Personal contributions to NetBSD

You do not need to be an expert programmer to assist the NetBSD project.

This page contains some of the more common methods of helping the NetBSD project, but if you have any questions or other comments, please let us know at .

BSD daemon

How you can contribute

The system

Donations

Online information

Advocacy

The system

Use the system and make suggestions (top)

First of all, NetBSD is a user supported project, so your feedback is very welcome. This includes comments, patches, new code as well as documentation. Feedback can be given via the problem report system, and is also welcome on the various mailing lists.

Report problems and suggestions (top)

If you have any problems and suggestions, please submit them to our problem report database. You can either use the send-pr(1) program installed on any NetBSD machine, or use the online form.

We cannot emphasize how important it is to use the problem report database - if you just send the bug report or suggestion to a mail list it can fall through the cracks.

Submit fixes and code (top)

Fixes and new code are passed into the same database as bug reports. The database can be browsed at http://www.NetBSD.org/Gnats/. You can pick an entry from the database to analyze and submit the fix back in E-mail to with the Problem Report Number as the subject, and your contribution will be automatically added to the problem report.

You can also help adjusting 3rd party applications to run (better) on NetBSD, by helping out with the NetBSD Packages Collection, pkgsrc. There are more than enough open problems in the "pkg" category in Gnats (see above), and if that's not enough, more outstanding items can be found in pkgsrc/doc/TODO. If there's no PR for a package/problem yet, try talking to the maintainer before opening a PR.

Do not worry if you do not have commit access to the source tree, the responsible person(s) will review it, and if it looks good to them, will probably commit the fix. (Note that only the PR and the responsible person(s) will receive a copy of your message. Unless you explicitly send them a copy, the submitter and other interested parties will not be automatically sent a copy)

Contribute new code (top)

NetBSD may have the most portable source tree in the world, but there is always scope for more drivers and new ports. From small utilities' enhancements to complete ports to new hardware architectures, good code is always welcomed.

There is a list of features supported by each port, and sometimes additional work in getting all ports up to the latest & greatest is greatly appreciated!

If you are working on a relatively small change the best approach is to produce a set of patches, using "diff -u -N" or "cvs diff -u -N", and to submit them in a PR. (-N will allow patch to work for added files).

For larger changes it may be easier to put up the patches for anonymous ftp, and include a URL in the PR.

If you are working on a port to new hardware it would be appreciated if you could contact , so you can be informed of anyone else working on the same goal.

Contribute Documentation (top)

Good documentation is crucial for the success of the NetBSD Project. That is why we try to maintain the highest standard with respect to our man-pages, example configuration files, online documentation and the like. The documentation available on your NetBSD system is maintained under CVS control just like the code, so if you encounter typos or mistakes, please use the same approach as for submitting code changes. Similarly, this website and all the online documentation is under CVS control -- just checkout the htdocs module to make changes and submit patches.

NetBSD is used all over the world, and many users do not speak English. That is why it is important to have internationalized documentation as well. If you are fluent in both English and another language, you might be interested in helping us translate existing documentation.

Track NetBSD-current (top)

NetBSD-current is a daily snapshot of the NetBSD development source tree. If you can, testing -current and submitting bug reports is a great way to help. Instructions for testing -current can be found in the Tracking NetBSD-current documentation.

Test Developer Patches (top)

Often NetBSD developers wish to test new code before putting it into the source tree, but can't sufficiently do so by themselves. By joining the tech-kern mailing list you can find out when a developer would like people to try out a new patch, and where the patch is available from.

Since the patch is not integrated with the NetBSD source tree yet, you shouldn't use the NetBSD bug tracking system for reporting any problems you may have. Instead, if you have any problems or general comments you wish to convey, you should either e-mail the developer who has created the patch, the mailing list they announced it on, or both.

Finance specific support (top)

If you are interested in paying for specific support or features, there are a number of consultants available, from drivers for specific hardware, to security, and systems integration.

Port to new architectures (top)

See this page for details.

Third party packages (top)

While most free software will compile on NetBSD 'out of the box', the NetBSD packages system handles installation, dependencies and easy removal for hundreds of packages. If you find something not already covered by the package system, maybe even contribute back the information to make a package yourself. To contribute a package use the supplied send-pr(1) command or online form.

NetBSD Projects (top)

A list of non-trivial projects that would benefit NetBSD is available here.

Donations

Hardware needed/available (top)

See this link for details.

How to donate money to NetBSD (top)

See this link for details.

Shell accounts for NetBSD development (top)

Rick Kelly, , has created the NetBSD Developer Resources page, which lists NetBSD users who will donate time on their machines to increase awareness of NetBSD and widen the pool of available software for the OS.

If you'd like to add yourself to the listing of those who would be willing to offer shell accounts on their NetBSD systems for use in NetBSD development, please visit Rick's listing for more information.

As an alternative, there's also an offer of shell accounts from the AllBSD project.

Online information

The NetBSD.org web site (top)

If you find anything out of place, or any suggestions for the NetBSD.org site, please let us know!

Maintain FTP mirror servers (top)

If you have disk and bandwidth to donate, running a mirror FTP server would be helpful. The most important resource for mirrors is storage space. See our mirroring FAQ for an estimate of required disk space and further information. Contact <mirrors@NetBSD.org> for more details.

Advocacy

netbsd-advocacy mail list (top)

There is a netbsd-advocacy list specifically for discussion on promoting the NetBSD project and the use and knowledge of NetBSD in general.

Write news and articles for Daemon News (top)

Daemon News welcomes articles about all things BSD. If you have written something that might be of general interest, send it to .

If you have any BSD-related news, submit it to Daily Daemon News.

Daemon News is always looking for new people, so if you want to help running the magazine, you should consider joining the team.

Web sites selling old and new hardware (top)

As suggested by Erik E. Fair <fair@clock.org> and Joel Reicher <joel@panacea.null.org>. Many vendors sell hardware, both old and new, but are unaware of the fact it can run NetBSD. A link between their site and www.NetBSD.org can benefit both parties.

The NetBSD RC5 team (top)

Michael Graff set up a NetBSD team at distributed.net to work on the RSA labs RC5 and DES challenges moo-logo

The client software computes a part of the key space, making use of the spare cycles of your computer, running at the nicest CPU level. Under normal conditions, the only noticeable effects of the client would be the load average is > 1 and the mails the client sends you from time to time.

It would be nice if you would also join our NetBSD team, even if you don't run NetBSD on your computer.

Links on joining the NetBSD RC5 team:

The NetBSD SETI@home group (top)

SETI@home is a scientific experiment that will harness the power of hundreds of thousands of Internet-connected computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). seti-logo

You can participate by running a program that downloads and analyzes radio telescope data. There's a small but captivating possibility that your computer will detect the faint murmur of a civilization beyond Earth. There is a specific NetBSD group, which you can join by selecting the 'Join this Group' link at the top of that page. Seti@home is available as misc/setiathome from pkgsrc.

Include a NetBSD logo on your site (top)

If your web server runs on a NetBSD box, then why not include one of the NetBSD logos (Caution: NetBSD logos document is image intensive).

Proudly wear NetBSD merchandise (top)

NetBSD has its own Cafepress Online Store selling various products such as shirts, sweatshirts, a mug, wall clock, mousepad, logo magnets, and tote bags. All profits from this online store will be used to directly fund NetBSD!

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