From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Oct 30 09:25:07 2007 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 61E6216A41B for ; Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:25:07 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from dsyphers@u.washington.edu) Received: from mxout3.cac.washington.edu (mxout3.cac.washington.edu [140.142.32.166]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 336A613C4DB for ; Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:25:07 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from dsyphers@u.washington.edu) Received: from smtp.washington.edu (smtp.washington.edu [140.142.32.139]) by mxout3.cac.washington.edu (8.13.7+UW06.06/8.13.7+UW07.09) with ESMTP id l9U8ZAwg022991 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=OK); Tue, 30 Oct 2007 01:35:10 -0700 X-Auth-Received: from [192.168.1.102] (c-67-161-112-197.hsd1.wa.comcast.net [67.161.112.197]) (authenticated authid=dsyphers) by smtp.washington.edu (8.13.7+UW06.06/8.13.7+UW07.09) with ESMTP id l9U8ZAtc021975 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT); Tue, 30 Oct 2007 01:35:10 -0700 From: David Syphers To: "Jason Slack" Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 01:37:35 -0700 User-Agent: KMail/1.9.6 References: <7dc35e670710291625l43902c92o5b364f84bf769811@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <7dc35e670710291625l43902c92o5b364f84bf769811@mail.gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Message-Id: <200710300137.36331.dsyphers@u.washington.edu> X-PMX-Version: 5.3.3.310218, Antispam-Engine: 2.5.2.313940, Antispam-Data: 2007.10.30.11817 X-Uwash-Spam: Gauge=IIIIIII, Probability=7%, Report='__CD 0, __CP_URI_IN_BODY 0, __CT 0, __CTE 0, __CT_TEXT_PLAIN 0, __HAS_MSGID 0, __MIME_TEXT_ONLY 0, __MIME_VERSION 0, __SANE_MSGID 0, __USER_AGENT 0' Cc: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Upgrading FreeBSD Questions 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: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:25:07 -0000 On Monday 29 October 2007, Jason Slack wrote: > Hi All, > > I am new to FreeBSD, or want to be. > > I have an HP Media center PC that has the Viiv 920-D processor with 4GB of > RAM. I hate Windows, but had to sell my MacBook so my Fiance and I could > get into a new apartment together. > > I want to try version 7 as it has items of interest to me, but I am not one > to continually wipe and reload my machine, can you upgrade from the test > releases of 7 available now to the final release when ready? Or do you have > to wipe? With FreeBSD you can (by and large) upgrade from anything to anything. Certainly from 6.x or 7-beta to 7.0 release when that happens. (Upgrades to later 7.x releases will be painless as well.) You can do a binary upgrade, but most people on this list (-stable) will use source upgrade. See http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/cutting-edge.html It's really a fairly straightforward procedure, especially for someone with Unix background like yourself. When you upgrade, make sure you're using the source tag that you want (maybe RELENG_7_0 for you, which is the release branch - only critical fixes will go in this after the release happens). Welcome to FreeBSD. -David