Re: FreeBSD: diff between RELEASE and STABLE

From: Kevin D. Kinsey, DaleCo, S.P. (kdk_at_daleco.biz)
Date: 11/13/03

  • Next message: clayton rollins: "Re: Trouble compiling XFree86 under 4.9R" 
    Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2003 11:29:53 -0600
To: stormjumper <stormjumper@myrealbox.com>

    stormjumper wrote:

    >hmm,
    >
    >thanks Johan
    >
    >somebody, anybody, correct me if i'm wrong pls.
    >
    >does this imply that RELEASE is more stable than STABLE?
    >
    >thanks
    >
    >

    More or less, yes.

    -STABLE is stable, but changes to the code
    are put in from time to time to make progress
    toward the *next* RELEASE. In the event someone
    manages to accidentally mangle a line of code,
    it might not get noticed until you sync your source
    and buildworld, etc.

    Then you get some message "syntax error in foofile
    on line xxx" and 'stop in /usr/src' ... not too much fun.
    Even worse, it might build but not run correctly.

    FWIW, this has never happened to me, and I've
    been using -STABLE on production servers for
    over a year.

    -RELEASE code is -STABLE that is frozen, double
    and triple checked and allowed to 'simmer' for a
    few weeks to see if any such problems appear,
    basically. The guys work pretty hard to make sure
    that it's gonna be acceptable to stamp "RELEASE"
    on it and not ruin the OS's image as a strong,
    stable, modern and powerful OS.

    HTH,

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  • Next message: clayton rollins: "Re: Trouble compiling XFree86 under 4.9R"