Chapter 23

[Jonah Sinowitz]

Dear Manolis,

Thanks for the quick response.

In the introductory course I took, we did *exactly *as you said: we
downloaded the release CD and then worked through  the equivalent of the
first few chapters of the Handbook. We then moved very very quickly to the
"Common Tasks" section of the Handbook, "Chapter 8", and configured the
kernel.
After this experience, my thought was -- *if *"Configuring the FreeBSD
Kernel" is a common task, so are many of those tasks listed in "The Cutting
Edge".

Does this make sense?

Best,
Jonah
On Thu, Jul 17, 2008 at 3:10 PM, Manolis Kiagias <sonic2000gr at gmail.com>
wrote:

>  Jonah Sinowitz wrote:
>
>> Dear freebsd-doc at freebsd.org,
>> I use and enjoy the Handbook a great deal.
>> I have a question about Chapter 23, "The Cutting Edge".
>> I'm wondering why the issues covered in that chapter are not covered
>> earlier
>> in the Handbook. I'm new to FreeBSD, but these seem like very basic and
>> useful , which should be learned at the very beginning of one's FreeBSD
>> journey.
>> Sincerely,
>> Jonah Sinowitz
>>
>>
>
>
> Glad you find the information useful!
> Chapter 23 refers to concepts that beginners usually will not grasp - and
> at that point they possibly don't care. Chapter 23 belongs to the
> "administration" part of the handbook.
> Most people start their FreeBSD journey by downloading a -RELEASE CD and
> then reading the first few chapters of the handbook, articles and tutorials
> and possibly other printed books.
>
> At this point, this kind of info may be confusing: What could the terms
> current, stable, source, kernel, buildworld, mergemaster mean for a
> beginner? Not much probably, as he is simply concentrated on getting the
> system up and running the way he wants it. Later on, after earning some
> experience, he can get to this chapter and decide for himself if he wishes
> to track current or stable and getting deeper knowledge on the FreeBSD
> development model as well.
>
> And you don't have to read a book from cover to cover, in  sequence. You
> can always jump around.  I do it all the time ;)
>