Understanding differences between releases and ports

[Stevan Tiefert]

Am Freitag, 15. April 2005 14:44 schrieb Chris:
> Stevan Tiefert wrote:
> > Hello list,
> >
> > I have problems understanding a base concept :-(
> >
> > Is that right, when I install 5.2.1-RELEASE and I install the
> > ports-distribution with cvsup and keep them up to date, that the ports I
> > build afterwards with "make install" are newer than the
> > release-precompiled-packages distributed with 5.2.1-RELEASE?
>
> Correct.
>
> > Is that right that this procedure (with cvsup) is NOT ONLY correcting
> > paths for the distfiles of ports in the ports-tree, then also replaces
> > old versions of ports by newer ones?
>
> Yes and no. When you CVSup, you are refreshing your ports tree. If you
> have a port installed (take mutt for example) and after the CVSup the
> ports tree has a newer version, then you need to run portupdate OR
> portmanager. Once that is done, then you have installed the newest mutt.
>
> > If so, does it mean that I could use 5.2.1-RELEASE and an updated
> > portstree resulting in getting in example gnome 2.8 and kde 3.4 and so
> > on? Have I to see the RELEASE-version abstracted separated from the
> > portstree? And how is compatibility granted between different
> > RELEASE-versions and the up-to-date-ports-tree?
>
> This is somewhat complex; You, as the user - need to decide, do I want
> to use 5.2.1 and cvsup something like KDE, THEN compile it and wait mega
> hours OR, does installing a new release of FreeBSD make more sence.
>
> You need to weigh out what's proper for you. Some of us will not only
> CVSup the ports tree, but also CVSup the src to keep out systems up to
> date. While other prefer to do a clean install of a newer release. Then
> again, if you never CVSup the src tree - there is always FreeBSD-Update
> (that updates the src bineries).
>
> There are a few options for you to go with - but YOU need to consider
> what's the best way for you to handle it.
>
> For me, I CVSup both the src and ports tree - so my system is really
> never more then a week off when it comes to my ports. I'll CVSup the src
> tree when 5.4-RELEASE is out, and continue to CVSup my ports.

Hello again,

what do you mean with src? The source in /usr/src or the binaries?

And a second question: If I update with portupdate, then I am NOT updating the 
base-system, isn't it (like the shell, kernel and so on...)? How to update 
the base-system?

With regards
Stevan Tiefert