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FreeBSD v.4.6 (NOT) Released

A FreeBSD fan writes "FreeBSD 4.6 was just released. It's a relief to see it arrive after a myriad of delays and excuses caused it to be held back. As always, with every new version, FreeBSD becomes even faster and more secure than before. Please be sure to find a mirror here before downloading." Update: There's been an update to the story, please note that "something fishy is going on" Murray Stokely writes "We have gone over this for the past 2 releases now. I thought I had made it clear that you were not to publish information about FreeBSD being released until you saw a signed PGP message from one of the release engineers. Are you trying to help the spread of trojanned copies of FreeBSD? The release is not ready yet, and will not be until the front page of FreeBSD.org is updated and a PGP signed announcement message is posted to announce@FreeBSD.org." So I think we're all clear on how murray feels about this.

108 comments

  1. more secure is a silly statement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "As always, with every new version, PRODUCT becomes ... more secure than before"

    isn't that a silly statement? If PRODUCT were good in the first place it wouldn't need become more secure. If this always happens it implies many more defficiencies.

    1. Re:more secure is a silly statement by sethadam1 · · Score: 1

      In fairness, something can be secure at release and less secure as time elapses due to new attacks, new software, etc. In that sense, "more secure" doesn't imply "more security" as much as "secure by more current standards."

    2. Re:more secure is a silly statement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In fairness, something can be secure at release and less secure as time elapses due to new attacks, new software, etc. In that sense, "more secure" doesn't imply "more security" as much as "secure by more current standards."

      Exactly. I'm sure Linux 1.2 was considered "secure" at the time, but as holes are found, patches are added. Same with the BSD's.

      As has been noted many times before, security is a mindset, not and "install a secure OS and leave it" type of thing. I guarentee that FreeBSD 4.6 or 5.0, or NetBSD 1.5.3 or 1.6 will be released, and within 6 months a "new vulnerability" will be found *somewhere* that will need to be patched. Nothing replaces an aware sysadmin.

      On the flip side, none of the BSD's have, to my knowledge, had to *totally replace* the VM system on a "stable" release because it was so buggy it crashed all the time. This is the hazard of one person having the control of what changes get into the OS. "It works for me, on my test system, with a casual load... it must work for everyone. Commit it." doesn't work in the commercial world.

    3. Re:more secure is a silly statement by peterpi · · Score: 1

      I agree that it's silly. However; are you hinting that there is a computing product (or any technical product for that matter) for which this rule does not apply? I'd like to know what it is ;)

  2. No official announcement yet... by questionlp · · Score: 2, Interesting
    It looks like Slashdot jumped the gun a wee bit too early... the official announcement hasn't been made on their site yet even though the linked Release Notes and other files have been posted here.

    I guess it's a good thing about having a script that automatically updates the source tree and does the make world every other night :)

    1. Re:No official announcement yet... by genetik · · Score: 1

      perhaps if the editors would do some research before posting to make sure that the body of the post is in fact true at the time of posting we wouldn't unneeded slashdot effects running rampid.

      but eh, whatever. bsd users don't need a reminder from a linux-centric society that a new version is out. we're always cvsup'ing religiously anyways.

      good job, chrisd.

    2. Re:No official announcement yet... by genetik · · Score: 1

      ... wouldn't _have_ unneeded ...
      *sigh*

    3. Re:No official announcement yet... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh its been released. I find it a bit tad annoying that Murrary here has said that its "trojaned" going by the fact that they just havent updated the site. People have a right to know, its on ftp2, etc.

      Also i don't think slashdot has jumped the gun. It's not the only site that has the news up. I mean, we all enjoy *BSD that much, that we want to even have the release up before the freebsd webteam has it up, then so be it. It's not going to kill anyone.

      Anyways you can grab it on ftp2.freebsd.org, or numerous other "official" "non-trojanized" freebsd sites.

      Hah, seeing FreeBSD trojaned with an official .ISO would be funny.

  3. You trashed the primary mirror!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Oh wait, it's not out yet.

    Dumb fucks.

    I wonder if you can install Lunix: Penguin Job on BSD?

  4. Doesn't this deserve a place on the front page? by Starship+Trooper · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I think enough people use FreeBSD that it's of enough interest to warrant a front page article. All the other FreeBSD releases have been frontpage, I believe.

