ports from -release vs. -latest [was: RE: FreeBSD 7.1 Content]

[Ernest Sales]

> Date: Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:22:30 -0400
> From: Jim Pingle <lists at pingle.org>
> Subject: Re: FreeBSD 7.1 Content
> To: Wesley Shields <wxs at FreeBSD.org>
> Cc: Dan Allen <danallen46 at airwired.net>, freebsd-stable at freebsd.org
> Message-ID: <48BFEF26.2070405 at pingle.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> Wesley Shields wrote:
> > On Wed, Sep 03, 2008 at 06:28:44PM -0600, Dan Allen wrote:
> >> Hey, these great comments bring up a different solution,
> which may be
> >> the way to go.
> >>
> >> It is simple: have a few of the common apps that are
> net-centric (like
> >> firefox) be simply calls to pkg_add -r in the installer.  No ports
> >> databases, no packages on the discs.  A few packages may be useful
> >> (like perl) to someone without net access, but many need
> the net to be
> >> useful.
> >
> > No thanks.  This means you have to have a working
> connection to install
> > firefox via this method.  Since not everyone will have that
> it is still
> > necessary to bundle the firefox package on the media,
> bringing us right
> > back to the very issue you are trying to solve.
>
> Could this not also be resolved another way?
>
> Most desktops these days have DVD drives. If someone wants a bootable
> desktop-targeted release with X, Firefox and such, why not
> make that a DVD
> instead of trying to shoehorn all of this into a CD? Most of the older
> machines with aging CD-ROM drives or without a DVD drive may
> not have the
> horsepower to run a live CD with X anyhow. My servers only have CD-ROM
> drives, but then again they wouldn't be using a
> desktop-oriented live CD
> with X either. :-)
>
> Sure, the download would be (much?) larger, but you would
> have a lot more
> room to work with.
>
> The CD installs are great for me, and have worked well for years.
> Personally, I install, update to -STABLE from a local cvsup
> mirror, then use
> an updated ports tree or install packages remotely. The
> packages on CD are
> out of date practically from the moment they are placed
> there, so I rarely
> use them. The only package I regularly used was


I use to update ports almost weekly from -latest, but the resulting GUI is
not always consistent, so I am considering to stick with the -release tag.
Could someone comment on the quality of ports from -release vs. -latest? In
other words, can I expect a substantial gain in usability by doing so?

Ernest



> cvsup-without-gui, which has
> been replaced by csup in the base system.
>
> Also, is not Ubuntu a "downstream" release of Debian, much
> like FreeSBIE and
> PC-BSD are "downstream" of FreeBSD? If you want to compare
> apples to apples,
> you might investigate those choices a little closer.
>
> Jim