From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Jun 2 20:50:32 2003 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 16A2F37B401 for ; Mon, 2 Jun 2003 20:50:32 -0700 (PDT) Received: from smtp.us2.messagingengine.com (ny2.fastmail.fm [66.111.4.3]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9B9FD43F3F for ; Mon, 2 Jun 2003 20:50:27 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from judmarc@fastmail.fm) Received: from www.fastmail.fm (server1.internal [10.202.2.132]) by server2.messagingengine.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 60AF365EE1; Mon, 2 Jun 2003 23:50:24 -0400 (EDT) Received: from 127.0.0.1 ([127.0.0.1] helo=www.fastmail.fm) by messagingengine.com with SMTP; Mon, 02 Jun 2003 23:50:23 -0400 X-Epoch: 1054612223 X-Sasl-enc: k7RZT+wDFPEb7rgFVlBmqA Received: from dialup-67.74.79.227.Dial1.Philadelphia1.Level3.net (dialup-67.74.79.227.Dial1.Philadelphia1.Level3.net [67.74.79.227]) by www.fastmail.fm (Postfix) with ESMTP id 005E42612B; Mon, 2 Jun 2003 23:50:20 -0400 (EDT) To: Dan Piparo , questions@freebsd.org References: <000801c3295c$73901ba0$6400a8c0@danworld> Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed From: Jud MIME-Version: 1.0 Date: Mon, 02 Jun 2003 23:50:18 -0400 In-Reply-To: <000801c3295c$73901ba0$6400a8c0@danworld> User-Agent: Opera7.11/Win32 M2 build 2880 Subject: Re: stable vs. release 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: Tue, 03 Jun 2003 03:50:32 -0000 On Mon, 2 Jun 2003 19:12:33 -0400, Dan Piparo wrote: > What is the real difference in running/compiling Stable src vs. Running > Freebsd Release version and just continually updating and building from > the ports? > > I have FreeBSD 4.8 Release installed now. Am I at great risk if I don't > upgrade to STABLE? Updating what and building from the ports? The ports "skeletons" can be updated by cvsup-ing; the applications themselves can then be updated by portupgrading, deinstalling/reinstalling, pkg_update, etc. As time goes on, however, if you do not update your base system it becomes more and more likely that some port will expect a newer version of some base system file than you have. Stable contains improvements, including security improvements, made since release that have undergone sufficient testing (often in the -current branch) to be merged into Stable. Because Stable accumulates changes from a Release build known to work, there is of course a greater chance (though not terribly great, thanks to the committers and core team) that something will be broken. There is also a more-stable-than-stable track, the "security branch," which contains only critical and security fixes since release. That would be on a CVS branch tagged RELENG_4_8 if it is available. If you decide to update the base system along with ports, cvsup them (base system RELENG_4 or RELENG_4_8, depending on whether you want the Stable or Security branch) and go through the "make world" procedure. Jud