# Upgrading FreeBSD



## Moutombi (Aug 4, 2013)

What will happen if I ever did not do the update of FreeBSD? Will the system die? Will the system stop?


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## cpm@ (Aug 5, 2013)

FYI, read the Topics about unsupported FreeBSD versions.

At this point, support for running software from the ports tree on unsupported FreeBSD releases is ceasing:  Packages for binary installations will no longer be built, building ports from source will no longer be supported, and the ports INDEX will no longer be built and made available via portsnap(8)() or the `make fetchindex` target. In short, everything will fail.


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## throAU (Aug 5, 2013)

Moutombi said:
			
		

> What will happen if I ever did not do the update of FreeBSD? Will the system die? Will the system stop?



The system will work in the same manner as it did when it was released.  Software doesn't just suddenly break.

However, as problems are discovered, hackers write exploits for them.  If you have the machine exposed to the internet and do not patch it, it will be vulnerable to new exploits as they are created for vulnerabilities that are discovered in the system after release.

Support also does expire eventually so things like the ports system will stop working for you, but if you're never updating it you wouldn't be using ports, so...

If you are planning to run an embedded system, that is not exposed to the internet and does not have to withstand attack by malicious users, it should be relatively safe to run without updates, barring any showstopper bugs.

Just be aware that if you do run into a problem and you are running an old no-longer-supported release, you pretty much will not get any support other than "upgrade to a supported release".


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## kpa (Aug 5, 2013)

The biggest problem you're likely to run into sooner or later is that the ports(7) infrastructure stops working suddenly and there's no support or easy fixes to get it working again. This has already happened with FreeBSD 6 at least, maybe 7 already.


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## alware (Aug 6, 2013)

I have three heavily loaded www and mail servers running under 8.1-RC. The system was installed and remained untouched until now. All have an uptime of about three years. They never reminded me about themselves


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## throAU (Aug 7, 2013)

alware said:
			
		

> I have three heavily loaded www and mail servers running under 8.1-RC. The system was installed and remained untouched until now. All have an uptime of about three years. They never reminded me about themselves



Probably not ideal as there have been multiple security vulnerabilities since 8.1.


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