128 lines
5.2 KiB
Text
128 lines
5.2 KiB
Text
<!-- $Id: stable.sgml,v 1.19 1998-12-19 13:36:44 jkh Exp $ -->
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<!-- The FreeBSD Documentation Project -->
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<sect><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: 1998-12-19 13:36:44 $
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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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<itemize>
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<item><em>What is FreeBSD-stable?</em>
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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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<item><em>Who needs FreeBSD-stable?</em>
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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 (<url url="ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/&rel.current;-RELEASE"
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name="&rel.current;-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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<item><em>Getting FreeBSD-stable</em>
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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 controversial 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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The <em>cvs-all</em> mailing list also allows 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, and is another good mailing list
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to subscribe to.
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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 freebsd-stable
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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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<p><item>If you're installing a new system and want it to be as -stable
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as possible, you can simply grab the latest dated branch snapshot
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from <url url="ftp://releng22.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD"
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name="ftp://releng22.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD"> and install it like
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any other release.
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<p><item>If you're already running a previous release of 2.2 and
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wish to upgrade via sources then you can easily do so from
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ftp.FreeBSD.ORG. This can be done in one of three ways:
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<enum>
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<p><item><p>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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<p><item><p>Use the <ref id="cvsup" name="cvsup"> program with
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<url url="ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/FreeBSD-current/src/share/examples/cvsup/stable-supfile" name="this supfile">.
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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 cvsup from cron
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to keep their sources up-to-date automatically. For a fairly
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easy interface to this, simply type:
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<verb>
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pkg_add -f ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/CVSup/cvsupit.tgz
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</verb>
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<p><item><p>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><p>Essentially, if you need rapid on-demand access to the source and
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communications bandwidth is not a consideration, use cvsup or ftp.
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Otherwise, use CTM.
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<item><p>Before compiling stable, read the Makefile in /usr/src
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carefully. You should at least run a `<ref id="makeworld"
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name="make world">' the first time through as part of the upgrading
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process. Reading the &a.stable 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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</enum>
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</itemize>
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