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FreeBSD 4.3 Released

Posted by michael on from the reduced-sentence-for-good-behavior dept.

jesseraf was one of the first to write, and now that the release is official we can post this. Release notes are available, or find the nearest mirror.

3 of 195 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Just One Little Problem - I Can't Find It by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4
    If you are new to bsd, there won't be an ISO for a few days and there sure as hell won't be any stinkin' graphical install utility. So here's a simple way to get 4.3 today in the privacy of your own userland.
    1. Download an iso for 4.2. Burn and install normally. Read the faq and handbook at www.freebsd.org for instructions.
    2. Now, upgrade that 4.2 using cvsup . If you installed supplemental documentation, you can do a one-liner. Just type in something like sed -e 's/CHANGE_THIS/cvsup4/g' /usr/share/examples/cvsup/stable-supfile > /tmp/stable-supfile && cvsup /tmp/stable-supfile . Substitute in cvsup[1-6] for that cvsup4 reference, since we all don't need to hit cvsup4. Or, read the darn file and learn what cvsup does, and then select an appropriate mirror. You get the idea. The cvsup mirrors are freebsd.org all have it.
    3. This will give you the incremental changes between 4.2 and 4.3. Now, build it with something like cd /usr/src/ && make world . Be sure to run mergemaster, etc. and rebuild any user profiles. Now sure what that means? If this is your first build world, Read the handbook on building your world.. It's actually easier than a linux kernel build.
    4. Stuck? Read the www.freebsdiary.org, which details one (once novice, now fairly proficient) bsd user's experience with install, use and fun over the years.

    The funny thing is, I was upgrading an old compute from 4.1.1 to what I thought would be 4.3-RC, but ended up getting the -RELEASE instead. They must've just switched it on the server!
    In any event, this is sufficiently hidden from the moderators that nobody will ever read this, so I don't know why I bothered to type all this. In fact, I think I'm going to stop typing right n....
  2. Re:Just One Little Problem - I Can't Find It by Metrol · · Score: 5

    Why anyone would need to read the manual for this is beyond me.

    Umm, because there's a bit more to it. More than likely you'll want to get your source tree all up to date, tweak in your kernel config, and get all your user land stuff in sync. A great site for a to the point summary on all this is the FreeBSD Cheat Sheets. This site also includes specific instructions on how to make world.

    Personally, my "make buildworld" is running now in the background as I type this. Just cvsup'd the latest source changes, and away she goes! Couldn't care less about getting an ISO for a CD burn. By keeping the tree up to date every week or so it only takes about 5 minutes per update across a dial-up connection. Every couple of months I run through the make world process and everything is up to date.

    Oh sure, this here build takes a while on this K6-450. It's running in the background, so it can take as long as it wants.

    --
    The line must be drawn here. This far. No further.
  3. Re:Progress has been made! by oingoboingo · · Score: 5
    I just have to say that I have been installing Slackware for the last six years

    whoa dude...you have to get a faster CD-ROM drive or something...6 years is a hell of a long time for a Slackware install. i have an old quad-speed lying around here somewhere...i'll send it to you if you want. even off floppies, Slackware shouldn't take more than an hour or two.