A request for release engineering

[Steve O'Hara-Smith]

On Fri, 11 May 2018 20:10:14 +0530
Manish Jain <jude.obscure at yandex.com> wrote:

> Since bumping the version up using freebsd-update needs you to install 
> all packages afresh, it would appear to my naked eye that it never makes 
> sense to upgrade. 

	Doing that is quite a quick operation if you have a good connection
and a list of leaf packages to work from.

> Exactly when does the upgrade via freebsd-update bring any real 
> advantage to the user ? I see one disadvantage in upgrading - things 
> don't work as smoothly/reliably as with a fresh installation.

	Even on major version bumps there's a whole bunch of configuration
(system and ports) which can (usually - read UPDATING) be left untouched
with freebsd-update but which has to be recreated or restoed from some kind
of archive on a fresh installation.

	Minor version bumps and patch level increments are (usually)
painless with freebsd-update, the latter often not even requiring a reboot
just run service -R.

-- 
Steve O'Hara-Smith <steve at sohara.org>