Package from the packages-5.1-release directory won't install on a 5.1 system

Matthew Seaman m.seaman at infracaninophile.co.uk
Sat Jan 24 02:40:00 PST 2004


On Fri, Jan 23, 2004 at 05:12:36PM -0500, Francis Litterio wrote:

> Aren't packages bound to a given base system version precisely to avoid
> this kind of "upgrade creep"?

Packages aren't bound to a particular base system version.  The ports
tree and the base system are essentially developed independantly.  A
set of packages is produced concurrently with OS releases -- and extra
attention is given to bug fixing and testing in the few weeks before
that, to ensure that those packages work as well as possible.

However, although there isn't any formal testing with other versions
of the OS, it is generally the case that a package will work on any OS
version with the same major version number.  No guarrantees however,
and your chances of success are lower with eg. the recent 5.x releases
before 5-STABLE is branched, as there are still quite major changes
going into the kernel and system libraries.

Even if you have problems with installing packages, you can often
succeed by installing from source, via the ports.

	Cheers,

	Matthew

-- 
Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil.                       26 The Paddocks
                                                      Savill Way
PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey         Marlow
Tel: +44 1628 476614                                  Bucks., SL7 1TH UK
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