From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Mar 16 22:47:57 2013 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A75F752F for ; Sat, 16 Mar 2013 22:47:57 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from fbsd8@a1poweruser.com) Received: from mail-03.name-services.com (mail-03.name-services.com [69.64.155.195]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7C3A873A for ; Sat, 16 Mar 2013 22:47:57 +0000 (UTC) Received: from [10.0.10.1] ([173.88.202.176]) by mail-03.name-services.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.4675); Sat, 16 Mar 2013 15:46:52 -0700 Message-ID: <5144F65B.6080302@a1poweruser.com> Date: Sat, 16 Mar 2013 18:46:51 -0400 From: Fbsd8 User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.17 (Windows/20080914) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Dan Nelson Subject: Re: Upgrade from 6.4 to 9.1? References: <5144CB0A.6010801@mykitchentable.net> <20130316200152.GD80810@dan.emsphone.com> In-Reply-To: <20130316200152.GD80810@dan.emsphone.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-OriginalArrivalTime: 16 Mar 2013 22:46:53.0060 (UTC) FILETIME=[27555440:01CE2298] X-Sender: fbsd8@a1poweruser.com X-Authenticated-Sender: fbsd8@a1poweruser.com X-EchoSenderHash: [fbsd8]-[a1poweruser*com] Cc: Drew Tomlinson , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 16 Mar 2013 22:47:57 -0000 Dan Nelson wrote: > In the last episode (Mar 16), Drew Tomlinson said: >> I have an old system happily running 6.4 but am finding that it can no >> longer download or build a ports index. Thus I guess it's time to >> upgrade. >> >> What "gotchas" do I need to look out for? In the past my upgrades have >> always been simply downloading new source, reviewing kernel config file, >> and then rebuilding the system. Any ports that didn't work after that I >> would just rebuild as well. However I've never waited this long to >> upgrade. Do I need to do anything different? > > You won't be able to do a straight source build from 6.4 to 9.1; too many > low-level changes like Makefile syntax and compiler options have changed. > If you are comfortable with temporarily disabling non-essential things that > fail to build, it is definitely possible to do a long jump to 9.1, but it'd > be safer to either hop from 6.4 -> (7-stable or 8-stable) -> 9 doing > buildkernels and buildworlds, or just do a binary upgrade of kernel and base > system to 9.1. > The best approach is to backup your user data and do a fresh install from 9.1 cdrom. You will bypass a bunch of headaches which may in the end force you to do a fresh install anyway. And it will save you a lot of compile time. It's alway a good feeling to know you have a pristine system when you start having problems.