contents revision 1.3
1	$NetBSD: contents,v 1.3 1998/01/09 18:45:32 perry Exp $	
2
3The alpha-specific portion of the NetBSD _VER release is found in the
4"alpha" subdirectory of the distribution.  That subdirectory is laid
5out as follows:
6
7.../NetBSD-_VER/alpha/
8        INSTALL                 Installation notes; this file.
9
10        binary/
11                sets/           alpha binary distribution sets;
12                                see below.
13
14                security/       alpha security distribution;
15                                see below.
16
17                kernel/         alpha kernels; see below.
18
19                toolchain/      alpha toolchain; see below.
20
21        installation/
22
23                floppy/         alpha boot and installation
24                                floppies; see below.
25
26        source/
27
28                toolchain/      Toolchain source code; see below.
29
30Bootable installation/upgrade floppies:
31
32        There is a bootable floppy disk image available which contains
33        the software necessary to prepare your hard drive for NetBSD
34        and install the NetBSD distribution, or to upgrading an already
35        installed system from a previous version of NetBSD.
36
37        Because the kernel on the installation disks is not suitable
38        for use beyond initial installation and configuration, a
39        "generic" kernel has been placed in a distribution set named
40        "kern". This kernel is intended to run your system while you
41        build a custom kernel. It is strongly encouraged that you
42        build a custom kernel for your installation rather than use
43        the prebuilt generic kernel on a long term basis.
44
45        Please note that the INSTALL kernel (which is booted from
46        the install floppy or the network) is not usable for anything
47        other than installing; it will always use as root an internal
48        ramdisk with the install tools. Also, currently the INSTALL
49        image only supports systems that are likely to have a floppy
50        drive (the NoName, EB64+, EB164, AS500/600; the DECStation
51        3000 systems and the 8200/8400 are not supported by this
52        floppy). If booting the INSTALL kernel from the network
53        proves popular, we will generate another network version
54        of the INSTALL kernel that supports more systems.
55
56The alpha toolchain:
57
58        The toolchain (compiler, assembler, linker, etc.) for the
59        alpha port is not yet integrated into the main NetBSD source
60        tree, so the binaries for it are still distributed separately.
61        A tar file with the toolchain can be found under
62        binaries/toolchain, and the source can be found under
63        source/toolchain. 
64
65        The toolchain installs under usr/local; to install it,
66        just cd to the root directory and type
67
68            tar -x -z --unlink -f /path/to/toolchain.tar.gz
69
70        Note that the "official" toolchain we use with 1.3 is actually
71        the snapshot build of it from 97.11.05; this is based on the
72        sources tagged WORKING-alpha in the NetBSD source tree.
73
74The NetBSD/alpha binary distribution sets contain the binaries which
75comprise the NetBSD _VER release for the alpha.  There are eight binary
76distribution sets and the "security" distribution set.  The binary
77distribution sets can be found in the "alpha/binary/sets" subdirectory
78of the NetBSD _VER distribution tree, and are as follows:
79
80
81        base    The NetBSD/alpha _VER base binary distribution.  You
82                MUST install this distribution set.  It contains the
83                base NetBSD utilities that are necessary for the
84                system to run and be minimally functional.  It
85                includes shared library support, and excludes
86                everything described below.
87                [ 13M gzipped, 41M uncompressed ]
88
89        comp    Things needed for compiling programs, other than the
90                actual compiler programs themselves. (These are in
91                the toolchain snapshot file described above.) This
92                set includes the system include files (/usr/include)
93                and the various system libraries (except the shared
94                libraries, which are included as part of the base
95                set).  This set also includes the manual pages for
96                all of the utilities it contains, as well as the system
97                call and library manual pages.
98                [ 6M gzipped, 31M uncompressed ]
99
100        etc     This distribution set contains the system
101                configuration files that reside in /etc and in several
102                other places.  This set MUST be installed if you are
103                installing the system from scratch, but should NOT be
104                used if you are upgrading.  (If you are upgrading,
105                it's recommended that you get a copy of this set and
106                CAREFULLY upgrade your configuration files by hand.)
107                [ 50K gzipped, 320K uncompressed ]
108
109        games   This set includes the games and their manual pages.
110                [ 3M gzipped, 8M uncompressed ]
111
112        kern    This set contains a NetBSD/alpha _VER GENERIC kernel,
113                named "/netbsd". You MUST install this distribution
114                set.
115                [ 1M gzipped, 2M uncompressed ]
116
117        man     This set includes all of the manual pages for the
118                binaries and other software contained in the base set.
119                Note that it does not include any of the manual pages
120                that are included in the other sets.
121                [ 2.5M gzipped, 10M uncompressed ]
122
123        misc    This set includes the system dictionaries (which are
124                rather large), the typesettable document set, and
125                man pages for other architectures which happen to be
126                installed from the source tree by default.
127                [ 2M gzipped, 9M uncompressed ]
128
129        text    This set includes NetBSD's text processing tools,
130                including groff, all related programs, and their
131                manual pages.
132                [ 1M gzipped, 4M uncompressed ]
133
134
135The alpha security distribution set is named "secr" and can be
136found in the "alpha/binary/security" subdirectory of the NetBSD
137_VER distribution tree.  It contains security related binaries
138which depend on cryptographic source code. You do not need this
139distribution set to use encrypted passwords in your password file;
140the "base" distribution includes a crypt library which can perform
141only the one-way encryption function.  The security distribution
142includes a version of the Kerberos IV network security system, and
143a Kerberized version of the "telnet" program.  The "secr" distribution
144set can be found only on those sites which carry the complete NetBSD
145distribution and which can legally obtain it.  (Remember, because
146of United States law, it may not be legal to distribute this set
147to locations outside of the United States and Canada.)
148        [ 1M gzipped, 3M uncompressed ]
149
150The instructions given for extracting the source sets work equally
151well for the binary sets, but it is worth noting that if you use that
152method, the files are extracted "below" the current directory.  That
153is, if you want to extract the binaries "into" your system, i.e.
154replace the system binaries with them, you have to run the "tar xfp"
155from /.  Also note that if you upgrade or install this way, those
156programs that you are using at the time will NOT be replaced unless
157you run "tar" with the "--unlink" option.  If you follow the normal
158installation or upgrade procedures, this will be taken care of for
159you.
160