it.
Try <command>view
<parameter>/etc/fstab</parameter></command>.
<command>:q</command> to quit.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>cat
<replaceable>filename</replaceable></command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Displays <replaceable>filename</replaceable> on
screen. If it is too long and you can see only the end of
it, press <keycap>ScrollLock</keycap> and use the
<keycap>up-arrow</keycap> to move backward; you can use
<keycap>ScrollLock</keycap> with man pages too. Press
<keycap>ScrollLock</keycap> again to quit scrolling. You
might want to try <command>cat</command> on some of the
dot files in your home directory&mdash;<command>cat
<parameter>.cshrc</parameter></command>, <command>cat
<parameter>.login</parameter></command>, <command>cat
<parameter>.profile</parameter></command>.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<para>You will notice aliases in <filename>.cshrc</filename> for
some of the <command>ls</command> commands (they are very
convenient). You can create other aliases by editing
<filename>.cshrc</filename>. You can make these aliases
available to all users on the system by putting them in the
system-wide <command>csh</command> configuration file,
<filename>/etc/csh.cshrc</filename>.</para>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Getting Help and Information</title>
<para>Here are some useful sources of help.
<replaceable>Text</replaceable> stands for something of your
choice that you type in&mdash;usually a command or
filename.</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>apropos
<replaceable>text</replaceable></command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Everything containing string
<replaceable>text</replaceable> in the <database>whatis
database</database>.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>man
<replaceable>text</replaceable></command></term>
<listitem>
<para>The man page for <replaceable>text</replaceable>. The
major source of documentation for Un*x systems.
<command>man <parameter>ls</parameter></command> will tell
you all the ways to use the <command>ls</command> command.
Press <keycap>Enter</keycap> to move through text,
<keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>B</keycap></keycombo>
to go back a page,
<keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>F</keycap></keycombo>
to go forward, <keycap>q</keycap> or
<keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>C</keycap></keycombo>
to quit.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>which
<replaceable>text</replaceable></command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Tells you where in the user's path the command
<replaceable>text</replaceable> is found.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>locate
<replaceable>text</replaceable></command></term>
<listitem>
<para>All the paths where the string
<replaceable>text</replaceable> is found.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>whatis
<replaceable>text</replaceable></command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Tells you what the command
<replaceable>text</replaceable> does and its man page.
Typing <command>whatis *</command> will tell you about all
the binaries in the current directory.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>whereis
<replaceable>text</replaceable></command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Finds the file <replaceable>text</replaceable>, giving
its full path.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<para>You might want to try using <command>whatis</command> on
some common useful commands like <command>cat</command>,
<command>more</command>, <command>grep</command>,
<command>mv</command>, <command>find</command>,
<command>tar</command>, <command>chmod</command>,
<command>chown</command>, <command>date</command>, and
<command>script</command>. <command>more</command> lets you
read a page at a time as it does in DOS, e.g., <command>ls -l |
more</command> or <command>more
<replaceable>filename</replaceable></command>. The
<literal>*</literal> works as a wildcard&mdash;e.g., <command>ls
w*</command> will show you files beginning with
<literal>w</literal>.</para>
<para>Are some of these not working very well? Both
&man.locate.1; and &man.whatis.1; depend
on a database that is rebuilt weekly. If your machine is not
going to be left on over the weekend (and running FreeBSD), you
might want to run the commands for daily, weekly, and monthly
maintenance now and then. Run them as root and give each one
time to finish before you start the next one, for now.</para>
<informalexample>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>periodic daily</userinput>
<lineannotation>output omitted</lineannotation>
&prompt.root; <userinput>periodic weekly</userinput>
<lineannotation>output omitted</lineannotation>
&prompt.root; <userinput>periodic monthly</userinput>
<lineannotation>output omitted</lineannotation></screen>
</informalexample>
<para>If you get tired of waiting, press
<keycombo><keycap>Alt</keycap><keycap>F2</keycap></keycombo> to
get another <firstterm>virtual console</firstterm>, and log in
again. After all, it is a multi-user, multi-tasking system.
Nevertheless these commands will probably flash messages on your
screen while they are running; you can type
<command>clear</command> at the prompt to clear the screen.
