From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Fri May 11 14:50:51 2018 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2610:1c1:1:606c::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 103CFFD8875 for ; Fri, 11 May 2018 14:50:51 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@qeng-ho.org) Received: from bede.qeng-ho.org (bede.qeng-ho.org [217.155.128.241]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (Client did not present a certificate) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 8899D7651B for ; Fri, 11 May 2018 14:50:50 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@qeng-ho.org) Received: from arthur.home.qeng-ho.org (arthur.home.qeng-ho.org [172.23.1.2]) by bede.qeng-ho.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2096910691; Fri, 11 May 2018 15:50:48 +0100 (BST) Subject: Re: A request for release engineering To: Manish Jain , Robroy Gregg , Kristof Provost Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <4acac175-9bf2-40a6-a41a-cb5870641c8d@yandex.com> <670715be-849c-47fc-72b4-42b81cf31c0a@qeng-ho.org> <0fbe4e76-f482-c936-7bf2-2b689d6902d2@yandex.com> From: Arthur Chance Message-ID: Date: Fri, 11 May 2018 15:50:48 +0100 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; FreeBSD amd64; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/52.7.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <0fbe4e76-f482-c936-7bf2-2b689d6902d2@yandex.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Language: en-GB Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.25 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 11 May 2018 14:50:51 -0000 On 11/05/2018 15:40, Manish Jain wrote: > On 05/11/18 19:45, Robroy Gregg wrote: >> >> On Fri, 11 May 2018, Kristof Provost wrote: >> >>> On 11 May 2018, at 9:11, Arthur Chance wrote: >>>> On 10/05/2018 19:15, Manish Jain wrote: >>>>> Hi, >>>>> >>>>> I have no idea whether this is the right list to make this request to. >>>>> But I could not find any other list that would definitely be better >>>>> suited. >>>>> >>>>> I noticed when trying to build a port under my 10.3 box that >>>>> support for >>>>> 10.3 has now expired. I have no problems with that - I will install 12 >>>>> afresh when it becomes available later this year. >>>>> >>>>> But since installing afresh demands a whole effort, I request that >>>>> FreeBSD reduce its new releases to one per year, while the support >>>>> period is increased to 3 years per release. >>>>> >>>>> Does this sound like a good request to others too ? >>>>> >>>> >>>> The FreeBSD support model was announced over three years ago: >>>> >>>> >>> https://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-announce/2015-February/001624.html >>> >>>> >>>> In particular >>>> >>>> - Each new release from the stable/X branch deprecates the previous >>>>   release on the branch, providing a three-month window within which >>>>   consumers are urged to upgrade to the latest release.  During this >>>>   three-month window, Security Advisories and Errata Notices will still >>>>   be issued for the previous release, as necessary. >>>> >>>> Why not simply update to 10.4? >>>> >>> FreeBSD 10.4 reaches end-of-life on October 31, 2018. At this point >>> I?d recommend an upgrade to 11.1 right now, to get to a supported >>> version and then an upgrade to 11.2 within three months of the >>> release of 11.2. >> >> I wonder how many other people are like me--planning to "float" from >> 10.3-RELEASE to 11.2-RELEASE on some computers, just to face the devil >> once instead of twice (the devil to which I refer's the one who's "in >> the details" every time I change anything on a server). > > > There is one point on which I request expert advice. > > Since bumping the version up using freebsd-update needs you to install > all packages afresh, it would appear to my naked eye that it never makes > sense to upgrade. Instead, one should simply wait till one's release > version goes beyond EOL - and then install the latest available release > afresh. This is just what I plan on this box (10.3) - wait till > November, and then install 12 over the current installation. > > Exactly when does the upgrade via freebsd-update bring any real > advantage to the user ? I see one disadvantage in upgrading - things > don't work as smoothly/reliably as with a fresh installation. > You only need to reinstall packages when upgrading a major revision. Updating a minor revision (say from 10.3 to 10.4) does not require package reinstallation. -- An amusing coincidence: log2(58) = 5.858 (to 0.0003% accuracy).