176 lines
7.5 KiB
Plaintext
176 lines
7.5 KiB
Plaintext
<!-- $Id: current.sgml,v 1.4 1995/09/25 09:38:59 jkh Exp $ -->
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<!-- The FreeBSD Documentation Project -->
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<chapt><heading>Staying current with FreeBSD<label id="current"></heading>
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<p><em>Contributed by &a.jkh;.</em>
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<!--
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THE FREEBSD CURRENT POLICY
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Last updated: $Date: 1995/09/25 09:38:59 $
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This document attempts to explain the rationale behind FreeBSD-current,
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what you should expect should you decide to run it, and states some
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prerequisites for making sure the process goes as smoothly as possible.
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-->
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<sect><heading>What is FreeBSD-current?</heading>
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<p>FreeBSD-current is, quite literally, nothing more than a daily snapshot of
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the working sources for FreeBSD. These include work in progress, experimental
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changes, and transitional mechanisms that may or may not be present in
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the next official release of the software. While many of us compile
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almost daily from FreeBSD-current sources, there are periods of time when
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the sources are literally uncompilable. These problems are generally resolved
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as expeditiously as possible, but whether or not FreeBSD-current sources bring
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disaster or greatly desired functionality can literally be a matter of which
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part of any given 24 hour period you grabbed them in!
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Under certain circumstances we will sometimes make binaries for parts of
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FreeBSD-current available, but only because we're interested in getting
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something tested, not because we're in the business of providing binary
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releases of current. If we don't offer, please don't ask! It takes far
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too much time to do this as a general task.
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<sect><heading>Who needs FreeBSD-current?</heading>
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<p>FreeBSD-current is made generally available for 3 primary interest groups:
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<enum>
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<item> Members of the FreeBSD group who are actively working on one
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part or another of the source tree and for whom keeping `current'
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is an absolute requirement.
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<item> Members of the FreeBSD group who are active ALPHA or BETA testers
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and willing to spend time working through problems in order to
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ensure that FreeBSD-current remains as sane as possible. These
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are also people who wish to make topical suggestions on changes
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and the general direction of FreeBSD.
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<item> Peripheral members of the FreeBSD (or some other) group who merely
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wish to keep an eye on things and use the current sources for
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reference purposes (e.g. for <em>reading</em>, not running). These
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people also make the occasional comment or contribute code.
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</enum>
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<sect><heading>What is FreeBSD-current <em>NOT</em>?</heading>
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<p><enum>
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<item> A fast-track to getting pre-release bits because there's something
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you heard was pretty cool in there and you want to be the first on
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your block to have it.
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<item> A quick way of getting bug fixes.
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<item> In any way ``officially supported'' by us.
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We do our best to help people genuinely in one of the 3
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``legitimate'' FreeBSD-current categories, but we simply <em>do not
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have the time</em> to help every person who jumps into FreeBSD-current
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with more enthusiasm than knowledge of how to deal with
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experimental system software. This is not because we're mean and
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nasty people who don't like helping people out (we wouldn't even be
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doing FreeBSD if we were), it's literally because we can't answer
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400 messages a day <em>and</em> actually work on FreeBSD! I'm sure if
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given the choice between having us answer lots of questions or
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continue to improve FreeBSD, most of you would vote for us
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improving it.
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</enum>
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<sect><heading>Using FreeBSD-current</heading>
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<p><enum> <item> Join the freebsd-current and cvs-all
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mailing lists. This is not just a good idea, it's
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<em>essential</em>. If you aren't on freebsd-current, you
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won't read the comments that people are making about the
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current state of the system and thus will end up stumbling
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over a lot of problems that others have already found and
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solved. Even more importantly, you will miss out on
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potentially critical information (e.g. ``Yo, Everybody!
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Before you rebuild <tt>/usr/src</tt>, you <em>must</em>
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rebuild the kernel or your system will crash horribly!").
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The cvs-all mailing list will allow you to see the commit log
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entry for each change as it's made. This can also contain
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important information, and will let you know what parts of
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the system are being actively changed.
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To join these lists, send mail to `majordomo@FreeBSD.ORG'
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and say:
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<verb>
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subscribe current
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subscribe cvs-all
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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> Using the CTM facility described below. 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 `sup' program (Software Update
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Protocol), also described below.
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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's
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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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The problem is that sup does not use the bandwidth efficient,
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unless the round-trip is very fast. If the cost of connection
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or the duration of the session is a concern, use CTM.
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<item> Use ftp. The source tree for FreeBSD-current is always
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"exported" on:
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<verb>
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ftp.FreeBSD.ORG:~ftp/pub/FreeBSD/FreeBSD-current
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</verb>
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We 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> If you're grabbing the sources to run, and not just look at,
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then grab <em>all</em> of current, not just selected portions. The
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reason for this is that various parts of the source depend on
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updates elsewhere and trying to compile just a subset is almost
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guaranteed to get you into trouble.
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<item> Before compiling current, read the Makefile in /usr/src
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carefully. You'll see one-time targets like `bootstrapld'
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which <em><bf>must</bf></em> be run as part of the upgrading process. Reading
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freebsd-hackers will keep you up-to-date on other bootstrapping
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procedures that sometimes become necessary as we move towards
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the next release.
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<item> Be active! If you're running FreeBSD-current, we want to know
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what you have to say about it, especially if you have suggestions
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for enhancements or bug fixes. Suggestions with accompanying code
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are received most enthusiastically!
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</enum>
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<!--
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Thank you for taking the time to read this all the way through. We're
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always very keen to remain "open" and share the fruits of our labor
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with the widest possible audience, but sharing development sources has
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always had certain pitfalls associated with it (which is why most
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commercial organizations won't even consider it) and I want to make
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sure that people at least come into this with their eyes open, and
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don't make the leap unless they're good at working without a net!
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-->
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