Re: Starting again from Scratch
[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Re: Starting again from Scratch On 27/06/07, Roland Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Wed, Jun 27, 2007 at 09:51:16PM +0100, Graham Bentley wrote: And ... I cant mount my (other os) msdosfs as a user, Im sure I have done this before, driving me nuts, cant think what I havent done? --fstab entry-- /dev/ad0s5 /mnt/dosd msdosfs rw 22 /dev/ad0s1 /mnt/dosc msdosfs rw 22 /mnt etc is 666 owned by root:wheel and my user is part of wheel group? The directory where you want to mount must be _owned_ by the user. Also, not having (at least) o+x on directories will cause hair pulling . . . Oddly, if I make the directories /dosd and /dosc change the owner to admin:wheel and update my fstab I can access those as my user (admin) but not when fstab is as quoted above ie under /mnt? I dont get this as I have often used /mnt/dos type scheme in the past? It seems as though /mnt has some special property? Perhaps I need to go back to basics of chmod in symbolic mode? ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Starting again from Scratch
On 27/06/07, Roland Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Wed, Jun 27, 2007 at 09:51:16PM +0100, Graham Bentley wrote: And ... I cant mount my (other os) msdosfs as a user, Im sure I have done this before, driving me nuts, cant think what I havent done? --fstab entry-- /dev/ad0s5 /mnt/dosd msdosfs rw 22 /dev/ad0s1 /mnt/dosc msdosfs rw 22 /mnt etc is 666 owned by root:wheel and my user is part of wheel group? The directory where you want to mount must be _owned_ by the user. Also, not having (at least) o+x on directories will cause hair pulling . . . -- -- ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Starting again from Scratch
On 2007-06-25 18:27, Graham Bentley [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Mon, 25 Jun 2007 19:16:59 +0200 Roland Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The base system and ports are separate. The base system is built from /usr/src, while ports are built under /usr/ports. Concerning ports, I would install them from an _updated_ ports tree if your system isn't too slow. Start with what you really need, and add things if you miss them. If you build a high-level port like e.g. firefox, it will built the stuff it requires automatically. But I would start with building the xorg meta-port, to get X sorted first. Is it considered OK to update the ports and build up your worktop *without* bothering with building world? Also, building a kernel but leaving world at release? Yes. The latest ports tree should work fine for the supported release branches of FreeBSD. There are ports which may be broken for versions of FreeBSD which are too old (i.e. 3.X at this point), but in general if you stick with one of the supported branches, you should be fine. Can you clue me up on xorg 'meta-port' ??? The ports which are called 'meta-ports' don't really have sources of their own, but they have a list of dependencies which pulls in a set of tools, libraries or other programs. The /usr/ports/x11/xorg port is one of these 'meta-ports'. It doesn't really have anything to 'build', as can be seen by the NO_BUILD=yes assignment of its 'Makefile': $ cd /usr/ports/x11/xorg $ grep NO_BUILD Makefile NO_BUILD= yes $ But if you try to install this port, it will pull in lots of other ports as 'runtime dependencies'. This way, by asking the Ports Collection to install x11/xorg for you, you essentially end up with a full install of all the ports needed for a very basic X11 desktop. - Giorgos ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Starting again from Scratch
Special thanks to Roland, Nikola, Manolis, Peter, Giorgos, Jonathon for some great replies on this thread. I have now done a re-install from scratch. Essentially I have done a 'minimal' install (no ports/pkgs)- wow, this took literally just a few minutes. Next I 'portsnap fetch' and 'portsnap extract' I then did 'make install' first for Xorg then next for Xfce4 metas. And, yes, this took quite some time :) Afterwards I have used the fetched ports for adding all the dekstop stuff I like / use. And on advice I will use portmaster to track events on these softs. So, now I am happy with my new FreeBSD desktop. There are a few small glitches though. audacious - where did the plugins go? The site seems down as do the alternatives. I tried the plugins src from OpenBSD altho slightyly behind by 0.0.1 but cant get any sound? I am using xmms now, I mainly play audio streams (www.somafm.com or www.swissgroove.ch) Is there any other player I 'should know about' ie is more actively developed / supported? Beep? Zinf? Suggestions invited :) And ... I cant mount my (other os) msdosfs as a user, Im sure I have done this before, driving me nuts, cant think what I havent done? --fstab entry-- /dev/ad0s5 /mnt/dosdmsdosfs rw 22 /dev/ad0s1 /mnt/doscmsdosfs rw 22 /mnt etc is 666 owned by root:wheel and my user is part of wheel group? And lastly, cups webmin:631 refuses my root password ... is this a cupsd.conf setting ? As usual any advice on above greatly appreciated. Greetings from not so sunny North West UK ! ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Starting again from Scratch
