Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Sun, 31 Jan 2010 09:33:51 +0100
From:      Roland Smith <rsmith@xs4all.nl>
To:        Jeff Mitchell <skeezix@skeleton.org>
Cc:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Help! Upgrade from fbsd 5.4 to 8.x
Message-ID:  <20100131083351.GA26019@slackbox.xs4all.nl>
In-Reply-To: <20100130225014.C36480@fw.skeleton.org>
References:  <20100130225014.C36480@fw.skeleton.org>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help

--azLHFNyN32YCQGCU
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Disposition: inline
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

On Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 11:08:05PM -0500, Jeff Mitchell wrote:
>=20
>  	ie: This machine has a lot going on .. wiki's (ie: apache et al),=20
> mysql databases, mailing lists, and a dozen hand rolled applications.=20
> (Hey, someone has to write custom emulators of ancient systems to keep=20
> BBSes alive, right?) Naturally, /etc is modified all to hell, and I'm=20
> terrified of any automated upgrades for fear random things would just not=
=20
> work later. Especially with the age... Things work great, but I worry=20
> about security naturally, and keeping up with patches or installing=20
> anything new is a nightmare due to dependancies.

Realize that things like apache, mysql etc. will have changed since the 5.4
days as well. As for the files in /etc and /usr/local/etc, I tend to have a
~/setup/$HOSTNAME directory where I keep configuration files under revision
control. I use some perl scripts so check if e.g. a port or system has caus=
ed
any changes in /etc. There is also a script the installs the files in their
proper location and executes post-install commands. I've documented this on=
 a
webpage; http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/unix/configfiles.xhtml

>  	o Some of the executables on this box are without source but I=20
> still need them to run; short of moving them to a VM and doing some=20
> voodoo, what are the chances a binary built for fbsd 5.x works fine in=20
> 8.x? (earlier fbsd's had the break between gcc versions, but I'm rather=
=20

The GENERIC kernel in 8.0 comes with the COMPAT_FREEBSD5 option by default,=
 so
the only thing you need to do is to install the misc/compat5x port.

>  	3 - yank the drive, slap a giant new fat drive in there, do a full=20
> fbsd 8.0 install, and then migration from old drive as needed

Definitely #3.

>  	Aside -- whats the recommended way to stay on top of upgrades=20
> anyway? It used to be a tortuous process back 5 years ago, but hopefully=
=20
> things are much more streamlined now .. nightly 'make upgrade' ftw :)

I tend to keep my main machine on RELEASE-pN, unless there is good reason to
follow STABLE (e.g. hardware support). As for ports, there is the following
weekly ritual;

    less /usr/ports/UPDATING
    portsnap fetch extract
    portmaster -a -B -d

HTH,

Roland
--=20
R.F.Smith                                   http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/
[plain text _non-HTML_ PGP/GnuPG encrypted/signed email much appreciated]
pgp: 1A2B 477F 9970 BA3C 2914  B7CE 1277 EFB0 C321 A725 (KeyID: C321A725)

--azLHFNyN32YCQGCU
Content-Type: application/pgp-signature
Content-Disposition: inline

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v2.0.14 (FreeBSD)

iEYEARECAAYFAktlQG8ACgkQEnfvsMMhpyWxKgCfcdSFer0jZM1f11esAIgCHZBa
sdIAn3esAcOESk8scqR+pH9GO8BWHlPe
=Ehve
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

--azLHFNyN32YCQGCU--



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20100131083351.GA26019>