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RELEASE(7) Miscellaneous Information Manual 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 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
gzimg/ compressed system images
<machine>.tar.gz
The primary system image
on those platforms that
provide them. These
images may not be
bootable.
<machine>-<board>.tar.gz
A bootable system image
for a particular board,
on platforms that provide
them.
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.
rescue.tgz This set contains the
rescue(8) utilities.
tests.tgz This set includes the
tests(7) for atf(7), the
automated test framework
used by NetBSD.
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.
NetBSD 10.99 July 13, 2020 NetBSD 10.99