Once they have run, you might want to look at
<filename>/var/mail/root</filename> and
<filename>/var/log/messages</filename>.</para>
<para>Running such commands is part of system
administration&mdash;and as a single user of a Unix system,
you are your own system administrator. Virtually everything you
need to be root to do is system administration. Such
responsibilities are not covered very well even in those big fat
books on Unix, which seem to devote a lot of space to pulling
down menus in windows managers. You might want to get one of
the two leading books on systems administration, either Evi
Nemeth et.al.'s <citetitle>UNIX System Administration
Handbook</citetitle> (Prentice-Hall, 1995, ISBN
0-13-15051-7)&mdash;the second edition with the red cover; or
&AElig;leen Frisch's <citetitle>Essential System
Administration</citetitle> (O'Reilly &amp; Associates, 1993,
ISBN 0-937175-80-3). I used Nemeth.</para>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Editing Text</title>
<para>To configure your system, you need to edit text files. Most
of them will be in the <filename>/etc</filename> directory; and
you will need to <command>su</command> to root to be able to
change them. You can use the easy <command>ee</command>, but in
the long run the text editor <command>vi</command> is worth
learning. There is an excellent tutorial on vi in
<filename>/usr/src/contrib/nvi/docs/tutorial</filename> if you
have that installed; otherwise you can get it by FTP to
<hostid>ftp.cdrom.com</hostid> in the directory
FreeBSD/FreeBSD-current/src/contrib/nvi/docs/tutorial.</para>
<para>Before you edit a file, you should probably back it up.
Suppose you want to edit <filename>/etc/rc.conf</filename>. You
could just use <command>cd /etc</command> to get to the
<filename>/etc</filename> directory and do:</para>
<informalexample>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cp rc.conf rc.conf.orig</userinput></screen>
</informalexample>
<para>This would copy <filename>rc.conf</filename> to
<filename>rc.conf.orig</filename>, and you could later copy
<filename>rc.conf.orig</filename> to
<filename>rc.conf</filename> to recover the original. But even
better would be moving (renaming) and then copying back:</para>
<informalexample>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>mv rc.conf rc.conf.orig</userinput>
&prompt.root; <userinput>cp rc.conf.orig rc.conf</userinput></screen>
</informalexample>
<para>because the <command>mv</command> command preserves the
original date and owner of the file. You can now edit
<filename>rc.conf</filename>. If you want the original back,
you would then <userinput>mv rc.conf rc.conf.myedit</userinput>
(assuming you want to preserve your edited version) and
then</para>
<informalexample>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>mv rc.conf.orig rc.conf</userinput></screen>
</informalexample>
<para>to put things back the way they were.</para>
<para>To edit a file, type</para>
<informalexample>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>vi <replaceable>filename</replaceable></userinput></screen>
</informalexample>
<para>Move through the text with the arrow keys.
<keycap>Esc</keycap> (the escape key) puts <command>vi</command>
in command mode. Here are some commands:</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>x</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>delete letter the cursor is on</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>dd</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>delete the entire line (even if it wraps on the
screen)</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>i</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>insert text at the cursor</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>a</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>insert text after the cursor</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<para>Once you type <command>i</command> or <command>a</command>,
you can enter text. <command>Esc</command> puts you back in
command mode where you can type</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>:w</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>to write your changes to disk and continue
editing</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>:wq</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>to write and quit</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>:q!</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>to quit without saving changes</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>/<replaceable>text</replaceable></command></term>
<listitem>
<para>to move the cursor to <replaceable>text</replaceable>;
<command>/<keycap>Enter</keycap></command> (the enter key)
to find the next instance of
<replaceable>text</replaceable>.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>G</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>to go to the end of the file</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command><replaceable>n</replaceable>G</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>to go to line <replaceable>n</replaceable> in the
file, where <replaceable>n</replaceable> is a
number</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>L</keycap></keycombo></term>
<listitem>
<para>to redraw the screen</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>b</keycap></keycombo> and
<keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>f</keycap></keycombo></term>
<listitem>
<para>go back and forward a screen, as they do with
<command>more</command> and <command>view</command>.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<para>Practice with <command>vi</command> in your home directory
by creating a new file with <command>vi
<replaceable>filename</replaceable></command> and adding and
deleting text, saving the file, and calling it up again.
