Re: Packages available for different FreeBSD versions
On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 9:27 PM, RWrwmailli...@googlemail.com wrote: On Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:41:12 -0500 Andrew Gould andrewlylego...@gmail.com wrote: STABLE is what it sounds like. I don't think it is what it sounds like - STABLE branches are development branches with stable binary interfaces. It's the security branches that are intended for production use. From: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/version-guide/index.html During the lifetime of each major release, an individual branch may also be termed STABLE. This indicates that the FreeBSD Project believes that the branch is of sufficiently proven quality to be used by a wide range of users. Branches that need further testing before being widely adopted are named CURRENT. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: Packages available for different FreeBSD versions
On Thu, 20 Aug 2009 07:05:27 -0500 Andrew Gould andrewlylego...@gmail.com wrote: On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 9:27 PM, RWrwmailli...@googlemail.com wrote: On Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:41:12 -0500 Andrew Gould andrewlylego...@gmail.com wrote: STABLE is what it sounds like. I don't think it is what it sounds like - STABLE branches are development branches with stable binary interfaces. It's the security branches that are intended for production use. From: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/version-guide/index.html During the lifetime of each major release, an individual branch may also be termed STABLE. This indicates that the FreeBSD Project believes that the branch is of sufficiently proven quality to be used by a wide range of users. Right, sufficiently proven quality to be used by a wide range of users for beta testing. I'm not saying that the stable branches shouldn't be used for production use, just that it's inadvisable to use them without a clear understanding of the reason why. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: Packages available for different FreeBSD versions
On Thu, Aug 20, 2009 at 07:05:27AM -0500, Andrew Gould wrote: On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 9:27 PM, RWrwmailli...@googlemail.com wrote: On Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:41:12 -0500 Andrew Gould andrewlylego...@gmail.com wrote: STABLE is what it sounds like. I don't think it is what it sounds like - STABLE branches are development branches with stable binary interfaces. It's the security branches that are intended for production use. From: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/version-guide/index.html During the lifetime of each major release, an individual branch may also be termed STABLE. This indicates that the FreeBSD Project believes that the branch is of sufficiently proven quality to be used by a wide range of users. Branches that need further testing before being widely adopted are named CURRENT. Yes, the snapshot is of a STABLE version when it is past the totally on the edge CURRENT condition. It is pretty close to becoming a RELEASE version. Generally only some more testing and getting ports ready for that version separates STABLE from RELEASE. CURRENT is where new development is happening. In some sense CURRENT is akin to an early (pre) Alpha version, STABLE is akin to a late Beta (almost release) version and RELEASE is the supported release of the version. But it is not quite that. Most companies do not put out their development source or a snapshot of of the system as they are working on it. They hold that secret and only release something after pretty much everything locked in before they let anyone in the public see it. jerry ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: Packages available for different FreeBSD versions
On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 3:27 PM, Chris Stankevitzcstankev...@toyon.com wrote: Hello, Hello, I have two questions: 1. Is it true that I have the choice to run these versions of FreeBSD: 8.0 CURRENT 7.2 RELEASE 7.2 STABLE 7.2 CURRENT 7.1 RELEASE 7.1 STABLE 7.1 CURRENT 7.0 RELEASE 7.0 STABLE 7.0 CURRENT 6.4 RELEASE 6.4 STABLE 6.4 CURRENT You can find links to directories with ISO images of various RELEASES here: ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ Some older releases have been moved to archives. Once you're installed a RELEASE, you can update it to STABLE by updating the operating system. More information about updating can be found in the online handbook: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/ more specifically here: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/updating-upgrading.html 2. For each of the versions above, what version of GCC and VirtualBox is available? I don't intend for this questions to directly be answered -- I'm hoping for a site that lists the versions of all packages available for a particular version of FreeBSD like this page for gentoo: http://packages.gentoo.org/package/www-client/mozilla-firefox The ports system, and the versions of applications available, changes with time and is not directly associated with the core operating system version number. Once you've installed the operating system, you could choose to keep the operating system the same, but continue to update the ports system. You can find application binaries that were built at the time the OS version was released here: ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/ They are arranged by computer architecture and release number. There are also stable directories for certain releases. More information about various RELEASES and their features can be found here: http://www.freebsd.org/releases/ Thank you, Chris Best of luck, Andrew ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: Packages available for different FreeBSD versions
