FreeBSD Survival Guide

This document refers to FreeBSD 15.0.

Installation

1. VirtualBox:

   • Use Intel Pro/1000 MT Desktop (8254OEM) network card. The inferface is available under FreeBSD as em0.

   • Change System → Motherboard → Enable EFI, and System → Motherboard → Chipset: ICH9.

   • Change Display → Graphics controller: VBoxSVGA

   • Resize the disk image before running the VM:

     # VBoxManage modifymedium disk --resize 10240 FreeBSD150.vdi
     

   • Install package virtualbox-ose-additions-72, and add to /etc/rc.conf:

     vboxguest_enable="YES"
     vboxservice_enable="YES"
     

   • Add the user to the wheel group:

     # pw groupmod wheel -m voytek
     

2. Resize virtual drive image and then resize the partition:

   $ gpart show
   $ gpart recover ada0
   $ gpart show
   $ gpart resize -i 4 ada0
   $ gpart show
   

   and finally resize the filesystem:

   $ growfs /dev/gpt/rootfs
   

3. Allow remote login for root by editing /etc/ssh/sshd_config:

   PermitRootLogin yes
   

   Add to /etc/rc.conf:

   sshd_enable="yes"
   

   and start SSH server:

   $ service sshd start
   

   Use bsdconfig to configure it: Configure –> Networking –> sshd.

4. Configure boot loader: edit /boot/loader.conf.d/local.conf:

   efi_max_resolution="720p"
   screen.font="10x20"
   hw.efi.poweroff=0
   

Administration

Packages

1. Install pkg command by running:

   $ pkg
   The package management tool is not yet installed on your system.
   Do you want to fetch and install it now? [y/N]: y
   

2. Info about installed packages:

   $ pkg info
   $ pkg info vim
   $ pkg info -l vim
   

3. Search for packages:

   $ pkg search vim
   

4. Update remote repository cache:

   $ pkg update
   

5. Install a package:

   $ pkg install vim
   

6. Upgrade packages:

   $ pkg upgrade
   

7. Remove unneeded packages:

   $ pkg delete vim
   $ pkg autoremove
   

8. Usefull packages:

   bash
   htop
   ncdu
   rsync
   vim
   

9. Clear cache:

   # pkg clear -a
   

System settings

1. The main settings are stored in /etc/rc.conf file which consists of parameters listed in /etc/defaults/rc.conf. See rc.conf(5) for more details. The settings may be modified using sysrc, e.g.:

   # sysrc mouse_enable="YES"
   

2. The main administration tool is bsdconfig.

3. Install bash and set it as a default shell (/usr/local/bin/bash) for root using chsh.

4. Networking: add to /etc/rc.conf:

   ifconfig_DEFAULT="DHCP accept_rtadv"
   

   to activate DHCP for em0 interface.

Console

1. History is available after pressing ScrollLock.

2. Polish keybord/fonts: add to /etc/rc.conf:

   keymap="pl"
   

3. Mouse in text mode: add to /etc/rc.conf:

   moused_enable="YES"
   

4. Download Terminus fonts and unpack it into /usr/share/vt/fonts. Next, add to /etc/rc.conf:

   allscreens_flags="-f ter-u20"
   

Kernel modules

1. List of modules:

   $ kldstat
   

2. Automatic loading of modules: edit /boot/loader.conf:

   linux_load="YES"
   

Networking

1. Restart:

   $ service netif restart
   $ service routing restart
   

2. Start/stop a single interface:

   $ ifconfig eth0 down
   $ ifconfig eth0 up
   

3. Alias:

   $ ifconfig em0 192.168.1.2/24 alias
   $ ifconfig em0 192.168.1.2/24 -alias
   

4. Show routing:

   $ netstat -r -4
   $ route add -net 192.168.2.0/24 192.168.0.1
   

5. Show network services listening on ports:

   $ sockstat -4 -l
   

Graphical user interface

1. Install packages:

   chromium
   droid-fonts-ttf
   lightdm
   xfce
   xorg (or xorg-minimal)
   

2. Check the display:

   # pciconf -lv | grep -B3 display
   

3. LightDM (display manager): edit /usr/local/etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf:

   [Seat:*]
   ...
   autologin-user=voytek
   

   and run:

   # sysrc dbus_enable="YES"
   # sysrc lightdm_enable="YES"
   

Resources

1. FreeBSD Handbook. Available at https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/.

2. Wikipedia entry for FreeBSD: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeBSD.