Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Wed, 26 May 1999 17:59:07 -0400 (EDT)
From:      Troy Settle <st@i-Plus.net>
To:        Mike Meyer <mwm@phone.net>
Cc:        freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: [Q] How stable is FreeBSD 3.X ?
Message-ID:  <Pine.BSF.4.10.9905261748530.15724-100000@rio.i-plus.net>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.05.9905261052050.80146-100000@guru.phone.net>

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


On Wed, 26 May 1999, Mike Meyer wrote:

> > With FreeBSD:
> > 
> > 	cd /usr/src
> > 	cvsup supfile
> > 	make buildworld && make installworld && reboot
> 
> ... find machine dead, reboot from fixit disk, resup, ... :-)


Note the syntax... it won't install unless the build succeeds.  It won't
reboot unless both build and install succeed.

I generally only do that whole thing when bringing a new server up.  On
production boxes, I'm *much* more careful.  Both cases, I've not had a
problem yet.  (I also run that stuff in the background, sending the output
from build and install into respective log files for later review).


> > > I'd expect installing a service pack to be a lot more painfull than
> > > installing a patch, much as installing an application on Windows 9x is
> > > a lot more painfull than doing so on a Unix box (Does WNT require a
> > > system reboot on every application install like Windows 9x?).
> > Windows is braindamaged beyond repair.  You don't *need* to reboot after
> > sneezing, but it is reccomended.
> 
> Which goes along with reinstalling to cure anything. But what about
> WNT?

Meant Windows in general.  3.x/95/98/NT/2k/etc.  Though NT4 Server and
Win2k are actually pretty OK on networking stuff, not needing a reboot for
a DNS change.

> 
> > All in all, it's a pretty nice development structure compared to what I
> > know of other vendors.
> 
> It's different. Which is causes people to get confused about what to
> expect. 

True... it took me a good 6 months to really get into it.  Many times I
wanted to go back to linux (once, I even got as far as installing
slackware).  But, I kept saying to myself that linux would be a nightmare
10x worse.


> > > Do any of the commercial FreeBSD support organizations run a seperate
> > > branch and bundle patches up for their customers?
> > 
> > Like what Red Hat does for Linux?  No Thank You.
> 
> Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean it's not for everybody. I
> can see that a commercial ISP might prefer a system where they fed
> someone else money, and got 1) security patches, and 2) fixes for bugs
> they encountered. It certainly makes pointy-haired managers happy if
> they can spend money on something like that.

Not *all* managers are like that.  Our head honcho just about creamed
himself when I told him that I could build an ISP for the cost of hardware
and little to nothing on software.

Having someone/somewhere to point fingers at can be a good thing in some
companies.  Having commercial support for the platform your business
depends on is comforting to most management types.


--
  Troy Settle <st@i-Plus.net>
  iPlus Internet Services





To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.BSF.4.10.9905261748530.15724-100000>