---
title: Chapter 8. Configuring the FreeBSD Kernel
part: Part II. Common Tasks
prev: books/handbook/multimedia
next: books/handbook/printing
---
[[kernelconfig]]
= Configuring the FreeBSD Kernel
...Chapter 4. Documentation Directory Structure
Table of Contents
Files and directories in the doc/ tree follow a structure meant to:
Make it easy to automate converting the document to other formats.
Promote consistency between the different documentation organizations, to make it easier to switch between working on different documents.
Make it easy to decide where in the tree new documentation should be placed.
In addition, the documentation tree must accommodate documents in many different languages. It is important that the documentation tree structure does not enforce any particular defaults or cultural preferences.
4.1. The Top Level, doc/
There are three sections under doc/, documentation and website share the same structure.
| Directory | Usage |
|---|---|
documentation | Contains all the articles and books in AsciiDoc format. Contains subdirectories to further categorize the information by languages. |
tools | Contains a set of tools used to translate the documentation and the website using Weblate. The Weblate instance can be found here. |
shared | Contains files that are not specific to the various translations of the documentation.
Contains subdirectories to further categorize the information by languages and three files to store the authors, releases and mirrors information.
This directory is shared between |
website | Contains the FreeBSD website in AsciiDoc format. Contains subdirectories to further categorize the information by languages. |
4.2. The Directories
These directories contain the documentation and the website. The documentation is organized into subdirectories below this level, following the Hugo directory structure.
| Directory | Usage |
|---|---|
archetypes | Contain templates to create new articles, books and webpages. For more information take a look here. |
config | Contain the Hugo configuration files. One main file and one file per language. For more information take a look here. |
content | Contain the books, articles and webpages.
One directory exists for each available translation of the documentation, for example |
data | Contain custom data for build the website in TOML format. This directory is used to store the events, news, press, etc. For more information take a look here. |
static | Contain static assets. Images, security advisories, the pgpkeys, etc. For more information take a look here. |
themes | Contain the templates in the form of |
tools | Contain tools used to enhance the documentation build. For example to generate the Table of Contents of the books, etc. |
beastie.png | This image does not need an introduction ;) |
LICENSE | License of the documentation, shared and website. BSD 2-Clause License. |
Makefile | The Makefile defines the build process of the documentation and the website. |
4.3. Document-Specific Information
This section contains specific notes about particular documents managed by the FDP.
4.4. The Books: books/
The books are written in AsciiDoc.
For each FreeBSD book, the AsciiDoc document type (aka doctype) is book.
Books have parts, each of which contains several chapters.
When the document is converted to HTML 5 (using the built-in html5 backend):
AsciiDoc section level 0 (
=) at the beginning of achapterof abookwill be<h1>AsciiDoc section level 1 (
==) must be used for the first logical section of a chapter, and will be<h2>AsciiDoc section level 2 (
===) must be used for the first logical subsection, and will be<h3>
– and so on. Reference: Section Titles and Levels | Asciidoctor Docs.
4.4.1. Physical Organization
There are a number of files and directories within the books directory, all with the same structure.
4.4.1.1. _index.adoc
The _index.adoc file defines some AsciiDoc variables that affect how the AsciiDoc source is converted to other formats and list the Table of Contents, Table of Examples, Table of Figures, Table of Tables and the abstract section.
4.4.1.2. book.adoc
The book.adoc file defines some AsciiDoc variables that affect how the AsciiDoc source is converted to other formats and list the Table of Contents, Table of Examples, Table of Figures, Table of Tables, the abstract section and all the chapters.
This file is used to generate the PDF with asciidoctor-pdf and to generate the book in one html page.
4.4.1.4. directory/_index.adoc
Each chapter in the Handbook is stored in a file called _index.adoc in a separate directory from the other chapters.
For example, this is an example of the header of one chapter:
When the HTML5 version of the Handbook is produced, this will yield kernelconfig/index.html.
A brief look will show that there are many directories with individual _index.adoc files, including basics/_index.adoc, introduction/_index.adoc, and printing/_index.adoc.
Do not name chapters or directories after their ordering within the Handbook. This ordering can change as the content within the Handbook is reorganized. Reorganization should be possible without renaming files, unless entire chapters are being promoted or demoted within the hierarchy. |
4.5. The Articles: articles/
The articles are written in AsciiDoc.
The articles are organized as an AsciiDoc article.
The articles are divided into sections (=) and subsections (==, ===) and so on.
4.5.1. Physical Organization
There is one _index.adoc file per article.
4.5.1.1. _index.adoc
The _index.adoc file contains all the AsciiDoc variables and the content.
