Keeping FreeBSD updated (the binary way)

Roger Olofsson 240olofsson at telia.com
Fri Jan 23 12:59:51 PST 2009



Svein Halvor Halvorsen skrev:
> Hi, list!
> 
> 
> I have just acquired a new computer to replace an old server. This older 
> server has been running FreeBSD 5.3 since 2004 and most of its packages 
> are way out of date. I've been scared of changing something in fear of 
> rendering the machine unbootable, or some core applications unrunnable.
> 
> I want to make sure I have better routines this time around, when I'm 
> starting a-fresh. I'd like to keep my system and packages fairly up to 
> date, and still keep the compiling to a minimum.
> 
> Is it possible to pkg_add -r packages from -STABLE on the latest 
> -RELEASE? That is, will the following work, or slowly render my system 
> to an incoherent state:
> 
> 1) Regularly run freebsd-update
> 2) Regularly run portsnap
> 3) Set my PACKAGESITE to the -STABLE location
> 4) Regularly run portupgrade -P
> 
> 
> Will the postsnap'ed index always be in sync with what's available as 
> precompiled packages for -STABLE? Will these -STABLE packages always run 
> on my freebsd-update'd -RELEASE system? If some ports have the 
> NO_PACKAGE bit set, will compiling them against dependencies from 
> -STABLE work, as long as I've run portsnap?
> 
> 
> 
>     Svein Halvor
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Hello Svein,

When I recently went from 6 to 7 I realized that it is less 
time-consuming to wipe the machine clean and install fresh from the cd.

The pre-condition for this is separated disks for system and data.

/R





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