cvs tag usage

[Richard Bejtlich]

freebsd at edvax.de wrote:

> If you are interested in the "bleeding edge" of FreeBSD's development,
> you follow RELENG_7. This will then deliver the -CURRENT branch to you
> with all modifications. It may happen that a -CURRENT of today doesn't
> compile, but tomorrow, it will do. It's considered to be the experimental
> branch where changes can appear and disappear.

Hello,

I think you are confusing RELENG_7 with "." (as the CVS tag says) or HEAD.

RELENG_7 will "deliver" 7-STABLE, not CURRENT.  CURRENT is the "bleeding edge."

Also:

> You follow the -STABLE branch of FreeBSD 7.2 and will always get
> the latest *stable* 7.2 sources, but won't reach 7.3 with this setting.

That's not quite right.  7.3 is just a point along the 7-STABLE path.
For example, if you tracked STABLE via RELENG_7 starting with, say,
FreeBSD 7.1, your system would have run 7.2 at some point, and then
beyond it.  Tracking STABLE isn't like using CVSup or Csup to reach
RELENG_7_2_0 or RELENG_7_2, but you eventually get the 7.2
functionality by tracking RELENG_7.

For example, start with 7.1 from CD:

fbsd71toS# uname -a
FreeBSD fbsd71toS.taosecurity.com 7.1-RELEASE FreeBSD 7.1-RELEASE #0:
Thu Jan  1 14:37:25 UTC 2009
root at logan.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC  i386

After Csup to RELENG_7, you get

fbsd71toS# uname -a
FreeBSD fbsd71toS.taosecurity.com 7.2-STABLE FreeBSD 7.2-STABLE #0:
Sat Aug 22 23:02:30 EDT 2009
root at fbsd71toS.taosecurity.com:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/FREEBSD7  i386

As you can see, it's not theoretical -- I ran this test this weekend.  :)

Thank you,

Richard