On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 3:27 PM, Chris Stankevitz cstankev...@toyon.comwrote: Hello, Hello, I have two questions: 1. Is it true that I have the choice to run these versions of FreeBSD: 8.0 CURRENT 7.2 RELEASE 7.2 STABLE 7.2 CURRENT 7.1 RELEASE 7.1 STABLE 7.1 CURRENT 7.0 RELEASE 7.0 STABLE 7.0 CURRENT 6.4 RELEASE 6.4 STABLE 6.4 CURRENT That is an abbreviated list. 2. For each of the versions above, what version of GCC and VirtualBox is available? I don't intend for this questions to directly be answered -- I'm hoping for a site that lists the versions of all packages available for a particular version of FreeBSD like this page for gentoo: http://packages.gentoo.org/package/www-client/mozilla-firefox Thank you, Chris ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org You question reflects a linux background which probably explains the awkwardness of it. Try to learn the FreeBSD native ports method which gives much more flexibility at the expense of compile time, but I've heard gentoo does something similar so perhaps the pain of waiting is not too great. Packages are compiled for commonly used ports at release time. These packages are versioned at what is in the ports tree at release time. There may be other sources but that not something to be counted on. Ports tree makes rolling your own packages easy so running various verisons of gcc/virtualbox is not a problem usually not issue depending on what's already installed on the system. -- Adam Vande More ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: Packages available for different FreeBSD versions
Andrew Gould wrote: Once you're installed a RELEASE, you can update it to STABLE by Andrew, Thank you for your helpful reply. Please tell me if you think I have the correct understanding: When I install FreeBSD, I am installing a core operating system version number (your term). Then I may choose to install the ports as either STABLE or CURRENT neither of which is associated with any core operating system version number. From this point on, all application updates will arrive via ports . A question: Imaging one person installs FreeBSD-6.4 RELEASE and updates to STABLE ports. Another installs FreeBSD-7.2 RELEASE and also updates to STABLE ports. Are there any applications that the FreeBSD-6.4 person cannot install (e.g. the latest apache or VirtualBox)? If so, by what mechanism is he prevented? What are the repercussions of never updating the core operating system version number? FYI my experience is with Gentoo which as no core operating system version number. All system updates come from portage (like your ports). ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/ They are arranged by computer architecture and release number. There are also stable directories for certain releases. Thank you for providing this. It raises two questions: 1. If the STABLE ports tree is not associated with a core operating system version number, why are there two directories for STABLE packages: ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-6-stable/ ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-7-stable/ 2. What is the difference between these two? ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-7.2-release/ ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-7-stable/ My guess: The first is the packages that were made available in the 7.2 RELEASE CDs. The second is a directory that is re-created every 5 minutes by updating the ports collection and compiling all the applications in it. Thank you for your help! Chris ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: Packages available for different FreeBSD versions
On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 01:27:42PM -0700, Chris Stankevitz wrote:
Hello,
Hello, I have two questions:
1. Is it true that I have the choice to run these versions of FreeBSD:
8.0 CURRENT
7.2 RELEASE
7.2 STABLE
7.2 CURRENT
7.1 RELEASE
7.1 STABLE
7.1 CURRENT
7.0 RELEASE
7.0 STABLE
7.0 CURRENT
6.4 RELEASE
6.4 STABLE
6.4 CURRENT
More or less. You can run any version you can get a CD of or that you can
check out of the source repository. But not all of them are
supported. Currently 6.4 and 7.2 are supported, and 8.0 is in beta.
2. For each of the versions above, what version of GCC and VirtualBox is
available?
The ports tree in general is not tied to a particular version of FreeBSD. But
some ports might be. Particularly, virtualbox requires 7.x. From
/usr/ports/emulators/virtualbox/Makefile:
.if ${OSVERSION} 70
BROKEN= Does not compile on FreeBSD 6.X
.endif
I don't intend for this questions to directly be answered --
I'm hoping for a site that lists the versions of all packages available
for a particular version of FreeBSD like this page for gentoo:
AFAIK, packages for a release are built from a snapshot of the ports system
taken at the moment that a release is made. You can find these on FTP servers,
e.g. ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-7.2-release/
for 7.2 release on the i386 platform. You should of course use a mirror that
is close to you. Not all ports are available as packages, for several possible
reasons. Virtualbox is only available in the packages for 7-stable.