On Wed, Jun 27, 2007 at 09:51:16PM +0100, Graham Bentley wrote: audacious - where did the plugins go? The site seems down as do the alternatives. I tried the plugins src from OpenBSD altho slightyly behind by 0.0.1 but cant get any sound? They're in a seperate port now; multimedia/audacious-plugins. If you can't fetch the tarball, I've got audacious-plugins-1.3.5.tgz sitting in distfiles. And ... I cant mount my (other os) msdosfs as a user, Im sure I have done this before, driving me nuts, cant think what I havent done? --fstab entry-- /dev/ad0s5 /mnt/dosd msdosfs rw 22 /dev/ad0s1 /mnt/dosc msdosfs rw 22 /mnt etc is 666 owned by root:wheel and my user is part of wheel group? The directory where you want to mount must be _owned_ by the user. And lastly, cups webmin:631 refuses my root password ... is this a cupsd.conf setting ? I've got the following in cupsd.conf, which Works For Me; LogLevel info Port 631 Browsing Off Location / Order Deny,Allow Deny From All Allow From 127.0.0.1 /Location Location /admin AuthType Basic AuthClass System Order Deny,Allow Deny From All Allow From 127.0.0.1 /Location Roland -- R.F.Smith http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/ [plain text _non-HTML_ PGP/GnuPG encrypted/signed email much appreciated] pgp: 1A2B 477F 9970 BA3C 2914 B7CE 1277 EFB0 C321 A725 (KeyID: C321A725) pgpIaa910FSil.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: Starting again from Scratch
4) Find out how to keep updated / informed on updates to packages I have installed, and do so where necessary. If anyone can advise, point me in the direction of tutorials or step by steps, on the above It would be greatly appreciated. I would like to understand why its not so great to just install everything from pkg_add, whats the advantages of ports etc Sorry, I don't know of a HOWTO specifically addressing it all like that. But I can say that I always use pkg_add -v -r on initial installs (for speed), and *then* upgrade using portmanager. Lately I have started using a jail for building binary packages of everything I want installed, and then doing a global upgrade by removing all packages and installing the binary packages built in the jail. It's fiddly, but works well in the end, and avoids problems you can run into with portmanager as well as minimizing the time during which your machine is not fully populated with packages. As for portupgrade, I have honestly never understood how anyone manages to use it for upgrades without difficulties. Whenever I try I run into problems almost immediately, having to do with packages not getting rebuilt even though they should and/or stale dependencies and whatnot in the pkgtools package database. If someone has magic information here I'd love to hear it. -- / Peter Schuller PGP userID: 0xE9758B7D or 'Peter Schuller [EMAIL PROTECTED]' Key retrieval: Send an E-Mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.scode.org ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Starting again from Scratch
On Mon, Jun 25, 2007 at 03:18:58PM +0100, Graham Bentley wrote: OK, I am fairly new to FreeBSD and returning from a long while away. I am currently working on an install I have performed from the 6.2 release discs I downloaded several days ago. I chose X-Kern-Dev install and have a mixed bag of pkg_add -r packages, some programs I have downloaded and compiled from source from developers sites (Claws-mail and Xfce4 to name 2) as well as apps I cd'ed into into /usr/ports/name and made [nvidia for 1] snip I am only aware of the names cvsup, portupgrade, portmanager, portsnap, make world etc and am getting this round my neck a bit but this is what I have summized ; 1) Do basic [minimal] install of 6.2 rel from disc 1 2) pkg_add cvsup-without-gui and get the latest ports installed No need for that anymore. A rewrite of cvsup in C called csup is part of the base system in 6.2. 3) Build *everything* from this ports tree [including base/kernel?] 