165 lines
7.0 KiB
Plaintext
165 lines
7.0 KiB
Plaintext
<!-- $Id: current.sgml,v 1.12 1996/07/04 01:44:31 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: 1996/07/04 01:44:31 $
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This document attempts to explain the rationale behind
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FreeBSD-current, 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-current?</heading>
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<p>FreeBSD-current is, quite literally, nothing more than a daily
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snapshot of the working sources for FreeBSD. These include work in
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progress, experimental changes and transitional mechanisms that may or
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may not be present in the next official release of the software.
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While many of us compile almost daily from FreeBSD-current sources,
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there are periods of time when the sources are literally un-compilable.
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These problems are generally resolved as expeditiously as possible,
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but whether or not FreeBSD-current sources bring disaster or greatly
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desired functionality can literally be a matter of which part of any
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given 24 hour period you grabbed them in!
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Under certain circumstances we will sometimes make binaries for parts
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of FreeBSD-current available, but only because we are interested in
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getting something tested, not because we are in the business of
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providing binary releases of current. If we do not offer, please do not
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ask! It takes far 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 some
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part of the source tree and for whom keeping `current' is an
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absolute requirement.
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<item> Members of the FreeBSD group who are active testers,
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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 you heard there's
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some cool new feature 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 are mean and
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nasty people who do not like helping people out (we would not even be
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doing FreeBSD if we were), it is literally because we cannot answer
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400 messages a day <em>and</em> actually work on FreeBSD! I am sure
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that, if given the choice between having us answer lots of questions or
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continuing 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 &a.current and the &a.cvsall .
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This is not just a good idea, it is <em>essential</em>.
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If you are not on the <em>FreeBSD-current</em> mailing list you
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will not see the comments that people are making about the
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current state of the system and thus will probably 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 <em>cvs-all</em> mailing list will allow you to see the commit log
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entry for each change as it is made along with any pertinent
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information on possible side-effects.
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To join these lists, send mail to &a.majordomo and specify:
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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> 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-current 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-current">
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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> If you are 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 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.hackers will keep you up-to-date on other
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bootstrapping procedures that sometimes become necessary as we move
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towards the next release.
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<item> Be active! If you are 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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