Release tags vs. Branch tags

[Chris Hill]

On Tue, 29 Nov 2005, Jose Borquez wrote:

> I am preparing to upgrade my source and I am using FreeBSD 5.4.  I am 
> a little confused between Release tags (RELENG_5_4_0_RELEASE) and 
> Branch Tags(RELENG_5_4).  Is the brach tag for critical & security 
> fixes while Release tags are for upgrading source?  What about 
> RELENG_5?  Could someone please clear this up for me?

All the tags update source, and once source is updated, you can use the 
updated sources to build/install a new system.

RELENG_5_4_0_RELEASE is pointless IMHO, because it will always give you 
the same system as the 5.4 installer CDs.

RELENG_5_4 is useful, to me. It will give you 5.4-RELEASE, plus the 
latest fixes for security and bugs. This seems to be the way to go for a 
production server, but again that's a matter of opinion. This is the tag 
I use for this workstation, so uname -r returns "5.4-RELEASE-p8", 
meaning that the system is 5.4-RELEASE at patchlevel 8.

Using RELENG_5 means you are tracking -STABLE. It will give you bug 
fixes and security updates, plus whatever enhancements have been 
developed after the 5.4 release date. It's well-tested, but not as 
thoroughly as RELEASE. Probably OK for a desktop, maybe not for a 
server. See the Handbook for details.

HTH.

--
Chris Hill               chris at monochrome.org
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