roelof said:
When I want to upgrade from 8.1 to 9.0 I have to rebuild all packages installed from ports.
I think this will costs me around 2 a 3 days.
Now I wonder if this can be done in parts. So a partly rebuild, then stop the machine and the next day go on where I have stopped.
Careful with the terminology--this is not a rebuild of "world".
Depends on why you want to break this up. If you are concerned about downtime for a server, the best way is to install the new system on a fresh disk, do all the upgrading on that offline system, then swap the disk into the server after all the upgrades are done.
If you have a dual-boot desktop and just need to be able to use the other operating system at the same time, convert the FreeBSD system into a VM.
Otherwise, breaking up the rebuild of ports is tricky. When the system comes up with only some of the ports rebuilt, it may not all work. The procedure at the end of the
portmaster(8) man page works, and portmaster shows a list of ports remaining to be upgraded when you control-c out of it. Save that, possibly by running the session inside
script(1), and you can probably pick up where you left off.
Another approach is packages, but I don't use them so someone else can comment.