Date: Wed, 26 May 1999 14:19:36 -0400 From: Mike Tancsa <mike@sentex.net> To: Troy Settle <st@i-Plus.net>, freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Patching vs. cvsup (was Re: [Q] How stable is FreeBSD 3.X ?) Message-ID: <3.0.5.32.19990526141936.00dcb100@staff.sentex.ca> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.10.9905261327150.15724-100000@rio.i-plus.net> References: <Pine.BSF.4.05.9905260831130.80146-100000@guru.phone.net>
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At 01:46 PM 5/26/99 -0400, Troy Settle wrote: >If Sun does a "patch this, patch that, patch the next thing" sort of game, >I'm glad I've never had to admin one. > >Sounds as bad as linux: > > Patch this, but only after you've upgraded that. Before that, > however, you need to reinstall foo, and of course bar which foo > depends on. etc. etc. etc. > >With FreeBSD: > > cd /usr/src > cvsup supfile > make buildworld && make installworld && reboot > cd /usr/src/sys/i386/conf > config KERNEL > cd ../../compile/KERNEL > make depend && make && make install && rebot Yes, well put. I too have been administering BSD type boxes (starting with BSDi 1.1) for about the same time. I remember back in the 1.1 days applying patches for BSDi, and thinking that this was 'status quo'. When I learned how CVSUP worked on FreeBSD, its as if I was in heaven! Patches ? No thank you! I imagine from a developer point of view, that this also makes life that much more difficult trying to 'regression test' as Microsoft puts it to look for unanticipated consequences/interactions, let alone from an administrator or end user's point of view. I mean, its pretty well accepted as a fact of life that on NT, when you install from the original CD any software, you need to reapply the service pack, and any relavant hot fixes... Oh, but wait, which hot fix is relavant ? And when they say, "only apply this fix if you are effected by the problem", does that mean I am not effected by this nasty security hole ? And instead, should I wait 4months for the next service pack/release ? No thanks. Its better to try and expect a little more of the end user. Ultimately, I think patches give the end user a false sense of simplicity. If it works, great. If it doesnt, as the poster said, > Patch this, but only after you've upgraded that. Before that, > however, you need to reinstall foo, and of course bar which foo > depends on. etc. etc. etc. ---Mike ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mike Tancsa, tel 01.519.651.3400 Network Administrator, mike@sentex.net Sentex Communications www.sentex.net Cambridge, Ontario Canada To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message
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