Dumb question about ports/packages

[Lowell Gilbert]

Ian Moore writes:

> On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 17:50, Matt Rechkemmer wrote:

> > Final question :-), is there anyway to determine if a base package is out
> > of date? Or is just wise to leave the base alone and upgrade when a new
> > release comes along.
> 
> You should at least update your system when security vulnerabilities occur in 
> the base system. To minimise upgrades, follow the security  branch for your 
> release - this only has security fixes, not new features. See the handbook 
> for details. Subscribe to the Security Notifications list to get notification 
> of base system vunerabilities.

The current policy for the release branches is that they are not
"security" branches, they are "errata" branches.  The practical upshot
of this is that some particularly serious non-security problems do get
fixed on them.

To follow up a bit farther on the original poster's question: if you
don't know about a new version of software in the base system, and
you're not having problems with it, you don't need to update.  This
doesn't apply to security problems, of course, which is why following
the security advisories is essential.  FreeBSD is designed to work
well as an entire OS, so very few people need to update the base
system piecemeal.  [This is why FreeBSD is very conservative about
adding anything new to the base system.]

Be well..
-- 
Lowell Gilbert, embedded/networking software engineer, Boston area
		http://be-well.ilk.org/~lowell/