10.1. | Where are the system start-up configuration files? | ||||||||
The primary configuration file is
For example, if to start named(8), the included DNS server:
To start up local services, place shell scripts in the
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10.2. | How do I add a user easily? | ||||||||
Use the adduser(8) command, or the pw(8) command for more complicated situations. To remove the user, use the rmuser(8) command or, if necessary, pw(8). | |||||||||
10.3. | Why do I keep getting messages like root:
not found after editing
| ||||||||
This is normally caused by editing the system crontab. This is not the correct way to do things as the system crontab has a different format to the per-user crontabs. The system crontab has an extra field, specifying which user to run the command as. cron(8) assumes this user is the first word of the command to execute. Since no such command exists, this error message is displayed. To delete the extra, incorrect crontab:
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10.4. | Why do I get the error, you are not in the
correct group to su root when I try to
| ||||||||
This is a security feature. In order to
To allow someone to
The above example will add user | |||||||||
10.5. | I made a mistake in | ||||||||
Restart the system using In order to use a full screen editor such as
vi(1) or emacs(1), run
After performing these steps, edit
| |||||||||
10.6. | Why am I having trouble setting up my printer? | ||||||||
See the Handbook entry on printing for troubleshooting tips. | |||||||||
10.7. | How can I correct the keyboard mappings for my system? | ||||||||
Refer to the Handbook section on using localization, specifically the section on console setup. | |||||||||
10.8. | Why can I not get user quotas to work properly? | ||||||||
| |||||||||
10.9. | Does FreeBSD support System V IPC primitives? | ||||||||
Yes, FreeBSD supports System V-style IPC, including
shared memory, messages and semaphores, in the
options SYSVSHM # enable shared memory options SYSVSEM # enable for semaphores options SYSVMSG # enable for messaging Recompile and install the kernel. | |||||||||
10.10. | What other mail-server software can I use instead of Sendmail? | ||||||||
The Sendmail server is the default mail-server software for FreeBSD, but it can be replaced with another MTA installed from the Ports Collection. Available ports include mail/exim, mail/postfix, and mail/qmail. Search the mailing lists for discussions regarding the advantages and disadvantages of the available MTAs. | |||||||||
10.11. | I have forgotten the | ||||||||
Do not panic! Restart the system, type
Note:If you are still prompted to give the Note:If the root partition cannot be mounted from single-user mode, it is possible that the partitions are encrypted and it is impossible to mount them without the access keys. For more information see the section about encrypted disks in the FreeBSD Handbook. | |||||||||
10.12. | How do I keep Control+Alt+Delete from rebooting the system? | ||||||||
When using vt(4), the default console driver, this can be done by setting the following sysctl(8):
| |||||||||
10.13. | How do I reformat DOS text files to UNIX® ones? | ||||||||
Use this perl(1) command:
where Alternatively, use tr(1):
Yet another way to reformat DOS text files is to use the converters/dosunix port from the Ports Collection. Consult its documentation about the details. | |||||||||
10.14. | How do I re-read | ||||||||
Go into single-user mode and then back to multi-user mode:
| |||||||||
10.15. | I tried to update my system to the latest
-STABLE, but got
-BETA | ||||||||
Short answer: it is just a name. RC stands for “Release Candidate”. It signifies that a release is imminent. In FreeBSD, -PRERELEASE is typically synonymous with the code freeze before a release. (For some releases, the -BETA label was used in the same way as -PRERELEASE.) Long answer: FreeBSD derives its releases from one of two places. Major, dot-zero, releases, such as 9.0-RELEASE are branched from the head of the development stream, commonly referred to as -CURRENT. Minor releases, such as 6.3-RELEASE or 5.2-RELEASE, have been snapshots of the active -STABLE branch. Starting with 4.3-RELEASE, each release also now has its own branch which can be tracked by people requiring an extremely conservative rate of development (typically only security advisories). When a release is about to be made, the branch from which it will be derived from has to undergo a certain process. Part of this process is a code freeze. When a code freeze is initiated, the name of the branch is changed to reflect that it is about to become a release. For example, if the branch used to be called 6.2-STABLE, its name will be changed to 6.3-PRERELEASE to signify the code freeze and signify that extra pre-release testing should be happening. Bug fixes can still be committed to be part of the release. When the source code is in shape for the release the name will be changed to 6.3-RC to signify that a release is about to be made from it. Once in the RC stage, only the most critical bugs found can be fixed. Once the release (6.3-RELEASE in this example) and release branch have been made, the branch will be renamed to 6.3-STABLE. For more information on version numbers and the various Subversion branches, refer to the Release Engineering article. | |||||||||
10.16. | I tried to install a new kernel, and the chflags(1) failed. How do I get around this? | ||||||||
Short answer: the security level is greater than 0. Reboot directly to single-user mode to install the kernel. Long answer: FreeBSD disallows changing system flags at security levels greater than 0. To check the current security level:
The security level cannot be lowered in multi-user
mode, so boot to single-user mode to install the kernel,
or change the security level in
| |||||||||
10.17. | I cannot change the time on my system by more than one second! How do I get around this? | ||||||||
Short answer: the system is at a security level greater than 1. Reboot directly to single-user mode to change the date. Long answer: FreeBSD disallows changing the time by more that one second at security levels greater than 1. To check the security level:
The security level cannot be lowered in multi-user
mode. Either boot to single-user mode to change the date
or change the security level in
| |||||||||
10.18. | Why is | ||||||||
No, there is no memory leak, and it is not using
256 MB of memory. For convenience,
rpc.statd(8) maps its status file (resident on
| |||||||||
10.19. | Why can I not unset the | ||||||||
The system is running at securelevel greater than 0. Lower the securelevel and try again. For more information, see the FAQ entry on securelevel and the init(8) manual page. | |||||||||
10.20. | What is | ||||||||
| |||||||||
10.21. | What do the various memory states displayed by
| ||||||||
Pages are most often written to disk (sort of a VM sync) when they are in the laundry state, but active or inactive pages can also be synced. This depends upon the CPU tracking of the modified bit being available, and in certain situations there can be an advantage for a block of VM pages to be synced, regardless of the queue they belong to. In most common cases, it is best to think of the laundry queue as a queue of relatively unused pages that might or might not be in the process of being written to disk. The inactive queue contains a mix of clean and dirty pages; clean pages near the head of the queue are reclaimed immediately to alleviate a free page shortage, and dirty pages are moved to the laundry queue for deferred processing. There are some other flags (e.g., busy flag or busy count) that might modify some of the described rules. | |||||||||
10.22. | How much free memory is available? | ||||||||
There are a couple of kinds of “free
memory”. The most common is the amount of memory
immediately available without reclaiming memory already
in use. That is the size of the free pages queue plus
some other reserved pages. This amount is exported by the
| |||||||||
10.23. | What is | ||||||||
| |||||||||
10.24. | I just changed
| ||||||||
To see what newsyslog(8) will do, use the following:
| |||||||||
10.25. | My time is wrong, how can I change the timezone? | ||||||||
Use tzsetup(8). |
All FreeBSD documents are available for download at https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/doc/
Questions that are not answered by the
documentation may be
sent to <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org>.
Send questions about this document to <freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.org>.