xref: /src/distrib/notes/i386/contents

The i386-specific portion of the NetBSD 1.2 release is found in the
"i386" subdirectory of the distribution.  That subdirectory is laid
out as follows:

.../NetBSD-1.2/i386/
			INSTALL		Installation notes; this file.

			binary/		i386 binary distribution sets;
					see below.

			floppies/	i386 boot and installation
					floppies; see below.

			security/	i386 security distribution;
					see below;

			utils/		Miscellaneous i386
					installation utilities; see
					installation section, below.

There are four i386 floppy images to be found in the "i386/floppy"
subdirectory of the NetBSD 1.2 distribution. All are bootable.  Two of
them are installation floppies, two are upgrade floppies.  They are
all described in more detail below.  There are gzipped versions of
each available, for easier downloading.  (The gzipped versions have
the ".gz" extension added to their names.)

Bootable installation floppies:

	These disks are bootable, and contain the software necessary
	to prepare your hard drive for NetBSD and install the NetBSD
	distribution.

        Unlike previous NetBSD releases, there is no seperate "kernel
        copy" floppy. Instead, the install floppy contains only a
        special compressed kernel with a built in ramdisk image of the
        installation file system.

        Because the kernel on the installation disks is not suitable
        for use beyond initial installation and configuration, a
        "generic" kernel has been placed in a distribution set named
        "kern12D". This kernel is intended to run your system while
        you build a custom kernel. It is strongly encouraged that you
        build a custom kernel for your installation rather than use
        the prebuilt generic kernel on a long term basis.

        Please note that because of space considerations the kernels
        booted from the installation floppies do not contain drivers
        that are not needed during installation -- in particular, no
        drivers needed to run the X Window System are available in
        these kernels.

        The "inst12D.fs" floppy is the installation floppy that should
        be used by most users. The "insts12D.fs" "small install"
        floppy contains a "small" installation kernel lacking some
        space intensive and lesser used drivers, especially the driver
        for the Western Digital WD7000 SCSI controller. The "small
        install" floppies are suitable for use on machines with four
        megabytes of memory, which will not boot the "inst12D.fs"
        floppy. If you have more than four megabytes of memory, you
        will probably be better off with the "inst12D.fs" floppy.

Bootable upgrade floppies:

        These disks contains the software to be used in upgrading the
        system from a previous version of NetBSD.  They are bootable,
        and are otherwise nearly identical in description to the
        installation floppies described above.


The NetBSD/i386 binary distribution sets contain the binaries which
comprise the NetBSD 1.2 release for the i386.  There are eight binary
distribution sets and the "security" distribution set.  The binary
distribution sets can be found in subdirectories of the "i386/binary"
subdirectory of the NetBSD 1.2 distribution tree, and are as follows:


	base12	The NetBSD/i386 1.2 base binary distribution.  You
		MUST install this distribution set.  It contains the
		base NetBSD utilities that are necessary for the
		system to run and be minimally functional.  It
		includes shared library support, and excludes
		everything described below.
		[ 7.5M gzipped, 19.5M uncompressed ]

	comp12	The NetBSD/i386 Compiler tools.  All of the tools
		relating to C, C++, and FORTRAN (yes, there are two!).
		This set includes the system include files
		(/usr/include), the linker, the compiler tool chain,
		and the various system libraries (except the shared
		libraries, which are included as part of the base
		set).  This set also includes the manual pages for all
		of the utilities it contains, as well as the system
		call and library manual pages.
		[ 4.9M gzipped, 15.0M uncompressed ]

	etc12	This distribution set contains the system
		configuration files that reside in /etc and in several
		other places.  This set MUST be installed if you are
		installing the system from scratch, but should NOT be
		used if you are upgrading.  (If you are upgrading,
		it's recommended that you get a copy of this set and
		CAREFULLY upgrade your configuration files by hand.)
		[ 63K gzipped, 338K uncompressed ]

	games12	This set includes the games and their manual pages.
		[ 2.8M gzipped, 6.9M uncompressed ]

	kern12D	This set contains a NetBSD/i386 1.2D GENERIC kernel,
		named "/netbsd". You MUST install this distribution
		set.
		[ .8M gzipped, 1.7M uncompressed ]

	man12	This set includes all of the manual pages for the
		binaries and other software contained in the base set.
		Note that it does not include any of the manual pages
		that are included in the other sets.
		[ 0.8M gzipped, 3.4M uncompressed ]

	misc12	This set includes the system dictionaries (which are
		rather large), the typesettable document set, and
		man pages for other architectures which happen to be
		installed from the source tree by default.
		[ 1.9M gzipped, 6.6M uncompressed ]

	text12	This set includes NetBSD's text processing tools,
		including groff, all related programs, and their
		manual pages.
		[ 0.8M gzipped, 2.9M uncompressed ]


IMPORTANT: In previous versions of NetBSD, the kernel from the install
floppy was copied onto the hard drive in a special step. In the new
install system, the kernel on the floppy is unsuited to being copied
onto the hard drive. Instead, a new set, "kern", has been added which
contains a generic kernel to be unloaded onto the drive. It must be
extracted in order to have a minimally functioning system.

The i386 security distribution set is named "secr12" and can be found
in the "i386/security" subdirectory of the NetBSD 1.2 distribution
tree.  It contains crypt.c (the source file for the DES encryption
algorithm) and the binaries which depend on it, as well as the "bdes"
DES encryption program.  You do not need this distribution set to use
encrypted passwords in your password file; the "base12" distribution
includes a crypt library which can perform only the decryption function.
The security distribution also includes a version of the Kerberos IV
network security system, and a Kerberized version of the "telnet" program.
The "secr12" distribution set can be found only on those sites which
carry the complete NetBSD distribution and which can legally obtain it.
(Remember, because of United States law, this distribution set may not be
exported to locations outside of the United States and Canada.)
	[ 154K gzipped, 358K uncompressed ]

The i386 binary distribution sets are distributed in the same form as
the source distribution sets; catted together, the members of a set
form a gzipped tar file.  Each i386 binary distribution set also has
its own "CKSUMS" file, just as the source distribution sets do.

The instructions given for extracting the source sets work equally
well for the binary sets, but it is worth noting that if you use that
method, the files are extracted "below" the current directory.  That
is, if you want to extract the binaries "into" your system, i.e.
replace the system binaries with them, you have to run the "tar xfp"
from /.  Also note that if you upgrade or install this way, those
programs that you are using at the time will NOT be replaced.  If you
follow the normal installation or upgrade procedures, this will be
taken care of for you.