Hi, Have been using FreeBSD for about a year now but haven't understood or found a definitive answer to the versions/branches. Would appreciate it if someone could shed some light; a bit of history follows: I installed 1st FreeBSD system from 4.4 (the only cds I could get my hands on). By the time I started understanding what I was doing, 4.8 was out. So I CVSup'd the source and did the whole make buildworld/installworld kernel thing. And I was running 4.8... Question here is, was I running 4.4 release? or 4.4 stable? when did 4.8 become stable (are you starting to catch my drift?). Then in December 2003 (about a month after 4.9 was announced), I downloaded ISOs for 4.9 and reinstalled from scratch. Same questions as before, am I running 4.9 stable? release? When did release become stable? Am now running 4.9 and started cvsupping the source. my supfile has this line in it: default release=cvs tag=RELENG_4_9. Am I wasting my time? Should it rather read RELENG_4? If so, why? And where do security patches fit into this story? Any info would be helpful. Thanks, David
-----Ursprungligt meddelande----->Fr?n: owner-freebsd-stable@freebsd.org >[mailto:owner-freebsd-stable@freebsd.org]F?r David Beukes >Am now running 4.9 and started cvsupping the source. my >supfile has this line in it: default release=cvs >tag=RELENG_4_9. Am I wasting my time? Should it rather read >RELENG_4? If so, why? > >And where do security patches fit into this story?This might help http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/releng/index.html or possibly http://www.freebsd.org/releases/5.2R/early-adopter.html I hope this helps regards Matt
FreeBSD-CURRENT vs. FreeBSD-STABLE: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/current-stable.html Release Documentation: http://www.freebsd.org/relnotes.html That should clear it up for you. -Mike On Wed, 18 Feb 2004, David Beukes wrote:> Hi, > > Have been using FreeBSD for about a year now but haven't > understood or found a definitive answer to the > versions/branches. Would appreciate it if someone could > shed some light; a bit of history follows: > > I installed 1st FreeBSD system from 4.4 (the only cds I > could get my hands on). By the time I started understanding > what I was doing, 4.8 was out. So I CVSup'd the source and > did the whole make buildworld/installworld kernel thing. > And I was running 4.8... Question here is, was I running > 4.4 release? or 4.4 stable? when did 4.8 become stable (are > you starting to catch my drift?). > > Then in December 2003 (about a month after 4.9 was > announced), I downloaded ISOs for 4.9 and reinstalled from > scratch. Same questions as before, am I running 4.9 stable? > release? When did release become stable? > > Am now running 4.9 and started cvsupping the source. my > supfile has this line in it: default release=cvs > tag=RELENG_4_9. Am I wasting my time? Should it rather read > RELENG_4? If so, why? > > And where do security patches fit into this story? > > Any info would be helpful. > > Thanks, > David > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-stable@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-stable > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-stable-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" >-------------------------------------- "Hard Work Often Pays Off After Time, but Laziness Always Pays Off Now."
On Wed, Feb 18, 2004 at 01:35:20PM +0200, David Beukes wrote:> Hi, > > Have been using FreeBSD for about a year now but haven't > understood or found a definitive answer to the > versions/branches. Would appreciate it if someone could > shed some light; a bit of history follows: > > I installed 1st FreeBSD system from 4.4 (the only cds I > could get my hands on). By the time I started understanding > what I was doing, 4.8 was out. So I CVSup'd the source and > did the whole make buildworld/installworld kernel thing. > And I was running 4.8... Question here is, was I running > 4.4 release? or 4.4 stable? when did 4.8 become stable (are > you starting to catch my drift?). > > Then in December 2003 (about a month after 4.9 was > announced), I downloaded ISOs for 4.9 and reinstalled from > scratch. Same questions as before, am I running 4.9 stable? > release? When did release become stable? > > Am now running 4.9 and started cvsupping the source. my > supfile has this line in it: default release=cvs > tag=RELENG_4_9. Am I wasting my time? Should it rather read > RELENG_4? If so, why? > > And where do security patches fit into this story? > > Any info would be helpful.All the 4.x releases are essentially snapshots of the RELENG_4 development branch. 