[fbsd] HEADS UP: FreeBSD 5.3, 5.4, 6.0 EoLs coming soon

[Robert Watson]

On Thu, 12 Oct 2006, Simon L. Nielsen wrote:

> On 2006.10.12 10:59:18 +0300, Patrick Okui wrote:
>> One of my servers is colocated in a place on a different continent - which 
>> is why I haven't been able to upgrade it beyond RELENG_4. Google turns up a 
>> binary upgrade as the only way I can get to RELENG_6. Is this still the 
>> case (because the logistics on arranging that are ... interesting) or is 
>> there a relatively safe way to upgrade from RELENG_4 to RELENG_6 remotely?
>
> I have upgraded a system from 4.10 to 6.2 via 5.5 half a world away just 
> using serial console (well and remote power, but that wasn't needed for the 
> upgrade itself).  I did this via buildworld etc. and it was actually quite 
> painless, so it can be done.  That said, of cause there is always the risk 
> that something will make it blow up.
>
> Note that you have to be careful to follow the guidelines to the letter (see 
> the migration guide which was part of 5.3 or 5.4 docs AFAIR) for the 4.x -> 
> 5.x part.

Ditto.  I upgraded my cyrus mail server and kerberos server from 4.x to 6.x 
remotely from across the world and didn't have any problems.  The main caveat 
was to include the compat4.x stuff during the upgrade, and to make sure to be 
thorough when rebuilding ports and packages.  I was careful to boot 6.x test 
kernels on all boxes to make sure all hardware probed, etc, before committing 
to the update.  I would have felt a lot less comfortable without a serial 
console in-hand, though.

Robert N M Watson
Computer Laboratory
University of Cambridge