# Freebsd causes addiction



## bluetick (Mar 19, 2009)

Are you addicted to that bleeding edge burn?? Have you tried switching to Xorg 7.4 just to see if you can flip it in under 3 days of hard install and reinstall? Then your addicted to that dull throb in the back of your head that comes from searching update, man page and google search. Yes friend, Iâ€™m talking to YOU and me. Weâ€™re addicted and we need help.
Just repeat after me, 7.3 works fine, just walk away from the computer, just walk away from the computer, just walk away from the computer.


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## SirDice (Mar 19, 2009)

bluetick said:
			
		

> Have you tried switching to Xorg 7.4 just to see if you can flip it in under 3 days of hard install and reinstall?


Does building, installing and having it up and running in under 3 hours count?


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## Brandybuck (Mar 19, 2009)

I am addicted to FreeBSD, but the switch to X.org 7.4 was very smooth. I only had one problem, with the keyboard and mouse detection, but the fix was easy to find and apply.


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## graudeejs (Mar 19, 2009)

I already switched from ports to packages. Hopefully permanently


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## oliverh (Mar 19, 2009)

I'm using a window manager so I don't have much of the "time problems" of other users. Furthermore the magical ccache is of greate use to reduce compile time. So why should I degrade FreeBSD in it's quality while using packages? I do like the freedom to configure the ports according my gusto and I do like to help while filing PRs (better ports, better FreeBSD - the opensource way of doing things) etc.

If you want really scary problems try using packages or even mixing them with ports, but if you have trouble while using ports then read the handbook and learn the proper use. My advice would be to buy some additional books too: Absolute FreeBSD, BSD Hacks and The Best of FreeBSD Basics.


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## SirDice (Mar 19, 2009)

oliverh said:
			
		

> BSD Hacks


/me loves that one 

And yes, I am addicted.. 
I keep rebuilding everything from scratch just to see compiler output scroll by P


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## fonz (Mar 19, 2009)

oliverh said:
			
		

> If you want really scary problems try using packages or even mixing them with ports



I had been using packages and -RELEASEs for probably a decade or so, but recently switched to ports and -STABLE. Can't say I regret it.

Alphons


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## DutchDaemon (Mar 19, 2009)

After years of ports I decided to try going package-only on my new laptop. It worked for a few weeks, but outdated stuff kept piling up, waiting for dependencies-of-dependencies, so I installed the occasional port to speed things up. Then it got so boring I reinstalled 500 packages as ports, and never looked back. I love ports. I would only use packages now to get something new up and running _fast_. But once it's running, ports will replace packages a.s.a.p. As for the O.S.: I rebuild -STABLE at least once a  month. I like it.


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## fonz (Mar 20, 2009)

Thing is: packages _seem_ easier. No need to compile or configure or whatever. Just pkg_add() et voila you're done. It's only when something doesn't work (either not as expected or not at all) or you otherwise run into trouble that you start realizing that packages are not much more than snapshots of the ports, taken at the time of a -RELEASE (this may be simplifying things a bit, but it's the general idea that counts, right?).

When I first got started with UNIX-like systems in the mid 90s on SGI Indys there were no packages. You just had to compile everything from source (source code that was usually meant for Linux I might add, and believe me when I say that IRIX is so NOT Linux) and even regularly needed to tweak the code itself to get things working. Cumbersome as it may have been, it taught me a LOT - more than any programming course ever could. Using FreeBSD's ports collection is a pure picknick by comparison. Plus it saves you the trouble of having to deal with a binary package you installed that has been compiled with options you don't need and not compiled with options you do need.

To cut a long story short, it's ports for me alright.

Alphons


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## fronclynne (Mar 20, 2009)

I was without computers from March '08 to Feb '09, and I ended up just buying a new machine, so I kinda missed the whole 7.3->7.4 fiasco.  I built 7.4 from source and . . . it work[s|ed] (with one issue: the silly AllowEmptyInput, which took maybe 2 minutes to track down and fix, with www/links, on a 80x25 console).


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