From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Apr 19 09:45:57 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A054C16A4CE for ; Mon, 19 Apr 2004 09:45:57 -0700 (PDT) Received: from smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk (happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk [81.2.69.218]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CF51B43D54 for ; Mon, 19 Apr 2004 09:45:56 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk) Received: from happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk (localhost.infracaninophile.co.uk [IPv6:::1])i3JGjdA7051277 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO); Mon, 19 Apr 2004 17:45:39 +0100 (BST) (envelope-from matthew@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk) Received: (from matthew@localhost)id i3JGjdcY051276; Mon, 19 Apr 2004 17:45:39 +0100 (BST) (envelope-from matthew) Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2004 17:45:39 +0100 From: Matthew Seaman To: henk@2complex.nl Message-ID: <20040419164539.GB51066@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk> Mail-Followup-To: Matthew Seaman , henk@2complex.nl, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <000a01c42628$f84a9040$95f4153e@hilbrink.nl> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="WhfpMioaduB5tiZL" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <000a01c42628$f84a9040$95f4153e@hilbrink.nl> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.6i X-Virus-Scanned: clamd / ClamAV version devel-20040416, clamav-milter version 0.70g X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-4.8 required=5.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=2.63 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.63 (2004-01-11) on happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: cvsup stable X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2004 16:45:57 -0000 --WhfpMioaduB5tiZL Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Mon, Apr 19, 2004 at 06:11:27PM +0200, henk@2complex.nl wrote: > Hi all, >=20 > I'd like to raise a question on cvsup. > I'm an enthousiastic user of cvsup to keep up to date. > I always use to stable-supfile > Last week I installed a 4.9 machine ran a cvsup. > Rebuilt the whole world and my kernel and ... ended up with > 4.10 beta. > A few aday later ran a cvsup again. Same story. >=20 > I know FBSD is stable but do I have to rely beta's. Ah... It's that time of year again. We get to do the whole 'what is 4-STABLE' thread for the umpteenth time. Here's how it works: you're tracking the RELENG_4 code branch, which gets you system version 4.x-STABLE -- well, most of the time. Actually, that system version number and tag is pretty arbitrary. It's just a snapshot out of the ever-evolving set of code which is the RELENG_4 branch. Every so often the will be a new release made from this branch. Usually something like 3 times a year. Around that point the system version will go through all sorts of changes relatively quickly. It will start as 4.9-STABLE, then become 4.10-BETA. After a while it will become 4.10-RC (as in 'Release Candidate'), and maybe even 4.10-RC2. Eventually the release engineering team will be satisfied, and the label will become 4.10-RELEASE. However, that only lasts for a vanishingly short time: just long enough to create the RELENG_4_10 branch. Then the label becomes 4.10-STABLE again for the next 3 months or so. (Well, actually in this case, probably for ever after, as 4.10 is the last release planned to be made from the RELENG_4 branch.) Do not be alarmed by the what the label says. There are not massive changes to the source code happening at the precise instant the the change from -STABLE to -BETA is made. Those changes will have been going into RELENG_4 continually throughout the preceeding months[1]. In fact, what -BETA signifies is an emphasis on testing and bug-fixing rather than introducing new functionality. That means the -BETA code is actually probably a bit more stable that the -STABLE code, although there's really very little measurable difference. With all of the testing being done, the code should reach a peak of perfection right around the time that 4.10 is released, although (annoyingly) each release does tend to generate a small flood of PRs and fixes immediately *after* it happens. Cheers, Matthew [1] If you find this alarming, then you should be tracking one of the X.Y-RELEASE branches: those only get security and major bug fixes. --=20 Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 26 The Paddocks Savill Way PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey Marlow Tel: +44 1628 476614 Bucks., SL7 1TH UK --WhfpMioaduB5tiZL Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQFAhAIzdtESqEQa7a0RAq8pAJ4ksvwia7USIlYuMn1VcXzVVSJSFQCeO0dR tuiQVnE2eJxdEEXBu4RFxX0= =Q4fx -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --WhfpMioaduB5tiZL--