4.4-STABLE refers to the RELENG_4 branch at any time after 4.4-RELEASE was created, but before 4.5-RELEASE was created. (And by the same reasoning 4.8-STABLE refers to the RELENG_4 branch between 4.8-RELEASE and 4.9-RELEASE.) If you install from a CD you will get 4.x-RELEASE. If you cvsup from the RELENG_4 branch you will get 4.x-STABLE, where 4.x is the most recent release. (You could also use cvsup to get some particular release if you wish, but that is rarely done.) If you should use RELENG_4_9 or RELENG_4 is a matter of taste. RELENG_4_9 is 4.9-RELEASE+security fixes only, and is therefore much less likely to introduce new bugs than the RELENG_4 branch, but you won't get any new features or non-critical bug fixes on the other hand. For more information you could read the following texts which should answer most of your questions: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/current-stable.html http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/cvs-tags.html http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/admin.html#RELEASE-CANDIDATE http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/releng/index.html http://www.freebsd.org/security/index.html#adv -- <Insert your favourite quote here.> Erik Trulsson ertr1013@student.uu.se
At 10:35 PM 18/02/2004, David Beukes wrote:>Hi, > >Have been using FreeBSD for about a year now but haven't >understood or found a definitive answer to the >versions/branches. Would appreciate it if someone could >shed some light; a bit of history follows: > >I installed 1st FreeBSD system from 4.4 (the only cds I >could get my hands on). By the time I started understanding >what I was doing, 4.8 was out. So I CVSup'd the source and >did the whole make buildworld/installworld kernel thing. >And I was running 4.8... Question here is, was I running >4.4 release? or 4.4 stable? when did 4.8 become stable (are >you starting to catch my drift?).4.4-RELEASE is just 4.4-STABLE at one particular point in time>Then in December 2003 (about a month after 4.9 was >announced), I downloaded ISOs for 4.9 and reinstalled from >scratch. Same questions as before, am I running 4.9 stable? >release? When did release become stable?-STABLE becomes -RELEASE when the source tree is tagged with -RELEASE>Am now running 4.9 and started cvsupping the source. my >supfile has this line in it: default release=cvs >tag=RELENG_4_9. Am I wasting my time? Should it rather read >RELENG_4? If so, why?That all depends if you want to follow -RELEASE plus security fixes, or if you want a (slowly) moving target that is -STABLE>And where do security patches fit into this story?See above>Any info would be helpful.I suggest re-reading the Handbook, the section on Stable vs Current (http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/current-stable.html) is most pertinant. Cheers, Rob -- "Beer. Now there's a temporary solution." - Homer Simpson This is random quote 9 of 1254. Distance from the centre of the brewing universe [15200.8 km (8207.8 mi), 262.8 deg](Apparent) Rennerian Public Key fingerprint = 6219 33BD A37B 368D 29F5 19FB 945D C4D7 1F66 D9C5
On Wed, Feb 18, 2004 at 01:35:20PM +0200, David Beukes wrote: [snip]> Am now running 4.9 and started cvsupping the source. my > supfile has this line in it: default release=cvs > tag=RELENG_4_9. Am I wasting my time? Should it rather read > RELENG_4? If so, why?If you want to track the security branch for RELEASE 4.9 use RELENG_4_9 Otherwise use RELENG_4 which means tracking STABLE.> And where do security patches fit into this story?See above.> Any info would be helpful.Go read http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/releng/article.html Then if you still have questions, ask again. -- Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints... Mark Foster <mark@foster.cc> http://mark.foster.cc/ -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 187 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-stable/attachments/20040218/0b2575f8/attachment.bin
> Have been using FreeBSD for about a year now but haven't > understood or found a definitive answer to the > versions/branches. Would appreciate it if someone could > shed some light; a bit of history follows:There are two development branches for FreeBSD: -CURRENT and -STABLE. -CURRENT is where the majority of all new development it done. This development branch is what the next major release of FreeBSD will be from. Right now, -CURRENT is what will become FreeBSD 5.x. The cvs/cvsup tag for this is a period ".". -STABLE is the everyday, production-quality development branch. New technology is tested in -CURRENT, then ported over to -STABLE as needed. Some new development occurs in this branch, but it's not a common thing. Right now, -STABLE is FreeBSD 4.x. The cvs/cvsup tag for this iis RELENG_4. A release is nothing more than a snapshot taken from either of the branches, put through some testing, deemed good enough for use, and released to the world. Right now, a release can come from either branch. The latest releases are 4.9 and 5.2. When you installed 4.4, you were running 4.4-RELEASE. When you upgraded to 4.8, you were running 4.8-RELEASE. And when you upgrade to 4.9, you will be running 4.9-RELEASE. After each release, a new branch is created to hold just security fixes for that release. This is known as the RELENG_X_Y branch, where X is the major version number, and Y is the minor version number. For instance, there is a RELENG_4_7 for security fixes to 4.7-RELEASE, there is a RELENG_4_8 for security fixes to 4.8-RELEASE, and there is a RELENG_4_9 for security fixes to 4.9-RELEASE.