4) Find out how to keep updated / informed on updates to packages I have installed, and do so where necessary. That's what you use portmaster(8) or portmanager(8) for. (I use portmaster now). For updating the ports tree, I use portsnap(8). First time that you use it: # portsnap fetch extract After that; # portsnap fetch update Getting a list of installed ports, inluding available updates: $ portmaster -L ports.list If you read the list, you'll see which ones have updates available. First thing to do is read /usr/ports/UPDATING. Skipping this might leave you with broken ports, in which case you get to keep both pieces. Next you usually update your ports with e.g; # portmaster -B -d name_of_port Unless UPDATING tells you otherwise. Do read the manual pages of the tools you're using. If anyone can advise, point me in the direction of tutorials or step by steps, on the above It would be greatly appreciated. I would like to understand why its not so great to just install everything from pkg_add, whats the advantages of ports etc With pkg_add you get the default options for the port (if any). That might not be what you want. And not all configuration options can be set with the OPTIONS mechanism. See http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/freebsd/index.html#make.conf Roland -- R.F.Smith http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/ [plain text _non-HTML_ PGP/GnuPG encrypted/signed email much appreciated] pgp: 1A2B 477F 9970 BA3C 2914 B7CE 1277 EFB0 C321 A725 (KeyID: C321A725) pgpHXSWyTjBcG.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: Starting again from Scratch
On Mon, 25 Jun 2007 18:08:45 +0200 Roland Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: That's what you use portmaster(8) or portmanager(8) for. (I use portmaster now). For updating the ports tree, I use portsnap(8). First time that you use it: # portsnap fetch extract After that; # portsnap fetch update Getting a list of installed ports, inluding available updates: $ portmaster -L ports.list If you read the list, you'll see which ones have updates available. First thing to do is read /usr/ports/UPDATING. Skipping this might leave you with broken ports, in which case you get to keep both pieces. Next you usually update your ports with e.g; # portmaster -B -d name_of_port Unless UPDATING tells you otherwise. Do read the manual pages of the tools you're using. So, if I where to start again, I would ; 1) Install 'minimal' distrib from 6.2 rel CD1 2) portsnap fetch extract 3) make install my system Then in future use portmaster as you say ? ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Starting again from Scratch
Graham Bentley wrote: OK, I am fairly new to FreeBSD and returning from a long while away. I am currently working on an install I have performed from the 6.2 release discs I downloaded several days ago. I chose X-Kern-Dev install and have a mixed bag of pkg_add -r packages, some programs I have downloaded and compiled from source from developers sites (Claws-mail and Xfce4 to name 2) as well as apps I cd'ed into into /usr/ports/name and made [nvidia for 1] Whilst I am aware there are more than serveral ways of doing things and for different reasons I am inviting advice on my target install which is a 'desktop' for basic office use, based on Xfce4. I would like to thank Nikola for his advice and also ask what is the generally accepted method of installing / keeping updated way of getting things done? I am only aware of the names cvsup, portupgrade, portmanager, portsnap, make world etc and am getting this round my neck a bit but this is what I have summized ; 1) Do basic [minimal] install of 6.2 rel from disc 1 2) pkg_add cvsup-without-gui and get the latest ports installed 3) Build *everything* from this ports tree [including base/kernel?] 4) Find out how to keep updated / informed on updates to packages I have installed, and do so where necessary. If anyone can advise, point me in the direction of tutorials or step by steps, on the above It would be greatly appreciated. I would like to understand why its not so great to just install everything from pkg_add, whats the advantages of ports etc Until then I am enjoying using my i386-unknown-freebsd6.2 installation - even if it more by good luck than good management :) Thanks in advance of time spent in replying ! You will hear many different opinions on this one, and I really doubt there is one true answer (TM) It all comes down IMHO to what amount of time you really want to spend on configuring / updating your system, how important it is for you to have the latest and greatest and what you are going to use it for. I will try to answer some of your questions from my point of view, but in any case you will probably receive lots of answers which may contradict and you should examine each of them to decide which suits your ideas better. First of all, to save you the trouble of installing cvsup from ports or packages, bear in mind the base system already has a utlity called csup, functionality is the same, you do not have to install anything. The handbook is simply not yet updated on this one. - Packages vs ports: Packages tend to be outdated. Most of the time the packages you get when you do a pkg_add -r something are the ones that came out during the RELEASE. There is a (rather little) known env. variable called PACKAGESITE which can be set to another location for pkg downloads so you get latest packages. See the important note in