# 5.5-STABLE to 6-STABLE (at least)



## mzelensky (Oct 4, 2011)

Dear all,

I've got 5.5-STABLE on IP-IV. I need to intstall Ruby on Rails and update Ruby port.
Usually I do it with 

`$ pkg_add -r`

This command goes and looks in ftp://ftp.freebsd.org for ports. The problem is that this command doesn't work for 5.5-STABLE as this version is not supported on the FTP. It starts only with 6-STABLE.

Please guide me through the process of safe upgrading to 6-STABLE at least, the latest version is the better. I've got several dozens of websites and MySQL databases on this server, so the upgrade must be absolutely safe.

Guide of how to install ports on 5.5 is also possible, but I am not sure if the latest version of Ruby and Rails will work fine on 5.5.

Thanks in advance! Any input is appreciated.


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## SirDice (Oct 4, 2011)

The packages that are installed with pkg_add -r are actually quite old. Even the ones in 6-STABLE are almost a year old.

Keep in mind that both 5.x and 6.x are end-of-life and you really should consider updating to at least 7.4. If you need to keep 5.5 or 6.x your best bet is to use the port and build from source.


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## mzelensky (Oct 4, 2011)

*How to update ports on 5.5-STABLE*

Hi all,

How can I update ports collection on FreeBSD 5.5-STABLE? 

I don't have the installation disk.

Thanks in advance!


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## aragon (Oct 4, 2011)

SirDice said:
			
		

> If you need to keep 5.5 or 6.x your best bet is to use the port and build from source.


Even then, the OP really needs to move onto 8.x at least.  More and more port compilations will break on very old FreeBSD releases, and he won't get much help from port maintainers either.


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## Carpetsmoker (Oct 4, 2011)

The short answer is that you don't. FreeBSD 5.5 has been end-of-life (EOL) for a very long time and is no longer supported by FreeBSD team or the ports collection.

If you feel adventurous, brave, and have a whole bunch of spare time, you can try it anyway. Some ports may work out-of-the-box, many won't and require tinkering.

You can, however, checkout the ports tree with the *RELEASE_5_EOL* tag, this tag was added just before FreeBSD 5 support was dropped from the ports tree in May 2008. These ports should works without problems on FreeBSD 5.

A much better long-term solution would be to upgrade FreeBSD to at least FreeBSD 7 (FreeBSD 6 is also EOL), not only is FreeBSD 5 old and unsupported, many agree it also wasn't exactly the best FreeBSD version to be released (Mostly for understandable reasons, and most issues were fixed in later releases).


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## Carpetsmoker (Oct 4, 2011)

Please open only one thread per question, you now opened two threads (here's the other with essentially the same question.

This doesn't exactly make it it easier to keep track of things 

@Admins: Can you merge these threads?


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## DutchDaemon (Oct 4, 2011)

[ merged ]


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## mzelensky (Oct 5, 2011)

Thank you, fellows!

Ok then, the disposition is clear.

Another question: what will be the safiest path to update FreeBSD 5.5 to the latest stable release? There is a dozen of sites running on the server and I would like to keep them running...

Thanks!


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## SirDice (Oct 5, 2011)

The best way to do it is to back up the sites and build a new machine from scratch. 

Depending on your current filesystem layout this may be the only option, the newer versions tend to need a lot more space on the root (/) filesystem. If I recall correctly 5.5 created one about half the size of the current version's installation.

If you do have some space it should be possible to source update directly to a recent version. But since that could be somewhat tricky I don't recommend it for less experienced FreeBSD users. Version 6.4 and above can use freebsd-update(8) to do a binary upgrade.


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