<command>vi</command> delivers some surprises because it is
really quite complex, and sometimes you will inadvertently issue a
command that will do something you do not expect. (Some people
actually like <command>vi</command>&mdash;it is more powerful
than DOS EDIT&mdash;find out about the <command>:r</command>
command.) Use <keycap>Esc</keycap> one or more times to be sure
you are in command mode and proceed from there when it gives you
trouble, save often with <command>:w</command>, and use
<command>:q!</command> to get out and start over (from your last
<command>:w</command>) when you need to.</para>
<para>Now you can <command>cd</command> to
<filename>/etc</filename>, <command>su</command> to root, use
<command>vi</command> to edit the file
<filename>/etc/group</filename>, and add a user to wheel so the
user has root privileges. Just add a comma and the user's login
name to the end of the first line in the file, press
<keycap>Esc</keycap>, and use <command>:wq</command> to write
the file to disk and quit. Instantly effective. (You did not
put a space after the comma, did you?)</para>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Printing Files from DOS</title>
<para>At this point you probably do not have the printer working,
so here is a way to create a file from a man page, move it to a
floppy, and then print it from DOS. Suppose you want to read
carefully about changing permissions on files (pretty
important). You can use <command>man chmod</command> to read
about it. The command</para>
<informalexample>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>man chmod | col -b &gt; chmod.txt</></screen>
</informalexample>
<para>will remove formatting codes and send the man page to the
<filename>chmod.txt</filename> file instead of showing it on
your screen. Now put a dos-formatted diskette in your floppy
drive a, <command>su</command> to root, and type</para>
<informalexample>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>/sbin/mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt</></screen>
</informalexample>
<para>to mount the floppy drive on
<filename>/mnt</filename>.</para>
<para>Now (you no longer need to be root, and you can type
<command>exit</command> to get back to being user jack) you can
go to the directory where you created
<filename>chmod.txt</filename> and copy the file to the floppy
with:</para>
<informalexample>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>cp chmod.txt /mnt</></screen>
</informalexample>
<para>and use <command>ls /mnt</command> to get a directory
listing of <filename>/mnt</filename>, which should show the file
<filename>chmod.txt</filename>.</para>
<para>You might especially want to make a file from
<filename>/sbin/dmesg</filename> by typing</para>
<informalexample>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>/sbin/dmesg &gt; dmesg.txt</></screen>
</informalexample>
<para>and copying <filename>dmesg.txt</filename> to the floppy.
<command>/sbin/dmesg</command> is the boot log record, and it is
useful to understand it because it shows what FreeBSD found when
it booted up. If you ask questions on
<email>freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org</email> or on a USENET
group&mdash;like <quote>FreeBSD is not finding my tape drive,
what do I do?</quote>&mdash;people will want to know what
<command>dmesg</command> has to say.</para>
<para>You can now dismount the floppy drive (as root) to get the
disk out with</para>
<informalexample>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>/sbin/umount /mnt</></screen>
</informalexample>
<para>and reboot to go to DOS. Copy these files to a DOS
directory, call them up with DOS EDIT, Windows Notepad or
Wordpad, or a word processor, make a minor change so the file
has to be saved, and print as you normally would from DOS or
Windows. Hope it works! man pages come out best if printed
with the DOS <command>print</command> command. (Copying files
from FreeBSD to a mounted DOS partition is in some cases still a
little risky.)</para>
<para>Getting the printer printing from FreeBSD involves creating
an appropriate entry in <filename>/etc/printcap</filename> and
creating a matching spool directory in
<filename>/var/spool/output</filename>. If your printer is on
<hardware>lpt0</hardware> (what DOS calls
<hardware>LPT1</hardware>), you may only need to go to
<filename>/var/spool/output</filename> and (as root) create the
directory <filename>lpd</filename> by typing: <command>mkdir
lpd</command>, if it does not already exist. Then the printer
should respond if it is turned on when the system is booted, and
<command>lp</command> or <command>lpr</command> should send a
file to the printer. Whether or not the file actually prints
depends on configuring it, which is covered in the <ulink
URL="../../books/handbook/handbook.html">FreeBSD
handbook.</ulink></para>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Other Useful Commands</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>df</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>shows file space and mounted systems.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>ps aux</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>shows processes running. <command>ps ax</command> is a
narrower form.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>rm <replaceable>filename</replaceable></command></term>
<listitem>
