Upgrading a FreeBSD 7.1 server

[Damien Fleuriot]

On 16 January 2015 at 16:31, Ian Smith <smithi at nimnet.asn.au> wrote:

> In freebsd-questions Digest, Vol 554, Issue 5, Message: 17
> On Thu, 15 Jan 2015 20:46:11 +0100 Damien Fleuriot <ml at my.gd> wrote:
>
>  > Regarding your question about pkg, you'll need to run pkg2ng to convert
>  > your current ports database to the new pkg tools, after your upgrade to
> the
>  > 8.x branch.
>  >
>  > I seem to recall having problems with a few ports that wouldn't go along
>  > quietly, but all in all you should be a-OK.
>
> That could turn into a _lot_ of work.  Personally for 8.4 I'd just save
> a list of ports from pkg_info, install the OS, install pkg(7) on it,
> update pkg(8), install portmaster and follow the Handbook to install all
> your ports/packages and keep them updated (as desired).
>
> But then, I'd sooner recommend going to 9.3-RELEASE instead.  Support
> for 8.4 expires in June this year and I've heard no mention of an 8.5
>
> 9.3 is an extended release, supported until the end of 2016.  I've found
> the whole 9.x series to be very solid indeed (albeit mostly on laptops).
>
> Again just personally, I'm happy leaving 10.1 a while longer to settle,
> but I'm a conservative updater too ..
>
> cheers, Ian
>


Ah, your mileage may vary, however I for one am *very wary of 9.x*

I'm afraid I've seen waaaaaay too many bug reports and regressions about
9.0 and 9.1-RELEASE.

So far, we've steered way clear of this branch at work.

Hell I'd sooner push 10-STABLE than 9-STABLE in prod.


Of course, I'm aware that was some time ago and patches have likely been
published since, but you know how it goes.
Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice... nope :p