How do YOU stay up to date?

[Andrew L. Gould]

On Wednesday 14 January 2004 10:11 pm, Duane Winner wrote:
> Hello all again,
>
> I'm finally getting my arms around FreeBSD and the updating processes
> and tools. But I'm still trying to come up with good
> habits/methods/instructions for updating routines for both myself and my
> colleagues who also want to switch to FreeBSD.
>
> I now understand how to use cvsup to keep my src and ports tree current.
> I know how to use pkg_add -r to install new sotware, or go into
> /usr/ports/whatever to make install. I know how to do portupgrade to
> upgrade my installed ports, how to pkg_version -v to see what's out of
> date with my tree, and how to cronjob cvsup to keep my trees current. (I
> still need to play more with make world and whatnot)
>
> But what do you all out there in BSD land do to stay current as a
> practice? I'm looking at this on two fronts: FreeBSD on our laptops
> (There will be at least 3 of us with T23's, and I also plan on migrating
> most, if not all of my servers from Linux to FreeBSD).
>
> One thing that concerns me, at least on the laptops, is the amount of
> time spent compiling new software as it is release, seeing as how we
> will be running x, gnome and Yahweh knows what else....I've already
> spent a great deal of time recompiling all this stuff to get current.
> (granted, I'm still experimenting, blowing my machine away, starting
> over, to both learn and write up instructions for the other guys, so I'm
> repeating the pains).
>
> How is this going to affect us longterm with staying current if we are
> constantly getting new source and having to recompile? One of my
> colleagues has proposed just using packages as much as possible. But
> although it seems simple enough to to go "pkg_add -r gnome2", what about
> updating? I mean, after installing the package, "pkg_version -v" many
> packages are listed as out of date with my current ports tree. So how to
> update short of doing a "portupgrade -Pa" and waiting a few or several
> hours?
>

The existence of newer source code is not, in and of itself, justification for 
an upgrade.  Each day brings new source code.  It is up to the administrator 
to monitor new features, bug fixes and security issues to determine when an 
upgrade is warranted.

Also, keep in mind:

1. "portupgrade -rR <port name>" will upgrade the specified port, its 
dependencies and any ports that depend upon the specified port.  You don't 
have to update all ports at once to keep port dependencies in sync.

2. Packages installed with pkg_add, that have associated ports, can be 
upgraded using portupgrade.

3. Unless your use of computers demands cutting or bleeding edge code, 
tracking SECURITY may meet your needs as well or better than STABLE or 
CURRENT.

Best regards,

Andrew Gould