Subject: The BOGUS Linux Release, version 1.0
From: Rik Faith <[email-masked]>
Date: 24 Jul 1994 03:18:07 +0300
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce

The BOGUS Linux Release, version 1.0, is now available for ftp.  BOGUS is
an unsupported, ftp-able distribution targeted at competent Linux hackers
who want a stable development system.  If you do not have experience
developing, installing, and maintaining a Linux system, BOGUS is probably
not for you.

Features:

* BOGUS is a "bootstrapping" release: all of the patches needed to compile
  the complete system are provided, including explicit instructions on how
  we did the compilation.  Indeed, the final build was totally automatic,
  and required the user to invoke a single command.

* The BOGUS release contains Rik Faith's Package Management System (pms),
  which allows binaries to be automatically generated from a source file
  and a special "Notes" file.  The "Notes" file contains patches and
  specific instructions on how to perform the build.  As noted above, the
  complete BOGUS release was built using pms, so you can find out *exactly*
  how a binary was built and installed for the BOGUS release.

* The BOGUS release contains Kevin Martin's BOOT floppies, which contains
  all of the binaries and instructions necessary for an experienced Linux
  user to install BOGUS on her system.

* Every binary in the BOGUS release was first built by hand by a member of
  the BOGUS core team: Rik Faith, Doug Hoffman, and Kevin Martin.  Then,
  another member did the final re-compilation and checking.  None of our
  binaries are repackaged.  All of our distribution binaries were built
  (automatically) on a Pentium P5-90 system, running an alpha version of
  the BOGUS release.

* BOGUS was built on Linux 1.1.19, using gcc 2.5.8, libc 4.5.26, and
  XFree86 2.1.1.  A complete build, as described in the "Notes" files, can
  be done on a system with only 425 MB of free disk space.  At least 32 MB
  of RAM+swap space is needed (we used > 60 MB to be on the safe side).

* Complete documentation is contained in each package, including all man
  pages, info files, and README files that were in the original source
  distribution.

* The BOGUS tree contains *ALL* of the source code that was used to build
  the distribution binaries.  All of the source code is original and
  un-patched.  All of the patches that we used are included in the "Notes"
  files.

* As much as possible, BOGUS conforms to the Linux Filesystem Structure
  document from the Filesystem Standard Group (see below for details).

* In addition to almost all the GNU and standard Linux utilities, BOGUS
  also contains InterViews, networking support, Checker libraries, TeX,
  netpbm, ImageMagick, and a bunch of other stuff.  Our X servers contain
  PEX support.

* BOGUS does *NOT* support shadow passwords.

* BOGUS is completely UNSUPPORTED.

WHERE TO GET BOGUS

We would like to make ftp.cs.unc.edu the official distribution point for
BOGUS.  However, we can't do this due to disk space limitations.  Whenever
the "Notes" files reference sources from ftp.cs.unc.edu:/pub/bogus, please
use phys-pc61.med.unc.edu:/pub/bogus instead.  (If you have 200MB of free
disk space on the ftp site that you run, and would like your site to be the
permanent home for BOGUS, please send mail to [email-masked].)

phys-pc61.med.unc.edu:/pub/bogus will contain the complete BOGUS Linux
Release.  However, this site is only accessible from 8pm to 8am EST.
PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO USE THIS SITE DURING OTHER TIMES.  If you want to
install the complete BOGUS distribution, please get all of the files in
/pub/bogus/DIST.  Also get the boot floppy images from /pub/bogus/boot.  If
you want to compile the complete BOGUS distribution, all of the pristine
sources that we used are available in the TAR_FILES tree.  Please note that
this site may vanish after 1 September 1994.  If you have an extra 200MB
and would like to have BOGUS distributed from your ftp site, please send
mail to [email-masked] to make arrangements.  Since the phys-pc61
machine may only be available for about a month, we are actively soliciting
for another site that can be the official BOGUS distribution site.

Note that we use a pair of 1.44MB "boot" floppies -- the first floppy is
used to boot from /dev/fd0, the second floppy will replace the first during
the boot process.  All of this information is loaded into a 4 MB ramdisk.
Because of the boot floppy requirements, you will not be able to boot BOGUS
from a 1.2MB floppy, or on a system that contains less than 12-16 MB of RAM.
(We are not interested in supporting all system configurations: BOGUS is
aimed at high-end systems that can be used successfully as workstations for
serious program development.)

