uptime 4.0

[Paul Robinson]

Dirk Meyer wrote:

> Local system status:
>  1:59AM  up 1212 days, 17:50, 0 users, load averages: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00

Now, please don't take this the wrong way Dirk, but I need to use you to
make a point here.

1. Uptimes of 1,200 days says wonderful things about FreeBSD.
2. Uptimes of 1,200 days says terrible things about the administrators
of those boxes.

You were attempting to make point 1, and yes, FreeBSD is very stable and
that's all very impressive. However, point 2 needs some consideration.
There are good reasons to be keeping track of -STABLE and even more
reasons to be keeping track of -RELEASE. You can't have been doing
either of those for the last 4 years. That, in my opinion, leaves you
vulnerable in a few ways.

Of course, the real answer here is to work on a way of allowing for an
"upgrade" to happen without re-booting the machine, thereby getting
kerenel patching without losing service or uptime. However, until we get
to that point, consider patching at least once a quarter to a recent
-RELEASE or even better, -STABLE cvsup, and go from there.