1130b656e5
This will make a number of things easier in the future, as well as (finally!) avoiding the Id-smashing problem which has plagued developers for so long. Boy, I'm glad we're not using sup anymore. This update would have been insane otherwise.
109 lines
4.3 KiB
Plaintext
109 lines
4.3 KiB
Plaintext
<!-- $FreeBSD$ -->
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<!-- The FreeBSD Documentation Project -->
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<chapt><heading>Staying stable with FreeBSD<label id="stable"></heading>
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<p><em>Contributed by &a.jkh;.</em>
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<!--
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THE FREEBSD STABLE POLICY
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Last updated: $Date: 1996/10/04 22:54:15 $
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This document attempts to explain the rationale behind
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FreeBSD-stable, what you should expect should you decide to run it,
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and states some prerequisites for making sure the process goes as
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smoothly as possible.
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-->
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<sect><heading>What is FreeBSD-stable?</heading>
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<p>FreeBSD-stable is our development branch for a more low-key and
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conservative set of changes intended for our next mainstream release.
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Changes of an experimental or untested nature do not go into this
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branch (see <ref id="current" name="FreeBSD-current">).
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<sect><heading>Who needs FreeBSD-stable?</heading>
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<p>If you are a commercial user or someone who puts maximum stability of
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their FreeBSD system before all other concerns, you should consider tracking
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<em>stable</em>. This is especially true if you have installed the most
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recent release (<htmlurl url="ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/2.1.5-RELEASE"
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name="2.1.5-RELEASE"> at the time of this writing) since the <em>stable</em>
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branch is effectively a bug-fix stream relative to the previous release.
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<p>Please note that the <em>stable</em> tree endeavors, above all, to
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be fully compilable and stable at all times, but we do occasionally
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make mistakes (these are still active sources with quickly-transmitted
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updates, after all). We also do our best to thoroughly test fixes in
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<em>current</em> before bringing them into <em>stable</em>, but sometimes
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our tests fail to catch every case. If something breaks for you in
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<em>stable</em>, please let us know <em>immediately!</em> (see
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next section).
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<sect><heading>Using FreeBSD-stable</heading>
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<p><enum><item> Join the &a.stable . This will
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keep you informed of build-dependencies that may appear in
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<em>stable</em> or any other issues requiring special attention.
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Developers will also make announcements in this mailing list when
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they are contemplating some contraversal fix or update, giving
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the users a chance to respond if they have any issues to raise concerning
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the proposed change.
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To join this list, send mail to &a.majordomo and say:
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<verb>
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subscribe freebsd-stable
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</verb>
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In the body of your message. Optionally, you can also say `help'
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and Majordomo will send you full help on how to subscribe and
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unsubscribe to the various other mailing lists we support.
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<item> Grab the sources from ftp.FreeBSD.ORG. You can do this in
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three ways:
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<enum>
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<item> Use the <ref id="ctm" name="CTM"> facility. Unless you
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have a good TCP/IP connection at a flat rate, this is
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the way to do it.
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<item> Use the CMU <ref id="sup" name="sup"> program (Software Update
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Protocol).
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This is the second most recommended method, since it allows
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you to grab the entire collection once and then only what has
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changed from then on. Many people run sup from cron
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and keep their sources up-to-date automatically.
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<item> Use ftp. The source tree for FreeBSD-stable is always
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"exported" on:
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<htmlurl url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.ORG/pub/FreeBSD/FreeBSD-stable"
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name="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.ORG/pub/FreeBSD/FreeBSD-stable">
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<p>We also use `wu-ftpd' which allows compressed/tar'd grabbing
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of whole trees. e.g. you see:
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<verb>
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usr.bin/lex
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</verb>
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You can do:
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<verb>
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ftp> cd usr.bin
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ftp> get lex.tar.Z
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</verb>
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And it will get the whole directory for you as a compressed
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tar file.
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</enum>
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<item> Essentially, if you need rapid on-demand access to the source and
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communications bandwidth is not a consideration, use sup or ftp.
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Otherwise, use CTM.
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<item> Before compiling stable, read the Makefile in /usr/src
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carefully. You should at least run a `make world' the first time
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through as part of the upgrading process.
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Reading the &a.stable will keep you up-to-date on other bootstrapping
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procedures that sometimes become necessary as we move towards the next
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release.
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</enum>
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