The NetBSD operating system, a guide

This guide describes the installation and the configuration of the NetBSD operating system. It addresses mainly people coming from other operating systems in hope of being useful for the solution of the many small problems found when one starts using a new tool.This guide is not a Unix tutorial: a basic knowledge of some concepts and tools is required to understand it. You should know, for example, what a file and a directory are and how to use an editor. There are plenty of books explaining these things so, if you don’t know them, I suggest that you buy an introductory text. I think that it is better to choose a general book an avoid titles like "€œLearning Unix-XYZ, version 1.2.3.4 in 10 days"€, but this is a matter of personal taste. If you install a BSD system,sooner or later you will be confronted with the vi editor: without some documentation this could be an insurmountable obstacle. When you finish installing your system, you will be able to install whatever editor and programs you like.Still a lot of work is required to finish this short introduction to NetBSD: some chapters are not finished (some are not even started) and some subjects still need testing (yes, a guide must also be tested). I'€™ll try to work on it and improve it in my spare time but if you want to help, you’re welcome: you can write newchapters (or parts of) or send corrections for existing subjects. The NetBSD Operating System......Page 1 Table of Contents......Page 3 List of Examples......Page 11 Purpose of this guide......Page 13 1.2 NetBSD features......Page 14 1.5 Applications for NetBSD......Page 15 1.7 How to get NetBSD......Page 16 2.1.3 systrace......Page 17 2.1.9 New toolchain......Page 18 2.3 The NetBSD Packages Collection (pkgsrc)......Page 19 3.1 Documentation......Page 20 3.3 Installation......Page 21 3.3.2 Geometries......Page 22 3.3.3 Partitions......Page 23 3.3.5 Retry......Page 24 4.1.1 Preparing the installation......Page 25 4.1.3 Last preparatory steps......Page 26 4.1.4 Beginning the installation......Page 27 4.1.5 Partitions......Page 29 4.1.6 Disklabel......Page 34 4.1.7 Creating a disklabel......Page 35 4.1.9 Choosing the installation media......Page 38 5.2 Login......Page 42 5.3 Changing the keyboard layout......Page 43 5.4 The man command......Page 44 5.7 System time......Page 45 5.8 Basic configuration /etc/rc.conf......Page 46 5.9 Rebooting the system......Page 47 6.2 Mounting the CDROM......Page 48 6.4 Accessing a DOS/Windows partition......Page 49 6.6 Shadow passwords......Page 51 6.7 Stopping and rebooting the system......Page 52 7.1 Enabling the printer daemon......Page 53 7.2 Configuring /etc/printcap......Page 54 7.3 Configuring Ghostscript......Page 55 7.4 Printer management commands......Page 56 7.5 Remote printing......Page 57 8.1 Building the tools......Page 58 8.3 Build & Release......Page 59 8.4.2 Static Builds......Page 60 9.2 Italian keyboard layout......Page 62 9.3 Recompiling the kernel......Page 63 9.5 Creating the kernel configuration file......Page 64 9.7 Generating dependencies and recompiling......Page 65 9.8 If something went wrong......Page 66 10.1 Installing the package collection......Page 68 10.3.1 Downloading the sources......Page 70 10.4 Example: installing a binary package......Page 71 10.6.1 Tools......Page 73 10.6.2.1 Using url2pkg......Page 74 10.6.4 Checking with pkglint......Page 75 10.6.7 Final Notes......Page 76 11.1.2 Supported Networking Protocols......Page 77 11.1.3.2 Ethernet......Page 78 11.1.4 TCP/IP Address Format......Page 79 11.1.5 Subnetting and Routing......Page 81 11.1.6 Name Service Concepts......Page 83 11.1.6.1 /etc/hosts......Page 84 11.1.6.4 Other......Page 85 11.1.7.2 What good is IPv6?......Page 86 11.1.7.3.1 Addressing......Page 87 11.1.7.3.3 Multicasting......Page 90 11.1.7.3.4 Name Resolving in IPv6......Page 91 11.2.1 A walk through the kernel configuration......Page 92 11.2.2 Overview of the network configuration files......Page 96 11.2.3.1 Getting the connection information......Page 97 11.2.3.3 Creating the directories for pppd......Page 98 11.2.3.4 Connection script and chat file......Page 99 11.2.3.5.2 Login authentication......Page 100 11.2.3.7 Testing the modem......Page 101 11.2.3.9 Using a script