http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/packages-using.html - Ports: Using ports will allow you to get the latest and greatest software that is available for compiling (assuming you use csup or cvsup). Bear in mind the big ports like Gnome or Xorg make take hours (or days...) to compile, and in particular if your hardware is modest or memory limited, you may run out of patience waiting. In fact waiting for something like an Xorg upgrade to compile is completely counter productive if you wish to get a machine to production use quickly. When you gain more experience in BSD and have a few machines available you could use them to create ready packages for your other systems. Ports may become complicated - sometimes they will not compile, either due to the port itself being faulty at the particular moment or conflicting with something else you have installed. I particularly dislike the idea of mixing ports and packages at the same time on my systems. -Basic installations: If you wish to make a server with no graphic environment (as almost all servers should be IMO) you will probably not need any super-big ports to be compiled and in this case I would go for a complete ports-based system. I would use custom install and install everything but X, the ports collection, and no packages. The csup the ports, compile essential things (like bash for me) and any servers (apache, mysql etc) from ports . These are not very intensive and you will get your server running in a reasonable amount of time. Also compile portupgrade (or portupgrade-devel) to help keep your ports up to date. I also recommend portaudit which checks for security issues in your currently installed ports. It will even send you updates about them. -Compiling the kernel / building the world: There seems to be some confusion here around many people. Having installed the base system with full sources you can compile and install your own custom kernel at any time. See: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/kernelconfig-building.html IF HOWEVER you upgrade the system sources using csup (this
Re: Starting again from Scratch
On Mon, 25 Jun 2007 20:04:44 +0300 Manolis Kiagias [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Graham Bentley wrote: OK, I am fairly new to FreeBSD and returning from a long while away. I am currently working on an install I have performed from the 6.2 release discs I downloaded several days ago. I chose X-Kern-Dev install and have a mixed bag of pkg_add -r packages, some programs I have downloaded and compiled from source from developers sites (Claws-mail and Xfce4 to name 2) as well as apps I cd'ed into into /usr/ports/name and made [nvidia for 1] Whilst I am aware there are more than serveral ways of doing things and for different reasons I am inviting advice on my target install which is a 'desktop' for basic office use, based on Xfce4. I would like to thank Nikola for his advice and also ask what is the generally accepted method of installing / keeping updated way of getting things done? I am only aware of the names cvsup, portupgrade, portmanager, portsnap, make world etc and am getting this round my neck a bit but this is what I have summized ; 1) Do basic [minimal] install of 6.2 rel from disc 1 2) pkg_add cvsup-without-gui and get the latest ports installed 3) Build *everything* from this ports tree [including base/kernel?] 4) Find out how to keep updated / informed on updates to packages I have installed, and do so where necessary. If anyone can advise, point me in the direction of tutorials or step by steps, on the above It would be greatly appreciated. I would like to understand why its not so great to just install everything from pkg_add, whats the advantages of ports etc Until then I am enjoying using my i386-unknown-freebsd6.2 installation - even if it more by good luck than good management :) Thanks in advance of time spent in replying ! You will hear many different opinions on this one, and I really doubt there is one true answer (TM) It all comes down IMHO to what amount of time you really want to spend on configuring / updating your system, how important it is for you to have the latest and greatest and what you are going to use it for. I will try to answer some of your questions from my point of view, but in any case you will probably receive lots of answers which may contradict and you should examine each of them to decide which suits your ideas better. First of all, to save you the trouble of installing cvsup from ports or packages, bear in mind the base system already has a utlity called csup, functionality is the same, you do not have to install anything. The handbook is simply not yet updated on this one. - Packages vs ports: Packages tend to be outdated. Most of the time the packages you get when you do a pkg_add -r something are the ones that came out during the RELEASE. There is a (rather little) known env. variable called PACKAGESITE