[RFC] Why FreeBSD ports should have branches by OS version

[Kurt Jaeger]

Hi!

> > There's a blog post from one of the folks that explains the
> > idea behind that 'fast update' mode of operations, and yes,
> > he's doing real work.

> > http://blog.koehntopp.info/index.php/1776-rolling-out-patches-and-changes-often-and-fast/

> That is ONE kind of installation.

Well, there's the thinking that in the not-to-far future, everything
is connected, and you'll need to be able to update at any time
because of whatever security/threat that IT ecosystem throws at you.

> It DOES NOT WORK when th most you can upgrade a customer system is 
> once a year or once every two years.

The 'other side' of the debate thinks: Well, if they think this
is the way to do it, they have a problem and need to change
their procedures.

The viewpoint is: That system can start debating with the next
worm/trojan coming along, but that won't help. The assumption
is: everything is connected/on the internet, and not even
voluntarily.

Think connected cars, IoT etc.

> I will add that such users would help their own case by fixing such 
> issues and feeding the changes back to their branches upstream,
> thus helping maintain the branch. Maybe we could have a system of 
> "corporate sponsors" for these branches.

Given the state of fundraising in open source, I doubt that this
will be viable.

-- 
pi at opsec.eu            +49 171 3101372                         3 years to go !