From owner-freebsd-stable Fri Mar 19 19:10:10 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from buffy.tpgi.com.au (buffy.tpgi.com.au [203.12.160.34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8440C14D25 for ; Fri, 19 Mar 1999 19:10:02 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from eirvine@tpgi.com.au) Received: (from smtpd@localhost) by buffy.tpgi.com.au (8.8.7/8.8.7) id OAA08146; Sat, 20 Mar 1999 14:09:15 +1100 Received: from tar-56k-208.tpgi.com.au(203.26.26.208), claiming to be "tpgi.com.au" via SMTP by buffy.tpgi.com.au, id smtpda08089; Sat Mar 20 14:09:05 1999 Message-ID: <36F31F59.FD4E3C28@tpgi.com.au> Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 14:08:57 +1000 From: Eddie Irvine X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.03 [en] (Win95; I) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Keith Woodman Cc: freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Confusion References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG Keith Woodman wrote: > After following the discussion regarding the releases of product. > I am left , wondering what is considered a sound product to > install on a machine. The frequency of CD releases leaves me wondering. > "well what was wrong in the last version they said was the next > kewlest thing". I installed the 3.0 CD as well, and keeping current caused me a lot more work than I imagined. HOWEVER, I remember that, at the time, the offical STABLE release was 2.8, and there were copious warnings all over the place that 3.0 was very much a work in progress. Now that the 3.1 CD is shipping, the dust has settled quite a bit. FreeBSD is permanently a "work in progress". If you are wondering what CD to buy next, you may be missing out on one of the big strengths of FreeBSD over, say, Red Hat: The ability to keep your machine in sync with the latest STABLE code. You can't really do this by buying CD's - as soon as a CD is released, parts of it are out of date in a few hours or so. Of course, the CD's don't just contain the OS, they also contain the latest versions of ported applications. (The latter is really the only reason I subscribe to the CD distribution). You need to learn about "cvsup" and "make world" and "compiling a custom kernel". It's worth doing, although a little intimidating to begin with. You don't have to be a kernel hacker (at all), but for end users (like me) it is a little easier if you purchase Greg Lehey's "The Complete FreeBSD" text. Eddie. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message