From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Aug 17 23:19:02 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D7A4C1065672 for ; Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:19:02 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from cswiger@mac.com) Received: from asmtpout018.mac.com (asmtpout018.mac.com [17.148.16.93]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C43378FC15 for ; Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:19:02 +0000 (UTC) MIME-version: 1.0 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes Received: from cswiger1.apple.com ([17.227.140.124]) by asmtp018.mac.com (Sun Java(tm) System Messaging Server 6.3-8.01 (built Dec 16 2008; 32bit)) with ESMTPSA id <0KOJ006C6KN74C50@asmtp018.mac.com> for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:18:44 -0700 (PDT) Message-id: <1BF62A37-3371-4788-B241-47A591C8666B@mac.com> From: Chuck Swiger To: Chris Stankevitz In-reply-to: <4A89D4F9.9020508@toyon.com> Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:18:43 -0700 References: <4A89BD3E.8020804@toyon.com> <4A89CA18.7000506@toyon.com> <4A89D4F9.9020508@toyon.com> X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.936) Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Packages available for different FreeBSD versions X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:19:02 -0000 On Aug 17, 2009, at 3:08 PM, Chris Stankevitz wrote: > Chuck Swiger wrote: >> 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. > > 1. With what is the STABLE/CURRENT tag associated? > a) "core operating system version number" > b) the ports collection > c) something else The core OS. If you install 7.2-RELEASE, and then update the OS software against 7-STABLE (which is CVS tag RELENG_7), you will get security fixes and other changes which will eventually become 7.3- RELEASE. If you just want security updates and no other changes, you'd update against RELENG_7_2 instead. >>> 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. > > 2. I thought security updates and improvements to the system would > arrive via the ports mechanism. What kinds of things are not updated > via ports? (My experience is with Gentoo where everything is > updated via portage and there is no "core operating system version > number"). In other platforms, everything is a package, and can be updated via portage, yum, etc. In the BSDs, the baseline or core OS is separate from installed ports or packages, and is updated separately from them. Regards, -- -Chuck