Re: Packages available for different FreeBSD versions

On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 02:22:32PM -0700, Chris Stankevitz wrote:

Andrew Gould wrote:
Once you're installed a RELEASE, you can update it to STABLE by

Andrew,

Thank you for your helpful reply. Please tell me if you think I have
the correct understanding:

When I install FreeBSD, I am installing a "core operating system version
number" (your term). Then I may choose to install the "ports" as either
"STABLE" or "CURRENT" neither of which is associated with any "core
operating system version number". From this point on, all application
updates will arrive via "ports" .

You don't have this quite right.

The only thing that is versioned and called RELEASE, STABLE or CURRENT
with Installation ISO-s for installation is the base OS.

You can choose to install any version of the OS that you can get
the files for - preferably in an ISO. But, you really want to
install the latest RELEASE.

The ports are applications. A bunch of them are thrown in with
the ISOs because they are so commonly used. But, they are separate
from the base OS. Generally a port consists of the source code
and a set of procedures for building (configuring, compiling, linking,
installing and runtime configuring) the source code in to a running
application.

The ports are not tied directly to an OS version, Each port is
developed 'independantly' from the OS and has its own version
designation. But often there are things that they depend on in
the OS that may change over different versions. So a given version
of a port may only be buildable for a certain range of OS versions - or,
more often, the libraries that are part of the OS.

Many ports are utilities that run under several different operating systems.
The developers(maintainers) have just created the small variations
in code and build procedures to make it run on each OS and each OS version.

Some maintainers or other developers take a port and build it on and
for a specific version of the OS (a RELEASE of the OS). They bundle
it into a nice file or set of files that can be copied to your system
and applied with little extra work. The compiling, linking and
even some of the configuring are all done for you - generally presuming
the most commonly used settings. These are called packages and
these generally are good for only one version of one OS each. There
may be a number of packages available for a port built for different
versions of the OS. OpenOffice is a good example. It can be
installed from a port - completely built from the source and makefiles.
I have done it successfully several times. But it is a very big
port and very cumbersom and time consuming to build that way. So
probably most people just get the prebuilt package and install that.


A question:

Imaging one person installs FreeBSD-6.4 RELEASE and updates to STABLE
ports. Another installs FreeBSD-7.2 RELEASE and also updates to STABLE
ports. Are there any applications that the FreeBSD-6.4 person cannot
install (e.g. the latest apache or VirtualBox)? If so, by what
mechanism is he prevented? What are the repercussions of never updating
the "core operating system version number"?

Your first sentence here already is off track. You would not
update to STABLE ports. Ports are what they are. You might
update the base OS to STABLE.

There may (and probably are) some ports that run on 7.2 RELEASE that
will not run on an earlier (6.4 version of the OS. That is because
the libraries will have been modified and the ports are always
built for the latest OS version.

The exception is if you download the ISO set for a particular OS
version, burn them on CDs and install the port from the CDs.
Of course, these CDs will not change. But the next set of ISOs
you download for a later OS version will be upgraded to go with
that OS version.


FYI my experience is with Gentoo which as no "core operating system
version number". All system updates come from "portage" (like your ports).

Yup. Different concept. Lately I am having to muck with some
Linux stuff and after dealing with FreeBSD for 11 years or so, find
the Lunix to be very clunky.


ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/

They are arranged by computer architecture and release number. There
are also stable directories for certain releases.

Pretty much any computer architecture that FreeBSD supports will have
the same OS version available. You do have to distinguish between
Intel/AMD 32 and 64 bit and Sparc and DEC and some of those. But
once you get the right ISO, the rest falls in place.


Thank you for providing this. It raises two questions:

1. If the STABLE ports tree is not associated with a "core operating
system version number", why are there two directories for STABLE packages:

ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-6-stable/
ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-7-stable/

2. What is the difference between these two?
ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-7.2-release/
ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-7-stable/

Note that these are packages, instead of ports.
See discussion above.

////jerry



My guess:
The first is the packages that were made available in the 7.2 RELEASE CDs.

The second is a directory that is re-created every 5 minutes by updating
the ports collection and compiling all the applications in it.

Thank you for your help!

Chris
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