# upgrading from 7.2 to 8



## LateNiteTV (Jun 11, 2009)

when 8-RELEASE gets here, i want to upgrade from 7.2-stable.
can this be done via csup and the buildworld process safely?
if so, should i rebuild all installed ports or should compat7x handle that?

OR, would it just be less of a headache to backup all my configs and all the other stuff i dont want to lose and just do a fresh install of 8?


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## vivek (Jun 11, 2009)

Yes upgrade can be done from 7.2 to 8.0 stable when it will come out via cvsup. You need to rebuild all packages too...

However, upgrade or no upgrade one should always keep backups via dump/restore or other commands.


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## phoenix (Jun 11, 2009)

LateNiteTV said:
			
		

> when 8-RELEASE gets here, i want to upgrade from 7.2-stable.
> can this be done via csup and the buildworld process safely?



Yes.



> if so, should i rebuild all installed ports or should compat7x handle that?



compat7x should allow you to continue running your installed apps without recompiling/reinstalling them.

However, long-term, you will want to recompile/reinstall all your installed ports.



> OR, would it just be less of a headache to backup all my configs and all the other stuff i dont want to lose and just do a fresh install of 8?



Unless something goes horribly, horribly, horribly wrong, you should never need to reinstall the system.  I have some boxes that have been upgraded from FreeBSD 4.2 through to FreeBSD 6.2, all done via the buildworld cycle.


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## fronclynne (Jun 12, 2009)

Just to chime in, the laptop I'm writing with was source upgraded from 7.x to 8 and it went swimmingly.  The developers really deserve all of the accolades, cash, booze, sheep, and pickled herring you can afford to send them.


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## DutchDaemon (Jun 12, 2009)

How was the mergemaster run? Lots of changes there?


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## danger@ (Jun 12, 2009)

`# mergemaster -Ui` works fairly quickly I suppose


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## vivek (Jun 12, 2009)

It depends upon how much changes you made to /etc and other config location. I generally do not touch much to /etc and put all services in jail. This way there will be less typing and updating for base /etc/


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## LateNiteTV (Jun 12, 2009)

fronclynne said:
			
		

> Just to chime in, the laptop I'm writing with was source upgraded from 7.x to 8 and it went swimmingly.  The developers really deserve all of the accolades, cash, booze, sheep, and pickled herring you can afford to send them.



did you use `# mergemaster -Ui`?


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## fronclynne (Jun 15, 2009)

LateNiteTV said:
			
		

> did you use `# mergemaster -Ui`?


Aye, though with updates between sometime in March and late May -U stopped working as expected (*NB it seems to work fine as of this morning*): something to do with mtree not doing something correctly, and would blindly overwrite (for instance) /etc/csh.cshrc.

I have taken to doing a `# tar -jcvf /home/tmp/hostname_etc.tar.bz2 /etc` before I start my buildworld.  It trades many, short typing sessions for the long, puzzled stares, trying to remember what I had in /etc/csh.cshrc.

_EDIT: the tar stuff would be obviated by my learning to use -P with mergemaster._


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## fronclynne (Jun 15, 2009)

danger@ said:
			
		

> `# mergemaster -Ui` works fairly quickly I suppose


When I did the original upgrade, it was quite fast.

I remember doing a 5.x->6.x upgrade without -U and . . . just wow.


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