From nobody Fri May 8 16:37:32 2026 X-Original-To: freebsd-current@mlmmj.nyi.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2610:1c1:1:606c::19:1]) by mlmmj.nyi.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4gBvtD31PCz6ccgg for ; Fri, 08 May 2026 16:37:40 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from david@catwhisker.org) Received: from mx.catwhisker.org (mx.catwhisker.org [107.204.234.170]) (using TLSv1.3 with cipher TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (256/256 bits) key-exchange X25519 server-signature RSA-PSS (4096 bits) server-digest SHA256) (Client did not present a certificate) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 4gBvtC50Mnz3Nkw for ; Fri, 08 May 2026 16:37:39 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from david@catwhisker.org) Authentication-Results: mx1.freebsd.org; none Received: from albert.catwhisker.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by albert.catwhisker.org (8.18.1/8.18.1) with ESMTP id 648GbWGv078343; Fri, 8 May 2026 16:37:32 GMT (envelope-from david@albert.catwhisker.org) Received: (from david@localhost) by albert.catwhisker.org (8.18.1/8.18.1/Submit) id 648GbWVP078342; Fri, 8 May 2026 09:37:32 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from david) Date: Fri, 8 May 2026 09:37:32 -0700 From: David Wolfskill To: bob prohaska Cc: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Update strategy and timing Message-ID: Reply-To: current@freebsd.org Mail-Followup-To: current@freebsd.org, bob prohaska , freebsd-current@freebsd.org References: List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Archive: https://lists.freebsd.org/archives/freebsd-current List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: Sender: owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.org List-Id: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: List-Owner: Precedence: list MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha512; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="Gxoy4Bn0ZgF48U3k" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: X-Spamd-Result: default: False [-4.00 / 15.00]; REPLY(-4.00)[]; ASN(0.00)[asn:7018, ipnet:107.192.0.0/12, country:US] X-Rspamd-Queue-Id: 4gBvtC50Mnz3Nkw X-Spamd-Bar: ---- X-Rspamd-Pre-Result: action=no action; module=replies; Message is reply to one we originated --Gxoy4Bn0ZgF48U3k Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Fri, May 08, 2026 at 08:48:17AM -0700, bob prohaska wrote: > Is there a preferred strategy to timing updates > for self-hosted FreeBSD systems?=20 I am not aware of anything approaching "consensus" on that. > On the stable branches it's easy; just update when > updates are announced and build/install. Once caught > up, things can be left alone for days at least.. That does not match my perception (unless one substitutes "releng branches" for "stable branches"). > With -current there's essentially no pause in the > stream of fresh commits, so git finds a new commit > by the time buildworld finishes. Mostly, except that there are ... fluctuations in the flow ... newar significant code freezes. > Is there some marker or indicator that signals the > -current tree is at least nominally consistent and > buildable? I'm not asking if it'll work, just whenter > it's worth a try. Not that I am aware of. > ... > Is this approach at all sound? Is there a better way? Caveat: I do not claim that this is "better" (or even "plausibly doable") for others; it seems to work passably well for me. Sketched roughly (further details at https://www.catwhisker.org/~david/FreeBSD/upgrade.html): * I have a handful of machines on which I track head & stable (at the moment, stable/15; usually, whatever is jthe most recent stable release), and where I update all installed ports daily. * Each of them has a local private mirror of the 3 FreeBSD.org repositories: doc, ports, & src. * One of those machines (which is also my package-builder for the machines that I only update weekly) actually syncs its mirror with upstream as of 03:25 local time. The others sync from it 5 minutes later. * One of the laptops in question is the one I use for day-to-day work; it's the one I am using to type this message (though the mutt process is running on one of the "only weekly" machines). * Other than ports that provide kernel modules, the ports/packages are built (only) under stable, and /usr/local is the same whether a given machine is running head or stable. I will generally install misc/compat* ports as needed (and then remove them when they are no longer necessary -- e.g., after migrating from stable/14 to stable/15). * This usually works well (for me), but there is occasional ... turbulence. Sometimes, it's straightforward to address; sometimes ... not so much. * I have been doing this for a little over 2 decades; fairly diligently for the last decade or so. > Thanks for reading! >=20 > bob prohaska > ... Peace, david --=20 David H. Wolfskill david@catwhisker.org See https://www.catwhisker.org/~david/publickey.gpg for my public key. --Gxoy4Bn0ZgF48U3k Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name=signature.asc -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- iNUEARYKAH0WIQRCec5RsK7Enudh3yGB9MJ9AwUELQUCaf4RTF8UgAAAAAAuAChp c3N1ZXItZnByQG5vdGF0aW9ucy5vcGVucGdwLmZpZnRoaG9yc2VtYW4ubmV0NDI3 OUNFNTFCMEFFQzQ5RUU3NjFERjIxODFGNEMyN0QwMzA1MDQyRAAKCRCB9MJ9AwUE Le8pAP4v8B62XEcC4vlwM8Xz8k7Xe+5gnOtb4W/OA3k4Qi+XwwD+N7PSbpPqDp0O bmKFKo67zeAu6cmiBNLVjpoTY/D9bgs= =G341 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --Gxoy4Bn0ZgF48U3k--