Upgrade 8.0 snapshots

[DemoDoG]

Just a simple question?

If I install latest snapshot of 8.0 from "ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/snapshots"
can I then upgrade it to next snapshot with a simple freebsd-upgrade command?

I have not looked into the process of using cvsup so to me the snapshot releases looks like a good idea. Is anyone here using it?

[mgp]

hi, I think you won't be able to update CURRENT using freebsd-update
if you take a look at this page: http://update.freebsd.org/
you can see that there's nothing about CURRENT, so I assume freebsd-update won't work
but you can always use "The Canonical Way to Update Your System"
it's very easy
just put that
*default host=cvsup.FreeBSD.org #or any other mirror which is nearby
*default base=/var/db
*default prefix=/usr
*default release=cvs tag=.
*default delete use-rel-suffix
*default compress
src-all

in /etc/src-supfile for example
and do that
# csup -L 2 /etc/src-supfile
and then you can rebuild all
I do it like that on my home machine
# cd /usr/src
# make buildworld buildkernel installkernel installworld
# mergemaster -p
# mergemaster
# reboot
but for production machines you better read this http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/makeworld.html
that's it
good luck

[DemoDoG]

Okay cool I will try it, it´s just my personal computer. I was told that 8.0 supports the mini-pci wireless card in Asus EEE without the need to compile kernal as in 7.1 so I want to try it out.

[DemoDoG]

What happens if you run freebsd-update on a custom kernel?

[ale]

AFAIK freebsd-update is a tool to apply security fixes from security branch.
Here you can find the releases supported by the Security Officier.
http://www.freebsd.org/security/#sup
It would be a non-sense having a freebsd-update for -CURRENT.

The answer to your question is in the note at the end of the paragraph at the following url
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/updating-upgrading-freebsdupdate.html#AEN29561

More info on dev. branches here
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/current-stable.html

[DemoDoG]

Ok, that makes sense - thanx for answer. Im not sure wether I should install 7.1 and compile the kernel for wireless card support (madwifi) or install 8.0 current which seems to include it. I guess I will try them both and see what works best for me.

Perhaps the noticable difference for me on my laptop is - none.

[Djn]

I use 8-CURRENT on both my computers now, and it's really quite unproblematic. Could be I'm just lucky, but the intention is that CURRENT should give you a working system (albeit one where the features have had much less testing).

[DemoDoG]

Im right now in the buildworld state with my laptop, following the advice above from mgp. It seems simple enough for me although it takes a long time. How often do you upgrade your currents?

[Djn]

Personally? "Not very" - I'd guess every three or four months, maybe longer.

[DemoDoG]

Okay. Perhaps it took extra long time since I was upgrading from 7.1 beta 2 :-)

[mgp]

hi,
actually the compile time depends entirely on your hardware and the load of the system
and by my opinion it's better to upgrade more often when you're tracking CURRENT
I'd upgrade every two weeks

cheers

[Djn]

As he says - the compile is the same no matter what you're building it on (and you can do things like building 6.4 on a CURRENT machine and then installing it to an empty disk). It's just a large compilation job that happens to result in something you can install as an OS. ;)

[DemoDoG]

Okay, another question: Is it possible to install HEAD or a SNAPSHOT of CURRENT from sysinstall on a computer running 7.0 or 7.1? In a custom install you can change what version to install, I tried changing it from 7.0-RELEASE to 8.0-CURRENT but it didnt work.

[edogawaconan]

What happens if you run freebsd-update on a custom kernel?
it won't work.

If you're planning to follow -current here's the scenario:
- buildworld every months (or so)
- jump to 8-beta or 8-rc when available (using standard-supfile to fetch the source)
- use freebsd-update for next updates

CMIIW