Understanding differences between releases and ports

Chris racerx at makeworld.com
Fri Apr 15 05:44:55 PDT 2005


Stevan Tiefert wrote:
> Hello list,
> 
> I have problems understanding a base concept :-(
> 
> Is that right, when I install 5.2.1-RELEASE and I install the 
> ports-distribution with cvsup and keep them up to date, that the ports I 
> build afterwards with "make install" are newer than the 
> release-precompiled-packages distributed with 5.2.1-RELEASE?

Correct.

> Is that right that this procedure (with cvsup) is NOT ONLY correcting paths 
> for the distfiles of ports in the ports-tree, then also replaces old versions 
> of ports by newer ones?

Yes and no. When you CVSup, you are refreshing your ports tree. If you
have a port installed (take mutt for example) and after the CVSup the
ports tree has a newer version, then you need to run portupdate OR
portmanager. Once that is done, then you have installed the newest mutt.

> If so, does it mean that I could use 5.2.1-RELEASE and an updated portstree 
> resulting in getting in example gnome 2.8 and kde 3.4 and so on? Have I to 
> see the RELEASE-version abstracted separated from the portstree? And how is 
> compatibility granted between different RELEASE-versions and the 
> up-to-date-ports-tree?

This is somewhat complex; You, as the user - need to decide, do I want
to use 5.2.1 and cvsup something like KDE, THEN compile it and wait mega
hours OR, does installing a new release of FreeBSD make more sence.

You need to weigh out what's proper for you. Some of us will not only
CVSup the ports tree, but also CVSup the src to keep out systems up to
date. While other prefer to do a clean install of a newer release. Then
again, if you never CVSup the src tree - there is always FreeBSD-Update
(that updates the src bineries).

There are a few options for you to go with - but YOU need to consider
what's the best way for you to handle it.

For me, I CVSup both the src and ports tree - so my system is really
never more then a week off when it comes to my ports. I'll CVSup the src
tree when 5.4-RELEASE is out, and continue to CVSup my ports.

-- 
Best regards,
Chris

In case of doubt, make it sound convincing.


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