From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Mar 16 03:46:46 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DBC3F16A400 for ; Fri, 16 Mar 2007 03:46:46 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from youshi10@u.washington.edu) Received: from mxout3.cac.washington.edu (mxout3.cac.washington.edu [140.142.32.166]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BDD7B13C458 for ; Fri, 16 Mar 2007 03:46:46 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from youshi10@u.washington.edu) Received: from smtp.washington.edu (smtp.washington.edu [140.142.32.141] (may be forged)) by mxout3.cac.washington.edu (8.13.7+UW06.06/8.13.7+UW07.03) with ESMTP id l2G3kkWD010308 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=OK) for ; Thu, 15 Mar 2007 20:46:46 -0700 X-Auth-Received: from [192.168.10.41] (c-67-187-172-183.hsd1.ca.comcast.net [67.187.172.183]) (authenticated authid=youshi10) by smtp.washington.edu (8.13.7+UW06.06/8.13.7+UW07.03) with ESMTP id l2G3kj8e000554 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT) for ; Thu, 15 Mar 2007 20:46:45 -0700 Message-ID: <45FA1325.6020409@u.washington.edu> Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 20:46:45 -0700 From: Garrett Cooper User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5.0.9 (X11/20070122) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <20070315164706.4fy8vlmhw00kk4s8@mail.schnarff.com> <20070315210957.GF71936@gizmo.acns.msu.edu> <20070315211624.GA89114@xor.obsecurity.org> In-Reply-To: <20070315211624.GA89114@xor.obsecurity.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-PMX-Version: 5.3.0.289146, Antispam-Engine: 2.5.0.283055, Antispam-Data: 2007.3.15.203434 X-Uwash-Spam: Gauge=IIIIIII, Probability=7%, Report='__CT 0, __CTE 0, __CT_TEXT_PLAIN 0, __HAS_MSGID 0, __MIME_TEXT_ONLY 0, __MIME_VERSION 0, __SANE_MSGID 0, __USER_AGENT 0' Subject: Re: Should I Upgrade 5.4 -> 6.2? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 03:46:46 -0000 Kris Kennaway wrote: > On Thu, Mar 15, 2007 at 05:09:57PM -0400, Jerry McAllister wrote: >> On Thu, Mar 15, 2007 at 04:47:06PM -0400, alex@schnarff.com wrote: >> >>> First off, I want to thank the people who responded to my thread >>> "Stability Issues on a 5.4-RELEASE box" a couple of weeks ago; after >>> disabling hyperthreading, getting a clean run of Memtest back, and >>> doing some serious fsck'ing of the disks, the box appears to now be >>> completely stable. I'm still not sure which of the above fixed the >>> problem...but I'll take a stable system at this point. :-) >>> >>> That said, in that thread I had asked about the advisability of >>> upgrading to 6.2, and it was intelligently pointed out that doing so in >>> pursuit of stability was a bad idea. Now that the box is stable, >>> though, I'm back to the same question: should I make the upgrade, and >>> if so, how should I do it? >>> >>> My primary driver for doing so would be to keep current enough that I'm >>> still getting security and other patches on a regular basis, and that I >>> can upgrade my applications from ports as necessary. If this is not an >>> issue, then my only remaining concern would be that it's usually easier >>> to get support on lists like this if you're running a modern version of >>> the OS (that's certainly the case with the OpenBSD folks). >>> >>> My primary concern with upgrading is that the box is in Portland, OR, >>> and I'm in Arlington, VA...and while the ISP is friendly, I doubt that >>> I could count on them for major system recovery if I botch something >>> during the upgrade. My other worry is that I don't want to break >>> existing apps if possible (the main one I'm concerned about is >>> Zope/Plone). This is a production box with moderate traffic, and it >>> would be a problem if there was extensive downtime. >>> >>> Is it worth upgrading? If so, what's the best way to do so -- CVSup, or >>> some other way? Are there any major caveats if I do choose to upgrade >>> (or choose to stay with the existing OS)? >> You should if you can reasonably do it, for the reasons you give plus >> improvements in performance and in some utilities. >> >> My sentiment is usually to do a clean install over major version numbers. >> It tends to leave less dross laying around. but I do not have to worry >> about down times very much, a couple of hours at night is not terribly >> noticable in my stuff. It does require more time down to do a clean >> from scratch install. But, I think you can get away with a cvsup upgrade >> from 5.4 to 6.2. Then your downtime is just the reboot and stuff at single >> user (mergemaster), plus probably some for upgrading various ports. > > Yes, a source upgrade from 5.x to 6.x (followed by portupgrade -fa) > isn't too bad. As with any upgrade you do need a recovery strategy > though. > > Kris I agree with both Kris and Jerry. Besides, if you run 6.2 you're running a supported version of FreeBSD whereas 5.4 isn't supported anymore (5.5 is the last supported version in the legacy 5.x branch). Plus there are slight improvements from 5.x to 6.x. -Garrett