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>
> > 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 ;)
> 
> What is the piece you're missing -- UDF filesystem support or ata driver
> support?

I don't know ... hence my posting.
I'm still in the "planning" stages of this project.  Budget doesn't allow
me to purchase the required hardware until I'm fairly certain that I have
a method to make it work (obviously, there's always some chance of unexpected
problems, but I'm trying to gather enough information to minimize that)

> I've seen patches to 4-STABLE to add UDF filesystem support.  Perhaps that's
> all you need.

I'll google a bit ... but links would be welcome ;)

Thanks for the help so far, Matt.

-Bill