for connection and disconnection......Page 102 11.2.4 Creating a small home network......Page 103 11.2.5.1 Connecting NetBSD with BSD or Linux......Page 105 11.2.5.2 Connecting NetBSD and Windows NT......Page 106 11.3.1 IPNAT......Page 107 11.3.1.1 Configuring the gateway/firewall......Page 108 11.3.1.2 Configuring the clients......Page 109 11.3.2.1 Bridge example......Page 110 11.3.3.1 NFS setup example......Page 111 11.3.4.1 Introduction......Page 112 11.3.5 IPv6 Connectivity & Transition via 6to4......Page 113 11.3.5.2 Obtaining IPv6 Address Space for 6to4......Page 114 11.3.5.4 Security Considerations......Page 115 11.3.5.6 Kernel Preparation......Page 116 11.3.5.7 6to4 Setup......Page 117 11.3.5.8 Quickstart using pkgsrc/net/6to4......Page 118 11.3.5.9 Known 6to4 Gateway......Page 119 Bibliography......Page 120 12.2 What is DNS?......Page 122 12.3.1 /etc/namedb/named.conf......Page 123 12.3.2 /etc/namedb/localhost......Page 125 12.3.3 /etc/named/zone.127.0.0......Page 126 12.3.4 /etc/namedb/diverge.org......Page 127 12.3.6 /etc/namedb/root.cache......Page 128 12.4 Using DNS......Page 129 12.5 Setting up a caching only name server......Page 130 12.5.1 Testing the server......Page 131 Mail and news......Page 132 13.1 sendmail......Page 134 13.1.1 Configuration with genericstable......Page 135 13.1.2 Testing the configuration......Page 137 13.2 fetchmail......Page 139 13.3 Reading and writing mail with mutt......Page 140 13.6 Advanced mail tools......Page 141 13.7 News with tin......Page 143 14.1 wscons......Page 145 14.1.1 50 lines text mode with wscons......Page 146 14.3 pcvt......Page 147 14.3.1 Changing the screen size......Page 149 15.1.2 Switching to Edit Mode......Page 150 15.1.5 Navigation in the Buffer......Page 151 15.1.6.1 Additional Navigation Commands......Page 152 15.1.7 A Sample Session......Page 153 15.2.2 Documentation......Page 154 15.3 Using tags with vi......Page 155 16.1 What is X?......Page 156 16.2 Configuration......Page 157 16.4 The keyboard......Page 158 16.7 Starting X......Page 159 16.8 Customizing X......Page 160 16.9 Other window managers......Page 161 16.10 Graphical login with xdm......Page 162 17.1.2 Installing the Linux libraries......Page 164 17.1.3 Installing Acrobat Reader......Page 165 17.2 Directory structure......Page 166 18.2 BIOS settings......Page 167 18.4 Configuring the kernel audio devices......Page 168 18.5.1 audioctl(1)......Page 169 18.5.4 audiorecord(1)......Page 170 19.1 Fetching system and userland source......Page 171 19.2 Fetching pkgsrc......Page 173 20.1 Install physical media......Page 175 20.3 Disklabel each volume member of the CCD......Page 176 20.5 Initialize the CCD device......Page 178 20.6 Create a 4.4BSD/UFS filesystem on the new CCD device......Page 179 20.7 Mount the filesystem......Page 180 21.1 Configuring kernel support......Page 181 21.2 Setting up a cgd device......Page 182 21.3 Swap encryption......Page 183 22.1 The rc.d Configuration......Page 184 22.2 The rc.d Scripts......Page 185 22.4 Additional Reading......Page 186 23.1 Introduction......Page 187 23.3 Setting up the second disk......Page 188 23.4 Configuring the RAID device......Page 189 23.5 Setting up filesystems......Page 190 23.6 Setting up kernel dumps......Page 191 23.7 Moving the existing files into the new filesystems......Page 193 23.9 Adding the first disk......Page 194 24.3 Protocols......Page 196 24.6 Inetd......Page 197 24.8 When to use or not to use inetd......Page 199 24.9.2 Misc. Links......Page 200 25.2 Creating a CDROM......Page 201 25.2.1 Creating the ISO image......Page 202 25.2.3 Copying a CD......Page 203 25.3 Synchronizing the system clock......Page 204 25.6 Speaker......Page 206 25.8 Adding a new hard disk......Page 207 25.9 Password file is busy?......Page 209 25.10 How to rebuild the devices in /dev......Page 210 A.1 Guide history......Page 211 B.1 Translating the guide......Page 212 B.1.2 Writing SGML/DocBook......Page 213 B.3 SGML/DocBook template......Page 214 C.1 What is XML/DocBook......Page 217 C.2 Jade......Page 218 C.4 The DSSSL stylesheets......Page 219 C.5 Using the tools......Page 220 C.7.1 Installing TeX......Page 221 C.7.3 Creating the hugelatex format......Page 222 C.8 Links......Page 224 D.2 Current acknowledgements......Page 226