# Can 8.1RC be easily updated to 8.1 Stable



## shepper (Jun 20, 2010)

I previously tried to install 8.0 i386 on an old Asus C3 Terminator which uses a Via C3.
http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=12557
I had a problem with an interupt storm at irq11 that went away with acpi disabled.  7.3 worked fine and that is what I went with.  I use openoffice alot and had set up 7.0 stable for packages which did not have a openoffice release.

The interupt problem seems to be fixed in 8.1RC1.

My question is if freebsd-update will upgrade to 8.1 release?  I can wait for stable but it looks like most of what I want is in the package repository (including the latest version of OpenOffice).


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## DutchDaemon (Jun 20, 2010)

freebsd-update does not upgrade to -STABLE.

freebsd-update(8)


```
DESCRIPTION
     The freebsd-update tool is used to fetch, install, and rollback binary
     updates to the FreeBSD base system.  Note that updates are only available
     if they are being built for the FreeBSD release and architecture being
     used; in particular, the FreeBSD Security Team only builds updates for
     releases shipped in binary form by the FreeBSD Release Engineering Team,
     e.g., FreeBSD 6.1[B][U]-RELEASE[/U][/B] and FreeBSD 6.2[B][U]-RC1[/U][/B], but [B][U]not[/U][/B] FreeBSD 6.2[B][U]-STABLE[/U][/B]
     or FreeBSD 7.0[B][U]-CURRENT[/U][/B].
```


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## SirDice (Jun 21, 2010)

shepper said:
			
		

> I can wait for stable but it looks like most of what I want is in the package repository (including the latest version of OpenOffice).


Ports have nothing to do with -RELEASE, -CURRENT or -STABLE. There is only one ports tree.


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## graudeejs (Jun 21, 2010)

shepper said:
			
		

> My question is if freebsd-update will upgrade to 8.1 release?  I can wait for stable but it looks like most of what I want is in the package repository (including the latest version of OpenOffice).



You mean openoffice.org-2.4.3_2 ? That is not the latest
Latest is 3.2.1 which I will try compile (all localizations) for I686 (i686, but pentium2 or newer) in week or so


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## shepper (Jun 21, 2010)

killasmurf86:  I think it has already been made

ftp://ooopackages.good-day.net/pub/OpenOffice.org/FreeBSD/3.2.1/

A Via C3 is not a powerhouse cpu so I want to use only package binaries.

DutchDaemon

I would be starting with FreeBSD 8.1RC1 and was hoping to upgrade to 8.1RC2 -> 8.1RC3 -> 8.1 release and hopefully having my installed packages still work


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## SirDice (Jun 21, 2010)

shepper said:
			
		

> I would be starting with FreeBSD 8.1RC1 and was hoping to upgrade to 8.1RC2 -> 8.1RC3 -> 8.1 release and hopefully having my installed packages still work


It will be highly unlikely any of the ABI/API will change in that period. Packages should work unless this happens.


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## graudeejs (Jun 21, 2010)

shepper said:
			
		

> killasmurf86:  I think it has already been made
> 
> ftp://ooopackages.good-day.net/pub/OpenOffice.org/FreeBSD/3.2.1/
> 
> ...



wow.... They started building i386 packages again


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## Pfarthing6 (Jun 26, 2010)

Seems like the question got sidetracked? I was looking for the same info. I'm on 8.0-STABLE and was considering installing 8.1-RC1 instead. But 8.1-STABLE is just around the corner, so what to do?

What I found was this simple answer:

`freebsd-update upgrade -r 8.1-RC1`

...so, my guess is that this would work for 8.1-RCx -> 8.1-RELEASE when it becomes available?


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## fronclynne (Jun 26, 2010)

*the long answer is more presidential*



			
				Pfarthing6 said:
			
		

> Seems like the question got sidetracked? I was looking for the same info. I'm on 8.0-STABLE and was considering installing 8.1-RC1 instead. But 8.1-STABLE is just around the corner, so what to do?
> 
> What I found was this simple answer:
> 
> ...



Short answer:  Yes.

Long answer:  Let me uh be perfectly clear.  Uh, yes.


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## DutchDaemon (Jun 26, 2010)

That info was in post #2 and in the man file, right?


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## Pfarthing6 (Jun 30, 2010)

DutchDaemon said:
			
		

> That info was in post #2 and in the man file, right?



OK, I think I misunderstood and since I'm not a developer, don't get the difference between RELEASE, CURRENT, and STABLE beyond what most would assume, STABLE is "stable", mostly free of bugs, and not a sandbox for testing new things, and the others, not so stable.

Actually, in the handbook there is no mention of RELEASE. Only CURRENT and STABLE are mentioned as the two branches of development. So, the man page reference to RELEASE is confusing.

Buy you are saying that upgrading to a -STABLE release from an RC isn't possible using freebsd-update?

Then may I ask how I am to go from an RC to a STABLE? (preferably w/out reinstalling the whole system).

thanks =)


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## Pfarthing6 (Jun 30, 2010)

So, I got to chapter 24.7 in the handbook. Think it pretty much says it all!


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## SirDice (Jun 30, 2010)

Pfarthing6 said:
			
		

> Buy you are saying that upgrading to a -STABLE release from an RC isn't possible using freebsd-update?


