Hello guys, I have a system running FreeBSD 5.2.1 and want to degrade it to FreeBSD 4.10 (because the program I want to use only runs and supported on that platform) without reinstalling the system. Is it enough to cvsup to the RELENG_4 branch and recompile the system? Should I recompile all the programs that were previously compiled in the FreeBSD 5 environment? I would also like to know how this works backwards (which is the common way), so to upgrade from 4 to branch 5. Is there some kind of tutorial for this? Thanks, P.
On Thursday 22 July 2004 15:06, Kov?cs P?ter wrote:> Hello guys, > > I have a system running FreeBSD 5.2.1 and want to degrade it > to FreeBSD 4.10 (because the program I want to use only runs > and supported on that platform) without reinstalling the system.Not supported. Backing up your data and reinstalling is definitely the safer option. If you want to try anyway, you're pretty much on your own. -- ,_, | Michael Nottebrock | lofi@freebsd.org (/^ ^\) | FreeBSD - The Power to Serve | http://www.freebsd.org \u/ | K Desktop Environment on FreeBSD | http://freebsd.kde.org -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 187 bytes Desc: signature Url : http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-stable/attachments/20040722/2cc1a587/attachment.bin
On Thursday 22 July 2004 15:06, Kov?cs P?ter wrote:> Hello guys,Hi!> > I have a system running FreeBSD 5.2.1 and want to degrade it > to FreeBSD 4.10 (because the program I want to use only runs > and supported on that platform) without reinstalling the system. > Is it enough to cvsup to the RELENG_4 branch and recompile > the system? > Should I recompile all the programs that were previously > compiled in the FreeBSD 5 environment?In most cases it's guaranteed to _NOT_ work and render your system unusable because the UFS2 filesystem (which is the default in the 5.x branch) is not supported under 4.x. However you can use most software written for FreeBSD 4.x if you install the misc/compat4x port.> > I would also like to know how this works backwards (which is > the common way), so to upgrade from 4 to branch 5. Is there > some kind of tutorial for this?Yes, it's possible, however for most users the easyest and safest way is to backup valueable data, and do a fresh install. This way you can take advantage of all the features of the new filesystem. If you must do a source update for some reason, the upgrade process is described in detail in src/UPDATING.> > Thanks, > P.cheers, m. -- Marton Kenyeres - mkenyeres@konvergencia.hu KVG Konvergencia Kft.
On Thu, 2004-07-22 at 09:06, Kov?cs P?ter wrote:> Hello guys, > > I have a system running FreeBSD 5.2.1 and want to degrade it > to FreeBSD 4.10 (because the program I want to use only runs > and supported on that platform) without reinstalling the system. > Is it enough to cvsup to the RELENG_4 branch and recompile > the system? > Should I recompile all the programs that were previously > compiled in the FreeBSD 5 environment? > > I would also like to know how this works backwards (which is > the common way), so to upgrade from 4 to branch 5. Is there > some kind of tutorial for this?I doubt there is a tutorial because, so far as I know, downgrading is neither officially supported nor guaranteed to work. (I'd say this is especially true when jumping down major release numbers.) In the case of going from 5.2.1 -> 4.10 it's likely to be doomed immediately because 5.2.1 uses UFS2 by default during installation. UFS2 is not supported in 4.10. So, unless you happen to be using UFS1 filesystems on your system being downgraded, the 4.10 kernel will choke. (See http://sixshooter.v6.thrupoint.net/jeroen/faq.html for a UFS2 FAQ.) Given you'd have to dump/newfs/restore anyway, folks will tell you it'd be easier to do a clean install of 4.10, too. Good luck! Cheers, Paul. -- e-mail: paul@gromit.dlib.vt.edu "Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid." --- Frank Vincent Zappa
On Thu, 22 Jul 2004 15:06:02 +0200 (CEST), Kov?cs P?ter <kovacspeter2@freemail.hu> wrote:> Hello guys, > > I have a system running FreeBSD 5.2.1 and want to degrade it > to FreeBSD 4.10 (because the program I want to use only runs > and supported on that platform) without reinstalling the system. > Is it enough to cvsup to the RELENG_4 branch and recompile > the system?You will also need to run mergemaster, and for such a drastic change, you will probably just have to take the default configs from 4.10, as it would be difficult to merge them manually. I could be wrong though, as I haven't tried a downgrade, currently planning the opposite :)> Should I recompile all the programs that were previously > compiled in the FreeBSD 5 environment? >I think so, yes. FreeBSD is pretty good at backwards compatibility, but forwards compatibility is a bit more difficult :) Its quite possible that some of your programs would work without recompiling, but where API's or simply names of libraries have changed, you will run into problems. Its best to do this to avoid headaches later on.> I would also like to know how this works backwards (which is > the common way), so to upgrade from 4 to branch 5. Is there > some kind of tutorial for this? >I've not had any problems running freebsd4 programs on 5, so I can't help you there, sorry.