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Date:      Mon, 27 Apr 2020 23:41:50 +0200
From:      Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de>
To:        Matthew Seaman <matthew@freebsd.org>
Cc:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Updating from 11.3-stable to 12.1-stable?
Message-ID:  <20200427234150.9bb022df.freebsd@edvax.de>
In-Reply-To: <9945f3b9-0452-721b-e931-816bc7a044ae@FreeBSD.org>
References:  <20200427200111.GA39823@rancor.immure.com> <9945f3b9-0452-721b-e931-816bc7a044ae@FreeBSD.org>

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On Mon, 27 Apr 2020 22:31:46 +0100, Matthew Seaman wrote:
> Although, if you're going to
> choose one of the routes that involves swapping HDDs in and out, then
> installing a brand new system and recreating your local customizations
> from scratch is quite a good approach. There's quantities of cruft that
> tends to build up over the years that this method will naturally get rid of.

I think that is a very important aspect. In case you have a
"grown system", it might be possible that you will be building
or re-installing stuff that you _now_ don't need anymore.
For example, if your server runs application A, the version
used on 11.3 required libraries B and C. The current version
of A doesn't need B anymore, but you still will have it installed
because it was installed before. To avoid such a case, and if
you can and _want_ to do it, you can install a clean system
from scratch, add your OS modifications, then install your
"top level ports" (the things you're intending to use), and
all required dependencies will be resolved automatically as
they are needed.

As it has been mentioned before, for ZFS systems, using a BE
is very convenient. Installing on a second disk is also an
option (so you'll always have a fallback "old state" system
that you can activate in case of problems). But of course there
is nothing wrong in using source-based upgrades or binary ones,
and rebuild everything that was installed before. All those
ideas have advantages and disadvantages, are possible or not
possible, and you have to decide for your specific setting and
intended use of the system.

The single ultimate answer: It depends. :-)



-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...



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