Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2009 07:09:42 +0100 From: Matthew Seaman <m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk> To: Peter Clark <clarkp@mtmary.edu> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Crusty upgrade (was Make Question) Message-ID: <4A3888A6.6030205@infracaninophile.co.uk> In-Reply-To: <4A382A27.2010108@mtmary.edu> References: <4A3159B3.5090009@mtmary.edu> <4A316C54.3040409@otenet.gr> <44zlcephis.fsf@be-well.ilk.org> <4A382A27.2010108@mtmary.edu>
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This is an OpenPGP/MIME signed message (RFC 2440 and 3156) --------------enigEE9866E2A7312CB0B030CB6B Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Peter Clark wrote: > Lowell Gilbert wrote: >> Manolis Kiagias <sonicy@otenet.gr> writes: >> >>>> I have inherited an old FreeBSD 5.1 machine(5.1-RELEASE-p18). I >>>> realize that the short answer to my question is more than likely to >>>> upgrade the OS to a current release and I would if I had that option= >>>> right now, but I do not. I needed to upgrade the perl/openssh/openss= l >>>> implementation on this box. My first thought was to use the port on >>>> the machine that was from that era but make fails. So then I thought= >>>> to csup the ports tree and try with a new version, that fails as wel= l. >>>> The error is as follows: >>>> >>> 5.1 (in fact all 5.X) has reached EOL. The latest ports tree won't >>> compile stuff for 5.X. Use the following line in your ports-supfile = to >>> get the last ports tree that was supported in 5.X: >>> >>> *default release=3Dcvs tag=3DRELEASE_5_EOL >>> >>> instead of >>> >>> *default release=3Dcvs tag=3D. >>> >>> Still, since this is going to be really old you may still have proble= ms >>> (missing distfiles and so on). But is worth trying if you must stay w= ith >>> 5.X for whatever reason. >> >> One thing it won't do is get you any of the bug fixes to the ssh port.= >> > As a number of people have pointed out this is turning into a bigger=20 > headache than it needs to be. The good thing is that allowed me to get = > the ok to upgrade the system. This box will be taken out of service in = > the near future but I do need it to remain functional for a couple mont= hs. >=20 > Is there a recommended upgrade path? I know about cvsup and whatnot.=20 > What I mean is are there some blatant gotchas when making this big a=20 > jump (5.1p18 -> 6.4)? Are there some recommended stops along the way or= =20 > can it be done in one fell swoop. Is Colin Percival's freebsd-update.sh= =20 > a viable way to approach this? > http://www.daemonology.net/blog/2007-11-11-freebsd-major-version-upgrad= e.html=20 >=20 > This is a production box so I want to cover my bases before I jump into= =20 > this. FreeBSD 5.1 was a transitional release between the old 4.x series where the giant lock reigned supreme, multiprocessor support and threading had = not been very well developed; and 5.4 or above where the essentials of the mo= dern fine-grained locking, multithreaded, multicpu-core style were establ= ished.=20 Which means that upgrading across those versions is only for gurus or mas= ochists. It's also way before freebsd-update was available (possibly even before i= t was conceived in the mind of Colin). My recommendation is to buy a replacement HDD (or HDDs), swap into the ma= chine reserving the old disk(s) as your fall-back in case of disaster, and then= build a new system from scratch using an up to date version of the OS. Given t= he HDDs in that box must be about 4 years old anyhow, swapping out the disks is a= pretty good idea just from a reliability point of view. Personally I'd go for 7= =2E2-RELEASE on the basis that a) it performs better than 6.x and b) there's more supp= ort lifetime remaining for the 7.x series. Cheers, Matthew --=20 Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 7 Priory Courtyard Flat 3 PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey Ramsgate Kent, CT11 9PW --------------enigEE9866E2A7312CB0B030CB6B Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc" Content-Description: OpenPGP digital signature Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="signature.asc" -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.11 (FreeBSD) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iEYEAREIAAYFAko4iKwACgkQ8Mjk52CukIxCGACdHyJEEZVUBR0jhzpK10VnrODE zlEAn3dOo+k15wHa4UGsWdKrBdrbTx1b =EWbH -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --------------enigEE9866E2A7312CB0B030CB6B--
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