17.3.1. Configuration

SUP gets the information it needs to run from a configuration file called a supfile. There are different example supfiles provided for different source releases of FreeBSD. The /usr/share/examples/sup/standard-supfile file, for example, contains sup information for the latest standard FreeBSD source distributions - it tells sup what collections it will be updating and/or installing and where they go. Someone using this particular supfile is said to be supping -current.

For ports, please have a look at /usr/share/examples/sup/ports-supfile.

If you are interested in obtaining the CVS files that make up the source tree, refer to /usr/share/examples/sup/cvs-supfile.

If you would rather track changes to the -stable branch, refer to /usr/share/examples/sup/stable-supfile instead.

If you are inside the United States, you may also uncomment the `secure' and `eBones' collection lines to grab the DES code. If you are outside the U.S., you should NOT sup this code from sup.FreeBSD.ORG as this will violate U.S. export restrictions. Instead you should use the secure-supfile in the sup examples directory. This will connect you to the international sup site that contains a secure distribution. Any distributions you do not wish to receive can be commented out with a # at the beginning of the distribution line.

Please consult the file /usr/share/examples/sup/README for a list of alternate sup servers. The default sup server (sup.FreeBSD.ORG) listed in the above example files is currently overloaded and any traffic that can be transfered to a different host will help relieve some of the strain.

Once this is setup, you are ready to go. To start sup type:

	sup supfile

	sup -v supfile