.. -*- mode: rst -*-

.. _faq-general:

FAQ: General
============

**What does Bcfg2 stand for?**

Initially, Bcfg stood for the bundle configuration system. Bcfg2 is the
second major revision. At this point, the acronym is meaningless, but
the name has stuck. Luckily, Bcfg2 googles better than Bcfg does. No,
seriously. Try it. All I know is that I have no interest in a billion
cubic feet of gas.

**What architectures does Bcfg2 support?**

Bcfg2 should run on any POSIX compatible operating system, however direct
support for an operating system's package and service formats are limited
by the currently available :ref:`client-tools` (although new client
tools are pretty easy to add). The following is an incomplete but more
exact list of platforms on which Bcfg2 works.

* GNU/Linux deb based distros
* GNU/Linux rpm based distros
* Solaris pkg based
* Gentoo portage based
* OSX (POSIX/launchd support)

**What pre-requisites are needed to run Bcfg2?**

Please visit the :ref:`installation-prerequisites` section in the manual.

**Why won't bcfg2-server start?**

If your server doesn't seem to be starting and you see no error
messages in your server logs, try running it in the foreground to
see why.

**Why am I getting a traceback?**

If you get a traceback, please let us know. You can file a `ticket
<https://trac.mcs.anl.gov/projects/bcfg2/newticket>`_, send the traceback
to the :ref:`help-mailinglist`, or hop on the :ref:`help-irc` and let
us know.

**Where are the server log messages?**

The bcfg2-server process logs to syslog facility LOG_DAEMON. The server produces a series of messages upon a variety of events and errors.

**Is there a way to check if all repository XML files conform to schemas?**

Bcfg2 comes with XML schemas describing all of the XML formats used in
the server repository. A validation command ``bcfg2-lint`` is
included with the source distribution and all packages. ``bcfg2-lint``
can also performs lots of other checks for common mistakes.