If you want to be on the bleeding edge, you'll probably want to compile ports
from source.
Roland
--
R.F.Smith http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/
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Re: Packages available for different FreeBSD versions
On Aug 17, 2009, at 2:22 PM, Chris Stankevitz wrote:
When I install FreeBSD, I am installing a core operating system
version number (your term).
Most people install FreeBSD from a release CD; ie, they install 6.4-
RELEASE, or 7.2-RELEASE, or similar.
Then I may choose to install the ports as either STABLE or
CURRENT neither of which is associated with any core operating
system version number. From this point on, all application updates
will arrive via ports .
Ports are not branched-- there is no STABLE or CURRENT for ports. The
same ports tree can be used on 6.x, 7.x, and 8-CURRENT.
A question:
Imaging one person installs FreeBSD-6.4 RELEASE and updates to
STABLE ports. Another installs FreeBSD-7.2 RELEASE and also updates
to STABLE ports. Are there any applications that the FreeBSD-6.4
person cannot install (e.g. the latest apache or VirtualBox)?
If a port does not compile on a given OS version, something like the
following is used in the port Makefile:
./audio/mumble/Makefile-.if ${OSVERSION} 70
./audio/mumble/Makefile:BROKEN= Does not compile on FreeBSD 7.0
./audio/mumble/Makefile-.endif
The same mechanism can be used for ports that do not compile on a
particular architecture, such as amd64 or sparc. See: http://www.freshports.org/ports-broken.php
If so, by what mechanism is he prevented?
The port Makefiles will return an error if/when the port is known to
be broken under a certain circumstance.
What are the repercussions of never updating the core operating
system version number?
Well, you'll miss ongoing security updates and improvements to the
system. Eventually, if you refuse to update the base OS for a very
long period of time (years), you'll end up running an unsupported
version of the OS and some of the ongoing updates to the ports tree
may not work properly.
FYI my experience is with Gentoo which as no core operating system
version number. All system updates come from portage (like your
ports).
ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/
They are arranged by computer architecture and release number.
There
are also stable directories for certain releases.
Thank you for providing this. It raises two questions:
1. If the STABLE ports tree is not associated with a core operating
system version number, why are there two directories for STABLE
packages:
ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-6-stable/
ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-7-stable/
When you compile something, you normally end up with runtime
dependencies upon a particular version of the C libraries, so the
packages for 6-STABLE and 7-STABLE are not the same. However, 6-
STABLE packages should run on a 7.x OS if you've got the misc/compat6x
port installed, which makes the 6.x shared libraries available on a
7.x or 8.x version FreeBSD.
2. What is the difference between these two?
ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-7.2-release/
ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-7-stable/
My guess:
The first is the packages that were made available in the 7.2
RELEASE CDs.
You're right, here.
The second is a directory that is re-created every 5 minutes by
updating the ports collection and compiling all the applications in
it.
Sort of. It takes longer than 5 minutes to rebuild all ~20K ports,
but yes, the 7-stable packages are updated continuously over time
Regards,
--
-Chuck
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Re: Packages available for different FreeBSD versions
Chuck, Thank you for your help. I have two questions: Chuck Swiger wrote: Ports are not branched-- there is no STABLE or CURRENT for ports. The same ports tree can be used on 6.x, 7.x, and 8-CURRENT. 1. With what is the STABLE/CURRENT tag associated? a) core operating system version number b) the ports collection c) something else What are the repercussions of never updating the core operating system version number? Well, you'll miss ongoing security updates and improvements to the system. 2. I thought security updates and improvements to the system would arrive via the ports mechanism. What kinds of things are not updated via ports? (My experience is with Gentoo where everything is updated via portage and there is no core operating system version number). Thanks again, Chris ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: Packages available for different FreeBSD versions
On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 5:08 PM, Chris Stankevitz cstankev...@toyon.comwrote: Chuck, Thank you for your help. I have two questions: Chuck Swiger wrote: Ports are not branched-- there is no STABLE or CURRENT for ports. The same ports tree can be used on 6.x, 7.x, and 8-CURRENT. 1. With what is the STABLE/CURRENT tag associated? Release/Stable/Current are related to the FreeBSD branch eg 6, 7, 8 a) core operating system version number b) the ports collection c) something else What are the repercussions of never updating the core operating system version number? Well, you'll miss ongoing security updates and improvements to the system. 2. I thought security updates and improvements to the system would arrive via the ports mechanism. What kinds of things are not updated via ports? (My experience is with Gentoo where everything is updated via portage and there is no core operating system version number). Thanks again, Chris Ports are 3rd party apps not in the base system, things like apache and postgresql are part of ports not base system. Things like cp and tar are part of base system and not ports. FreeBSD userland and kernel is not part of ports system these are updated seperately using things like freebsd-update. -- Adam Vande More ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: Packages available for different FreeBSD versions