which can be set to another location for pkg downloads so you get latest packages. See the important note in http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/packages-using.html - Ports: Using ports will allow you to get the latest and greatest software that is available for compiling (assuming you use csup or cvsup). Bear in mind the big ports like Gnome or Xorg make take hours (or days...) to compile, and in particular if your hardware is modest or memory limited, you may run out of patience waiting. In fact waiting for something like an Xorg upgrade to compile is completely counter productive if you wish to get a machine to production use quickly. When you gain more experience in BSD and have a few machines available you could use them to create ready packages for your other systems. Ports may become complicated - sometimes they will not compile, either due to the port itself being faulty at the particular moment or conflicting with something else you have installed. I particularly dislike the idea of mixing ports and packages at the same time on my systems. -Basic installations: If you wish to make a server with no graphic environment (as almost all servers should be IMO) you will probably not need any super-big ports to be compiled and in this case I would go for a complete ports-based system. I would use custom install and install everything but X, the ports collection, and no packages. The csup the ports, compile essential things (like bash for me) and any servers (apache, mysql etc) from ports . These are not very intensive and you will get your server running in a reasonable amount of time. Also compile portupgrade (or portupgrade-devel) to help keep your ports up to date. I also recommend portaudit which checks for security issues in your currently installed ports. It will even send you updates about them. -Compiling the kernel / building the world: There seems to be some confusion here around many people. Having installed the base system with full sources you can compile and install your own custom
Re: Starting again from Scratch
On Mon, Jun 25, 2007 at 05:51:44PM +0100, Graham Bentley wrote: So, if I where to start again, I would ; 1) Install 'minimal' distrib from 6.2 rel CD1 2) portsnap fetch extract 3) make install my system The base system and ports are separate. The base system is built from /usr/src, while ports are built under /usr/ports. Concerning ports, I would install them from an _updated_ ports tree if your system isn't too slow. Start with what you really need, and add things if you miss them. If you build a high-level port like e.g. firefox, it will built the stuff it requires automatically. But I would start with building the xorg meta-port, to get X sorted first. Currently I have 427 ports installed om my desktop system, ≌ 100 of which are part of the new modular xorg. Then in future use portmaster as you say ? Yes. Roland -- R.F.Smith http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/ [plain text _non-HTML_ PGP/GnuPG encrypted/signed email much appreciated] pgp: 1A2B 477F 9970 BA3C 2914 B7CE 1277 EFB0 C321 A725 (KeyID: C321A725) pgp3xHUEAxb5p.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: Starting again from Scratch
On Mon, 25 Jun 2007 19:16:59 +0200 Roland Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Mon, Jun 25, 2007 at 05:51:44PM +0100, Graham Bentley wrote: So, if I where to start again, I would ; 1) Install 'minimal' distrib from 6.2 rel CD1 2) portsnap fetch extract 3) make install my system The base system and ports are separate. The base system is built from /usr/src, while ports are built under /usr/ports. Concerning ports, I would install them from an _updated_ ports tree if your system isn't too slow. Start with what you really need, and add things if you miss them. If you build a high-level port like e.g. firefox, it will built the stuff it requires automatically. But I would start with building the xorg meta-port, to get X sorted first. Currently I have 427 ports installed om my desktop system, ≌ 100 of which are part of the new modular xorg. Then in future use portmaster as you say ? Yes. Roland Cheers Roland, Is it considered OK to update the ports and build up your worktop *without* bothering with building world? Also, building a kernel but leaving world at release? My system is an Athalon2.4/1GB/NV5200 so seems quick enough and I am not in that much of a hurry. However, I dont want to spend hours and hours waiting for compiles... Can you clue me up on xorg 'meta-port' ??? I can feel a re-install coming on ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Starting again from Scratch