You can only update to a -RELEASE.



> Then may I ask how I am to go from an RC to a STABLE? (preferably w/out reinstalling the whole system).


Source update using csup and building world.


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## DutchDaemon (Jun 30, 2010)

Please make sure you understand what 'STABLE' actually is!


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## Pfarthing6 (Jun 30, 2010)

DutchDaemon said:
			
		

> Please make sure you understand what 'STABLE' actually is!



So, have you guys changed the meaning of the word "stable" or what?

Stable should be that: doesn't change too much, gets security updates, everything is tested thoroughly, and so forth. If that's not it, what is it? And why call it stable then if it isn't?

Read the handbook on this too, not much help there.

Also, about upgrading to a -RELEASE, the handbook does not mention any branch called "RELEASE" that I saw, only STABLE and CURRENT. 

So is this a place holder for something? Like RC1 stands for "release candidate 1" so when I see the capitalized word RELEASE, should I just replace it mentally with RCx?


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## DutchDaemon (Jul 1, 2010)

-CURRENT is the fast-track development area, where the newest code is tested and evaluated. Once that is done, some of that code drops down (gets MFC'ed -- Merged From -CURRENT) to -STABLE, which is a less adventurous (but still entirely developmental) area, where stuff that's deemed 'stable' enough to eventually make it into the next -RELEASE is held (and tested further by a wider audience). So, you should relate -STABLE to -CURRENT like 'simmering' to 'boiling', or 'cruising' to 'racing'. The only non-development track in FreeBSD is -RELEASE. Whether that should be called 'stable' is up for debate. I'd rather call it 'stagnant'.


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## Pfarthing6 (Jul 1, 2010)

DutchDaemon said:
			
		

> -CURRENT is the fast-track development area, where the newest code is tested and evaluated. Once that is done, some of that code drops down (gets MFC'ed -- Merged From -CURRENT) to -STABLE, which is a less adventurous (but still entirely developmental) area, where stuff that's deemed 'stable' enough to eventually make it into the next -RELEASE is held (and tested further by a wider audience). So, you should relate -STABLE to -CURRENT like 'simmering' to 'boiling', or 'cruising' to 'racing'. The only non-development track in FreeBSD is -RELEASE. Whether that should be called 'stable' is up for debate. I'd rather call it 'stagnant'.



I read through the Engineering guide which explained it in great detail and got me pretty confused along the way. The Handbook had me VERY confused as well since it throws the term RELEASE all around with little explanation.

I found a good article on the Freebsdwiki though which said basicaly what you said. It's still counter-intuitive, but I'm not a developer either.

I do apprecaite the break down though. What you wrote should go in the handbook.

cheers!


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## danbi (Jul 1, 2010)

Think of -STABLE as an platform that constantly evolves, possibly with changes to various API. This is the way to stay current with technology, without following the bleeding edge. -STABLE gets lots of new drivers, fixes to drivers, new features, new software, all the time. Sort of, tested before that in -CURRENT.

While, -RELEASE is what you would call a "product". It has defined and published features and only bug or security issues get fixed. By using -RELEASE, you can safely assume, that the behavior and API of the system will not change.


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## Pfarthing6 (Jul 3, 2010)

danbi said:
			
		

> Think of -STABLE as an platform that constantly evolves, possibly with changes to various API. This is the way to stay current with technology, without following the bleeding edge. -STABLE gets lots of new drivers, fixes to drivers, new features, new software, all the time. Sort of, tested before that in -CURRENT.
> 
> While, -RELEASE is what you would call a "product". It has defined and published features and only bug or security issues get fixed. By using -RELEASE, you can safely assume, that the behavior and API of the system will not change.



I think I'm getting the hang of it now. Practicing doing the upgrade processes too before putting the system into production. 

Thanks all!


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## shepper (Jul 4, 2010)

In the BSD's one has to make the distinction between the Core operating system vs the ports your are running on that system.  The Core system gets bug fixes and security updates but the release ports do not.  This becomes more pronounced with some of the older versions like 7.3.  The firefox versions in 7.2 release are firefox 2.0.0.20_7, 3.0.10_1 and 3.0.a2_6.1 while the 7.0 stable versions are 3.0.19.1 and 3.5.9_1.1.

So as a desktop user when you get an announcement that a new version of firefox is available with security updates and upgrading is strongly recommended you will not get the update in release nor can you usually pull the package from stable.  This was the issue I was considering when I mentioned openoffice.  Frequently, openoffice packages are only available for a release.

In many linux versions (Slackware, Debian) security issues in your packages/ports are addressed and compiled using the release libaries.


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## shepper (Jul 4, 2010)

I would like to edit my post above as it may be confusion between ports and packages but do not see an edit button.  The freebsd ftp site has the precompiled binary packages under the ports directory.

It is easy to upgrade ports.  Upgrading using only precompiled binaries is not quite as easy and in my experience not as reliable


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## fwaggle (Jul 4, 2010)

I like to think of -STABLE in the sense of "well, it was stable for me!" - don't make the mistake of (I've met three people so far who did this) thinking that -STABLE implies stability when compared to -RELEASE, it's actually the opposite. If that's what your thinking -STABLE is, -RELEASE is what you want.


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