Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Sun, 17 Dec 2006 08:39:32 -0900
From:      Beech Rintoul <freebsd@alaskaparadise.com>
To:        freebsd-current@freebsd.org
Cc:        Astrodog <astrodog@gmail.com>
Subject:   Re: Am I an Idiot?
Message-ID:  <200612170839.50597.freebsd@alaskaparadise.com>
In-Reply-To: <2fd864e0612170807x20ff699x42538cfa497c1398@mail.gmail.com>
References:  <4579EB08.8080704@intersonic.se> <45851DBC.9010604@FreeBSD.org> <2fd864e0612170807x20ff699x42538cfa497c1398@mail.gmail.com>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
--nextPart15981463.5oATKVL1Lg
Content-Type: text/plain;
  charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Content-Disposition: inline

On Sunday 17 December 2006 07:07, Astrodog wrote:
> Something that, in my opinion, may have been missed in all of this,
>
> Why, exactly, do you want to run -CURRENT in production? As others have
> said above, its certainly possible to do. I've done it before myself, but
> always because of a specific feature, or bit of supported hardware, that
> didn't exist in -STABLE.
>
> Running -CURRENT is quite a bit more work than running -STABLE. The fact
> that a -CURRENT kernel and world can build and run on a test system, does
> little to indicate what type of performance, and stability you will see in
> a production environment. Many of the problems that may exist in -CURRENT
> will be induced by specific types of load. Race conditions, Lock Order
> Reversal, and certain driver issues in many cases, only appear under
> particularly heavy loads, or particular types of load.
> What this means, simply, is that when you test the next version of -CURRE=
NT
> you'd like to run, there's quite a bit of testing you'll have to do. Along
> side this type of problem, is the issue of security. If you are running
> -CURRENT as of 2 weeks ago, and a security vulnerability is discovered, in
> some cases, you will be compelled to upgrade to the latest -CURRENT, even
> if it has known stability problems, or performance/functionality
> regression.
>
> None of this should be construed to imply that -CURRENT cannot be run in
> production, only that you really should have a compelling reason to do
> so... or at the very least, quite a bit of free time.

I agree with astrodog. I've been running FreeBSD since the first versions. =
I=20
do run -CURRENT on my home machine, but I run 6-STABLE on my office servers=
=2E=20
When you run -CURRENT you become a beta or worse an alpha tester. While I'm=
=20
sure the development team would welcome your input, -CURRENT is NOT intende=
d=20
for production environments. I have dealt with many serious bugs in -CURREN=
T=20
over the years up to the point where it sometimes wouldn't boot at all. Whi=
le=20
this is rare, it can jump up and bite you. Sometimes downloading sources an=
=20
hour later makes the difference between boot/no-boot. If you do decide to=20
run -CURRENT you should be prepared to do a lot of your own troubleshooting=
=20
before posting to the list. Also, you should not blindly upgrade your serve=
r.=20
You should try new versions on a test machine with similar hardware before=
=20
updating your production server. While -CURRENT seems to be relatively stab=
le=20
right now, It's no guarantee it will remain that way. Astrodog was right in=
=20
saying be prepared to spend a LOT of time, you most certainly will.

Beech

=2D-=20
=2D------------------------------------------------------------------------=
=2D-------------
Beech Rintoul - Sys. Administrator - beech@alaskaparadise.com
/"\   ASCII Ribbon Campaign  | Alaska Paradise Travel
\ / - NO HTML/RTF in e-mail  | 201 East 9Th Avenue Ste.310
 X  - NO Word docs in e-mail | Anchorage, AK 99501
/ \  - Please visit Alaska Paradise - http://www.alaskaparadise.com
=2D------------------------------------------------------------------------=
=2D-------------












--nextPart15981463.5oATKVL1Lg
Content-Type: application/pgp-signature

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (FreeBSD)

iD8DBQBFhYDmR5sEeCt9j00RAvFQAJ9xt7Stu1HWcP5wAg+wansFK207ywCgoWoo
bErgtHmgjH/pdRZhzojyTMY=
=UiaF
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

--nextPart15981463.5oATKVL1Lg--



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?200612170839.50597.freebsd>