On Mon, 25 Jun 2007 18:14:26 +0100 Graham Bentley [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Thanks for the reply Manolis. As I mentioned in my first post, this isnt for an important server, its just for 'desktop' use, for my own amusement, a learning platform. I dont actually need the 'latest and greatest' bleeding edge code, more so a reliable system for everyday work, that I dont really want to spend too long tinkering but more time using. In that case, don't upgrade your ports tree. By and large things are more likely to work when everything is built from the same tree, and the precompiled packages were built against the tree on the disk. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Starting again from Scratch
Graham Bentley wrote: On Mon, 25 Jun 2007 19:16:59 +0200 Roland Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Mon, Jun 25, 2007 at 05:51:44PM +0100, Graham Bentley wrote: So, if I where to start again, I would ; 1) Install 'minimal' distrib from 6.2 rel CD1 2) portsnap fetch extract 3) make install my system The base system and ports are separate. The base system is built from /usr/src, while ports are built under /usr/ports. Concerning ports, I would install them from an _updated_ ports tree if your system isn't too slow. Start with what you really need, and add things if you miss them. If you build a high-level port like e.g. firefox, it will built the stuff it requires automatically. But I would start with building the xorg meta-port, to get X sorted first. Currently I have 427 ports installed om my desktop system, ≌ 100 of which are part of the new modular xorg. Then in future use portmaster as you say ? Yes. Roland Cheers Roland, Is it considered OK to update the ports and build up your worktop *without* bothering with building world? Also, building a kernel but leaving world at release? My system is an Athalon2.4/1GB/NV5200 so seems quick enough and I am not in that much of a hurry. However, I dont want to spend hours and hours waiting for compiles... Can you clue me up on xorg 'meta-port' ??? I can feel a re-install coming on It is ok to update ports and use them without ever rebuilding world or the kernel (or upgrade system sources). You may also build the kernel as many times as you wish from the release sources and not build the world. The world is already built on release sources anyway. If you do update the system sources however, you will have to build world along with the kernel the first time. Any subsequent kernel rebuilds from the same sources will not require a world rebuilt. Generally rebuilding the world and kernel is a very good way to move from one release to the next without reinstalling everything from scratch. One important thing, when building ports or upgrading, always read the file /usr/ports/UPDATING. It contains valuable info on how you should proceed on specific ports. The procedure for the xorg upgrade is described in there as well and you should follow it (even if you are clean installing xorg). Your system is fine performance wise, still it will take quite some time (hours and hours...) to compile / install xorg and a desktop environment. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Starting again from Scratch
On Mon, Jun 25, 2007 at 06:27:11PM +0100, Graham Bentley wrote: snip Is it considered OK to update the ports and build up your worktop *without* bothering with building world? Also, building a kernel but leaving world at release? You only _have_ to rebuild world and the kernel if you have updated your source tree. You can build a new kernel if you want certain devices built into the kernel that are not in the generic kernel or if you want to build a kernel with just the devices that you need and nothing more. You don't have to rebuild world as long as world and kernel are built from the same source tree. My system is an Athalon2.4/1GB/NV5200 so seems quick enough and I am not in that much of a hurry. However, I dont want to spend hours and hours waiting for compiles... You can use packages in that case. Be sure to fetch the packages from -STABLE, not from RELEASE, so you get the latest. Some ports are not available as packages for some reason, e.g. because the license forbids it. Can you clue me up on xorg 'meta-port' ??? That's just a port that references all the ports that make up Xorg. If you install that, you'll have the complete Xorg. You'll have more stuff installed (e.g. drivers) than you really need, but knowing which ones you need and which you kan skip is not a newbie job. I can feel a re-install coming on Think carefully about the partitions you make. I'd advise the following (if you have disk space to spare) 100-200MB for / 100MB for /tmp 5+GB for /usr 300MB for /var 2x the amount of RAM for swap the rest for /home Having /home seperate is very handy for making backups. Currently / has used around 88MB, /usr 4649MB and /var 146MB on my amd64 system. Roland -- R.F.Smith http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/ [plain text _non-HTML_ PGP/GnuPG encrypted/signed email much appreciated] pgp: 1A2B 477F 9970 BA3C 2914 B7CE 1277 EFB0 C321 A725 (KeyID: C321A725) pgpHR3N0Xm2gg.pgp Description: PGP signature