<para>remove <replaceable>filename</replaceable>.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>rm -R <replaceable>dir</replaceable></command></term>
<listitem>
<para>removes a directory <replaceable>dir</replaceable> and all
subdirectories&mdash;careful!</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>ls -R</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>lists files in the current directory and all
subdirectories; I used a variant, <command>ls -AFR &gt;
where.txt</command>, to get a list of all the files in
<filename>/</filename> and (separately)
<filename>/usr</filename> before I found better ways to
find files.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>passwd</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>to change user's password (or root's password)</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>man hier</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>man page on the Unix file system</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<para>Use <command>find</command> to locate <filename>filename</filename> in
<filename>/usr</filename> or any of its subdirectories
with</para>
<informalexample>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>find /usr -name "<replaceable>filename</>"</></screen>
</informalexample>
<para>You can use <literal>*</literal> as a wildcard in
<parameter>"<replaceable>filename</replaceable>"</parameter>
(which should be in quotes). If you tell
<command>find</command> to search in <filename>/</filename>
instead of <filename>/usr</filename> it will look for the
file(s) on all mounted file systems, including the CDROM and the
DOS partition.</para>
<para>An excellent book that explains Unix commands and utilities
is Abrahams &amp; Larson, <citetitle>Unix for the
Impatient</citetitle> (2nd ed., Addison-Wesley, 1996).
There is also a lot of Unix information on the Internet. Try the
<ulink URL="http://www.geek-girl.com/unix.html">Unix Reference
Desk</ulink>.</para>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Next Steps</title>
<para>You should now have the tools you need to get around and
edit files, so you can get everything up and running. There is
a great deal of information in the FreeBSD handbook (which is
probably on your hard drive) and <ulink
URL="http://www.FreeBSD.org/">FreeBSD's web site</ulink>. A
wide variety of packages and ports are on the CDROM as well as
the web site. The handbook tells you more about how to use them
(get the package if it exists, with <command>pkg_add
/cdrom/packages/All/<replaceable>packagename</replaceable></command>,
where <replaceable>packagename</replaceable> is the filename of
the package). The CDROM has lists of the packages and ports
with brief descriptions in
<filename>cdrom/packages/index</filename>,
<filename>cdrom/packages/index.txt</filename>, and
<filename>cdrom/ports/index</filename>, with fuller descriptions
in <filename>/cdrom/ports/*/*/pkg/DESCR</filename>, where the
<literal>*</literal>s represent subdirectories of kinds of
programs and program names respectively.</para>
<para>If you find the handbook too sophisticated (what with
<command>lndir</command> and all) on installing ports from the
CDROM, here is what usually works:</para>
<para>Find the port you want, say <command>kermit</command>.
There will be a directory for it on the CDROM. Copy the
subdirectory to <filename>/usr/local</filename> (a good place
for software you add that should be available to all users)
with:</para>
<informalexample>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cp -R /cdrom/ports/comm/kermit /usr/local</></screen>
</informalexample>
<para>This should result in a
<filename>/usr/local/kermit</filename> subdirectory that has all
the files that the <command>kermit</command> subdirectory on the
CDROM has.</para>
<para>Next, create the directory
<filename>/usr/ports/distfiles</filename> if it does not already
exist using <command>mkdir</command>. Now check check
<filename>/cdrom/ports/distfiles</filename> for a file with a
name that indicates it is the port you want. Copy that file to
<filename>/usr/ports/distfiles</filename>; in recent versions
you can skip this step, as FreeBSD will do it for you. In the
case of <command>kermit</command>, there is no distfile.</para>
<para>Then <command>cd</command> to the subdirectory of
<filename>/usr/local/kermit</filename> that has the file
<filename>Makefile</filename>. Type</para>
<informalexample>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>make all install</></screen>
</informalexample>
<para>During this process the port will FTP to get any compressed
files it needs that it did not find on the CDROM or in
<filename>/usr/ports/distfiles</filename>. If you do not have
your network running yet and there was no file for the port in
<filename>/cdrom/ports/distfiles</filename>, you will have to
get the distfile using another machine and copy it to
<filename>/usr/ports/distfiles</filename> from a floppy or your
DOS partition. Read <filename>Makefile</filename> (with
<command>cat</command> or <command>more</command> or
<command>view</command>) to find out where to go (the master
distribution site) to get the file and what its name is. Its
name will be truncated when downloaded to DOS, and after you get
it into <filename>/usr/ports/distfiles</filename> you will have to
rename it (with the <command>mv</command> command) to its
original name so it can be found. (Use binary file transfers!)
