Date: Sat, 01 May 1999 19:11:23 -0700 From: charon@freethought.org To: media@mail1.nai.net, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Looking for 3.1 STABLE (was: Newbie Questions) Message-ID: <3.0.5.32.19990501191123.00a42100@mail> In-Reply-To: <v03130300b35104892038@[209.150.36.14]> References: <3.0.5.32.19990429231125.00a52290@mail> <v03130300b34eafcc5b8d@[209.150.34.97]> <19990429221516.A25381@austin.rr.com>
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At 08:29 PM 5/1/99 -0400, media@mail1.nai.net wrote: >At 11:11 PM -0700 4/29/99, charon@freethought.org wrote: >I don't know what ctm or cvsup are, or how to upgrade by source later. I >tried to get to usr/share/doc/handbook and usr/share/doc/FAQ to learn more, >but it said "Permission Denied." Is the "source" I would use be the >contents of FreeBSD-stable/src?? Once you've learned about them, upgrading by source is actually a fairly easy process - learning about them is the only hard part. You'll want to look at the handbook (you could just use the online one at www.freebsd.org or check the permissions on the handbook files), and you'll specifically be interested in http://www.freebsd.org/handbook/stable.html which will explain a lot of things. >I originally set out to get 3.1-STABLE, but I couldn't find it in the >folder labeled "STABLE" (see above), so I was lead to believe that >3.1-RELEASE was stable. Does that make sense?? ahh... there is a difference between "-STABLE" and "stable." "-STABLE" refers to a specific development branch, and "stable" simply refers to how bug-free the software is. 3.1-RELEASE is indeed fairly stable, but it is _not_ technically -STABLE. >I went to ftp://releng3.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/snapshots/i386/ and I found >a list of subdirectories with names beginning with either 3.1 or 4.0 >followed by a date. Which one is 3.1-STABLE?? Or are none of them >3.1-STABLE?? Are all of them?!?! I was under the impression that there was >only one 3.1-STABLE and that "snapshots" were periodically archived >accumulations of the development and further revision of that branch. I >read the FAQ, but I still think I'm confused. All of the ones numbered 3.1-XXX are -STABLE, and the different dates refer to when the binaries in the directories were compiled. In general, you'll want the one with the latest date. (4.0-XXX is the -CURRENT branch, something which you won't need to worry about, since you're not a developer... yet :) >Do I have to download everything all over again, or are some of the files >(perhaps man or dict) the same for both 3.1-RELEASE and 3.1-STABLE?? I'm >thinking I need to make new floppies as well (see below). To be on the safe side, you'll want to download everything over again. I believe the floppies don't need to be redone, but you should just to be on the safe side (since that doesn't take much time). >Also, if there already is a 3.1-STABLE, why would someone want a possibly >buggy 3.1-RELEASE?? Despite what I can't find at ftp.FreeBSD.ORG, I would >think that the tested and announced stable version would be more popular. >So, I still think I'm confused. I just want the most reliable OS. -STABLE is just a continuing branch that implements new features and fixes bugs. Every so often (3 or 4 times a year) this code is compiled and released on CD, and it is called -RELEASE. These releases are somewhat analogous to commercial releases like Win95 to Win98, except that there is actual improvement between releases in FreeBSD, not added hardware requirements. In your case, since you're not using CD installation, the best thing for you would probably be to install the latest snapshot (see above address). If you feel like upgrading to the latest code at some point in the future, you can learn about upgrade techniques like cvs and ctm. -RELEASEs are most popular because the code is more thoroughly tested than any snapshot, it's released on CD, it's better documented (errata, etc.), and one doesn't need to track a mailing list, but either -STABLE or -RELEASE should be quite adequate for the average user. Hope this cleared it up some! __________________________________________ Charon@freethought.org http://members.home.net/tuathadedanann/ "Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth." -Albert Einstein __________________________________________ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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