From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Dec 3 10:25:13 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 69F9D1065672 for ; Thu, 3 Dec 2009 10:25:13 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from macerl@telkomsa.net) Received: from rrba-ip-smtp-1-3.saix.net (rrba-ip-smtp-1-3.saix.net [196.25.240.222]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 048DB8FC15 for ; Thu, 3 Dec 2009 10:25:12 +0000 (UTC) Received: from dilbert.localnet (dsl-242-65-249.telkomadsl.co.za [41.242.65.249]) by rrba-ip-smtp-1-3.saix.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id C4738167F for ; Thu, 3 Dec 2009 11:20:25 +0200 (SAST) From: Richard Mace To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Date: Thu, 3 Dec 2009 11:13:39 +0200 User-Agent: KMail/1.12.1 (Linux/2.6.30-2-amd64; KDE/4.3.2; x86_64; ; ) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: <200912031113.39344.macerl@telkomsa.net> Subject: Newbie questions (updating, ports, etc.) X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:25:13 -0000 I recently installed FreeBSD 8.0-RELEASE on my home desktop and am considering making the switch from Debian GNU/Linux. I have a few questions which I am hoping the list can clarify for me. 1.) Keeping installed ports/packages up to date. As far as I can tell from the docs, perhaps the most convenient method is to use something like: # portsnap fetch update # pkgdb -F # portupgrade --batch -aP (do I need an "R" here?) which should first try to find a package from the repositories and failing that will fall back to a port. What is the current wisdom here? Is it safe to use the --batch switch? As far as I understand, this will use the configuration defaults and not prompt the user whenever a port requires some user (options) configuration. Is this interpretation correct? Otherwise, is there a way to get portupgrade to use the defaults non-interactively, to automate the process. Related to the above, are the default options that appear in the ncurses dialogues the same as those used in the building of packages? 2.) Evolution of ports (and packages) versus evolution of the base system. Reading the docs makes it clear that FreeBSD maintains is a rigorous distinction between the base system and add-on packages (ports). This is very appealing. However, as far as I can tell so far, even though my base system is 8.0 -RELEASE (and remains fixed between releases?), the ports continuously evolve (are updated). Is my understanding correct that by tracking a RELEASE system I can have "bleeding edge" (or close) versions of ports? Or, do I need to track STABLE of CURRENT for that? 3.) Upgrading ports seems to take considerable time (at least with my experiments on a 5 year old Pentium IV). I am keen to adopt FreeBSD as my desktop for work (Physics Professor, Research and teaching). Is it feasible in a work environment to upgrade ports without getting bogged down in a compile-a-thon, leaving one with a useless workstation. (My target machine will be an 8-core HP z600 (Xeon) which leads me to believe that I could do the upgrading in the background while I continue to work uninterrupted. I'd like to hear others experiences here.) Sorry for the long post, but I could not find clarification on the above in the Handbook and other sources I've read. -Richard