# FreeBSD 9



## wokko (Apr 5, 2011)

I have been hearing about this FreeBSD 9 and I was wondering what FreeBSD 9 is all about. I'm running 8.2 release on my desktop at home. Is FreeBSD 9 a developement version for testing or can anyone use it? Is there a separate ports tree for it? And how can I get the development release to play with on my desktop?

Cheers.


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## wblock@ (Apr 5, 2011)

wokko said:
			
		

> I have been hearing about this freebsd 9 and i was wondering what freebsd 9 is all about.



What's cooking for FreeBSD 9?



> im running 8.2 release on my desktop at home.
> is freebsd 9 a developement version for testing or can anyone use it ?



It's a development version for testing, but anyone willing to put up with possibly unstable code can use it.



> is there a separate port tree for it ?



There is only one ports tree.  It's the same for all versions of FreeBSD.



> and how can i get the development release to play with on my desktop.



ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/snapshots/


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## jb_fvwm2 (Apr 5, 2011)

Your disk device names may change, v8 >> v9, so fstab rewriting may be expedient AFAIK.  (or glabelling...) I built it sort of just to try it out, but with a lot of work it ended up more-or-less perfect. (On a secondary machine).


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## wokko (Apr 5, 2011)

Cheers wblock. Is there a snapshot for i386?


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## wblock@ (Apr 5, 2011)

wokko said:
			
		

> cheers wblock
> is there a snapshot for i386



Yes, in the 201101 directory.  There's a newer snapshot with the new bsdinstall installer.


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## wokko (Apr 5, 2011)

Cheers wblock. Got it now. Will install after download is finished. Thanks for your help.


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## sossego (Apr 5, 2011)

Be sure to rebuild the kernel and disable WITNESS and its related arguments.


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## wokko (Apr 5, 2011)

sossego : what is this WITNESS all about?


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## sossego (Apr 6, 2011)

http://www.unix.com/man-page/FreeBSD/4/witness/


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## wokko (Apr 6, 2011)

thanks sossego


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## phoenix (Apr 6, 2011)

sossego said:
			
		

> http://www.unix.com/man-page/FreeBSD/4/witness/



There's a simpler method, using the [ man ] tags in the forum:
witness(4)


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## gkontos (Apr 6, 2011)

From /usr/src/UPDATING


> NOTE TO PEOPLE WHO THINK THAT FreeBSD 9.x IS SLOW:
> FreeBSD 9.x has many debugging features turned on, in both the kernel
> and userland.  These features attempt to detect incorrect use of
> system primitives, and encourage loud failure through extra sanity
> ...


From GENERIC kernel:


> ```
> # Debugging for use in -current
> options         KDB                     # Enable kernel debugger support.
> options         DDB                     # Support DDB.
> ...


And finally from the handbook.
I think that if you want to stay "current" then you should really understand why those debugging symbols are in. Also keep in mind that if you come into problems those are the first things asked in the mailing-list. 
Regards,


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## wokko (Apr 7, 2011)

Hey guys, just finished installing FreeBSD 9 and everything is running smooth at the moment. Thank you to everyone for your help. I having done anything about this debugging stuff, it seems to reboot fine, so I was just wondering should I rebuild my kernel or do what the last two replies have said? I am only using FreeBSD 9 on my pc at home.


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## gkontos (Apr 8, 2011)

First, bring your source tree and system up to date. I run my kernel without the debug symbols but keep a GENERIC copy also just in case.


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## wokko (Apr 8, 2011)

Thanks, gkontos. I will give it a go tomorrow.


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