Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 23:26:43 -0400 From: "Robert H. Perry" <rperry4@earthlink.net> To: Sergey 'DoubleF' Zaharchenko <doublef@tele-kom.ru> Cc: FreeBSD-Questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Upgrade to 4.8 RELEASE Message-ID: <3F94A773.9080104@earthlink.net> In-Reply-To: <20031020134258.4f4f0efd.doublef@tele-kom.ru> References: <3F91D517.7040100@earthlink.net> <20031020134258.4f4f0efd.doublef@tele-kom.ru>
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>>Hello, >> >>I'm making plans to upgrade from 4.7 RELEASE to 4.8 RELEASE. My >>previous attempt was a binary upgrade from 4.5 to 4.7 which did not go >>very well. I eventually purchased the 4.7 CD. >> >>The FreeBSD Handbook stresses backing up the system and implies that >>/dump/ is a better backup program. Chapter 12.9.8.1 of the handbook >>recommends having a copy of the boot and fixit floppies available and >>making sure they have all your devices, otherwise you'll need to prepare >>two bootable custom floppies that contain /fdisk, disklabel, newfs, >>mount, /and your backup program. It goes on to say that these programs >>must be statically linked. I understand hard and soft links but I'm not >>familiar with static links. The handbook also provides a script for >>creatinng a bootable floppy. >> >> > >A static link is a firm link:) Seriously, static linking has nothing to >do with filesystem links. A statically linked program just uses no >shared libraries. AFAICT the programs in /stand (and /bin and /sbin) are >statically linked (note that those in /stand are also a "crunchbox", >that is, a single "monolithic" program which runs differently depending >on the name it was run as). You really have to mess with this only if >you are going to write your own program to run from a boot floppy. > >You can use file(1) if you want to see if a program is staticlally linked: > >$ file /usr/bin/find >/usr/bin/find: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (FreeBSD), for FreeBSD 4.8, dynamically linked (uses shared libs), stripped >$ file /stand/find >/stand/find: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (FreeBSD), for FreeBSD 4.8, statically linked, stripped > Thanks for the education Sergey. This makes a lot more sense now. I never prepared a boot floppy when I initially installed 4.7 so I thought the handbook was suggesting a necessary alternative (?). If it's not absolutely necessary, I'll skip it. Any suggestions relative to the upgrade process is also appreciated. > >In fact, a source update isn't as dangerous as you expect. > That's what I've heard and I suspect you're right. However, AFAICT, past failures have usually come as a result of not following the handbook. Maybe this floppy is a bit of overkill though. Thanks again. Bob
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