Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998 15:28:48 -0700 From: Graeme Tait <graeme@echidna.com> To: Studded <Studded@gorean.org> Cc: FreeBSD-Newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: upgrading notes Message-ID: <362BBD20.4B26@echidna.com> References: <19981019180600.39400@welearn.com.au> <362B79C3.EAA3607E@gorean.org>
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Studded wrote: > > Sue Blake wrote: > > Overall I think this is right on, just a few comments. > > > My suggestions for newbies are: > > > > - Don't try to be first kid on the block with a new version. > > Let the expert and the gullible fall into any holes first. > > I would extend this to say, "Never install a FreeBSD -RELEASE." I don't > remember the last time a -Release didn't create a bunch of errors due to > last minute cramming in of things. Watch the -Stable mailing list (for > 2.2.x) and wait for things to calm down a bit after the -Release and > then install the latest -Stable. Well, this business of FreeBSD versions certainly is confusing for this newbie. My understanding is that what gets issued with Greg Lehey's book is -RELEASE (mine being 2.2.6R). So are you saying, don't use the CD-ROMs you get with the book??? Actually, are any of the CD-ROMs from Walnut Creek other than -RELEASE versions? You are certainly right about errors in -RELEASE in my case. I spent ages trying to get an install off a Sony CD-ROM drive. The system concerned (an old 486 bought at auction) is flaky and contains off-brand interfaces, etc., and I thought it was my hardware. For this reason, I didn't want to trouble people with dumb questions about my problem. Finally I used a SCSI CD-ROM and all was well. It was only much later that I accidentally discovered on the web site a notice saying that the boot floppy image for 2.2.6R was broken with respect to the Sony CD-ROM support, and all I had to do was download a new boot image. Of course, I probably should have tried to find and read the release notes (or whatever it was) first, but as a newbie on a first install, there was so much information saturation that I just wanted to put on the blinkers and forge ahead. It seems to me that from a configuration control point of view, any final changes to a version to become a release should be necessary bug fixes ONLY, and that ideally the version concerned should be not be labelled a "release" until it had survived a decent period of real-world use with ZERO changes. After all, it's going to be out there for some reasonable time period cast in poycarbonate. Those who want the latest and greatest can always download it in advance of the CD-ROMs being issued. -- Graeme Tait - Echidna To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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