Date: Sun, 31 Jan 2010 09:33:51 +0100 From: Roland Smith <rsmith@xs4all.nl> To: Jeff Mitchell <skeezix@skeleton.org> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Help! Upgrade from fbsd 5.4 to 8.x Message-ID: <20100131083351.GA26019@slackbox.xs4all.nl> In-Reply-To: <20100130225014.C36480@fw.skeleton.org> References: <20100130225014.C36480@fw.skeleton.org>
index | next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail
[-- Attachment #1 --] On Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 11:08:05PM -0500, Jeff Mitchell wrote: > > ie: This machine has a lot going on .. wiki's (ie: apache et al), > mysql databases, mailing lists, and a dozen hand rolled applications. > (Hey, someone has to write custom emulators of ancient systems to keep > BBSes alive, right?) Naturally, /etc is modified all to hell, and I'm > terrified of any automated upgrades for fear random things would just not > work later. Especially with the age... Things work great, but I worry > about security naturally, and keeping up with patches or installing > anything new is a nightmare due to dependancies. Realize that things like apache, mysql etc. will have changed since the 5.4 days as well. As for the files in /etc and /usr/local/etc, I tend to have a ~/setup/$HOSTNAME directory where I keep configuration files under revision control. I use some perl scripts so check if e.g. a port or system has caused any changes in /etc. There is also a script the installs the files in their proper location and executes post-install commands. I've documented this on a webpage; http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/unix/configfiles.xhtml > o Some of the executables on this box are without source but I > still need them to run; short of moving them to a VM and doing some > voodoo, what are the chances a binary built for fbsd 5.x works fine in > 8.x? (earlier fbsd's had the break between gcc versions, but I'm rather The GENERIC kernel in 8.0 comes with the COMPAT_FREEBSD5 option by default, so the only thing you need to do is to install the misc/compat5x port. > 3 - yank the drive, slap a giant new fat drive in there, do a full > fbsd 8.0 install, and then migration from old drive as needed Definitely #3. > Aside -- whats the recommended way to stay on top of upgrades > anyway? It used to be a tortuous process back 5 years ago, but hopefully > things are much more streamlined now .. nightly 'make upgrade' ftw :) I tend to keep my main machine on RELEASE-pN, unless there is good reason to follow STABLE (e.g. hardware support). As for ports, there is the following weekly ritual; less /usr/ports/UPDATING portsnap fetch extract portmaster -a -B -d HTH, Roland -- R.F.Smith http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/ [plain text _non-HTML_ PGP/GnuPG encrypted/signed email much appreciated] pgp: 1A2B 477F 9970 BA3C 2914 B7CE 1277 EFB0 C321 A725 (KeyID: C321A725) [-- Attachment #2 --] -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.14 (FreeBSD) iEYEARECAAYFAktlQG8ACgkQEnfvsMMhpyWxKgCfcdSFer0jZM1f11esAIgCHZBa sdIAn3esAcOESk8scqR+pH9GO8BWHlPe =Ehve -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----help
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20100131083351.GA26019>