FreeBSD 6.3-RC2 has been released. "Sorry for the delay with this phase of the 6.3 release. A few glitches were found during testing of the 6.3-RC2 ISOs that included pre-built packages. The 6.3-RC2 builds for amd64 and i386 should now be available on the majority of the FreeBSD mirror sites. I just finished loading the sparc64 build so that will take a little while to propagate to the mirrors. This is the last planned RC for 6.3. Unless a major show-stopper problem is found the release of 6.3 should happen in about two weeks."
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Member since:2007-05-20
What some people don't realize, is that while freebsd-update performs an immediate binary upgrade of the base system, it also updates the relevant sources. This is evident from the following line in /etc/freebsd-update.conf:
# Components of the base system which should be kept updated.
Components src world kernel
The immediate impact of this: If you have compiled a custom kernel prior to the update, you only need to recompile / reinstall it (using the same configuration file). This is usually a 10-20 minute process on any recent machine and only requires two commands.
If your plan is to stay to -RELEASE + security patches, you only need freebsd-update and the occasional kernel recompilation. No need whatsoever to make buildworld.
As for ports, once again you don't really need to upgrade if you don't have any functionality problem (and the port does not exhibit security problems) you are in no way forced to upgrade. The portaudit program can be used to email you daily on the security status of installed ports.
Member since:2006-10-08
"What some people don't realize, is that while freebsd-update performs an immediate binary upgrade of the base system, it also updates the relevant sources. [...] The immediate impact of this: If you have compiled a custom kernel prior to the update, you only need to recompile / reinstall it (using the same configuration file). This is usually a 10-20 minute process on any recent machine and only requires two commands."
I think it's possible to do it with one command:
# make buildkernel installkernel KERNCONF=MYKERNEL
This is one command. :-)
"If your plan is to stay to -RELEASE + security patches, you only need freebsd-update and the occasional kernel recompilation. No need whatsoever to make buildworld."
I didn't explain it in such a clear way, so thank you, you're correct of course: Using freebsd-update obsoletes compiling processes except for the kernel, if you want to use a custom kernel.
"As for ports, once again you don't really need to upgrade if you don't have any functionality problem (and the port does not exhibit security problems) you are in no way forced to upgrade."
As I mentioned before, using daily updated ports is interesting only if you're intendedly planning to use "bleeding edge software". In most other cases, using the precompiled packages via pkg_add command is the usual way to install software, or, for upgrading, preceded by deletion of the package (not fully elegant, but working; pay attention to dependencies).
Member since:
2006-10-08
"No need to rebuild world unless you want to move to another point version or another branch. Even for that, it's my understanding that freebsd-update will now upgrade you from one point releae to the next as well."
The freebsd-update provides a means to update the base system on a binary basis, so it exists to help you avoiding "make buildworld buildkernel" etc. as long as you would tend to use the GENERIC kernel configuration file. For updating the world, there is nothing that the system maintainer changes (e. g. /etc/make.conf), but regarding the kernel, there are users (I may include myself here) who intendedly compile a custom kernel, for example, to have just the hardware drivers in the kernel that exist physically inside the worksation, or to have some kernel parameters tweaked that cannot be set at "runtime level", for example firewall behaviour, bktr (Brooktree TV capturer) configuration or language settings, such as
options SC_DFLT_FONT
makeoptions SC_DFLT_FONT=iso
options ATKBD_DFLT_KEYMAP
makeoptions ATKBD_DFLT_KEYMAP="german.iso"
options UKBD_DFLT_KEYMAP
makeoptions UKBD_DFLT_KEYMAP="german.iso"
Such "strange" things cannot be handled by freebsd-update, as far as I know.