Date: Thu, 26 Aug 1999 17:58:51 -0700 From: Kent Stewart <kstewart@3-cities.com> To: ian j hart <ianjhart@freeloader.freeserve.co.uk> Cc: Eliezer Rodriguez Gonzalez <elie@uncle.cult.cu>, stable@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Message-ID: <37C5E2CB.97D6F8D5@3-cities.com> References: <Pine.BSF.4.05.9908261220010.25516-100000@uncle.cult.cu> <000b01bef015$aeff50e0$e25e883e@bigfoot>
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ian j hart wrote: > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Eliezer Rodriguez Gonzalez <elie@uncle.cult.cu> > To: Kent Stewart <kstewart@3-cities.com> > Cc: Vadim Chekan <vadim@gc.lviv.ua>; <stable@FreeBSD.ORG> > Sent: 26 August 1999 17:22 > Subject: Re: > > > > > > > > > I don't remember reading if anyone was really successful at making the > > > jump from 2.2.x to 3.x in one step. There is a user's write up on what > > > he did at http://freebsd.simplenet.com/make-upgrade.html > > > > > > You might try what he has done. > > > > > > Kent > > > > > > Thanks, I'll go check it right away, you know, I'm scared about this, I'm > > now trying to upgrade my own FreeBSD workstation to later think about > > upgrading a couple of production systems. I'll do it just if upgrading my > > own one is successfull. > > > > This is my first post, please be gentle with me :-) > > I have just done this very thing, namely upgrade from 2_2_6_RELEASE to > 3_1_STABLE. My advice would be very simple, don't do it. You will find it > much less stressfull to start from scratch and ftp the binaries. > > I should say before I get too deeply into this that my knowledge of the > inner workings of BSD could be written on the back of a postcard. Secondly, > I didn't keep any kind of log. To be quite honest I wasn't expecting it to > work at all. This is my home system so I was quite prepared to go the ftp > binaries route after the experiment with the source. > > I did a make clean before the make upgrade. I still had to pass -k to make > as doscmd wouldn't build. After recompiling the kernel I thought I had a > working system. However I was getting some wierd things happening. I > discovered that the file system was being corrupted. This seemed to be due > to interrupting processes, either with CONTROL C or kill. Another make world > + kernel ( or 3) seems to have sorted the problem. There were quite a few > files in /etc which I thought were up to date but which were not. Of course > this was quite difficult. Since the file system was subject to corruption I > had to fix it and refetch source files several times before I got a good > build. Some parts of amd still refuse to build. > > So far I have spent 2 weeks+ on this. Admittedly in my spare time. X has > proved as difficult to build but now runs. Netscape however does not, so I'm > mailing this from MSWidows. Hi Ian, I never had any problems upgrading. I really don't run edge technology (leading or trailing). I chose hardware based on hardware compatability lists and not the specifications. It doesn't do any good to get the latest gee-whiz when it doesn't work on all of the systems that you use. My main justification for 2.2.8 was access to a unix system for a series of FORTRAN programs that I was interested in. It was also a learning eperience. I was retired and I needed a new challeng. I just didn't realize what a project it would turn into. It used a NT server that was running NAT for out side access. It worked just fine and I don't fix things that aren't broken. I still use NT for e-mail because I sort on subject before I ever do a reply. You won't see me be part of a bunch of replies unless we all hit the majordomo at the same time. At some point I needed something and NT didn't have it and so NT isn't my NAT gateway any more. The installation of 2.2.8 was really simple because I really only added X and networking. I was introduced to FreeBSD just before 3.0 was released. I never installed 3.0 because of the problems and many recommendations that you don't install it. When the CD's for 3.1 arrived, I spent two weeks following -questions before I opened the box the 3.1 CDROM's were shipped in and then I did an upgrade from a floppy boot. It was totaly successful on the first try. Shortly after that my main HD died and I replaced it with a 13GB Western Digital. The novice install of everything went faster than the upgrade did and worked out of the box. I had to add a few things to my aliases and change the way X came up. After a couple of weeks, I cvsup'ed to 3.1-Stable and have been following the stable branch ever since. The only time the system has been quirky was during the transition to 3.2-Release and then I learned the value of MergeMaster. Just before the switch, I had gone from a SuperMicro MB with a P166 to an Asus P2B-B with a Cleron 433. Life was much better because nothing required forever to accomplish. Unfortunately, things were being introduced, broken and fixed faster than I could upgrade my system. When I started using MergeMaster, a system upgrade was something you did in an hour. A buildworld runs around 2100u. That leaves 25 minutes to run MergeMaster and have an hour upgrade. Without MergeMaster the upgrades were taking hours. X was especially quirky for a couple of weeks. It was like they changed a table and something was upgraded and then everything was in sync and problem free. The system was for a special purpose and wasn't supporting a number of customers. When you have many customers on a box, you spend the time to do the upgrade. Reinstalling the user base really isn't an option. BTW, I have Netscape on all of my systems and it actually boots on the Celeron faster than on NT. I have many more plug-ins on NT and they add significantly to the startup time. Some time soon, I will change the window manger and see what is really out there. XDM, or what ever the default is, is really a command line version that supports x-apps and there are lots of choices out there to play with :). Cheers, Kent > > So as not to be all doom and gloom, I can say I've learnt a great deal. Also > I would recommend to you cvsupit and mergemaster. All praise to the coders. > > ian > > e-mail: ianjhart@freeloader.freeserve.co.uk > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message -- Kent Stewart Richland, WA mailto:kstewart@3-cities.com http://www.3-cities.com/~kstewart/index.html SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) @ Home http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message
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