Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 09:55:49 -0700 (PDT) From: Annelise Anderson <andrsn@andrsn.stanford.edu> To: nunnari <roberto.nunnari@agie.ch> Cc: questions <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: release vs. stable Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.96.990528093600.24137A-100000@andrsn.stanford.edu> In-Reply-To: <374E60B5.2583CC0C@agie.ch>
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Think of -stable as a branch of a tree that continues to grow and produce fruit. Right now the "stable" branch is branch 3 and the "- current" (experimental) branch is branch 4. FreeBSD 3.2-RELEASE is a fruit of the branch--a product of it representing how the 3 branch looked on the day it was plucked from the tree. Earlier fruits of this branch (the fruit of the limb?) are 3.1-RELEASE and 3.0. But the branch changes every day as programmers change things. Every day a "snapshot" is made of how the system looks. These snapshots are very much like a "release" in the sense that you can download the floppies and install, but they are not put on cdrom and sold. The 2.2 branch (the numbering is not entirely consistent) is now at version 2.2.8 (which is the last release along this branch). This is a very fine system, but many changes have taken place and this branch is no longer being developed, so changes are few. Because it's a devil of a job to upgrade from 2.2.8 to 3.2 or even 3.1, for a new install 3.2 is the best choice. Note that the branch, branch 3 or what is the -stable branch right now, changes virtually every day, but a release is a fixed output of that branch. So 3.2-RELEASE is a release along the present -stable branch. When the 4.0 branch, which is right now the -current branch, is ready for production use and has enough established new features to differentiate it from the 3 branch, it will be released as a product and become the -stable branch and a new branch (probably 5) will be created and being to grow....it will then be the "-current" branch. HTH! Annelise On Fri, 28 May 1999, nunnari wrote: > Hi there. > > Can anybody shortly explain me what's the difference > between FreeBSD-release and FreeBSD-stable? > > I read the readme file but it didn't help much... > > Thanks. > -- > Roberto Nunnari -software engineer- > mailto:roberto.nunnari@agie.ch > AGIE - http://www.agie.com > Via dei pioppi 16 tel: +41-91-8069138 > 6616 Losone """ > Switzerland (o o) > =======================oOO==(_)==OOo======================== > MY OPNIONS ARE NOT NECESSARELY THOSE OF MY EMPLOYER > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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