    (cvsupping to 4.6-RELEASE as we speak)

    --
    Loneliness is a power that we possess to give or take away forever
    1. Re:Doesn't this deserve a place on the front page? by essdodson · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That's it. I've lost complete faith in Slashdot as a news source. A major release of FreeBSD doesn't make it to the front page, yet a patch level to the development Linux kernel does? The only people interested in a patch to the development kernel are those who are actively following kernel development and this is hardly news to them.

      Its obvious that this entire site is driven by promoting Linux and downing all others. Submit an article concerning an opensource IRC client being back doored and you'll get rejected. Submit a post concerning a security hole in IIS which was patched 18 months prior and you'll be front page news.

      While I understand that Opensource is a driving factor behind this site, the title is still "Slashdot : News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters". I move to have this changed to "Slashdot: News for biased Linux nazis, stuff that doesn't matter".

      --
      scott
    2. Re:Doesn't this deserve a place on the front page? by essdodson · · Score: 1

      Not to mention the release hasn't been announced.

      --
      scott
    3. Re:Doesn't this deserve a place on the front page? by chrisd · · Score: 2, Informative
      Honestly, I wasn't sure if I was going to put it on the front page, I was even going to revisit the issue when I got murrays post. So it's all moot now.

      Chrisd

      --
      Co-Editor, Open Sources
      Open Source Program Manager, Google, Inc.
    4. Re:Doesn't this deserve a place on the front page? by quantum+bit · · Score: 1

      While I understand that Opensource is a driving factor behind this site, the title is still "Slashdot : News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters". I move to have this changed to "Slashdot: News for biased Linux nazis, stuff that doesn't matter".

      I think you want Apostrophecolon

    5. Re:Doesn't this deserve a place on the front page? by foobar104 · · Score: 2

      That's it. I've lost complete faith in Slashdot as a news source.

      I agree with you, and I empathize, but nevertheless my first reaction to reading this was a loud "BWAH-HA-HA-HA!"

      Slashdot! Heh! As a news source! Heh, heh. Oh, mercy.

    6. Re:Doesn't this deserve a place on the front page? by benedict · · Score: 1

      4.6 isn't a major release, it's a minor release. 5.0 would be
      a major release.

      --
      Ben "You have your mind on computers, it seems."
    7. Re:Doesn't this deserve a place on the front page? by essdodson · · Score: 1

      For an operating system that produces a release on average about every 6 months its a major release. I I know its not "major" as in version numbering, however its sure a bit more "major" than a lame Linux development kernel patch level.

      --
      scott
    8. Re:Doesn't this deserve a place on the front page? by benedict · · Score: 1

      It's not really worth arguing about, but "major"
      and "minor" are well-defined terms in the context
      of FreeBSD release engineering.

      --
      Ben "You have your mind on computers, it seems."
    9. Re:Doesn't this deserve a place on the front page? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure - just like the Linux kernel releases at 2.0, 2.2, and 2.4 are major releases and FreeBSD releases at 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, and eventually 5.0 are major releases.

      But Slashdot not only informs us of minor Linux kernel releases (i.e. 2.4.11, 2.4.12, 2.4.13, etc.) but also the development kernels that nobody but the developers should be running!

      So why is it that /. should only report X.0 releases of FBSD, but should report every Linux kernel release (including development kernels, pre-alphas, etc.)? In that case, major FreeBSD releases would only be reported every few YEARS or so...

      Slashdot is not an OSS site, it's a Linux-nazi site, pure and simple.

      Does anybody have a better tech-oriented news site than Slashdot? Kuro5hin isn't bad, but I'd like to see something like Slashdot, but with at least *rudimentary* journalistic standards and users that don't have to pledge allegiance to any one OS (especially not a Communist OS like Linux).

      Not everybody who posts as an AC is a troll! ;-)

    10. Re:Doesn't this deserve a place on the front page? by scottj · · Score: 2, Informative

      If you really want to know when a new release of FreeBSD is available, /. is just not the answer. Subscribe to the freebsd-announce list for some better coverage.

      --
      .-.--
  5. FreeBSD 4.6 by fdisk3hs · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Recent convert from Linux, Happy B-day FreeBSD.

    Now what should I grab, since I'm using 4.6rc1 :)

    1. Re:FreeBSD 4.6 by ealar+dlanvuli · · Score: 1

      just grab src-all ports-all and doc-all daily' it's easier that way

      --
      I live in a giant bucket.
    2. Re:FreeBSD 4.6 by fdisk3hs · · Score: 1

      Do you have stability problems staying on the 'bleeding edge' like that?

