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Date:      Thu, 6 May 1999 16:39:03 +0930
From:      Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com>
To:        Studded <Studded@gorean.org>
Cc:        freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: How stable is -current?
Message-ID:  <19990506163903.J40359@freebie.lemis.com>
In-Reply-To: <37313DC9.FCAE4D71@gorean.org>; from Doug Barton on Wed, May 05, 1999 at 11:59:21PM -0700
References:  <37313DC9.FCAE4D71@gorean.org>

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On Wednesday,  5 May 1999 at 23:59:21 -0700, Doug Barton wrote:
> 	First off, let's assume that I'm aware of all the traditional caveats
> re -current being bleeding edge, read the lists, etc. and am willing to
> deal with that. Now let's assume that I am trying to convince the powers
> that be at work to use freebsd for an upcoming CGI server project. Here
> is a relatively precise quote from the boss, "I think what we're going
> to do is set up a box with dual 500's and put linux on it because
> <vendor of one of our proprietary CGI solutions> says that their stuff
> runs best on linux, I think because of the disk access or something like
> that."
>
> 	So the most important things I need to know (in no particular order):
>
> 1. In general how stable is -current? 

Parts of it are excellent.

> I know it goes through periods of instability, but assuming that I'm
> following the lists and know when not to build, could I put a 4.x
> box up and not be embarrassed?

Yes, but that's a big assumption: "assuming everything went OK".  How
do you known in advance whether you're not going to find a bug which
eats its way, termitelike, through your file systems, and one day you
look at the machine and it just falls into a heap of dust on the
floor.

> 4. How about other "new" features, like soft updates and vinum?

Vinum is available in -STABLE as well.  It's the same code.  I thought
that soft updates were also pretty stable.

> 	Any other words of advice would be greatly appreciated. My
> experience says that a linux box won't handle the load that we're
> going to put on it, so if I can come up with something that works
> and outshines linux I earn points for me, and the project at the
> same time. If on the other hand, it chokes, errr... that'd be
> bad. :) I have a scratch box at home that is completely
> blow-up-able, so putting in the time to make it work is not a
> problem, I just need to know where to start.

What I'm hearing here is that you want to go to -CURRENT because of
NFS.  That's almost a valid reason, but I'll let other ones fight it
out.  Or you've been scared off by Doug White badmouthing 3.1.  Note
that just about everything he mentioned relates to upgrading, not to
the stability of the system itself.

Greg
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