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Xref: sserve comp.os.386bsd.bugs:2694 comp.os.386bsd.questions:14914 Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!yarrina.connect.com.au!werple.apana.org.au!otis.apana.org.au!serval.net.wsu.edu!netnews.nwnet.net!oracle.pnl.gov!osi-east2.es.net!cronkite.nersc.gov!dancer.ca.sandia.gov!overload.lbl.gov!lll-winken.llnl.gov!uwm.edu!news.alpha.net!news.mathworks.com!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!usenet.cis.ufl.edu!caen!usenet.coe.montana.edu!bsd.coe.montana.edu!nate From: nate@bsd.coe.montana.edu (Nate Williams) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.bugs,comp.os.386bsd.questions Subject: Re: FreeBSD2.0R install glitches -- patched floppies coming shortly!! Date: 1 Dec 1994 19:53:51 GMT Organization: Montana State University, Bozeman Montana Lines: 47 Message-ID: <3bl9kf$scs@pdq.coe.montana.edu> References: <3bea13$881@shore.shore.net> <JKH.94Nov29145300@whisker.hubbard.ie> <AVRAAD.94Dec1085521@qssw04.qsss08.gs.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: bsd.coe.montana.edu In article <AVRAAD.94Dec1085521@qssw04.qsss08.gs.com>, David Avraamides <avraad@qssw04.qsss08.gs.com> wrote: [ Note, I no longer speak for the FreeBSD core team. Other priorities in life were such that I was unable to contribute significantly to 2.0. Maybe when things get less complicated I can return. ] >I was just curious - is the FreeBSD development team planning on releasing >fixes as patches or as completely new releases? I'm new to FreeBSD so I >don't know what you've done in the past, but if its at all feasible, it >would be nice to just apply patches periodically, instead of completely >installing a new version. As one of the original 'patchkit' folks (some will remember) BSD development once took the 'patch of the week' mentality. As one of the founders of FreeBSD, this will probably never happen again. The amount of work required to do this is phenomenal. I won't go into details, but suffice it to say that the maintanence nightmare of such an undertaking is more work than actually producing the fixes once you reach a certain point. Since FreeBSD is released on a fairly regular basis (approx. every 3 months) my advice to you is to send any local fixes back to the FreeBSD team for inclusion in the next release. If any *critical* fixes need to be applied, we will let you know about them but as a general rule patches will be applied in the next release, and a mechanism to get from one release to the other will be provided. You shouldn't have to re-install unless something *wonderful* happens which would cause the entire system to be completely different. (A new virtual operating system which does everything for you, a new virtual filesystem which anticipates every move you're going to make, and requires completely re-installing, etc...) Your local hacks and such should be able to stay in place, and if you're really worried about them just make sure you save them away some place for when the next release comes along. Nate -- nate@bsd.coe.montana.edu | FreeBSD dude and all around tech. nate@cs.montana.edu | weenie. work #: (406) 994-4836 | Unemployed, looking for permanant work in home #: (406) 586-0579 | CS/EE field.