NAME
release —
layout of NetBSD releases and
snapshots
DESCRIPTION
This document describes the layout of
NetBSD releases
and snapshots. This layout should be consistent between FTP servers and
CD-ROMs, except possibly the path that leads to the release hierarchy.
In this document, the following special words have these definitions:
-
-
- ⟨machine⟩
- The platform for which the release was built, corresponding
to the hw.machine sysctl variable, e.g.,
i386 or amiga.
-
-
- ⟨machine_arch⟩
- The architecture for which a particular installation set
was built, corresponding to the hw.machine_arch sysctl
variable, e.g., i386 or m68k.
-
-
- ⟨rel⟩
- The release version number.
All
README files are descriptions of the various files in
directories that have “non-standard” contents. There may also be a
README file at the top-level, describing who built the
snapshot and under what circumstances (e.g., whether it's an official
NetBSD snapshot, or not).
All
MD5 files are MD5 digests for the various files in that
directory, in the format produced by the command:
cksum -a
MD5 ⟨
file⟩.
All
SHA512 files are SHA512 digests for the various files in
that directory, in the format produced by the command:
cksum -a
SHA512 ⟨
file⟩.
The SHA512 digest is safer, but MD5 checksums are provided so that a wider range
of operating systems can check the integrity of the release files.
Files that end in
.tgz are gzipped tar archives. This is used
in lieu of
.tar.gz because the software used to download the
sets may incorrectly auto-unpack files ending in
.gz and to
accommodate systems which only support 3 character extensions to file names.
All tar archives are relative to the target's
/ directory, and
do not include the leading “/”.
The root of the release hierarchy may be the root directory of a CD-ROM, but in
all other cases it should be
.../NetBSD-⟨
rel⟩
/.
The root of the release hierarchy should contain the following files and
subdirectories:
-
-
- images/
- Image files intended for use in installing
NetBSD. There are different types of images for
different platforms, and sometimes multiple different image types for a
single platform.
Images in this directory, unlike images in the
.../NetBSD-⟨rel⟩/⟨machine⟩/installation/*/
directories, contain file systems that have an internal layout that
corresponds to a complete release for a given machine type. If built with
“iso-image-source”, then it will also contain a
“source” directory. These images are usually bootable.
-
-
- MD5
-
- SHA512
-
- NetBSD-⟨rel⟩-⟨machine⟩.iso
- CD-ROM images in ISO 9660 format, usually created with
“./build.sh ... iso-image ...” after a “./build.sh
-x ... release ...” in src or created with
“./build.sh ... iso-image-source ...” after a
“./build.sh -x ... release sourcesets ...” in
src.
-
-
- NetBSD-⟨rel⟩-⟨machine⟩-install.img.gz
- Bootable installation images intended to be written to
any drive which appears as an
sd(4) type, such as USB
flash disks. These images are created with “./build.sh ...
install-image” in src.
-
-
- shared/
- Files shared by two or more machine types.
-
-
- ⟨machine_arch⟩/
- Files which may be shared by all systems of the same
⟨machine_arch⟩ will be located in
.../NetBSD-⟨rel⟩/shared/⟨machine_arch⟩/
with symbolic links pointing to these files from the
⟨machine⟩ subdirectory.
-
-
- ALL/
- Files which are completely machine-independent will be
located in
.../NetBSD-⟨rel⟩/shared/ALL/
with symbolic links pointing to these files from the
⟨machine⟩ subdirectory.
-
-
- source/
- Source code of the operating system should be put into
.../NetBSD-⟨rel⟩/source/
using the following layout:
-
-
- sets/
- Sources for the various system sets.
-
-
- MD5
-
- SHA512
-
- gnusrc.tgz
- Contains sources for all GPLed and possibly other
programs that contains restrictions in their licensing that
prevent others from using these programs in closed-source
environments.
-
-
- sharesrc.tgz
- Contains machine-independent data files that can be
shared across architectures/systems.
-
-
- src.tgz
- The operating system's userland source code,
including all programs, tools, libraries, etc.
-
-
- syssrc.tgz
- Kernel sources for all architectures plus sources
of the tools needed to build kernels (like
config(1)).
-
-
- xsrc.tgz
- Source code of the X Window System used on all
NetBSD architectures. Includes X clients
and servers.
