From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Jun 9 03:32:51 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0D80D1065678 for ; Mon, 9 Jun 2008 03:32:51 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bright@elvis.mu.org) Received: from elvis.mu.org (elvis.mu.org [192.203.228.196]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E77758FC15 for ; Mon, 9 Jun 2008 03:32:50 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bright@elvis.mu.org) Received: by elvis.mu.org (Postfix, from userid 1192) id D38BA1A4D8C; Sun, 8 Jun 2008 20:32:50 -0700 (PDT) Date: Sun, 8 Jun 2008 20:32:50 -0700 From: Alfred Perlstein To: Jo Rhett Message-ID: <20080609033250.GR48790@elvis.mu.org> References: <48472DB6.5030909@samsco.org> <6010676B-91B0-4AF8-ACF8-039A59B29331@netconsonance.com> <200806050248.59229.max@love2party.net> <20080605083907.GD1028@server.vk2pj.dyndns.org> <902E9703E6E50776A17E9F92@utd65257.utdallas.edu> <20080605220244.GP1028@server.vk2pj.dyndns.org> <34E9F0D46D7B9F45EDA38F4C@utd65257.utdallas.edu> <48488D1A.9070105@kutulu.org> <52E265BB-BBB1-439D-B375-D6C6AA04697C@netconsonance.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <52E265BB-BBB1-439D-B375-D6C6AA04697C@netconsonance.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.3i Cc: Mike Edenfield , freebsd-stable@freebsd.org, Paul Schmehl Subject: Re: challenge: end of life for 6.2 is premature with buggy 6.3 X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 09 Jun 2008 03:32:51 -0000 * Jo Rhett [080607 14:37] wrote: > > Mike, could you do me a favor and provide me with a set of words that > will make what I am trying to say on this topic clear? I keep saying > the same thing over and over again and nobody is hearing me, so could > you perhaps help me translate this? > > These are the raw issues without any friendly wording. > > 1. Bugs in 6.3 that are patched aren't available in any other -RELEASE. Jo, sorry to jump in here, but what are these bugs that you are concerned about? Can you give specific PR#s? Can you confirm that these bugs are still issues? > 2. Bugs in 6.3 outstanding that don't affect 6.2 This is a bit of a stretch honestly, there may be bugs in 6.3 that are also in 6.2, however they have only been reported in 6.3 because of time. > 3. Overall amount of bugs. See previous. > 4. Difference in code base between 6.3 and 6-STABLE is > than 6.2 and > 6.3 Well, that's good! (or should be, see below.) > These combine to produce a release which will never be "stable" for > production needs. Let's not go there. Let's work with what we have. In theory people should only be pushing bugfixes and drivers in the -stable series, however sometimes changes are made for performance too when the risk is "low". Larger changesets in the later versions of -stable for a particular major release is to be expected as the number of users migrating from the previous major release (5.x) start to come over. > Obviously the FreeBSD team(s) involved have to make choices. Perhaps > there's nothing we can do to improve it other than work on the > specific bugs. But does it hurt to ask why 6.2 was dropped so fast? > What the real cost of supporting 6.2 until 6.4 ships is? I can understand your upset, I have been there, I found that later versions of 5.x had regressions for me that forced me to decide to either downgrade to 5.3 or go to 6.x. You may need to stick to 6.2 and keep a local set of patches (this is much easier now with svn and svk). OR you can try 7.x. The fact of the matter is that as an individual you have many options: 1) work to figure out why 6.3 (or -stable) isn't working. 2) stick with 6.2 with your own mods. 3) try 7-stable. Trust me, I know you've been pretty frustrated by this thread, but from my experience you're not going to get what you want, but you may get what you need (if you take my advice). best of luck, -Alfred