From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Feb 19 10:56:39 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CD37A16A4CE for ; Thu, 19 Feb 2004 10:56:39 -0800 (PST) Received: from smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk (ns0.infracaninophile.co.uk [81.2.69.218]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DAB5D43D2F for ; Thu, 19 Feb 2004 10:56:38 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk) Received: from happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk (localhost [IPv6:::1]) i1JIuRoH081047 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO); Thu, 19 Feb 2004 18:56:27 GMT (envelope-from matthew@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk) Received: (from matthew@localhost)id i1JIuRUQ081046; Thu, 19 Feb 2004 18:56:27 GMT (envelope-from matthew) Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 18:56:27 +0000 From: Matthew Seaman To: Pedro Sam Message-ID: <20040219185627.GA80272@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk> Mail-Followup-To: Matthew Seaman , Pedro Sam , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <4033C774.2030206@daleco.biz> <16436.4522.353718.896339@jerusalem.litteratus.org> <200402191058.54306.p2sam@yahoo.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="wRRV7LY7NUeQGEoC" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <200402191058.54306.p2sam@yahoo.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.6i X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-4.9 required=5.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=2.63 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.63 (2004-01-11) on happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: New X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 18:56:40 -0000 --wRRV7LY7NUeQGEoC Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Thu, Feb 19, 2004 at 10:58:54AM -0500, Pedro Sam wrote: > On Wednesday February 18 2004 20:30, Robert Huff wrote: > > Kevin D. Kinsey, DaleCo, S.P. writes: > > > >Where is a good place to start? > > > > > > 5.2-RELEASE. Grab the floppies from ftp.freebsd.org > > > and install over the 'Net. > > > > If this is your first installation, go with 4.9. 5.x is still > > rated "early adopter"; while nothing's exactly broken, there are > > more likely to be surprises lurking in wait for the inexperienced. >=20 > Just wondering... if one installed 4.9, would the system be stuck with re= ally=20 > outdated userland apps? or would CVSup be able to update the userland po= rts,=20 > without changing the base system? Ummm... you've got a bit of an incorrect idea about how FreeBSD works. The OS consists of the kernel plus the user system (aka 'the world') -- that is, the complete set of system libraries and standard applications. Under FreeBSD all of these parts are developed in synchrony, and all out of a unified source tree. Generally you will always update kernel and world together -- occasionally there may be security updates or the like where you single out a particular application for rebuilding, but that is not a frequent occurrence. The system sources are divided into a number of branches: there is a branch corresponding to each release, known as a 'Release' or 'Security' branch, because the only permitted changes to it are security fixes; and there are two active development branches, known at the moment as 4-STABLE and 5-CURRENT. There are also the old 1-STABLE, 2-STABLE and 3-STABLE branches as well, but those are essentially quiescent nowadays and mostly of historical interest. The 5.x release branches start out as snapshots of the 5-CURRENT branch, and the 4.x releases likewise of the 4-STABLE branch. 5-CURRENT is the real bleeding edge where there is no guarrantee that anything will work at any particular point and the code base is occasionally liable to sweeping and invasive changes. Only system developers should be running 5-CURRENT. 5.x releases are for testing the major new features introduced in 5-CURRENT: they offer a better user experience than raw 5-CURRENT but don't generally come up to the required standards of stability and performance you'ld normally expect =66rom a FreeBSD release. 4-STABLE is the branch for tried and tested changes merged from the current branch. You should always be able to compile and run the latest 4-STABLE sources -- the 'STABLE' in the name does not imply 'unchanging' as the term does in some other projects, but that the system versions so labeled will run with a high level of stability. 4-STABLE is suitable for day-to-day use by ordinary users, although if you're betting your business on FreeBSD, one of the 4.x-RELEASE branches would usually be a better choice. Eventually the 5-CURRENT branch will reach a suitable level of refinement that it will be possible to create the 5-STABLE branch. That's intended to occur with the release of FreeBSD-5.3. Arround that point the current branch will be renamed 6-CURRENT and all of the major development works will be shifted there. 5-STABLE will become the principal target for merging in the tested changes and the releases branched from it will be recommended as the best versions of the OS to run. That's still several months away, at the minimum though. Work on 4-STABLE will gradually tail off and that branch will head for honourable retirement like it's predecessors. 3rd party software -- ports: essentially everything installed under /usr/local or /usr/X11R6 -- is built and updated completely independently of the development of the main system sources. There's only one ports tree and it serves 4-STABLE and any of the release branches, although limited resources mean that testing can only be done on the latest 4.x and 5.x release branches. You can always grab the latest ports tree and compile what you want =66rom source: this generally gives the best results and it's easy enough even for inexperienced users. However, installing pre-compiled versions of the ports, called 'packages' will often be quicker. As complete a set of packages as possible is created to go with each release. Between releases, and as resources allow, updated packages are produced as new upstream versions of ported software appear -- you'll find those in the 'Latest' directories on the FTP sites. However, so long as you use packages compiled for a version of the OS with the same major version number, you should (in theory) be able to use those packages on other versions of the OS than the release they were compiled under. Unfortunately, that's something that cannot be entirely guarranteed. Ports/packages already installed on your system should continue to work even if you upgrade the base system. If you upgrade over a major version number, you will have to install compatibility libraries -- basically a copy of libc.so from an earlier version of the system. =20 > This way, one can get an update(perhaps unstable) userland, but need not = fear=20 > the OS crashing... I'm sorry? This is FreeBSD -- we don't do "crashing"... Well, not often anyhow. If you run 4-STABLE or one of the releases derived from it and make good choices of hardware (ie. not the latest trashiest Windows-only gimmickry, but more solid kit, espeically components that have been available for long enough to get the bugs out) you will find that the primary causes of your system unexpectedly failing to work as expected are a) lack of mains power b) hardware failure and c) pilot error. Cheers, Matthew --=20 Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 26 The Paddocks Savill Way PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey Marlow Tel: +44 1628 476614 Bucks., SL7 1TH UK --wRRV7LY7NUeQGEoC Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQFANQbbdtESqEQa7a0RAiS1AJ4pmPs1WUtx/ClPQlkDFK9cIp6lDwCfYyNv j0ja/GOpAqPTTVesxKu5gb8= =sUN3 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --wRRV7LY7NUeQGEoC--