getting ports updated on an older FreeBSD (5.1)

[Polytropon]

On Mon, 22 Jun 2015 12:20:08 +0200, Christoph Kukulies wrote:
> I'm running a somewhat come into age server under FreeBSD 5.1 at the 
> moment and I'm in need to
> update to php5.

You'll face too many problems that it's probably easier to
install a supported version of FreeBSD (typically 10.1) and
then build all the software you need, followed by "migration
of data" (configuration, user accounts, user data, forum
data and so on).

You could try to build a current PHP on a current OS version
and then try to install it on the old system, but that won't
work because so many things have changed. The default package
format and compression is different, and the old pkg_* tools
are deprecated. Building from source would be the only option,
but again, the toolchain has changed and the current sources
probably won't compile.

Running FreeBSD 5 in a trusted (!) intranet typically is not
a problem. I have a file server running FreeBSD 4.4, and I
do not plan to replace it (because it works too well). Of
course I also do not plan to update any software it's running,
because that would be impossible. :-)

In your case, you will have more success with a new install,
for sure. Do it in parallel (new machine, or at least new
disk during scheduled downtime) so you can quickly switch
over to the new system after you have verified everything
works as you expect.

Good luck!


-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...