Overall "feel" for the stability of FreeBSD 5

[Bill Moran]

From: "Matthew Emmerton" <matt at gsicomp.on.ca>
> From: "Bill Moran" <billm at craftmfg.com>
> > I'm considering setting up a FreeBSD 5 machine as a dedicated
> > backup/archive computer on a network I administer.
> > 
> > I'm curious to hear some opinions on how wise this is.  I know
> > that 5 is still in a -CURRENT status and I've seen (and repeated)
> > the warnings that it's not really production quality yet.
> > 
> > So I'm curious as to a number of facets of its capibilities:
> > 1) With the current developmet effort ... does it seem like 5.1
> >    will be -STABLE ... or do folks feel that a -STABLE brand
> >    is further off (5.2?)
> > 2) For a dedicated backup server, that can tolerate the
> >    performance problems that folks have been reporting, and
> >    won't upset the entire office if it panics on occasion, is 5
> >    good enough at this point?
> > 
> > I know this is inviting a lot of opinion and conjecture ... but I need
> > some idea of where I can go with this.  These folks need a solution
> > soon, and I don't want to pass on something that's not ready yet.
> > On the flip side, the nature of the beast means that it doesn't NEED
> > to be a reliable as I normally expect a FreeBSD server to be, so
> > there's a little more tolerance than usual.
> > 
> > Any input is greatly appreciated.
> 
> What's wrong with 4.8-RELEASE?

Doesn't support DVD burning.

Sorry ... forgot to specify my reasons ;)