From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Oct 16 13:29:56 2014 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher AECDH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id A595675B for ; Thu, 16 Oct 2014 13:29:56 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-la0-x22f.google.com (mail-la0-x22f.google.com [IPv6:2a00:1450:4010:c03::22f]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-RC4-SHA (128/128 bits)) (Client CN "smtp.gmail.com", Issuer "Google Internet Authority G2" (verified OK)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 2B40B617 for ; Thu, 16 Oct 2014 13:29:55 +0000 (UTC) Received: by mail-la0-f47.google.com with SMTP id pv20so2912514lab.34 for ; Thu, 16 Oct 2014 06:29:54 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=googlemail.com; s=20120113; h=date:from:to:subject:message-id:in-reply-to:references:mime-version :content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=WxDr++UyZLAdupy0aTXoWFToaH+L9GjLrnhOeEgDweU=; b=1JwCoDcuvbKnlHFDFqe1eApFRaIKMbMh/p29ha3NREArHAYT8j1cdFAjBm7mV+y2h/ LdIe6lj3P7JikL0KQkatIyeCSXKTiT+aAthIJnOx/Kk1m5K08s1H/ZFcPxT7hU5mw09u 0yO3cMe43MHn0EwoFjsNnEXU8pxeqwgAJEfgCMq7fIklrqw4ygSPIrOYOjYUGJ5LL8nR K2Ues19JXxryeSaxzdATQX7J79JL8d6ze7fQqInuOiwcDJI5YiFPKQ9/1d0MaCgeEy+k kdvT2LXs/4ZrEFkS1pRYUxTPmKgiTFHFadHyjZ1x0mocClV18aQ4hSG9CiuWs84Kljwe In2A== X-Received: by 10.152.179.164 with SMTP id dh4mr1589253lac.55.1413466194090; Thu, 16 Oct 2014 06:29:54 -0700 (PDT) Received: from gumby.homeunix.com (5ec1f671.skybroadband.com. [94.193.246.113]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPSA id j2sm7786731lbp.16.2014.10.16.06.29.52 for (version=SSLv3 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-RC4-SHA bits=128/128); Thu, 16 Oct 2014 06:29:53 -0700 (PDT) Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 14:29:51 +0100 From: RW To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Noob question .... Message-ID: <20141016142951.2ceed51c@gumby.homeunix.com> In-Reply-To: <543FBB5E.5050904@hiwaay.net> References: <543F041D.7030206@hiwaay.net> <20141016013646.34d542e6.freebsd@edvax.de> <543F0863.60205@hiwaay.net> <543F72C7.6040401@qeng-ho.org> <543FBB5E.5050904@hiwaay.net> X-Mailer: Claws Mail 3.10.1 (GTK+ 2.24.22; amd64-portbld-freebsd10.0) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18-1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 13:29:56 -0000 On Thu, 16 Oct 2014 07:34:38 -0500 William A. Mahaffey III wrote: > On 10/16/14 02:24, Arthur Chance wrote: > > Think of "stable" as in "doctors said his condition was stable". :-) > > > > -CURRENT == will break regularly. > > > > -STABLE == shouldn't break but might occasionally. > > > > -RELEASE == won't break (if your hardware is OK and you don't do > > something stupid). > > Thx, good description, I think I have it straight now :-) .... A lot of the risk comes from being sloppy with the extra work required to track STABLE and CURRENT. If you track STABLE then any update can bring in the kind of change that comes with switching to a new minor release: new system users/groups, updated files that have to be handled manually. If you track CURRENT then any update can bring in the kind of change than comes with switching to a new major release, which may mean you have to rebuild some or all of your ports or follow recipes to avoid breakages. Updating to a point release can be done with practically no effort.