Upgrading a FreeBSD 7.1 server

[Ian Smith]

On Sat, 17 Jan 2015 16:27:41 +0100, Damien Fleuriot wrote:
 > 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 ..

 > 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.

Fair enough.  Without specifics, I can't imagine what sort of issues 
you're referring to; different users have such very different usages.

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

Ok :)  There are still some regressions there for some scenarios also, 
but generally people seem happy enough, reading freebsd-stable anyway.

 > 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

Ok :)  I (and other Lenovo users) had one nagging ACPI / USB port issue 
that was only resolved before 9.3-R, and there's a regression from 8.x 
in ACPI code that affects only HP laptops (and a MacBook Pro) about to 
be resolved - but these are edge cases, you'll always get some.  I had 
more bother with stable/8 with a suspend/resume issue, also since fixed, 
all of which are things uninteresting to people running servers at work!

Apart from that, I was basically supporting your points ..

cheers, Ian