FreeBSD Update is the binary update solution [Re: HEADS UP: Release schedule for 2006]

[Patrick M. Hausen]

Hello!

> > > 1. modified kernels are foobar
> > >   ..yet are practically mandatory on production systems

> Look around.  Every major commercial OS does it just fine.

While I agree with much of your reasoning, I know exactly zero
people running a modified kernel of any version of Windows,
Mac OS X or Solaris, to name just three commercial OS's.

And third party drivers (which one could count as "kernel modifications")
did fail and will fail sometimes in weird ways even for minor
version upgrades/patches. BTDT - Windows Services Packs, Solaris patches,
Mac OS X updates, reboot, *boom*, because some hardware suppliers
driver didn't adhere to the OS manufacturer's standards or because
the latter silently changed something undocumented.

While I would appreciate a packaged core system or at least a
better definition of "core system" at all, I strongly believe
that binary updating a custom kernel is impossible.

With "better definition of core system" I mean, if you have a
long lived production system that you might have upgraded
from 4.x to 5.x to 6.0, you will have a lot of cruft lying
on your filesystem that once was part of the "core" and now
isn't. And there is no simple and automated way to find out
what to delete ...

Just some thoughts,

Patrick M. Hausen
Leiter Netzwerke und Sicherheit
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