Chuck Swiger wrote: If you just want security updates and no other changes, you'd update against RELENG_7_2 instead. Here are you referring only to security updates to the core OS and not applications in ports such as Firefox? In the BSDs, the baseline or core OS is separate from installed ports or packages, and is updated separately from them. What's an example of something that is in the core OS and not in the ports? GCC? the shells? the kernel? Thank you, Chris ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: Packages available for different FreeBSD versions
On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 5:08 PM, Chris Stankevitzcstankev...@toyon.com wrote: Chuck, Thank you for your help. I have two questions: Chuck Swiger wrote: Ports are not branched-- there is no STABLE or CURRENT for ports. The same ports tree can be used on 6.x, 7.x, and 8-CURRENT. 1. With what is the STABLE/CURRENT tag associated? a) core operating system version number b) the ports collection c) something else Ports is a system created to install and manage third party applications that are separate from the core operating system. Although they are separate, it is good to have them in sync so that they are compiled using the same libraries, etc. Therefore, there is an attempt to associate packages (compiled versions of ports) with the version of the operating system upon which they were compiled. RELEASE, STABLE and CURRENT, refer to the core system. RELEASE refers to the version of the operating system that was released with release notes, etc. When you update the core operating system, you can use cvsup to download changes to the source code. STABLE and CURRENT tell cvsup what set of changes you want to download. STABLE is what it sounds like. The changes include patches related to security issues and bugs. New features may be included, but are considered too risky or experimental. CURRENT will put you on the bleeding edge. What are the repercussions of never updating the core operating system version number? Well, you'll miss ongoing security updates and improvements to the system. 2. I thought security updates and improvements to the system would arrive via the ports mechanism. What kinds of things are not updated via ports? (My experience is with Gentoo where everything is updated via portage and there is no core operating system version number). This is addressed above. I would add, though, that the cvsup mechanism can be used to download updates to the ports system and documentation, in addition to changes to the core system. Thanks again, Chris ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: Packages available for different FreeBSD versions
On Aug 17, 2009, at 3:39 PM, Chris Stankevitz wrote: Chuck Swiger wrote: If you just want security updates and no other changes, you'd update against RELENG_7_2 instead. Here are you referring only to security updates to the core OS and not applications in ports such as Firefox? That's right, yes. In the BSDs, the baseline or core OS is separate from installed ports or packages, and is updated separately from them. What's an example of something that is in the core OS and not in the ports? GCC? the shells? the kernel? Yes, all of the above. Basically, ports (or packages) install under / usr/local; everything else under /bin, /usr/bin, etc is part of the core OS. However, if you wanted to install another version of GCC, you could have both the one which comes with the system and a port version present. Likewise for things like sendmail, BIND, openssl, and so forth which normally come with the core OS, but may not be updated as rapidly as the version in ports is. -- -Chuck ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: Packages available for different FreeBSD versions
When I install FreeBSD, I am installing a core operating system version number (your term). Yes. The kernel and a few important libraries and utilities comprise the base system. They are kept separate from FreeBSD Ports, unlike in Gentoo, where you can for example update your kernel or other parts of the base system via Portage. Sometimes there are ports that overlap in functionality with parts of the base system -- for example, there are separate versions of openssl, openssh, gcc, kerberos, etc. in both the base system and in ports -- but they are always updated independently, and if you install a port with overlapping functionality it will never overwrite the base system, but just coexist with it. Then I may choose to install the ports as either STABLE or CURRENT neither of which is associated with any core operating system version number. From this point on, all application updates will arrive via ports . The current FreeBSD Ports tree always contains the latest ports -- there is no separation into stable and testing branches like with Portage, and there are no separate branches for different architectures or different supported versions of the base system, although some ports will not build for all of them. (There are of course separate precompiled binary packages for the different supported architectures and versions of the base system, although they are all built with the same ports tree.) If you want don't want to live on the cutting edge, then you can use a snapshot of the ports tree or the corresponding pre-built binary packages that were shipped with a FreeBSD release, as the ports tree is typically frozen and tested