From owner-freebsd-questions Fri Mar 3 10:53:27 2000 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from aragorn.neomedia.it (aragorn.neomedia.it [195.103.207.6]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 53BB237B666 for ; Fri, 3 Mar 2000 10:53:10 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from bartequi@neomedia.it) Received: from bartequi.ottodomain.org (ppp52-pa4.neomedia.it [195.103.207.244]) by aragorn.neomedia.it (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id TAA18165 for ; Fri, 3 Mar 2000 19:54:27 +0100 (CET) From: Salvo Bartolotta Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2000 18:56:09 GMT Message-ID: <20000303.18560900@bartequi.ottodomain.org> Subject: Softupdates yet again To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG X-Mailer: SuperCalifragilis X-Priority: 3 (Normal) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG Dear FreeBSDers, I have been running -STABLE for about a month (last build 27 Feb. 2000), and I have recently decided to trust and use softudates (at last !) I searched the mailing list archives as well as reading /usr/src/sys/ufs/ffs/README.softupdates and /usr/src/sys/contrib/softupdates/README, as suggested in LINT. Moreover, I had a look at the README file in -CURRENT (at www.freebsd.org) ; which file was the same as that in my -STABLE. I seem to understand the following: 1) no such modifications as code merging etc. are to be performed. In fact, the softupdates code is already (almost) fully operational and need only be enabled. By the way, I also had a look at the four files indicated in the README: they appeared to contain the softupdates code. 2) no /etc/rc editing is required. E.g., "grep -r upd *" in /etc gave me no significant relevant information. 3) no need for recompiling the related utilities (ie fsck, mount, tunefs ...) Those utilities are already updated. 4) More generally, no need for recompiling or changing anything. In order to use softupdates, I only performed these actions: i) cd /usr/src/sys/ufs/ffs ln -s ../../contrib/softupdates/*.[ch] . (the final period above is ... mandatory.) ii) compile and install a kernel with "options SOFTUPDATES". iii) tunefs -n enable , eg /usr and /var; which are separate filesystems on my Unix box. And, of course, you cannot tune a fish :-) Actually, I "run" /, /usr and /var with the "noatime" option (in fstab); /var and /usr with the softupdates policy, too. If I fully understand the current state of affairs, the following considerations apply: C1) the above-mentioned README file is severely out of date; C2) the softupdates code in NO alpha status; rather, it is now considered more than reliable; C3) the code is ready for use and only requires the minimal actions specified sub i), ii) and iii) ; C4) C3) holds for FreeBSD >=3D3.0. If this is indeed the case, the README file should be updated ASAP in order for other people to avoid asking the lists or searching the archives for this information -- which would save useful bandwidth :-) I send you my best regards and I wish you all a happy weekend, Salvo To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message