109 lines
4.3 KiB
Plaintext
109 lines
4.3 KiB
Plaintext
<!-- $Id: stable.sgml,v 1.5 1996/08/09 05:11:43 jkh Exp $ -->
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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: 1996/08/09 05:11:43 $
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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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