Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2024 18:14:48 +0000 From: David Chisnall <theraven@FreeBSD.org> To: Mario Marietto <marietto2008@gmail.com> Cc: John F Carr <jfc@mit.edu>, freebsd-arm <freebsd-arm@freebsd.org>, freebsd-hackers <freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org>, FreeBSD Mailing List <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>, "freebsd-xen@freebsd.org" <freebsd-xen@freebsd.org>, FreeBSD Current <freebsd-current@freebsd.org>, Warner Losh <imp@bsdimp.com>, =?utf-8?Q?Roger_Pau_Monn=C3=A9?= <royger@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: How to upgrade an EOL FreeBSD release or how to make it working again Message-ID: <D435604C-70F1-454D-B3AE-CD4D7C99D383@FreeBSD.org> In-Reply-To: <CA%2B1FSih6j0QP9nKkxFCjMCeuMdvJca3WxVsi8%2BQaN2sV8YO-zw@mail.gmail.com> References: <CA%2B1FSihU4WJWbbD9k9th4GXvyAKTL3URic-BAFUY7Og=wLn27A@mail.gmail.com> <CA390EE5-3339-4A15-8087-C28B309FA523@mit.edu> <CA%2B1FSih6j0QP9nKkxFCjMCeuMdvJca3WxVsi8%2BQaN2sV8YO-zw@mail.gmail.com>
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On 15 Jan 2024, at 16:46, Mario Marietto <marietto2008@gmail.com> wrote: >=20 > The ARM Chromebook is based on armv7,it is still recent. For reference, the ARMv7 architecture was introduced in 2005. The last = cores that implemented the architecture were released in 2014. This is = not a =E2=80=98recent=E2=80=99 architecture, it=E2=80=99s one that=E2=80=99= s 19 years old and has been largely dead for several years. > But let's change perspective for a moment,don't think about the ARM = Chromebook. My question is : how to upgrade FreeBSD when it goes EOL. Generally, run `freebsd-update`. This is a very different question from = =E2=80=98how do I do a new install of an old an unsupported version?' > I ask this because there is a huge difference here between FreeBSD and = Linux. Today if you need to use , for example Ubuntu 14.0, you can use = it as is. Yes,there will be a lot of bugs,but it will work without = crashes. But if you want to use an old FreeBSD system,nothing will work = for you. So,do you know some methods to install even packages or ports ? = You know,there are cases when you need to do some experiments so that = you can keep your machine off the internet,so you aren't scared that = someone can compromise it. Totally prohibiting the users to use an old = system,removing ports and packages is not a choice that I approve of. = And I'm not the only one that thinks like this. If you want to use an old and unsupported version of FreeBSD, no one is = stopping you, but: - You will need to build the releases. The source code is still in = git, you can. The scripts for building the release images are right = there in the repo. Just grab the relevant release or releng branch and = go. - You will need to build packages. Newer versions of the ports tree = will not be tested with the older release, so you may need to use an = older checkout of the ports tree. Poudriere will build a package repo = for you. =20 In both cases, if you=E2=80=99re using older versions you almost = certainly *will* have security vulnerabilities. The project strongly = advises you not to do this and not to blame us when you install = known-insecure software and end up compromised. The project does not have enough active contributors to keep maintaining = things indefinitely. This is why release have a five-year supported = lifetime. If you want to pick up an old branch and maintain it, = you=E2=80=99re welcome to. In the past, companies have picked up old = branches and maintained them for customers that had a dependency on = them. If you want to pay someone to maintain an old branch (and have = deep pockets) then there are probably a few companies that will happily = take your money. Maintaining binaries is a slightly different issue, but it=E2=80=99s not = totally unrelated. Keeping old packages around consumes disk space and = costs the project money (remember, every package is mirrored across the = CDN, so this isn=E2=80=99t just a single disk). Even if it were free, = philosophically, I think making it easy for users to install = known-insecure software is a bad idea but if you want to keep a package = repo with out-of-date packages online indefinitely then you can. You = can run Poudriere and even cross-compile from a fairly beefy cloud = machine quite easily. It=E2=80=99s been a while since I did a full package build, but I would = guess that you could do a single package build (all ports) for about $50 = on a cloud VM, more (2-3x) if it=E2=80=99s emulated. Storing the = results for a small number of users will cost around $10-20/month. If = you think this is an important thing to do, then you are absolutely = welcome to spend your own money on doing it. David
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