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 resources not mentioned here, please send them to the FreeBSD documentation project mailing list <freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.org>so that they may also be included.
Though many of the FreeBSD development members read USENET, we cannot always guarantee that we will get to your questions in a timely fashion (or at all) if you post them only to one of the comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.* groups. By addressing your questions to the appropriate mailing list 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 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 FreeBSD World Wide Web server. The keyword searchable archive offers an excellent way of finding answers to frequently asked questions and should be consulted before posting a question.
General lists: The following are general lists which anyone is free (and encouraged) to join:
| List | Purpose |
|---|---|
| freebsd-advocacy | FreeBSD Evangelism |
| freebsd-announce | Important events and project milestones |
| freebsd-arch | Architecture and design discussions |
| freebsd-bugs | Bug reports |
| freebsd-chat | Non-technical items related to the FreeBSD community |
| freebsd-commit | Changes made to the FreeBSD source tree |
| freebsd-config | Development of FreeBSD installation and configuration tools |
| freebsd-current | Discussion concerning the use of FreeBSD-current |
| freebsd-isp | Issues for Internet Service Providers using FreeBSD |
| freebsd-jobs | FreeBSD employment and consulting opportunities |
| freebsd-newbies | New FreeBSD users activities and discussions |
| freebsd-policy | FreeBSD Core team policy decisions. Low volume, and read-only |
| freebsd-questions | User questions and technical support |
| freebsd-stable | Discussion concerning the use of FreeBSD-stable |
Technical lists: The following lists are for technical discussion. You should read the charter for each list carefully before joining or sending mail to one as there are firm guidelines for their use and content.
| List | Purpose |
|---|---|
| freebsd-afs | Porting AFS to FreeBSD |
| freebsd-alpha | Porting FreeBSD to the Alpha |
| freebsd-atm | Using ATM networking with FreeBSD |
| freebsd-database | Discussing database use and development under FreeBSD |
| freebsd-doc | Creating FreeBSD related documents |
| freebsd-emulation | Emulation of other systems such as Linux/DOS/Windows |
| freebsd-fs | Filesystems |
| freebsd-hackers | General technical discussion |
| freebsd-hardware | General discussion of hardware for running FreeBSD |
| freebsd-i18n | FreeBSD Internationalization |
| freebsd-ia64 | Porting FreeBSD to Intel's upcoming IA64 systems |
| freebsd-ipfw | Technical discussion concerning the redesign of the IP firewall code |
| freebsd-isdn | ISDN developers |
| freebsd-java | Java developers and people porting JDKs to FreeBSD |
| freebsd-libh | The second generation installation and package system |
| freebsd-mobile | Discussions about mobile computing |
| freebsd-mozilla | Porting mozilla to FreeBSD |
| freebsd-multimedia | Multimedia applications |
| freebsd-new-bus | Technical discussions about bus architecture |
| freebsd-net | Networking discussion and TCP/IP source code |
| freebsd-platforms | Concerning ports to non-Intel architecture platforms |
| freebsd-ports | Discussion of the ports collection |
| freebsd-ppc | Porting FreeBSD to the PowerPC |
| freebsd-realtime | Development of realtime extensions to FreeBSD |
| freebsd-scsi | The SCSI subsystem |
| freebsd-security | Security issues |
| freebsd-security-notifications | Security notifications |
| freebsd-small | Using FreeBSD in embedded applications |
| freebsd-smp | Design discussions for [A]Symmetric MultiProcessing |
| freebsd-sparc | Porting FreeBSD to Sparc systems |
| freebsd-tokenring | Support Token Ring in FreeBSD |
Limited lists: The following lists are for more specialized (and demanding) audiences and are probably not of interest to the general public. It is also a good idea to establish a presence in the technical lists before joining one of these limited lists so that you'll understand the communications etiquette involved.
| List | Purpose |
|---|---|
| freebsd-core | FreeBSD core team |
| freebsd-hubs | People running mirror sites (infrastructural support) |
| freebsd-install | Installation development |
| freebsd-user-groups | User group coordination |
| freebsd-www | Maintainers of www.freebsd.org |
Digest lists: Many of the above lists are also available as digests. All new messages posted to the list are sent out as a single e-mail each day. The lists available in digest form are:
| List |
|---|
| freebsd-afs-digest |
| freebsd-alpha-digest |
| freebsd-chat-digest |
| freebsd-current-digest |
| freebsd-cvs-all-digest |
| freebsd-database-digest |
| freebsd-hackers-digest |
| freebsd-ia64-digest |
| freebsd-isdn-digest |
| freebsd-java-digest |
| freebsd-questions-digest |
| freebsd-security-digest |
| freebsd-sparc-digest |
| freebsd-stable-digest |
| freebsd-test-digest |
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.
All mailing lists live on FreeBSD.org, so to post to a given list you simply mail to <listname@FreeBSD.org>. It will then be redistributed to mailing list members world-wide.
