RELEASE(7)

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 target release.

All README files are descriptions of the various files in directories that have “non-standard” contents.

All BSDSUM files are historic BSD checksums for the various files in that directory, in the format produced by the command: cksum -o 1 <file>.

All CKSUM files are POSIX checksums for the various files in that directory, in the format produced by the command: cksum <file>.

All MD5 files are MD5 digests for the various files in that directory, in the format produced by the command: cksum -m <file>.

All SYSVSUM files are historic AT&T System V UNIX checksums for the various files in that directory, in the format produced by the command: cksum -o 2 <file>.

The MD5 digest is the safest checksum, followed by the POSIX checksum. The other two checksums are provided only to ensure that the widest possible range of system 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 accomodate 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 “/”.

All compression of release files is to be performed with the command: gzip -9.

The root of the release hierarchy is .../NetBSD- <rel> / <machine> /. For files which may be shared by all systems of the same <machine_arch>, (e.g. the games and xbase sets for m68k-based platforms), this hierarchy will have a second root of .../NetBSD- <rel> / <machine_arch> / which will contain those files. For files which are completely machine-independent (e.g. the xfont set), this hierarchy will have a third root of .../NetBSD-<rel>/mi/ which will contain those files. Unless otherwise noted, all files may be symbolic links to common <machine_arch> or machine-independent files located in their respective directory hierarchies.

SOURCE_DATE
    a file containing the date, in UTC, of the source code from which the release or snapshot was built, in the default format produced by the command: date -u

INSTALL
    Installation notes, including complete descriptions of files contained within the release hierarchy

binary/
    system binaries

    sets/
        installation sets

        BSDSUM

        CKSUM

        MD5

        SYSVSUM

        Split/
            installation sets split with the split(1) command. Note: split installation sets may not be available for all platforms.

            BSDSUM

            CKSUM

            MD5

            SYSVSUM

            base.aa

            base.ab

            ...

        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. It includes shared libraries for those architectures that support support them. 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.tgz
            This set includes a generic kernel.

        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 the system dictionaries (which are rather large), the typesettable document set, and manual pages for other architectures, which happen to be installed from the source tree by default.

        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 shared libraries for those architectures that support them, and excluding everything contained in the other X11 sets.

        xcomp.tgz
            This set includes the X11 include files and static X11 libraries.

        xcontrib.tgz
            This set includes binaries and manual pages for programs built from the X11 “contrib” sources.

        xfont.tgz
            This set includes the X11 fonts.

        xserver.tgz
            This set includes the X servers and manual pages for <machine>. Note: this set may not be available on some platforms.

    kernel/
        suitably named, gzipped kernels

        BSDSUM

        CKSUM

        MD5

        README

        SYSVSUM

        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.

    security/
        security-related system binaries

        BSDSUM

        CKSUM

        MD5

        SYSVSUM

        Split/

            BSDSUM

            CKSUM

            MD5

            SYSVSUM

            secr.aa

            secr.ab

            ...

        secr.tgz
            This set contains executables which are built from the “src/domestic” portion of the NetBSD source tree. It can only be found on those sites which carry the complete NetBSD distribution and can legally obtain it. (Remember, because of United States law, it may not be legal to distribute this set to locations outside the United States and Canada.)

installation/
    installation helper items

    diskimage/
        disk images, for those platforms that provide them

        BSDSUM

        CKSUM

        MD5

        README

        SYSVSUM

        diskimage-rz25.gz

    floppy/
        floppy images, for those platforms that provide them

        BSDSUM

        CKSUM

        MD5

        README

        SYSVSUM

        floppy-144.gz

    miniroot/
        miniroot images, for those platforms that provide them

        BSDSUM

        CKSUM

        MD5

        README

        SYSVSUM

        miniroot.gz

    misc/
        miscellaneous installation helper utilities, including boot selectors, floppy writing software, other software that runs under foreign operating systems, etc.

        BSDSUM

        CKSUM

        MD5

        README

        SYSVSUM

        ...

    netboot/
        network boot programs

        BSDSUM

        CKSUM

        MD5

        README

        SYSVSUM

        netboot.gz

    tapeimage/
        tape images, for those platforms that provide them

        BSDSUM

        CKSUM

        MD5

        README

        SYSVSUM

        tapeimage-hp9144.gz

SEE ALSO
cksum(1), date(1), gzip(1), split(1), tar(1)

HISTORY
The release manual page first appeared in NetBSD 1.3.