Some questions about Current.

S

I have used Linux for years and I decided to move to FreeBSD a couple of days ago to try something new. I have installed it successfully and since I like to always be on the bleeding edge and get my feet wet on the new system I followed the guide to upgrade the system to -CURRENT with svn. I downloaded the sources and followed the guide to build everything. Everything went smoothly but after that when I type uname() on the terminal it still says that I have 9.2 installed. Was that supposed to change? Also how do I upgrade the system? Do I have to rebuild the system every couple of days to stay up to date? And if that do I need to do it for the ports too?
Thanks in advance,
Savoritias.

O

ondra_knezour

Jan 20, 2014

#2

Savoritias said:
I downloaded the sources and followed the guide to build everything. Everything went smoothly but after that when I type uname on the terminal it still says that I have 9.2 installed. Was that supposed to change?

Yes, it was. Did you followed procedure as is described in the handbook?

Also how do I upgrade the system?

Some way. Or see if there is the freebsd-update() support for version you have selected.

Do I have to rebuild the system every couple of days to stay up to date?

It depends. Yes if you want to test everything new as soon as possible. No in most other cases. Also see "Do I need to re-make world for every change?".

And if that do I need to do it for the ports too?

Usually no. Only transitions between the major versions as 9.x -> 10.0 may require rebuilding (and even in such cases COMPAT_SOMETHING support may give you some time for prepare) and sometimes changes in ABI/API may require rebuild something which depends on changed feature. Such cases are described in the /usr/src/UPDATING and /usr/ports/UPDATING files, so be sure to consult them before anything else.

ljboiler

Jan 20, 2014

#3

Perhaps you got the "bleeding edge" of the 9.x version from svn, rather than the bleeding edge (which is 11-CURRENT at the moment) that I'm assuming you wanted.

Code:

cd /usr/src
svn info

What does the URL: line show?

SirDice

Administrator

Staff member

Administrator

Moderator

Jan 20, 2014

#4

ondra_knezour said:
Savoritias said:

Also how do I upgrade the system?

Click to expand...

Some way. Or see if there is the freebsd-update() support for version you have selected.

Click to expand...

You can only use freebsd-update(8) to update/upgrade to a -RELEASE version. Updating -STABLE or -CURRENT is not supported. The only way to update those is by using the source.

OP

S

Savoritias

Jan 20, 2014

Thread Starter
#5

I read that I can't use freebsd-update(8) to upgrade -CURRENT. Also I read that -CURRENT is updated every once a month so that is probably when I will update the system using svn. Also I wasn't able to do the steps the handbook said in single user mode so I did them in multi-user mode. Maybe that broke something. I will try again tonight and post the results.

K

kpa

Jan 20, 2014

#6

Current is actually updated almost every day if you go by the commits to the SVN repository. There are snapshots available that may be updated on monthly basis but most users of current use the snapshots for just a quick initial install and then use the source for updates.

B

Beastie

Jan 20, 2014

#7

Officially, you can get monthly snapshots.

Unofficially, you can get daily snapshots.

worldi

Jan 20, 2014

#8

Savoritias said:
I read that -CURRENT is updated every once a month

CURRENT is updated every time a developer commits something, i.e. all the time. That's why it is called bleeding edge.

Be prepared to have an unusable system. Since these changes haven't been heavily tested things will break! (Read: you are the tester and are supposed to report bugs, so subscribe to freebsd-current).

OP

S

Savoritias

Jan 21, 2014

Thread Starter
#9

So after doing the upgrade again I found what the problem is. When I download the sources from head both the base and the ports are saying that there are some conflicts which the files. Maybe that is why that my version is still shown as 9.2. Anyone know how to solve it?

SirDice

Administrator

Staff member

Administrator

Moderator

Jan 21, 2014

#10

I'd just rm -rf /usr/src/* and do a new check-out. That way you are sure you're getting the correct sources.

T

throAU

Jan 24, 2014

#11

Savoritias said:
So after doing the upgrade again I found what the problem is. When I download the sources from head both the base and the ports are saying that there are some conflicts which the files. Maybe that is why that my version is still shown as 9.2. Anyone know how to solve it?

I'd suggest holding off switching to -CURRENT for a little while until you are comfortable with the FreeBSD update process, and how the operating system works in general. Much of the things FreeBSD does are different to GNU and not bugs.

Unlike Linux, you do not need to be running -CURRENT or another unstable variant to get fairly up to date software via ports (i.e., it isn't like say, Debian Unstable vs. Debian Stable).

Maybe practice with 10.0 for a while, get comfortable with the way things work and then upgrade to -CURRENT in a few months? If you're not familiar with the way the system works and something goes pear-shaped on your system running -CURRENT, the level of support you will get for fixing it will be much less (e.g., the example above - who knows if it is due to something you have done, or due to -CURRENT breakage at the moment you pulled your source down?). Also, you may end up reporting bugs to the developers that are not actually bugs.

-CURRENT isn't really intended to be a general-purpose end user version. Unless you are an active developer, or have a specific requirement for a feature not yet available in one of the currently supported releases, you're probably better off steering clear of it.