From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Aug 10 08:19:31 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8862616A4CE for ; Tue, 10 Aug 2004 08:19:31 +0000 (GMT) Received: from smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk (smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk [81.2.69.218]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4AA2443D2F for ; Tue, 10 Aug 2004 08:19:30 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk) Received: from happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk (localhost.infracaninophile.co.uk [IPv6:::1])i7A8JMsF074942 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO); Tue, 10 Aug 2004 09:19:22 +0100 (BST) (envelope-from matthew@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk) Received: (from matthew@localhost)id i7A8JL9s074941; Tue, 10 Aug 2004 09:19:21 +0100 (BST) (envelope-from matthew) Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2004 09:19:21 +0100 From: Matthew Seaman To: Ara Avvali Message-ID: <20040810081921.GA26794@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk> Mail-Followup-To: Matthew Seaman , Ara Avvali , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <20040809205644.D685416A51C@hub.freebsd.org> <4117E981.102@Avvali.COM> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="XsQoSWH+UP9D9v3l" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <4117E981.102@Avvali.COM> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.6i X-Greylist: Message not sent from an IPv4 address, not delayed by milter-greylist-1.5.3 (smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk [0.0.0.0]); Tue, 10 Aug 2004 09:19:22 +0100 (BST) X-Virus-Scanned: clamd / ClamAV version devel-20040705, clamav-milter version 0.74a on smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk X-Virus-Status: Clean X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-4.8 required=5.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=2.64 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.64 (2004-01-11) on happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: freebsd-questions Digest, Vol 72, Issue 2 X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2004 08:19:31 -0000 --XsQoSWH+UP9D9v3l Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable =46rom: "fbsd_user" > On Mon, Aug 09, 2004 at 05:15:45PM -0400, Ara Avvali wrote: > 5.3 stable release tentatively scheduled for Oct 3 >> Is this considered to be stable? I mean as stable as 4.10? The 5-STABLE branch is intended to be considered stable; that is suitable for use as a production server. The FreeBSD project will certainly be doing its utmost between now and October to make that into a reality. In the past the FreeBSD project has generally delivered on that promise, but it can take a few releases from the new stable branch before everything is bedded down properly. Now, the jump between 4.x and 5.x in terms of the changes made to the system is much larger than previous major version bumps, and the length of time between the creation of 5-CURRENT and 5-STABLE has been correspondingly longer. That all means that there's more to go wrong, potentially with this upgrade. It is inevitable that 5.x will have bugs and it will take some more development beyond the creation of 5-STABLE to put the desired degree of polish on it. That's why the project has taken a range of new steps in order to smooth over the transition. Some of those steps you've seen already -- the whole series of "Technology Preview" releases is aimed at getting 5.x out there on a reasonably large selection of machines so that as much debugging as possible happens before the official STABLE release. The other measure is extended suppport for the 4-STABLE branch, or rather 4.x-RELEASE derived from it. 4.11-RELEASE will presumably be the last full scale release from the 4.x branch. That means that as well as the extended support for 4.8-RELEASE announced some months ago, there will be the normal 1 year's support for 4.11 that should last up to 2005/2006. Only the most conservative of FreeBSD users may well choose to stick with 4.x for much longer. Most people, I think, should be able to upgrade to 5.x without too many problems. After 4.11-RELEASE presumably the project will drop back to "normal", making 3 releases a year from the -STABLE branch, instead of the 6 or more releases (from STABLE and CURRENT) there have been recently. Until the 6-CURRENT branch gets good enough for the 6.x technology preview releases... Cheers, Matthew --=20 Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 26 The Paddocks Savill Way PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey Marlow Tel: +44 1628 476614 Bucks., SL7 1TH UK --XsQoSWH+UP9D9v3l Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.5 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQFBGIUJiD657aJF7eIRAtsjAJ9iMaL8/jTTsde+f0jFV0iGhXlrBACfVgJJ xyewK+EAw/7HoOtfB9IWEd8= =mJMN -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --XsQoSWH+UP9D9v3l--