immediately before a release. Of course, you are free to pick any other snapshot that you want, or to use some other packaging system like NetBSD's pkgsrc, for example. (This summer someone was porting Portage to NetBSD, so maybe you will be able to use Portage soon, too.) Imaging one person installs FreeBSD-6.4 RELEASE and updates to STABLE ports. Another installs FreeBSD-7.2 RELEASE and also updates to STABLE ports. Are there any applications that the FreeBSD-6.4 person cannot install (e.g. the latest apache or VirtualBox)? Sometimes there are ports that are marked as broken on certain architectures or versions of the base system. If so, by what mechanism is he prevented? Some lines in the port Makefile. Of course, you are free to tinker -- many ports marked as broken can be patched to work just fine, only no one has gotten around to doing it yet. What are the repercussions of never updating the core operating system version number? Just like in Linux, the rest of the world moves on -- not all recent improvements to the base system are backported to earlier versions of the base system, and developers are reluctant to spend a lot of time and energy fixing problems on very old versions of the base system. Eventually, official support is dropped and you're on your own. 1. If the STABLE ports tree is not associated with a core operating system version number, why are there two directories for STABLE packages: ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-6-stable/ ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-7-stable/ The ports tree is not associated with any one base system version, but the pre-built binary packages _are_. If 6.4 is the latest release of the base system in the 6.x branch, then 6-stable is the testing version of the base system that willl eventually become 6.5. Occasionally, changes made since the last release change the interface between the base system and other software, so binary packages built against 6.4 may not work on 6-stable. The 6-stable directory above should contain binary packages built with a recent snapshot of the ports tree on a recent snapshot of 6-stable, and so on. 2. What is the difference between these two? ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-7.2-release/ ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-7-stable/ My guess: The first is the packages that were made available in the 7.2 RELEASE CDs. Yes. The second is a directory that is re-created every 5 minutes by updating the ports collection and compiling all the applications in it. Well, not every _five_ minutes. :) b. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: Packages available for different FreeBSD versions
Chuck Swiger wrote: Yes, all of the above. Basically, ports (or packages) install under /usr/local; everything else under /bin, /usr/bin, etc is part of the core OS. Okay, I think I understand now. Applications on a FreeBSD machine are broken into two categories: 1. Applications installed under /bin, /usr/bin, etc 2. Applications installed under /usr/local The first group is called core OS applications. The second is called ports applications. FreeBSD developers think carefully before deciding in which group to place a new application. Update applications in the first group using freebsd-update but first decide whether you want RELEASE, STABLE, or CURRENT. Update applications in the second group using CVS on the ports tree. Sometimes applications in the second group will require an update to the first group with a message like Does not compile on FreeBSD 7.0 Some applications are in both groups and can exist simultaneously, such as GCC. Thank you for your help everyone. I am eager to try FreeBSD -- I had to install it recently and I loved the documentation. Been using Gentoo for many years. Chris ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: Packages available for different FreeBSD versions
On Aug 17, 2009, at 3:08 PM, Chris Stankevitz wrote: Chuck Swiger wrote: Ports are not branched-- there is no STABLE or CURRENT for ports. The same ports tree can be used on 6.x, 7.x, and 8-CURRENT. 1. With what is the STABLE/CURRENT tag associated? a) core operating system version number b) the ports collection c) something else The core OS. If you install 7.2-RELEASE, and then update the OS software against 7-STABLE (which is CVS tag RELENG_7), you will get security fixes and other changes which will eventually become 7.3- RELEASE. If you just want security updates and no other changes, you'd update against RELENG_7_2 instead. What are the repercussions of never updating the core operating system version number? Well, you'll miss ongoing security updates and improvements to the system. 2. I thought security updates and improvements to the system would arrive via the ports mechanism. What kinds of things are not updated via ports? (My experience is with Gentoo where everything is updated via portage and there is no core operating system version number). In other platforms, everything is a package, and can be updated via portage, yum, etc. In the BSDs, the baseline or core OS is separate from installed ports or packages, and is updated separately from them. Regards, -- -Chuck ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: Packages available for different FreeBSD versions
