contents revision 1.2 
1The alpha-specific portion of the NetBSD _VER release is found in the
2"alpha" subdirectory of the distribution.  That subdirectory is laid
3out as follows:
4
5.../NetBSD-_VER/alpha/
6        INSTALL                 Installation notes; this file.
7
8        binary/
9                sets/           alpha binary distribution sets;
10                                see below.
11
12                security/       alpha security distribution;
13                                see below.
14
15                kernel/         alpha kernels; see below.
16
17                toolchain/      alpha toolchain; see below.
18
19        installation/
20
21                floppy/         alpha boot and installation
22                                floppies; see below.
23
24        source/
25
26                toolchain/      Toolchain source code; see below.
27
28Bootable installation/upgrade floppies:
29
30        There is a bootable floppy disk image available which contains
31        the software necessary to prepare your hard drive for NetBSD
32        and install the NetBSD distribution, or to upgrading an already
33        installed system from a previous version of NetBSD.
34
35        Because the kernel on the installation disks is not suitable
36        for use beyond initial installation and configuration, a
37        "generic" kernel has been placed in a distribution set named
38        "kern". This kernel is intended to run your system while you
39        build a custom kernel. It is strongly encouraged that you
40        build a custom kernel for your installation rather than use
41        the prebuilt generic kernel on a long term basis.
42
43        Please note that the INSTALL kernel (which is booted from
44        the install floppy or the network) is not usable for anything
45        other than installing; it will always use as root an internal
46        ramdisk with the install tools. Also, currently the INSTALL
47        image only supports systems that are likely to have a floppy
48        drive (the NoName, EB64+, EB164, AS500/600; the DECStation
49        3000 systems and the 8200/8400 are not supported by this
50        floppy). If booting the INSTALL kernel from the network
51        proves popular, we will generate another network version
52        of the INSTALL kernel that supports more systems.
53
54The alpha toolchain:
55
56        The toolchain (compiler, assembler, linker, etc.) for the
57        alpha port is not yet integrated into the main NetBSD source
58        tree, so the binaries for it are still distributed separately.
59        A tar file with the toolchain can be found under
60        binaries/toolchain, and the source can be found under
61        source/toolchain. 
62
63        The toolchain installs under usr/local; to install it,
64        just cd to the root directory and type
65
66            tar -x -z --unlink -f /path/to/toolchain.tar.gz
67
68        Note that the "official" toolchain we use with 1.3 is actually
69        the snapshot build of it from 97.11.05; this is based on the
70        sources tagged WORKING-alpha in the NetBSD source tree.
71
72The NetBSD/alpha binary distribution sets contain the binaries which
73comprise the NetBSD _VER release for the alpha.  There are eight binary
74distribution sets and the "security" distribution set.  The binary
75distribution sets can be found in the "alpha/binary/sets" subdirectory
76of the NetBSD _VER distribution tree, and are as follows:
77
78
79        base    The NetBSD/alpha _VER base binary distribution.  You
80                MUST install this distribution set.  It contains the
81                base NetBSD utilities that are necessary for the
82                system to run and be minimally functional.  It
83                includes shared library support, and excludes
84                everything described below.
85                [ 13M gzipped, 41M uncompressed ]
86
87        comp    Things needed for compiling programs, other than the
88                actual compiler programs themselves. (These are in
89                the toolchain snapshot file described above.) This
90                set includes the system include files (/usr/include)
91                and the various system libraries (except the shared
92                libraries, which are included as part of the base
93                set).  This set also includes the manual pages for
94                all of the utilities it contains, as well as the system
95                call and library manual pages.
96                [ 6M gzipped, 31M uncompressed ]
97
98        etc     This distribution set contains the system
99                configuration files that reside in /etc and in several
100                other places.  This set MUST be installed if you are
101                installing the system from scratch, but should NOT be
102                used if you are upgrading.  (If you are upgrading,
103                it's recommended that you get a copy of this set and
104                CAREFULLY upgrade your configuration files by hand.)
105                [ 50K gzipped, 320K uncompressed ]
106
107        games   This set includes the games and their manual pages.
108                [ 3M gzipped, 8M uncompressed ]
109
110        kern    This set contains a NetBSD/alpha _VER GENERIC kernel,
111                named "/netbsd". You MUST install this distribution
112                set.
113                [ 1M gzipped, 2M uncompressed ]
114
115        man     This set includes all of the manual pages for the
116                binaries and other software contained in the base set.
117                Note that it does not include any of the manual pages
118                that are included in the other sets.
119                [ 2.5M gzipped, 10M uncompressed ]
120
121        misc    This set includes the system dictionaries (which are
122                rather large), the typesettable document set, and
123                man pages for other architectures which happen to be
124                installed from the source tree by default.
125                [ 2M gzipped, 9M uncompressed ]
126
127        text    This set includes NetBSD's text processing tools,
128                including groff, all related programs, and their
129                manual pages.
130                [ 1M gzipped, 4M uncompressed ]
131
132
133The alpha security distribution set is named "secr" and can be
134found in the "alpha/binary/security" subdirectory of the NetBSD
135_VER distribution tree.  It contains security related binaries
136which depend on cryptographic source code. You do not need this
137distribution set to use encrypted passwords in your password file;
138the "base" distribution includes a crypt library which can perform
139only the one-way encryption function.  The security distribution
140includes a version of the Kerberos IV network security system, and
141a Kerberized version of the "telnet" program.  The "secr" distribution
142set can be found only on those sites which carry the complete NetBSD
143distribution and which can legally obtain it.  (Remember, because
144of United States law, it may not be legal to distribute this set
145to locations outside of the United States and Canada.)
146        [ 1M gzipped, 3M uncompressed ]
147
148The instructions given for extracting the source sets work equally
149well for the binary sets, but it is worth noting that if you use that
150method, the files are extracted "below" the current directory.  That
151is, if you want to extract the binaries "into" your system, i.e.
152replace the system binaries with them, you have to run the "tar xfp"
153from /.  Also note that if you upgrade or install this way, those
154programs that you are using at the time will NOT be replaced unless
155you run "tar" with the "--unlink" option.  If you follow the normal
156installation or upgrade procedures, this will be taken care of for
157you.
158