From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Feb 23 22:46:27 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E27AA1065670 for ; Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:46:27 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx02.qsc.de (mx02.qsc.de [213.148.130.14]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 73ACC8FC08 for ; Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:46:27 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from r55.edvax.de (port-92-196-52-176.dynamic.qsc.de [92.196.52.176]) by mx02.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id 11F4D19B4DE0; Mon, 23 Feb 2009 23:46:26 +0100 (CET) Received: from r55.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r55.edvax.de (8.14.2/8.14.2) with SMTP id n1NMkKQ1002764; Mon, 23 Feb 2009 23:46:20 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2009 23:46:20 +0100 From: Polytropon To: prad Message-Id: <20090223234620.33a86ea0.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <20090223142559.3c5ff9e9@gom.home> References: <20090223142559.3c5ff9e9@gom.home> Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 2.4.7 (GTK+ 2.12.1; i386-portbld-freebsd7.0) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: "freebsd-questions@freebsd.org" Subject: Re: understanding freebsd development logic X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Polytropon List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:46:29 -0000 On Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:25:59 -0800, prad wrote: > is the idea to make each version 'as good as possible' because it > would still be useful for older machines? or is it that later > versions can utilize code from the earlier versions? or is it > something else? I hope it doesn't sound impolite, but FreeBSD's development process isn't tied to hardware evolution (such as it is with nearly any Linux and of course with "Windows"). You can use 7.1 on the same hardware that ran 4.6 before, and you get a gain of speed! When development in 8-CURRENT is considered to be important to the 7.x-branch, it will surely be backportet. Another reason is that there are FreeBSD installations where the maintainer isn't interested in updating to the "bleeding edge" point of development, or simply can't afford this because of security considerations. So it's important to clean bugs from systems that are still in use, these are 6.x and 7.x at the moment, while releases prior to these numbers have already been EOLed, as far as I know. Of course, nothing stops you from *not* updating an existing 5.x installation, especially when it runs sufficiently to your needs. With the ++ of the major release number, often new concepts are introduced which are held back during the ++ of the minor version number of the respective predecessor release, such as, for example, the use of devfs for /dev, or the inclusion of ZFS in the base system. I'm not a developer so I'm not competent enough to go into detail regarding your question. -- Polytropon >From Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...