      LR

    3. Re:FreeBSD 4.6 by Geekboy(Wizard) · · Score: 2, Informative

      no, bleeding edge for freebsd is -current. (aka 5.0-current). -stable is, well, stable. None of this Linux "oh-we'll-just-totatly-change-the-virtual-memory- system-in-the-stable-tree" crap.

      -stable == STABLE

    4. Re:FreeBSD 4.6 by Fweeky · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not exactly. In-between a -RELEASE, the stable branch is not guaranteed to always be buildable or working.

      RELENG_4 is the STABLE development branch most people who track STABLE use; this is where prereleases arrive and things are merged from current (MFC); the biggest recent change was an MFC of the new ATA subsystem. New versions of sendmail and smallish changes to the rc system can happen here too.

      Although MFC'd stuff is only done so after a lot of testing, and commits to this branch are usually fine, it is still a development branch. Treating it somewhat like Debian /testing is probably a good idea.

      For a truely stable up to date system, you should track the RELENG_4_<release> branches, which are the security-update branches for individual releases. Track RELENG_4_6 for 4.6 and you know you won't need to worry too much about running mergemaster to keep /etc in sync, or parts of the base system changing under you in preperation for the next release.

      If you track RELENG_4, you should be prepared to at least watch stable@freebsd.org and keep an eye on /usr/src/UPDATING.

      And while we're on the subject, remember that cvsup is quite IO intensive; keep your cvsup's conservative. Once a day is usually a bit over the top, and just serves to increase the load on the servers. http://freshports.net/ and ports@freebsd.org are good resources to help decide when it's worth supping.

  6. Re:What we can learn from BSD by fdisk3hs · · Score: 1

    Dude, Whatever.

  7. wait for the mirrors before posting this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anybody who bothered to check the official release status would know that the release has not yet been made. In particular, note this:
    Announcement sent out after a majority of the mirrors have received the bits.

    Very few mirrors have got the full release yet, so the release has not yet occurred.

    To post this story early will only ensure that first-tier mirrors are overloaded.

  8. Excuses? by brad-x · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm a little surprised a poster would say the reasons behind the 4.6 release being late are excuses.

    EVERY RELEASE HAS DELAYS

    This is not a corporation. We do not keep a schedule. We release it when it's ready, slashdot be damned. Don't like it? Jump ship, goodbye, we don't need you on our team. You're not good enough mindshare to work on this project or take part in it.

    Congratulations to the core on another release of FreeBSD, keep 'em coming strong.

    --
    // -- http://www.BRAD-X.com/ -- //
    1. Re:Excuses? by fdisk3hs · · Score: 1

      Yeah, 4.5 just hit in Jan. or Feb, how long has it been since the newest Windows release hit?

    2. Re:Excuses? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...or even the last release of SLACKWARE GNU/Linux for that matter?!?!?!? Last year, you say? BWA HA HA HA HA!!!!

    3. Re:Excuses? by MerlynEmrys67 · · Score: 1

      Hell, even corporations get their releases delayed. How long did Apple sit on OS X before they decided it was ready... I thought I remember them talking about releasing it in the 93-94 time frame... When did it finally make it out... Damned it, I wish people would quit beating up groups for doing the right thing, releasing quality rather than early...

      --
      I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them
    4. Re:Excuses? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      Don't forget the Linux 2.4 release was over a year late -- and then it was still badly broken (see the infamous "kernel of pain" stories...)

  9. So I think we're all clear on how murray feels abo by ealar+dlanvuli · · Score: 3

    So I think we're all clear on how murray feels about this.

    damn't, is it that hard to say "oops sorry"

    --
    I live in a giant bucket.
  10. Re:So I think we're all clear on how murray feels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Damn straight. I wish I had mod points right now...

  11. Re:So I think we're all clear on how murray feels by chrisd · · Score: 0, Troll
    I honestly don't think it's that simple. Why are release notes up for it? Why did I get 10 submissions celebrating it's release? So, oops, sorry, really don't do it for me, no, not yet.