LICENSE

Each package in this distribution has its own copyright and distribution
restrictions.  In general, all of the source code and binaries in this
distribution are freely distributable for non-commercial use.  Much of the
source code and binaries are also distributable (with some restrictions)
for commercial use.  Note that some source code and binaries (e.g., Kermit)
may not be commercially distributable.  Since we are not planning a
commercial distribution, we haven't looked into these details.  We have,
however, included (with each tar'd package, and in the /usr/doc directory
of the untar'd BOGUS distribution) all information on licensing, copyright,
and copying restrictions.  Copies of the main licenses (e.g., FSF, UCB, and
MIT) are provided in the COPYING subdirectory on the ftp sites.  These
copies constitute part of the BOGUS documentation and must be distributed
unchanged with the distribution.

Since we feel the "Notes" files are the heart of the BOGUS distribution, we
have placed them under copyright and are restricting their distribution:

1) You may distribute the "Notes" files via anonymous ftp or via public BBS
   systems.

2) For your own personal use, you may transport the "Notes" files on any
   media.

3) You are *NOT* allowed to sell the "Notes" files on any physical media
   without first obtaining permission from Rickard E. Faith, Kevin
   E. Martin, and Doug L. Hoffman.  This means that if you want to sell
   physical media containing the "Notes" files, you have to get our
   permission first.  This applies even if you are selling the service of
   putting the "Notes" files on the media, or if you are selling the
   service of installing BOGUS off of the media.  Physical media includes,
   but is not limited to: floppy disks, magneto-optical disks, CDROMs,
   magnetic tapes, metal tapes, paper tapes, and printed paper.  You can
   obtain permission by sending mail to [email-masked].  In
   general, we plan to grant permission to distribute the "Notes" files on
   physical media -- however, we want to communicate with you first.  If
   you are distributing the BOGUS Release on a CDROM, you must also agree
   to send us three copies of the CDROM (i.e., one for each member of the
   BOGUS core team).

4) After January 1, 1997, all of the "Notes" files dated "1994" revert to
   the Public Domain, and will be distributable without any restrictions.

NO WARRANTY FOR THE LINUX BOGUS RELEASE

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES
OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN
NO EVENT SHALL THE CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT
NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
(INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF
THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

FAQ:

Q) How do I join the BOGUS mailing list?

A) You send mail to "[email-masked]" with "subscribe linux-bogus" in
   the body of the message (i.e., *NOT* in the subject).  When you do this,
   make sure that you have a valid return address -- many people who set up
   a mailer for the first time have a return address which looks like
   joe@pizza instead of [email-masked].  If you interact with the
   majordomo server successfully, you will receive mail.  If you don't
   receive mail in about an hour, please don't continue to use the
   majordomo server as test bed.

Q) How can BOGUS be unsupported if there is a mailing list?

A) Even though the BOGUS core team doesn't have much time, and probably
   won't be able to reply to many messages, we decided to set up a mailing
   list anyway.  We encourage other mailing list members to answer
   questions and to post bug fixes and patches.  We will, at minimum, read
   the mail that is posted to the list and file important messages.

Q) Can I send mail directly to the BOGUS core team members?

A) Please do not.  Any questions, suggestions, patches, etc., are important
   to the entire mailing list and should be shared by mailing the list.

Q) When will the next BOGUS release be ready?

A) At this time, we don't have any plans for another release.  We will
   definitely wait until the post-4.5.26 libraries, the post-2.5.8 gcc, and
   the post-1.1.19 kernel become very, very stable.  We expect that this
   will take at least 6-8 months.  Please note that we may not have time to
   do any more releases -- this may be the first and last release of BOGUS.

Q) Why are you releasing something you can't support?  Why should I use
   BOGUS?

