FreeBSD vs. RedHat

[Jud]

On Thu, 2 Oct 2003 12:43:39 -0600 (MDT), SoloCDM <deedsmis at aculink.net>
wrote:

[snip]
> Is it possible to go from one distribution version to another (4.x to
> 5.x) without entirely removing the old version?  Do the upgrades with
> the ports allow this possibility?

A new install is usually considered to involve fewer problems than
upgrading across major versions.  Others will be able to give you more
detail than I can about what's involved in such an upgrade.  Upgrading
within or across minor versions (make world and recompile kernel) is
something I and many others do as a matter of routine every week or two
(some folks have it automated).

> Can packages and their dependencies be removed through a package that
> does the uninstalling?

There are several ways you can do this.  There's pkg_delete for packages,
'make deinstall clean' for ports, and for deleting an older version of a
port to replace it with a newer one, there's the intelligent and lovely
'portupgrade.'  (The upgrade can be for one port, that port plus all
dependencies, or even all your installed ports, just by setting various
single-letter portupgrade options that are clearly spelled out in the man
page.)

Jud