Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1998 07:52:39 +1000 (EST) From: John Birrell <jb@cimlogic.com.au> To: peter@netplex.com.au (Peter Wemm) Cc: jb@cimlogic.com.au, Studded@dal.net, current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Upgrade documentation (Was: Re: Make world error on -current elf) Message-ID: <199809262152.HAA21507@cimlogic.com.au> In-Reply-To: <199809261432.WAA08035@spinner.netplex.com.au> from Peter Wemm at "Sep 26, 98 10:32:30 pm"
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Peter Wemm wrote: > I am still not quite comfortable with the 3.0-CURRENT -> elf conversion > process. > > The instructions there and the Makefile.upgrade rules push towards an > unneded recompile and reboot of a kernel in order to complete the process. > > Any 3.0-CURRENT kernel from about July 1997 (over a year old) will run an > ELF world quite happily. IMHO, defaulting to unecessarily replacing the > user's customized kernel with a generic one is bad karma. I doubt that you've tested that. Sure, it may be able to load elf format executables, but there have been so many other changes that affect compatibility between user-land and the kernel. My approach to this sort of thing is: "if it's not tested, then it doesn't work". The upgrade procedure is for the 95% of people who need a procedure that "just works". Of the other 5%, most are prepared to install a current kernel prior to doing the upgrade. Changing the kernel compatibility test would introduce the possibility that things might not work correctly when the user reboots. This is a serious issue because it can hose people. I don't want to have to deal with the support problems that would cause. As it stands, a lot of people have used the current procedure to upgrade, even in the midst of major changes to current. -- John Birrell - jb@cimlogic.com.au; jb@freebsd.org http://www.cimlogic.com.au/ CIMlogic Pty Ltd, GPO Box 117A, Melbourne Vic 3001, Australia +61 418 353 137 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message
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