A) We've made BOGUS for our own use, because we need a stable system which
   only uses binaries that we trust (i.e., ones that we've compiled
   ourselves).  However, after going through all this work, we feel that we
   must release BOGUS to the community, since someone might find it useful.
   We don't have time to fix minor problems with BOGUS or to help you
   install it on your system, but we are giving you all of our "Notes"
   files and the binaries that we've built in the hope that they will
   provide some benefit.

Q) There are ftp sites and files listed in each "Notes" file, but when I
   ftp to the site, the tar file has a different name or is not there.
   What's the deal?

A) The ftp sites and directories listed were valid when we first ftp'd the
   file.  The files may have different names because we've used gzip to
   compress all of the source files, and we've changed the *endings* of the
   file names (.Z -> .gz, .tgz -> .gz).  Sometimes we repackages shar
   archives into tar archives.  However, we never intentionally changed the
   base of the filename, and we absolutely *never* change the tar file's
   contents.  *All* of the changes we make to source code is documented in
   the "Notes" files as patches.  The source code that we distribute with
   BOGUS is pristine, un-patched code.

Q) What's missing from the BOGUS release?

A) In general, we do not support any packages that require kernel patches
   (such as dosemu and the forthcoming Wine).  Further, since we require
   X11 support to do any useful work under Linux, we made no effort to
   support any programs which use vga-mode graphics.  None of our utilities
   are compiled to make use of a "shadow" password file.  There are many
   other utilities which we do not supply, either because we were not
   interested in them (e.g., fax support), or because we can't distribute
   them freely (e.g., rzsz, xv, etc.).  Sometime we provide "Notes" files
   for these packages, but you have to get the source code and compile it
   yourself.

Q) How big is the BOGUS release?

A) The binary distribution contains over 180 tar files and requires about
   62MB to transport.  The distribution can be installed onto a 5MB root
   partition and a 200MB /usr partition.  Untar'ed, the binary distribution
   contains over 2800 files, over 500 of which are binaries.

   The source distribution, which contains over 250 tar and patch files,
   requires about 95MB to transport.

Q) How long does the BOGUS release take to compile?

A) We compile the BOGUS release on a Gateway P5-90 in about 9 hours.  We
   use 425MB to hold the source distribution and the sources being built.
   During the installation, some source code (e.g., for XFree86) is
   removed.  We recommend using about 32MB of swap space.

CONFORMANCE WITH THE FILESYSTEM STANDARD

   The Linux BOGUS Release is "partially compliant" with the 20 July 1994
   draft for the "Linux Filesystem Structure" document.  As required by the
   standards document, we list all the places at which BOGUS differs from
   the FSSTND (omissions, if any, are unintentional):

    3.1 /bin: tcsh and pms are in /bin.  We consider these tools
              necessities for system maintenance.
    3.4 /etc: /etc/X11 does not exist.  X will automatically look in /etc
              for the Xconfig file, so using a subdirectory is not
              necessary.  Files such as system.twmrc are in their
              *standard* places, as determined by the traditions of X11
              (e.g., /usr/X386/lib/X11/twm/system.twmrc, in this case).
    3.10 /sbin: cfdisk is in /sbin.  We consider this tool a necessity for
                system maintenance. 
    4. /usr: /usr/interviews exists.  We consider InterViews a complicated
             programming environment (much like X11).  We think that
             programming environments of this complexity should have a
             top-level directory in either /usr or /usr/share.  At this
             time, we don't have /usr/share, so we are using /usr.
    4.11 /usr/src: For proper installation of all include files, we require
                   that the complete kernel tree be installed in
                   /usr/src/linux.  This tree is in the linux-1.1.19.tar.gz
                   package.
    5.9 /var/run: We did not move /dev/log and /dev/printer to /var/run
                  because we are still evaluating the impact of this move.

   Highlights of the conformance:

   1) g++ include files are in /usr/include/g++.  No symlink is necessary.
   2) /usr/man/cat* directories do not exist.  Man pages are cached
      directly to /var/catman.
   3) libc 4.5.26 has been changed to use /var/adm/utmp instead of /etc/utmp.
   4) We do *not* provide the following symlinks because BOGUS doesn't need
      them:
            /usr/adm -> /var/adm
            /usr/preserve -> /var/preserve
            /usr/spool -> /usr/spool
            /var/spool/locks -> /var/lock

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