From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Jun 8 13:53:36 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 D604116A4CE for ; Tue, 8 Jun 2004 13:53:36 +0000 (GMT) Received: from unsane.co.uk (unsane.co.uk [82.152.23.78]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2234843D58 for ; Tue, 8 Jun 2004 13:53:36 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from jhary@unsane.co.uk) Received: from unsane.co.uk (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by unsane.co.uk (8.12.11/8.12.10) with ESMTP id i58DrwYL050351 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO); Tue, 8 Jun 2004 14:53:58 +0100 (BST) (envelope-from jhary@unsane.co.uk) Received: from localhost (jhary@localhost) by unsane.co.uk (8.12.11/8.12.10/Submit) with ESMTP id i58DrwUs050348; Tue, 8 Jun 2004 14:53:58 +0100 (BST) (envelope-from jhary@unsane.co.uk) Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 14:53:58 +0100 (BST) From: Vince Hoffman To: Peter Risdon In-Reply-To: <40C5BCAC.6090401@circlesquared.com> Message-ID: <20040608144433.D31793@unsane.co.uk> References: <40C5BCAC.6090401@circlesquared.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII cc: FreeBSD Question List Subject: Re: Wisdom of automating upgrades 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, 08 Jun 2004 13:53:37 -0000 On Tue, 8 Jun 2004, Peter Risdon wrote: > The main cost of having computers for most companies lies not in > software or hardware, but in support. I have been pondering the wisdom > of automating the upgrade process, so that sources are cvsup'ed nightly > and make buildworld buildkernel etc and portupgrade happen overnight > maybe once a week or month - and perhaps every day a security fix is > announced. > > Windows and Mac users are accustomed to automatic software updates on > server products as well as desktops, so there is a competitive issue > here. I've persuaded a number of companies to switch to FreeBSD and want > to ensure the commercial logic of doing so is as complete as possible. > > cvsup'ing overnight is routine and fine. > > The make build/install stuff seems a bit more delicate. I'm happy that I > have figured out how to automate this, but not _whether_ I should do so. > I am of course only considering tracking RELENG_4 at this stage. > > Ports are perhaps more likely to be problematic (though less likely to > be a blocker to remote fixing than a failure to boot). Having said that, > deprecation of versions and ports is fairly rare and keeping track of a > small group in common use is feasible. > > I'd be grateful for any input on this. I can picture waking up to find > that every machine I administrate is simultaneously *#!$%ed one morning. > On the other hand, I like to provide the best value I can for clients > and at the moment I have to charge for my time whenever an upgrade is > necessary. > You may want to have a look at freebsd-update. Its a binary updater, Client/Server config, the server code and info on what it is, is available from http://www.daemonology.net/freebsd-update/ and the client is in ports. Vince > Peter. > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" >