For example, this is an example of one article, the structure is pretty similar to one book chapter:
---
title: Why you should use a BSD style license for your Open Source Project
authors:
- author: Bruce Montague
email: brucem@alumni.cse.ucsc.edu
trademarks: ["freebsd", "intel", "general"]
---
= Why you should use a BSD style license for your Open Source Project
:doctype: article
:toc: macro
:toclevels: 1
:icons: font
:sectnums:
:sectnumlevels: 6
:source-highlighter: rouge
:experimental:
'''
toc::[]
[[intro]]
== Introduction4.6. Managing Contributor Lists
The FreeBSD project recognizes contributors in several different lists in the documentation and in printed materials. This section describes how the documentation team manages changes to these lists.
4.6.1. Finding the Correct Files
Contributors to FreeBSD are maintained in article format. The source file for managing the Contributors article file is located at:
doc
/documentation
/content
/{language}
/articles
/contributors
_index.adoc – Contains a list of include files that apply to each section.
_index.po – Translation page
contrib-develinmemoriam.adoc - content of “In Memoriam” section
contrib-develinmemoriam.po – Translation pageCopies of this contributors directory may exist in other content language directories.
Note that the file contrib-develinmemoriam.adoc is also found in this directory. See below for additional information.
The contributors/_index.adoc file is designed as a collection of include files. The include files are listed in the Hugo specific section of the source file. The section is divided into several parts with "ifdef::" statements. There is a sub-section for website output and one for non-website (including PDF) output.
The text for each section of the Contributors page contains an "include::" statement.
For example, the entry for "Port Manager Alumni" is include::{include-contrib-portmgralumni}[].
This pulls in the text for port manager alumni into the rendered output.
To make a change, edit the appropriate include file:
include-contrib-committers: ~/doc/shared/contrib-committers.adoc include-contrib-corealumni: ~/doc/shared/contrib-corealumni.adoc include-contrib-develalumni: ~/doc/shared/contrib-develalumni.adoc include-contrib-portmgralumni: ~/doc/shared/contrib-portmgralumni.adoc include-contrib-additional: ~/doc/shared/contrib-additional.adoc include-contrib-386bsd: ~/doc/shared/contrib-386bsd.adoc Also, edit the authors.adoc file: ~/doc/shared/authors.adoc and any related translations.
In general, if a person is being added, there is only one edit necessary, and they can be added to the appropriate include file. If a person is being moved from "current" to "alumni" status, two edits are required - one to remove and one to insert for the appropriate files. The order of entries for all files is found in the table below.
| Purpose | Section Anchor | File in ~/doc/shared/ | Order Specification |
|---|---|---|---|
FreeBSD Developers | include-contrib-committers | contrib-committers.adoc | alphabetical order by last name |
Core Team Alumni | include-contrib-corealumni | contrib-corealumni.adoc | rough reverse chronological order |
Development Team Alumni | include-contrib-develalumni | contrib-develalumni.adoc | rough reverse chronological order |
Ports Management Team Alumni | include-contrib-portmgralumni | contrib-portmgralumni.adoc | rough reverse chronological order |
Additional FreeBSD Contributors | include-contrib-additional | contrib-additional.adoc | alphabetical order by first name |
386BSD Patch Kit Patch Contributors | include-contrib-386bsd | contrib-386bsd.adoc | alphabetical order by first name |
Contributors to the central server project | No include file used | contributors/_index.adoc | unordered |
Direct funding | No include file used | contributors/_index.adoc | unordered |
Hardware contributors | No include file used | contributors/_index.adoc | unordered |
Special contributors | No include file used | contributors/_index.adoc | unordered |
4.6.2. "In Memoriam" Section
If the intent is to notify the BSD community of the death of a community member, the following procedures should be used:
Search the files above for the name, email address, and nickname (such as
foobsd).Since the member is deceased (which should be double checked) remove the name from the appropriate file and add them to the "In Memoriam" file (contrib-develinmemoriam.adoc as noted above) by editing the appropriate files. Try to find some additional information about their contributions to FreeBSD over the years and add it with their entry in the file. This may require asking in the development mailing lists, contacting colleagues, contacting the FreeBSD Foundation, or searching through the commit logs.
Where an email address is found with a name, remove the email address, but leave the name.
Purpose Section Anchor File in ~/doc/documentation/content/{language}/articles/contributors/ Order Specification Development Team: In Memoriam
contrib-develinmemoriam.adoc
contrib-develinmemoriam.adoc
rough reverse chronological order
In the ~/doc/shared/authors.adoc file, comment out (using one backslash '\') the email address to avoid creating the email link "mailto:" See the example for
itojunbelow:[shared/authors.adoc] [..] :itojun-name: Jun-ichiro Itoh :itojun-email: \itojun@FreeBSD.org :itojun: {itojun-name} <{itojun-email}> [..]
Last modified on: March 2, 2025 by Jim Brown