On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 02:22:32PM -0700, Chris Stankevitz wrote: Andrew Gould wrote: Once you're installed a RELEASE, you can update it to STABLE by Andrew, Thank you for your helpful reply. Please tell me if you think I have the correct understanding: When I install FreeBSD, I am installing a core operating system version number (your term). Then I may choose to install the ports as either STABLE or CURRENT neither of which is associated with any core operating system version number. From this point on, all application updates will arrive via ports . You don't have this quite right. The only thing that is versioned and called RELEASE, STABLE or CURRENT with Installation ISO-s for installation is the base OS. You can choose to install any version of the OS that you can get the files for - preferably in an ISO. But, you really want to install the latest RELEASE. The ports are applications. A bunch of them are thrown in with the ISOs because they are so commonly used. But, they are separate from the base OS. Generally a port consists of the source code and a set of procedures for building (configuring, compiling, linking, installing and runtime configuring) the source code in to a running application. The ports are not tied directly to an OS version, Each port is developed 'independantly' from the OS and has its own version designation. But often there are things that they depend on in the OS that may change over different versions. So a given version of a port may only be buildable for a certain range of OS versions - or, more often, the libraries that are part of the OS. Many ports are utilities that run under several different operating systems. The developers(maintainers) have just created the small variations in code and build procedures to make it run on each OS and each OS version. Some maintainers or other developers take a port and build it on and for a specific version of the OS (a RELEASE of the OS). They bundle it into a nice file or set of files that can be copied to your system and applied with little extra work. The compiling, linking and even some of the configuring are all done for you - generally presuming the most commonly used settings.These are called packages and these generally are good for only one version of one OS each. There may be a number of packages available for a port built for different versions of the OS.OpenOffice is a good example. It can be installed from a port - completely built from the source and makefiles. I have done it successfully several times. But it is a very big port and very cumbersom and time consuming to build that way. So probably most people just get the prebuilt package and install that. A question: Imaging one person installs FreeBSD-6.4 RELEASE and updates to STABLE ports. Another installs FreeBSD-7.2 RELEASE and also updates to STABLE ports. Are there any applications that the FreeBSD-6.4 person cannot install (e.g. the latest apache or VirtualBox)? If so, by what mechanism is he prevented? What are the repercussions of never updating the core operating system version number? Your first sentence here already is off track. You would not update to STABLE ports. Ports are what they are. You might update the base OS to STABLE. There may (and probably are) some ports that run on 7.2 RELEASE that will not run on an earlier (6.4 version of the OS. That is because the libraries will have been modified and the ports are always built for the latest OS version. The exception is if you download the ISO set for a particular OS version, burn them on CDs and install the port from the CDs. Of course, these CDs will not change. But the next set of ISOs you download for a later OS version will be upgraded to go with that OS version. FYI my experience is with Gentoo which as no core operating system version number. All system updates come from portage (like your ports). Yup. Different concept. Lately I am having to muck with some Linux stuff and after dealing with FreeBSD for 11 years or so, find the Lunix to be very clunky. ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/ They are arranged by computer architecture and release number. There are also stable directories for certain releases. Pretty much any computer architecture that FreeBSD supports will have the same OS version available.You do have to distinguish between Intel/AMD 32 and 64 bit and Sparc and DEC and some of those. But once you get the right ISO, the rest falls in place. Thank you for providing this. It raises two questions: 1. If the STABLE ports tree is not associated with a core operating system version number, why are there two directories for STABLE packages: ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-6-stable/ ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-7-stable/ 2. What is the difference between these two?
Re: Packages available for different FreeBSD versions
On Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:41:12 -0500 Andrew Gould andrewlylego...@gmail.com wrote: STABLE is what it sounds like. I don't think it is what it sounds like - STABLE branches are development branches with stable binary interfaces. It's the security branches that are intended for production use. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: Packages available for different FreeBSD versions
On Aug 17, 2009, at 7:27 PM, RW wrote: On Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:41:12 -0500 Andrew Gould andrewlylego...@gmail.com wrote: STABLE is what it sounds like. I don't think it is what it sounds like - STABLE branches are development branches with stable binary interfaces. It's the security branches that are intended for production use. It's reasonable for people who update and build their own software image to do some level of qualification of the result, before deploying this to production systems. Whether you track -STABLE or the security branch for your initial release ought to be determined more by your preferences to minimize the scope of OS updates versus your desire for relevant new functionality. Regards, -- -Chuck ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