To subscribe to a list, send mail to <majordomo@FreeBSD.org> and include
subscribe <listname> [<optional address>]
in the body of your message. For example, to subscribe
yourself to freebsd-announce,
you'd do:
% mail majordomo@FreeBSD.org
subscribe freebsd-announce
^D
If you want to subscribe yourself under a different name, or submit a subscription request for a local mailing list (this is more efficient if you have several interested parties at one site, and highly appreciated by us!), you would do something like:
% mail majordomo@FreeBSD.org
subscribe freebsd-announce local-announce@somesite.com
^D
Finally, it is also possible to unsubscribe yourself from a list, get a list of other list members or see the list of mailing lists again by sending other types of control messages to majordomo. For a complete list of available commands, do this:
% mail majordomo@FreeBSD.org
help
^D
Again, we would like to request that you keep discussion in the technical mailing lists on a technical track. If you are only interested in important announcements then it is suggested that you join freebsd-announce, which is intended only for infrequent traffic.
All FreeBSD mailing lists have certain basic rules which must be adhered to by anyone using them. Failure to comply with these guidelines will result in two (2) written warnings from the FreeBSD Postmaster <postmaster@FreeBSD.org>, after which, on a third offense, the poster will removed from all FreeBSD mailing lists and filtered from 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, and many fail to appreciate just how fragile some of its mechanisms are.
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 freebsd-chat <freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.org> 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. For most lists, 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 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, are 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 is strictly prohibited and will result in an immediate ban if it is clear that the offender is advertising by spam.
Individual list charters:
Andrew File System
This list is for discussion on porting and using AFS from CMU/Transarc
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, strictly moderated mailing list.
Architecture and design discussions
This is a moderated list for discussion of FreeBSD architecture. Messages will mostly be kept technical in nature, with (rare) exceptions for other messages the moderator deems need to reach all the subscribers of the list. Examples of suitable topics;
How to re-vamp the build system to have several customized builds running at the same time.
What needs to be fixed with VFS to make Heidemann layers work.
How do we change the device driver interface to be able to use the ame drivers cleanly on many buses and architectures?
How do I write a network driver?
The moderator reserves the right to do minor editing (spell-checking, grammar correction, trimming) of messages that are posted to the list. The volume of the list will be kept low, which may involve having to delay topics until an active discussion has been resolved.
Bug reports
This is the mailing list for reporting bugs in FreeBSD Whenever possible, bugs should be submitted using the send-pr(1) command or the WEB interface to it.
Non technical items related to the 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 type in capitals, who is drinking too much coffee, where the best beer is brewed, who is brewing beer in their basement, and so on. Occasional announcements of important events (such as upcoming parties, weddings, births, new jobs, etc) can be made to the technical lists, but the follow ups should be directed to this -chat list.
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 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.
Documentation project
This mailing list is for the discussion of issues and projects related to the creation of documentation for FreeBSD. The members of this mailing list are collectively referred to as ``The FreeBSD Documentation Project''. It is an open list; feel free to join and contribute!
Filesystems
Discussions concerning FreeBSD filesystems. This is a technical mailing list for which strictly technical content is expected.
IP Firewall
This is the forum for technical discussions concerning the redesign of the IP firewall code in FreeBSD. This is a technical mailing list for which strictly technical content is expected.
Porting FreeBSD to IA64
This is a technical mailing list for individuals actively working on porting FreeBSD to the IA-64 platform from Intel, to bring up problems or discuss alternative solutions. Individuals interested in following the technical discussion are also welcome.
ISDN Communications
This is the mailing list for people discussing the development of ISDN support for FreeBSD.
Java Development
This is the mailing list for people discussing the development of significant Java applications for FreeBSD and the porting and maintenance of JDKs.
Technical discussions
This is a forum for technical discussions related to FreeBSD. This 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 hardware that FreeBSD runs on, various problems and suggestions concerning what to buy or avoid.
Mirror sites
Announcements and discussion for people who run FreeBSD mirror sites.
Installation discussion
This mailing list is for discussing FreeBSD installation development for the future releases.
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.
Newbies activities discussion
We cover any of the activities of newbies that are not already dealt with elsewhere, including: independent learning and problem solving techniques, finding and using resources and asking for help elsewhere, how to use mailing lists and which lists to use, general chat, making mistakes, boasting, sharing ideas, stories, moral (but not technical) support, and taking an active part in the FreeBSD community. We take our problems and support questions to freebsd-questions, and use freebsd-newbies to meet others who are doing the same things that we do as newbies.
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.
Core team policy decisions
This is a low volume, read-only mailing list for FreeBSD Core Team Policy decisions.
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 send ``how to'' questions to the technical lists unless you consider the question to be pretty technical.
User questions
This is the digest version of the freebsd-questions mailing list. The digest consists of all messages sent to freebsd-questions bundled together and mailed out as a single message. The average 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 a discussion list. The discussion list is FreeBSD-security.
This list discusses topics related to unusually small and embedded FreeBSD installations. This is a technical mailing list for which strictly technical content is expected.
Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-stable
This is the mailing list for users 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.
User Group Coordination List
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.
For questions about FreeBSD, e-mail
<questions@FreeBSD.org>.
For questions about this documentation, e-mail <doc@FreeBSD.org>.