xref: /openbsd/distrib/notes/INSTALL (revision 73471bf0)
1dnl	$OpenBSD: INSTALL,v 1.55 2019/11/27 23:41:23 nayden Exp $
2include(INCLUDE/../m4.common)dnl
3includeit(features)dnl
4INSTALLATION NOTES for OpenBSD/MACHINE OSREV
5
6
7What is OpenBSD?
8----------------
9
10OpenBSD is a fully functional, multi-platform UN*X-like Operating
11System based on Berkeley Networking Release 2 (Net/2) and 4.4BSD-Lite.
12There are several operating systems in this family, but OpenBSD
13differentiates itself by putting security and correctness first.  The
14OpenBSD team strives to achieve what is called a "secure by default"
15status.  This means that an OpenBSD user should feel safe that their
16newly installed machine will not be compromised.  This "secure by
17default" goal is achieved by taking a proactive stance on security.
18
19Since security flaws are essentially mistakes in design or implement-
20ation, the OpenBSD team puts as much importance on finding and fixing
21existing design flaws and implementation bugs as it does writing new
22code.  This means that an OpenBSD system will not only be more secure,
23but it will be more stable.  The source code for all critical system
24components has been checked for remote-access, local-access, denial-
25of-service, data destruction, and information-gathering problems.
26
27In addition to bug fixing, OpenBSD has integrated strong cryptography
28into the base system.  A fully functional IPsec implementation is
29provided as well as support for common protocols such as SSL and SSH.
30Network filtering and monitoring tools such as packet filtering, NAT,
31and bridging are also standard, as well as several routing services,
32such as BGP and OSPF.  For high performance demands, support for
33hardware cryptography has also been added to the base system.  Because
34security is often seen as a tradeoff with usability, OpenBSD provides
35as many security options as possible to allow the user to enjoy secure
36computing without feeling burdened by it.
37
38Because OpenBSD is from Canada, the export of Cryptography pieces
39(such as OpenSSH and IPsec) to the world is not restricted.
40
41(NOTE: OpenBSD can not be re-exported from the US once it has entered
42the US.  Because of this, take care NOT to get the distribution from
43a mirror server in the US if you are outside of Canada and the US.)
44
45A list of software and ideas developed by the OpenBSD project is
46available on the web at https://www.OpenBSD.org/innovations.html.
47
48A comprehensive list of the improvements brought by the OSREV release
49is also available at https://www.OpenBSD.org/OSrev.html.
50dnl
51dnl MACHINE/whatis
52dnl A few descriptive words about the port to MACHINE (i.e. what kind
53dnl of hardware it runs on, without too much details - MACHINE/hardware
54dnl will take care of this).
55dnl Needs to start with a blank line if non empty.
56includeit(whatis)dnl
57
58
59Sources of OpenBSD:
60-------------------
61
62Please refer to https://www.openbsd.org/ftp.html for all the ways you may
63acquire OpenBSD.
64
65
66OpenBSD OSREV Release Contents:
67-----------------------------
68
69The OpenBSD OSREV release is organized in the following way.  In the
70.../OSREV directory, for each of the architectures having an OpenBSD OSREV
71binary distribution, there is a sub-directory.
72
73includeit(contents)
74
75
76OpenBSD System Requirements and Supported Devices:
77--------------------------------------------------
78
79includeit(hardware)
80
81
82Verifying the OpenBSD Installation Media:
83-----------------------------------------
84
85As of OpenBSD 5.5, installations are able to verify files for the next
86release.  The OpenBSD OSREV release was signed with the
87/etc/signify/openbsd-{:--:}OSrev-base.pub release key.
88
89If you have an existing OpenBSD 5.5 or higher installation, you can run
90signify(1) to verify the signature and checksum.  For example, run the following
91to verify that the cd{:--:}OSrev.iso file was distributed by the OpenBSD team:
92	signify -C -p /etc/signify/openbsd-{:--:}OSrev-base.pub -x SHA256.sig cd{:--:}OSrev.iso
93
94If you are unable to run or compile signify(1), use sha256(1) with the SHA256
95file to see if a file was corrupt during the transfer.
96
97
98Getting the OpenBSD System onto Useful Media:
99---------------------------------------------
100
101includeit(xfer)
102
103
104Preparing your System for OpenBSD Installation:
105-----------------------------------------------
106
107includeit(prep)
108
109
110Installing the OpenBSD System:
111------------------------------
112
113includeit(install)
114
115
116Upgrading a previously-installed OpenBSD System:
117------------------------------------------------
118
119includeit(upgrade)
120
121
122Getting source code for your OpenBSD System:
123--------------------------------------------
124
125Now that your OpenBSD system is up and running, you probably want to get
126access to source code so that you can recompile pieces of the system.
127
128You can get the pieces over the internet using anonymous CVS, rsync,
129FTP or HTTP(s). For more information, see:
130
131	https://www.OpenBSD.org/anoncvs.html
132	https://www.OpenBSD.org/ftp.html
133
134
135Using online OpenBSD documentation:
136-----------------------------------
137
138Documentation is available if you first install the manual pages
139distribution set.  Traditionally, the UN*X "man pages" (documentation)
140are denoted by "name(section)".  Some examples of this are
141
142	intro(1),
143	man(1),
144	apropos(1),
145	passwd(1),
146	passwd(5) and
147	afterboot(8).
148
149The section numbers group the topics into several categories, but three
150are of primary interest: user commands are in section 1, file formats
151are in section 5, and administrative information is in section 8.
152
153The "man" command is used to view the documentation on a topic, and is
154started by entering "man [section] topic".  The brackets [] around the
155section should not be entered, but rather indicate that the section is
156optional.  If you don't ask for a particular section, the topic with the
157least-numbered section name will be displayed.  For instance, after
158logging in, enter
159
160	man passwd
161
162to read the documentation for passwd(1).  To view the documentation for
163passwd(5), enter
164
165	man 5 passwd
166
167instead.
168
169If you are unsure of what man page you are looking for, enter
170
171	apropos subject-word
172
173where "subject-word" is your topic of interest; a list of possibly
174related man pages will be displayed.
175
176
177Adding third party software - packages and ports:
178--------------------------------------------------------
179
180includeit(packages)
181
182
183Administrivia:
184--------------
185
186There are various mailing lists available via the mailing list
187server at <majordomo@OpenBSD.org>.  To get help on using the mailing
188list server, send mail to that address with an empty body, and it will
189reply with instructions.
190
191More information about the various OpenBSD mailing list and proper
192netiquette is available at
193
194	https://www.OpenBSD.org/mail.html
195
196To report bugs, use the "sendbug" command shipped with OpenBSD,
197and fill in as much information about the problem as you can.  Good
198bug reports {:-include-:} lots of details.  Additionally, bug reports can
199be sent by mail to:
200
201	bugs@OpenBSD.org
202
203dnl uncomment when this is true again...
204dnl
205dnl Use of 'sendbug' is encouraged, however, because bugs reported with it
206dnl are entered into the OpenBSD bugs database, and thus can't slip through
207dnl the cracks.
208dnl
209As a favor, please avoid mailing huge documents or files to the
210mailing lists.  Instead, put the material you would have sent on
211a web server, then mail the appropriate list about it, or if
212you'd rather not do that, mail the list saying you'll send the data
213to those who want it.
214
215For more information about reporting bugs, see
216
217	https://www.OpenBSD.org/report.html
218