Then go back to <filename>/usr/local/kermit</filename>, find the
directory with <filename>Makefile</filename>, and type
<command>make all install</command>.</para>
<para>The other thing that happens when installing ports or
packages is that some other program is needed. If the
installation stops with a message <errorname>can't find
unzip</errorname> or whatever, you might need to install the
package or port for unzip before you continue.</para>
<para>Once it is installed type <command>rehash</command> to make
FreeBSD reread the files in the path so it knows what is there.
(If you get a lot of <errorname>path not found</errorname>
messages when you use <command>whereis</command> or which, you
might want to make additions to the list of directories in the
path statement in <filename>.cshrc</filename> in your home
directory. The path statement in Unix does the same kind of
work it does in DOS, except the current directory is not (by
default) in the path for security reasons; if the command you
want is in the directory you are in, you need to type
<filename>./</filename> before the command to make it work; no
space after the slash.)</para>
<para>You might want to get the most recent version of Netscape
from their <ulink URL="ftp://ftp.netscape.com">FTP site</ulink>.
(Netscape requires the X Window System.) There is now a FreeBSD
version, so look around carefully. Just use <command>gunzip
<replaceable>filename</replaceable></command> and <command>tar
xvf <replaceable>filename</replaceable></command> on it, move
the binary to <filename>/usr/local/bin</filename> or some other
place binaries are kept, <command>rehash</command>, and then put
the following lines in <filename>.cshrc</filename> in each
user's home directory or (easier) in
<filename>/etc/csh.cshrc</filename>, the system-wide
<command>csh</command> start-up file:</para>
<informalexample>
<programlisting>setenv XKEYSYMDB /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XKeysymDB
setenv XNLSPATH /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/nls</programlisting>
</informalexample>
<para>This assumes that the file <filename>XKeysymDB</filename>
and the directory <filename>nls</filename> are in
<filename>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11</filename>; if they are not, find
them and put them there.</para>
<para>If you originally got Netscape as a port using the CDROM (or
FTP), do not replace <filename>/usr/local/bin/netscape</filename>
with the new netscape binary; this is just a shell script that
sets up the environment variables for you. Instead rename the
new binary to <filename>netscape.bin</filename> and replace the
old binary, which is
<filename>/usr/local/netscape/netscape</filename>.</para>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Your Working Environment</title>
<para>Your shell is the most important part of your working
environment. In DOS, the usual shell is command.com. The shell
is what interprets the commands you type on the command line,
and thus communicates with the rest of the operating system.
You can also write shell scripts, which are like DOS batch
files: a series of commands to be run without your
intervention.</para>
<para>Two shells come installed with FreeBSD:
<command>csh</command> and <command>sh</command>.
<command>csh</command> is good for command-line work, but
scripts should be written with <command>sh</command> (or
<command>bash</command>). You can find out what shell you have
by typing <command>echo $SHELL</command>.</para>
<para>The <command>csh</command> shell is okay, but
<command>tcsh</command> does everything <command>csh</command>
does and more. It allows you to recall commands with the arrow
keys and edit them. It has tab-key completion of filenames
(<command>csh</command> uses the <keycap>Esc</keycap> key), and
it lets you switch to the directory you were last in with
<command>cd -</command>. It is also much easier to alter your
prompt with <command>tcsh</command>. It makes life a lot
easier.</para>
<para>Here are the three steps for installing a new shell:</para>
<procedure>
<step>
<para>Install the shell as a port or a package, just as you
would any other port or package. Use
<command>rehash</command> and <command>which tcsh</command>
(assuming you are installing <command>tcsh</command>) to make
sure it got installed.</para>
</step>
<step>
<para>As root, edit <filename>/etc/shells</filename>, adding a
line in the file for the new shell, in this case
<filename>/usr/local/bin/tcsh</filename>, and save the file.
