Date: Wed, 11 Feb 1998 12:08:21 -0800 From: Studded <Studded@dal.net> To: Ross Potts <rpotts@med.osd.mil> Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: -RELEASE and -STABLE Message-ID: <34E20535.8EB15AB5@dal.net> References: <9802111033.ZM6999@unknown.zmail.host>
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Ross Potts wrote: > > I was wondering why there aren't two releases of each version (only when it > comes out new mind you) to be pressed on CD. I know they are available for > download as -RELEASE (which always needs pathes) and -STABLE(which incorporates > most of the patches up to a certain date). > > Are there -STABLE releases available on CD? I was just wondering, since I > subscribed to Walnut Creeks's program. > > Or am I mistaken and does this dual release exist outside of the FTP > environment? Keeping in mind that I am not part of and don't speak for the FreeBSD team, I think you misunderstand the meanings of "Release" and "Stable" as they apply here. When a "-Release" version of FreeBSD is stamped onto a CD, that code is frozen in time, and anything that is called (for example) 2.2.5-Release will always be the same. In the time period before and after that point in the development of the code that the -Release is taken from, there are changes (almost always improvements :) being made all the time. The 2.2* branch of FreeBSD is called -Stable because the changes that are committed to it should be (you guessed it) stable. That is, they should have been thoroughly tested before they are committed, and anyone downloading -Stable on a given day should have a high degree of certainty that it will work. Are you seeing the distinction? A -Release version will always be the same thing, forever. A 2.2.5-Stable version that you download today will be the same on your machine, but the 2.2.5-Stable version I download tomorrow will very likely contain some small differences. When enough differences/improvements have accumulated, it's time for a new -Release version, and the FreeBSD project is working on that now. That's why there are no -Stable CD's. By the time it's time for a new one of those, we call it -Release. :) Hope this helps, Doug -- *** Chief Operations Officer, DALnet IRC network *** *** Proud operator, designer and maintainer of the world's largest *** Internet Relay Chat server. 5,328 clients and still growing. *** Try spider.dal.net on ports 6662-4 (Powered by FreeBSD) To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe questions" in the body of the message
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