Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 10:36:10 +0100 From: Matthew Seaman <m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk> To: "Michael G. Goodell" <michael2043@comcast.net> Cc: FreeBSD Questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Last Question On Which Release Is Best For Production Message-ID: <20041001093610.GA91573@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk> In-Reply-To: <EOEHJPPPHJMFCJJOFCHNGEPOCFAA.michael2043@comcast.net> References: <EOEHJPPPHJMFCJJOFCHNGEPOCFAA.michael2043@comcast.net>
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--9jxsPFA5p3P2qPhR Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Thu, Sep 30, 2004 at 10:12:36PM -0600, Michael G. Goodell wrote: > My question is this: I currently run 5.1 (uname -a yields: 5.1-RELEASE-p1= 7) > and I read at the page http://www.freebsd.org/releng/index.html it states > that 5.1 is Frozen and also states (not officially supported) - Does this > mean that I am using a release that is not supported at all any longer an= d I > should upgrade to 5.3 or will my 5.1 release still have security patches = and > such applied to it and eventually become production worthy. Am I just > missing out on functionality by sticking with 5.1 and not moving up to 5.= 3? > Moreover, *if* I choose to move to 5.3 (when it is ready for prime time) = can > I change my cvsupfile and then rebuild my kernel and world to the new 5.3 > release? "5.1 is no longer supported" means that there is no guarrantee that any security patches etc. will be applied to it. Although individual committers may well provide patches to 5.1 if they have the time and the inclination, this cannot be relied upon. Anyone still running 5.1 should upgrade as soon as possible. 5.1 will never be declared a production ready release. First of all, that's because it is a *RELEASE*. Releases do not have development work committed to them, not even to fix obvious bugs[1]. The only things that would ever be fixed are security problems. If you want new code, you can either upgrade to a newer release, or track one of the development branches (4-STABLE, 5-STABLE, CURRENT) Secondly, it's a developer preview -- a snap shot of the upcoming 5.x series of releases made solely for testing purposes. Full scale releases are guarranteed support for at least one year. Developer previews, on the other hand, just last until superceded by the next preview, in this case 5.2.1-RELEASE. Even that is teetering on the rim of consignment to the dustbin of history, with the impending 5.3-RELEASE. Right now, installing one of the 5.3-BETAs is in many cases a better choice than installing 5.2.1-RELEASE. 5.3 however *is* intended to be production ready, with all of the long term support that implies. You can use cvsup and buildworld to upgrade to 5.3-BETA right now, or 5.3-RELEASE when it becomes available. However, you will need to read /usr/src/UPDATING carefully, as that upgrade has a few gotchas! It just needs you to do some stuff you wouldn't normally do for a routine buildworld so that everything will work smoothly. If you're inexperienced at using buildworld to maintain your system, make serious consideration of just doing a reinstall from the 5.3 .iso images. Cheers, Matthew [1] With one exception: 4.10-RELEASE has been declared a 'security and errata' branch. All other releases are strictly 'security branches'. --=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 --9jxsPFA5p3P2qPhR Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.6 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQFBXSUKiD657aJF7eIRAk63AKCzJjQ6tOdZdHdtLYBVd/9EhfY3+ACgqMYE MNpUma3ClaC8bfE8gYMHYy8= =oTZU -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --9jxsPFA5p3P2qPhR--
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