-
-
- ⟨machine⟩/
- The binary releases in
.../NetBSD-⟨rel⟩/⟨machine⟩/
fit the following layout:
-
-
- INSTALL.txt
- Installation notes, including complete descriptions of
files contained within the release hierarchy
-
-
- INSTALL.more
- pretty version, suited for viewing with
more(1)
-
-
- INSTALL.html
- HTML version
-
-
- INSTALL.ps
- PostScript version
-
-
- binary/
- system binaries
-
-
- sets/
- installation sets
-
-
- MD5
-
- SHA512
-
- base.tgz
- The base binary distribution. This set contains
the base NetBSD utilities that are
necessary for the system to run and be minimally functional.
This set excludes all things listed in the sets described
below.
-
-
- comp.tgz
- The compiler tools distribution. This set
contains the C and C++ compilers, assembler, linker, other
toolchain components, and their manual pages. It also includes
the system include files (/usr/include) and
the static system libraries.
-
-
- etc.tgz
- This set contains the system configuration
files that reside in /etc and in several
other places throughout the file system hierarchy.
-
-
- games.tgz
- This set includes the games and their manual
pages.
-
-
- kern-GENERIC.tgz
- This set includes a kernel built from the
GENERIC kernel configuration file. This is
meant as an example only; different platforms may have
differently named kernels.
-
-
- man.tgz
- This set includes all of the manual pages for
the binaries and other software contained in the
base set which are not included in the other
sets.
-
-
- misc.tgz
- This set includes miscellaneous non-essential
files, including dictionaries, the typesettable document set,
and various other documentation and example configuration
files.
-
-
- modules.tgz
- This set includes all the kernel modules.
-
-
- text.tgz
- This set includes the
NetBSD text processing tools,
including
groff(1), all
related programs, and their manual pages.
-
-
- xbase.tgz
- This set includes the base X11 distribution,
including manual pages and excluding everything contained in
the other X11 sets.
-
-
- xetc.tgz
- This set includes X11 configuration files.
-
-
- xcomp.tgz
- This set includes the X11 include files and
static X11 libraries.
-
-
- xfont.tgz
- This set includes the X11 fonts.
-
-
- xserver.tgz
- This set includes the X servers and manual
pages for a given machine. Note: this set may
not be available on some platforms.
-
-
- kernel/
- suitably named, gzipped kernels
-
-
- MD5
-
- SHA512
-
- netbsd-GENERIC.gz
- A kernel built from the
GENERIC kernel configuration file. This is
meant as an example only; different platforms may have
differently named kernels.
-
-
- installation/
- installation helper items
-
-
- cdrom/
- CD-ROM images in ISO 9660 format, created as part
of “build.sh ... release ...” in
src.
Images in this directory are bootable, and contain one a kernel,
installation tools, and rescue tools. They do not contain
installation sets, source sets, or other components of a complete
release.
Note: These images are only present in the amd64 and
i386 distributions.
-
-
- MD5
-
- SHA512
-
- boot.iso
- VGA console
-
-
- boot-com.iso
- Serial console
-
-
- diskimage/
- disk images, on those platforms that provide them
-
-
- MD5
-
- SHA512
-
- diskimage.gz
-
-
-
- floppy/
- floppy images, on those platforms that provide them
-
-
- MD5
-
- SHA512
-
- boot1.fs
-
- boot2.fs
-
-
-
- instkernel/
- installation kernels for platforms that can boot
them directly
-
-
- MD5
-
- SHA512
-
- netbsd.gz
-
-
-
- miniroot/
- miniroot images, on those platforms that provide
them
-
-
- MD5
-
- SHA512
-
- miniroot.fs.gz
-
-
-
- misc/
- miscellaneous installation helper utilities,
including boot selectors, floppy writing software, other software
that runs under foreign operating systems, etc.
-
-
- MD5
-
- SHA512
-
- ...
-
-
-
- netboot/
- network boot programs
-
-
- MD5
-
- SHA512
-
- netboot.gz
-
-
-
- tapeimage/
- tape images, on those platforms that provide them
-
-
- MD5
-
- SHA512
-
- tapeboot
-
SEE ALSO
cksum(1),
dd(1),
gzip(1),
split(1),
tar(1)
HISTORY
The
release manual page first appeared in
NetBSD 1.3.