FreeBSD 10.0-BETA3 now available

The third BETA build of the 10.0-RELEASE release cycle is now available on the FTP servers for the amd64, i386, ia64, powerpc, powerpc64 and sparc64 architectures.

ISO images and, for architectures that support it, the memory stick images are available here or at any of the FreeBSD mirror sites.

Checksums for the installation images are available in the announcement email.

If you notice problems you can report them through the PR system or on the -current mailing list.

If you would like to use SVN to do a source based update of an existing system, use the "stable/10" branch.

Important note to freebsd-update(8) users:  be sure to follow the instructions in the EN-13:04.freebsd-update errata notice before upgrading the system to 10.0-BETA3.

Changes between -BETA2 and -BETA3 include:

• Several small fixes for the amd64 minidump code.
• Add a 'pkg bootstrap' command which will bootstrap pkg(8) without forwarding any command to it after installation.
• Fix make(1) warning output with 'make delete-old' and 'make delete-old-libs'
• Add kernel side support for large TLB on BERI/CHERI.
• Fix compatibility function for old daily_status_security_${name}_enable variables.
• Add loader.conf(5) entries to import bootpool after boot when using full-disk encryption and ZFS.
• Switch the default mtree to nmtree our new NetBSD derived mtree.
• Remove the (unused) isf(4) driver.
• Separate WITHOUT_CLANG and WITHOUT_CLANG_IS_CC.
• Add atse(4), a driver for the Altera Triple Speed Ethernet MegaCore.
• Fix a deadlock when trying to power off a USB device.
• Support checking signature for pkg bootstrap from remote and for 'pkg add ./pkg.txz'
• Fix long-standing issue with incorrect radix mask calculation.
• Add support for using "pkg+http://" for the PACKAGESITE.
• Add driver for POWER hypervisor interpartition ethernet.
• Fix panic in the tap driver when a tap and vmnet interface were created after each other.

Pre-installed virtual machine images for 10.0-BETA3 are also available for amd64 and i386 architectures.

Automated Submission of Kernel Panic Reports

Colin Percival has announced a new port called sysutils/panicmail which users can use to automatically submit panic reports. From the announcement:

After considerable review on freebsd-hackers (thanks dt71 and jilles!) I have now added sysutils/panicmail to the FreeBSD ports tree.  If you install this and add
    panicmail_enable="YES"
to your /etc/rc.conf, a panic report will be generated and sent to root@ for you to review and submit (via email).  You can skip the reviewing step and submit panics automatically by setting panicmail_autosubmit="YES".

The panics submitted are encrypted to an RSA key which I hold in order to keep them secure in transit; and I intend to keep the raw panic reports confidential except to the minimum extent necessary for other developers to help me process the incoming reports.

If I receive enough panic reports to be useful, I hope to provide developers with aggregate statistics.  This may include:

• regular email reports listing the "top panics", to help guide developers towards the most fertile areas for stability improvements;
• email to specific developers alerting them to recurring panics in code they maintain (especially if it becomes clear that the panic has been recently introduced); and
• guidance to re@ and secteam@ about how often a particular panic occurs if an errata notice is being considered

as well as other yet-to-be-imagined reports of a similarly aggregate and anonymized nature.

So please install the sysutils/panicmail port and enable it in rc.conf!  This all depends on getting useful data, and I can't do that without your help.