# Which tag - basic question



## amygrant (Nov 24, 2010)

Ok, I feel very stupid for asking this question. I have read the forums and http://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/current-stable.html several times but for some reason I am simply not getting this. 

I am trying to figure out which tag gives me the most current stable version of FreeBSD. I thought it would be RELENG_8 but after rebuilding world I wind up with 


```
FreeBSD something.com 8.2-PRERELEASE FreeBSD 8.2-PRERELEASE #0: Wed Nov 24 12:37:10 PST 2010     admin@something.com:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC  i386
```

I would have thought that 8.2 would come if I use a tag of RELENG_8_2 but I have mine set to RELENG_8 so obviously I am not understanding something.


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## crsd (Nov 24, 2010)

Are you sure you want to run -STABLE. Stable here means "stable in terms of ABI stability", and doesn't describe how stable it actually is. You might want to run -RELEASE if that's what you are after.

re original question:
-STABLE (RELENG_8 in this case) is a moving target, from which releases are cut. Now it's in prerelease state; and the name will change to 8.2-STABLE once 8.2 is released, until we will be getting close to 8.3 (same 8.3-{PRERELEASE,BETA,RC}, etc, followed by 8.3-STABLE) and so on.


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## amygrant (Nov 24, 2010)

Sorry, I phrased my desire poor and the semantics of this is what confuses me. Basically, I am tyiing to figure out the tag which gives me the most current and stable release of FreeBSD which I thought was 8.1. Something that can go on a production server, nothing cutting edge or alpha.


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## crsd (Nov 24, 2010)

Then the answer is simple: use RELENG_8_1 (8.1-RELEASE + security patches).


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## phoenix (Nov 24, 2010)

*tag=RELENG_X_Y_Z_RELEASE*  gives you the same bits that are the CD/DVD for X.Y.Z-RELEASE.  This never changes.

*tag=RELENG_X_Y*  gives you the security branch for X.Y-RELEASE (this is the recommended branch).  This changes only for security fixes.

*tag=RELENG_X*  gives you X-STABLE development branch.  This changes on a daily basis, and is not guaranteed to work at any specific time (although the devs do an excellent job at keeping it usable).  You should only use this if you need a specific feature or drive that isn't avaiable in RELENG_X_Y.  Eventually, this will become the next release.

Thus, you want *tag=RELENG_8_1*


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## amygrant (Nov 24, 2010)

ok, thank you... i don't know what type of mental block i have where i was not getting this


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## DutchDaemon (Nov 25, 2010)

Beware of accidentally using *tag=.* 

This will give you a version that will burn your house down. The resulting ash heap will be stable, though.


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## Business_Woman (Nov 27, 2010)

DutchDaemon said:
			
		

> Beware of accidentally using *tag=.*
> 
> This will give you a version that will burn your house down. The resulting ash heap will be stable, though.



This is the equivalent of head?


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## DutchDaemon (Nov 27, 2010)

Yep, a.k.a. -CURRENT.


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