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Date:      Thu, 23 Jan 1997 11:27:58 -0800 (PST)
From:      Doug White <dwhite@gdi.uoregon.edu>
To:        matra <matra@diemme.it>
Cc:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: FreeBSD Newbie...
Message-ID:  <Pine.BSI.3.94.970123110136.6018F-100000@localhost>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.3.93.970120211534.62A-100000@bridget.devlab.org>

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On Mon, 20 Jan 1997, matra wrote:

> Under Linux i have only to patch the kernel and recompile! Why have i to
> install and recompile everyting ?!..

[soapbox on]
Because we do not do things the way Linux does.  FreeBSD is composed of
highly organized RELEASES.  One kernel version, one set of binaries, one
published install set. Not ten.  When you get the FreeBSD CDROM, you can
say, "This IS FreeBSD," not, "This is xyz's mishmash of FreeBSD."

We (well, I) don't like people having radically different kernel and
binary versions, it makes for a support headache. It's so much easier when
people say "I'm running 2.1.5-RELEASE"  because we all know what went into
2.1.5.  With Linux, you have people say "im running kernel version xxx and
binary version yyy and lib version zzz...."  ad inifintum ad nauseum.
What a pain!

(This is one reason why I use FreeBSD, btw.)
[soapbox off]

You can just grab the kernel source and cross your fingers that your old
stuff will work. Unfortunately you will loose out on many of the
non-kernel related system upgrades and fixes. 

> The last night i have ftped the ssys.** of the 2.1.6 dist, unpacked it
> and compiled in the sys dir ; All works correctly with no "make world"
> commands . 

You don't have to 'make world' to upgrade; just perform the install
procedure like you did when you initially installed, but this time select
'upgrade' from the main menu instead of 'Novice' or whatever you selected. 
People that track the source tree (-current) have to make world every so
often, but the rest of the world just uses the boot floppy upgrade
procedure. 

> Why have i to "make world" every time i have the new kernel ?

make world doesn't build a new kernel. 'cd /sys/i386/conf; config
MYKERNEL; cd ../../compile/MYKERNEL; make depend && make && make install'
makes a new kernel.  

You may make changes to your kernel without upgrading the rest of the
system, ie if you buy a SCSI adapter that you excluded before, you can add
it into your kernel config file, rebuild, install, and reboot, and your
system won't notice the difference except you suddenly have a SCSI
controller (and associated devices).

See the Handbook for full details on kernel building; there is a very nice
section there with many details.

> Another question for you :
> Under linux the gcc is 2.7.2 and libc is 5.4.17 . Under FreeBSD the 
> version is older : gcc 2.6.3 and libc 2.2 ( at least in my dist ).

The libc versions do not match between systems; do not even attempt to
compare them.  :) 

If you upgraded the binaries when you updated to 2.1.6, you would have got
gcc 2.7.2.1. 

> And how can i upgrade the gcc/libc/libg++ ? Can i ftp from prep.ai.mit.edu
> the src and compile them ?

No, you cannot; there are many FreeBSD-specific fixes in gcc that make it
uncompilable by normal mortals directly from distribution.  If you felt
sadistic you could checkout the gcc source from the FreeBSD source tree
and build it yourself, but I think that upgrading using the normal method
would save you many headaches and lots of aspirin.

Hope this helps you understand our way of doing things. :-)

Doug White                              | University of Oregon  
Internet:  dwhite@resnet.uoregon.edu    | Residence Networking Assistant
http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~dwhite    | Computer Science Major




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