dbm@5fm.za.com said:>Have been using FreeBSD for about a year now but haven't understood or >found a definitive answer to the versions/branches.CURRENT --> the CVS tree to which developers submit their unit-tested code. Currently, this tree produces releases numbered 5.x. This has the latest stuff, and is flakier than the alternative, ... STABLE --> the CVS tree to which code is submitted (MFC'ed) when it has proven itself for some time under CURRENT. Currently, this tree produces releases numbered 4.x. Release --> a term that is applied to verious (numbered) versions from each CVS tree. The current 4.9-Release is a snapshot of the STABLE tree's continuous progression just before the most recent pre-release code freeze thawed. Release Candidate --> Characterizes versions of CURRENT or STABLE during a pre-release code freeze that are being considered to be declared the Release. tag=RELENG_5 --> This is how to get cvsup to give you the absolutely latest, up-to-the-minute, flakiest CURRENT. tag=RELENG_4 --> This is how to get cvsup to give you the absolutely latest, up-to-the-minute, (probably not too flaky unless we're in a code freeze) STABLE. Unless we're in a code freeze, it will call itself 4.x-STABLE. In a code freeze, it might call itself 4.(x+1)-RC, "RC" for Release Candidate. tag=RELENG_4_9 --> This is how to get cvsup to give you the 4.9 Release code with only a few, very important bug fixes added. Those fixes are likely to address only security problems or catastrophic bugs in the release.>I installed 1st FreeBSD system from 4.4 (the only cds I could get my hands >on). By the time I started understanding what I was doing, 4.8 was out. So >I CVSup'd the source and did the whole make buildworld/installworld kernel >thing. And I was running 4.8... Question here is, was I running 4.4 >release?You don't say what tag you were using, but assuming your tag was "RELENG_4," you were running 4.8-STABLE. After you cvsupped 4.8-Stable and installed, 4.4-Release was overwritten.>Then in December 2003 (about a month after 4.9 was announced), I >downloaded ISOs for 4.9 and reinstalled from scratch. Same questions as >before, am I running 4.9 stable? release?4.9-Release.>When did release become stable?It didn't. STABLE became Release just long enough to make the ISOs, and then went back to being STABLE.>Am now running 4.9 and started cvsupping the source. my supfile has this >line in it: default release=cvs tag=RELENG_4_9. Am I wasting my time? >Should it rather read RELENG_4?That would depend upon what you want. If you are very conservative and only want updates beyond 4.9 Release that fix security vulnerabilities or catastrophic problems, you have just the right tag. If you also want well tested new features and fixes to less than catastrophic bugs, then you might want to get RELENG_4 instead. But don't forget to hold off updates from the pre-release code freeze until the release CDs arrive in the mail.>And where do security patches fit into this story?They fit into tag=RELENG_x_y, tag-RELENG_4_9, in your case. -- M/S 258-5 |1024-bit PGP fingerprint:|tweten@nas.nasa.gov NASA Ames Research Center | 41 B0 89 0A 8F 94 6C 59| (650) 604-4416 Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000| 7C 80 10 20 25 C7 2F E6|FAX: (650) 604-4377 Not an official NASA position. You can't even be certain who sent this!
steve@sohara.org said:>This one (and only this one) is wrong - tag=RELENG_5 will currently empty >your source tree.Oops. Don't ever use it. Should probably have kept my mouth shut. Thanks for the correction. -- M/S 258-5 |1024-bit PGP fingerprint:|tweten@nas.nasa.gov NASA Ames Research Center | 41 B0 89 0A 8F 94 6C 59| (650) 604-4416 Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000| 7C 80 10 20 25 C7 2F E6|FAX: (650) 604-4377 Not an official NASA position. You can't even be certain who sent this!