Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2002 11:23:36 -0800 (PST) From: Doug Barton <DougB@FreeBSD.org> To: Murray Stokely <murray@FreeBSD.org>, <bmah@FreeBSD.org> Cc: current@FreeBSD.org Subject: Preparing innocent users for -current Message-ID: <20020308110442.G32653-100000@zoot.corp.yahoo.com> In-Reply-To: <20020308101724.GA8515@freebsdmall.com>
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On Fri, 8 Mar 2002, Murray Stokely wrote:
> As discussed at BSDCon, the release engineers are committed to
> releasing a relatively stable snapshot of FreeBSD -CURRENT on or
> around April 1, 2002.
As much as I still think this is really bad timing for all the
reasons I expressed at the summit, if we're going to do this one of the
things we must absolutely do is create the list of "Things in -current
that will bite unsuspecting RELENG_4 users in the ass," and their
solutions, if any. Off the top of my head:
1. phk malloc debugging flags enabled by default. Solutions include
recompiling apps, and toggling things off in /etc/malloc.conf.
2. pam modules break backwards compatibility with pam apps compiled on
RELENG_4. The only solution I've been offered is to recompile things (or,
my preferred solution, don't use pam).
3. xconsole causes periodic panics. The problem (according to BDE) is "a
well-know bug in printf(9)," caused by "The TIOCCONS ioctl ... panics when
printf() is called while sched_lock is held." I reported this bug in
October 2001, if anyone wants to look through the archives.
Related to 2. above, since the port of XFree86-4 is still at
4.1.0, I went to the xfree86.org web page and installed their packaged
version of 4.2.0. Because of the pam breakage, xdm from that package
doesn't work. Therefore, it would be nice to have the port upgraded so
that the only solution available to users would actually be available.
Other than that, -current works pretty well for me. I use it daily
on my workstation at home, and have for years. My strategy is to keep good
backups, especially of a known-safe kernel. I used to compile -current
every few days, and I'd usually install it too. I stopped doing that after
the smpng work started, but I still try to update at least once a month.
The periods of instability are a price I'm willing to pay for a better
system down the road, even if it's frustrating sometimes.
Doug
--
"We have known freedom's price. We have shown freedom's power.
And in this great conflict, ... we will see freedom's victory."
- George W. Bush, President of the United States
State of the Union, January 28, 2002
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