Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:46:26 -0700 From: Chuck Swiger <cswiger@mac.com> To: Chris Stankevitz <cstankevitz@toyon.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Packages available for different FreeBSD versions Message-ID: <A1943023-5226-47E0-AB2F-B72814260687@mac.com> In-Reply-To: <4A89CA18.7000506@toyon.com> References: <4A89BD3E.8020804@toyon.com> <d356c5630908171342m4c8469dcw6a64c5d2a5990457@mail.gmail.com> <4A89CA18.7000506@toyon.com>
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On Aug 17, 2009, at 2:22 PM, Chris Stankevitz wrote:
> When I install FreeBSD, I am installing a "core operating system
> version number" (your term).
Most people install FreeBSD from a release CD; ie, they install 6.4-
RELEASE, or 7.2-RELEASE, or similar.
> Then I may choose to install the "ports" as either "STABLE" or
> "CURRENT" neither of which is associated with any "core operating
> system version number". From this point on, all application updates
> will arrive via "ports" .
Ports are not branched-- there is no STABLE or CURRENT for ports. The
same ports tree can be used on 6.x, 7.x, and 8-CURRENT.
> A question:
>
> Imaging one person installs FreeBSD-6.4 RELEASE and updates to
> STABLE ports. Another installs FreeBSD-7.2 RELEASE and also updates
> to STABLE ports. Are there any applications that the FreeBSD-6.4
> person cannot install (e.g. the latest apache or VirtualBox)?
If a port does not compile on a given OS version, something like the
following is used in the port Makefile:
./audio/mumble/Makefile-.if ${OSVERSION} < 700000
./audio/mumble/Makefile:BROKEN= Does not compile on FreeBSD < 7.0
./audio/mumble/Makefile-.endif
The same mechanism can be used for ports that do not compile on a
particular architecture, such as amd64 or sparc. See: http://www.freshports.org/ports-broken.php
> If so, by what mechanism is he prevented?
The port Makefiles will return an error if/when the port is known to
be broken under a certain circumstance.
> What are the repercussions of never updating the "core operating
> system version number"?
Well, you'll miss ongoing security updates and improvements to the
system. Eventually, if you refuse to update the base OS for a very
long period of time (years), you'll end up running an unsupported
version of the OS and some of the ongoing updates to the ports tree
may not work properly.
> FYI my experience is with Gentoo which as no "core operating system
> version number". All system updates come from "portage" (like your
> ports).
>
> > ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/
> >
> > They are arranged by computer architecture and release number.
> There
> > are also stable directories for certain releases.
>
> Thank you for providing this. It raises two questions:
>
> 1. If the STABLE ports tree is not associated with a "core operating
> system version number", why are there two directories for STABLE
> packages:
>
> ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-6-stable/
> ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-7-stable/
When you compile something, you normally end up with runtime
dependencies upon a particular version of the C libraries, so the
packages for 6-STABLE and 7-STABLE are not the same. However, 6-
STABLE packages should run on a 7.x OS if you've got the misc/compat6x
port installed, which makes the 6.x shared libraries available on a
7.x or 8.x version FreeBSD.
> 2. What is the difference between these two?
> ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-7.2-release/
> ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-7-stable/
>
> My guess:
> The first is the packages that were made available in the 7.2
> RELEASE CDs.
You're right, here.
> The second is a directory that is re-created every 5 minutes by
> updating the ports collection and compiling all the applications in
> it.
Sort of. It takes longer than 5 minutes to rebuild all ~20K ports,
but yes, the 7-stable packages are updated continuously over time....
Regards,
--
-Chuck
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