(Some ports may do this for you.)</para>
</step>
<step>
<para>Use the <command>chsh</command> command to change your
shell to <command>tcsh</command> permanently, or type
<command>tcsh</command> at the prompt to change your shell
without logging in again.</para>
</step>
</procedure>
<note>
<para>It can be dangerous to change root's shell to something
other than <command>sh</command> or <command>csh</command> on
early versions of FreeBSD and many other versions of Unix; you
may not have a working shell when the system puts you into
single user mode. The solution is to use <command>su
-m</command> to become root, which will give you the
<command>tcsh</command> as root, because the shell is part of
the environment. You can make this permanent by adding it to
your <filename>.tcshrc</filename> file as an alias with
<programlisting>alias su su -m.</programlisting></para>
</note>
<para>When <command>tcsh</command> starts up, it will read the
<filename>/etc/csh.cshrc</filename> and
<filename>/etc/csh.login</filename> files, as does
<command>csh</command>. It will also read the
<filename>.login</filename> file in your home directory and the
<filename>.cshrc</filename> file as well, unless you provide a
<filename>.tcshrc</filename> file. This you can do by simply
copying <filename>.cshrc</filename> to
<filename>.tcshrc</filename>.</para>
<para>Now that you have installed <command>tcsh</command>, you can
adjust your prompt. You can find the details in the manual page
for <command>tcsh</command>, but here is a line to put in your
<filename>.tcshrc</filename> that will tell you how many
commands you have typed, what time it is, and what directory you
are in. It also produces a <literal>></literal> if you are an
ordinary user and a <literal>#</literal> if you are root, but
tsch will do that in any case:</para>
<para>set prompt = "%h %t %~ %# "</para>
<para>This should go in the same place as the existing set prompt
line if there is one, or under "if($?prompt) then" if not.
Comment out the old line; you can always switch back to it if
you prefer it. Do not forget the spaces and quotes. You can get
the <filename>.tcshrc</filename> reread by typing
<command>source .tcshrc</command>.</para>
<para>You can get a listing of other environmental variables that
have been set by typing <command>env</command> at the prompt.
The result will show you your default editor, pager, and
terminal type, among possibly many others. A useful command if
you log in from a remote location and can not run a program
because the terminal is not capable is <command>setenv TERM
vt100</command>.</para>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Other</title>
<para>As root, you can dismount the CDROM with
<command>/sbin/umount /cdrom</command>, take it out of the
drive, insert another one, and mount it with
<command>/sbin/mount_cd9660 /dev/cd0a /cdrom</command> assuming
<hardware>cd0a</hardware> is the device name for your CDROM
drive. The most recent versions of FreeBSD let you mount the
CDROM with just <command>/sbin/mount /cdrom</command>.</para>
<para>Using the live file system&mdash;the second of FreeBSD's
CDROM disks&mdash;is useful if you have got limited space. What
is on the live file system varies from release to release. You
might try playing games from the CDROM. This involves using
<command>lndir</command>, which gets installed with the X Window
System, to tell the program(s) where to find the necessary
files, because they are in the <filename>/cdrom</filename> file
system instead of in <filename>/usr</filename> and its
subdirectories, which is where they are expected to be. Read
<command>man lndir</command>.</para>
</sect1>
<sect1>
<title>Comments Welcome</title>
<para>If you use this guide I would be interested in knowing where it
was unclear and what was left out that you think should be
included, and if it was helpful. My thanks to Eugene W. Stark,
professor of computer science at SUNY-Stony Brook, and John
Fieber for helpful comments.</para>
<para>Annelise Anderson,
<email>andrsn@andrsn.stanford.edu</email></para>
</sect1>
</article>