FreeBSD: An Open Source Alternative to Linux
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# 4 Support

Like Linux®, FreeBSD offers many venues for support, both freely available and commercial.

## 4.1 Free Offerings

- FreeBSD is one of the best documented operating systems, and the documentation is available both as part of the operating system and on the Internet. Manual pages are clear, concise and provide working examples. The FreeBSD Handbook provides background information and configuration examples for nearly every task one would wish to complete using FreeBSD.

- FreeBSD provides many support mailing lists. where answers are archived and fully searchable. If you have a question that wasn't addressed by the Handbook, it most likely has already been answered on a mailing list. The Handbook and mailing lists are also available in several languages, all of which are easily accessible from http://www.FreeBSD.org.

- There are many FreeBSD IRC channels, forums and user groups. See http://www.FreeBSD.org/support.html for a selection.

If you're looking for a FreeBSD administrator, developer or support personnel, send a job description which includes geographic location to `<freebsd-jobs@FreeBSD.org>`.

## 4.2 Commercial Offerings

There are many vendors who provide commercial FreeBSD support. Resources for finding a vendor near you include:

- The Commercial Vendors page at the FreeBSD site: http://www.FreeBSD.org/commercial/

- FreeBSDMall, who have been selling support contracts for nearly 10 years. http://www.freebsdmall.com

- The BSDTracker Database at: http://www.nycbug.org/index.php?NAV=BSDTracker

There is also an initiative to provide certification of BSD system administrators. http://www.bsdcertification.org.

If your project requires Common Criteria certification, FreeBSD includes the TrustedBSD MAC framework to ease the certification process.

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