freebsd-update: from 7.1-STABLE to 7.2-RELEASE?

[Matthew Seaman]

Axel wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I have previously kept my machine updated by fetching the STABLE branch 
> using csup and rebuilding the kernel. (As described in Handbook chapter 
> 24.7)
> 
>  From now on, I want to use freebsd-update to simplify the process and 
> follow the RELEASE branch (+patches) instead.
> 
> But it seems that freebsd-update cannot help me upgrade from 7.1-STABLE 
> to 7.2-RELEASE.
> 
> Any tips on how to make the transition to RELEASE?
> 
> --------------------------------------
> 
> uname -a
> FreeBSD <host> 7.1-STABLE FreeBSD 7.1-STABLE #0: Sat Jul 25 12:24:54 
> CEST 2009
> root@<host>:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC  i386
> 
> --------------------------------------
> 
> freebsd-update -v debug -r 7.2-RELEASE upgrade
> Looking up update.FreeBSD.org mirrors... 3 mirrors found.
> Fetching public key from update5.FreeBSD.org... fetch: 
> http://update5.FreeBSD.org/7.1-STABLE/i386/pub.ssl: Not Found
> failed.
> Fetching public key from update4.FreeBSD.org... fetch: 
> http://update4.FreeBSD.org/7.1-STABLE/i386/pub.ssl: Not Found
> failed.
> Fetching public key from update1.FreeBSD.org... fetch: 
> http://update1.FreeBSD.org/7.1-STABLE/i386/pub.ssl: Not Found
> failed.
> No mirrors remaining, giving up.
> 
> --------------------------------------

Probably your best plan would be to:

   * Back up everything, but particularly all of the contents of /etc
     /usr/local/etc and /home and anywhere else you have important files
     you can't recover from original sources.

   * csup to RELENG_7_2_0_RELEASE (ie use that as the cvs tag in your sup 
     file).  This will give you code base the release was generated
     from. Compile and update your system the normal way -- uname(1) should
     identify itself as 7.2-RELEASE after this.  Replace any custom kernel
     with GENERIC if you want to use freebsd-update for the kernel as well
     as the world.

   * use freebsd-update to to upgrade from 7.2-RELEASE to 7.2-RELEASE-p2 
     according to the instructions in the man page.

Now, you'll be using a self-compiled version of FreeBSD rather than exactly
what comes off the release .iso so there will be minor differences and mismatched
checksums for various files.  However I think freebsd-update should be able to
cope, and will probably overwrite any non-matching files.  In case it doesn't,
your next recourse would be to grab a release .iso from the FTP sites and overwrite
your system with the version from the install media.  You can do this without
completely trashing your existing setup if you take care -- particularly make
sure that you tell the installer *not* to newfs any partitions.  Of course, 
make sure you've backed everything up before trying this, as it will overwrite
some of the files under /etc with the default versions.

	Cheers,

	Matthew

-- 
Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil.                   7 Priory Courtyard
                                                  Flat 3
PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey     Ramsgate
                                                  Kent, CT11 9PW

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 259 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
Url : http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-questions/attachments/20090725/cd8f2f09/signature.pgp