    Chris

    --
    Co-Editor, Open Sources
    Open Source Program Manager, Google, Inc.
  12. "Its" not "It's" dammit! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "it's" = it is
    "its" = belongs to it

    1. Re:"Its" not "It's" dammit! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      thank you grammar nazi!

      I'm serious!

  13. 10 submits is all it takes to get a story posted? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If I were to submit "U.S. Declares War on China" ten times from ten different IP addresses, would you post that too without so much as checking a more credible news source?

  14. Now remind me... by Zule_Boy · · Score: 1

    How is something not being released news? I dont recall ever seeing a "Linux kernel not being released yet" because we screwed up again story on Slashdot? What gives? Do you people CHECK the stories or just post?

    1. Re:Now remind me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think the lack of linux 2.4.19 after all this time is news, I'd like some goddamn answers. Plip doesn't work in 2.4.18, am I forced to go to 2.4.10 or something or 2.5.x ? Jesus. Oh well, at least I can figure out workarounds and avoid resorting BSD, thus popularizing code which will only be hijacked by MS.

  15. Re:What we can learn from BSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Loved the "coremail" link to Theo's site, CKW ! This link definitely needs to be more widely trolled. Keep it up !

  16. Re:So I think we're all clear on how murray feels by brad-x · · Score: 1

    You not thinking it's that simple doesn't jive with the fact that the release engineering team releases it, not you. Try to keep that in mind.

    --
    // -- http://www.BRAD-X.com/ -- //
  17. Re:So I think we're all clear on how murray feels by MavEtJu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I honestly don't think it's that simple. Why are release notes up for it?

    Interresting[sp?] point. Why were there so many magazines, websites, books about WindowsME (I think that's the one, I can't keep track of it anymore. I mean the successor of WindowsNT) before the product was on the shelves in the shops? Why are there all these technical documents / HOWTOs already available on the websites before the product is available? It's called preparations! Nobody was able to buy WindowsME before that day, but everybody had read about it and everybody had seen books about.

    Why did I get 10 submissions celebrating it's release?

    If you go to this url:
    http://www.freebsd.org/releases/ you will see a list of release-notes, erratas and announcements. Add some creative surfing to it et voila, there is your 4.6 announcement.

    I've tried to find it, but no, I couldn't find any direct links to the release notes. Only with creative surfing I could find it.

    So, oops, sorry, really don't do it for me, no, not yet.

    There is a damned good reason for it:

    Murray Stokely writes "We have gone over this for the past 2 releases now. I thought I had made it clear that you were not to publish information about FreeBSD being released until you saw a signed PGP message from one of the release engineers.

    Screwing it up once, "no problem just don't do it next time". Screwing it up twice, "I told you how this was going to be done, can you *PLEASE* do it right?". Screwing it up three times... Now that's a sign that there is something really wrong.

    --
    bash$ :(){ :|:&};:
  18. someone please mod this crap down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    it's eating up my screen size

  19. Re:So I think we're all clear on how murray feels by dannyboy_h · · Score: 1

    murray 2002/06/10 13:34:09 PDT

    Modified files:
    . avail
    Log:
    Lock src/ for 30-45 minutes while the RELENG_4_6_0_RELEASE tag is
    created.

    Revision Changes Path
    1.185 +1 -1 CVSROOT/avail

    That is why people submitted it. They read too much into the tagging of the release. As subsequent mail noted, the release is not yet out and tags may be slid. Release notes are not directly linked. Simple enough?

  20. Re:What we can learn from BSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Unfortunately, the MIT paper you speak of is completely out of date. Softupdates, dirpref, and plenty of other enhancements to FFS have been added since FreeBSD 2.0, a release which was old news when that website was last updated in June of 1999! The fact that a big cache in memory trumps numerous small writes to a disk hardly comes as a surprise to anyone (but you're SOL in the event of a sudden power failure). I'm really sorry that Linux bigots out there (most of them probably unable to compile hello_world.c) feel threatened by the continued success of BSD, but it's a free country. It's nice that projects like Gentoo have gotten a lot of their ideas from the BSD's instead of fostering a community of illiterate pukes who do little but spread FUD (much like their favorite enemy in the commercial software realm), but they appear to be the exception and not the rule.

  21. Biggest problem. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If posting FreeBSD is out, before it's actual
    release, that is small potatoes compared to other
    OS bulletins-virii,warnings,whitepaper,etc.

    These posts are funny--P2P funny.

    FreeBSD Lives! We don't die, we multiply.

  22. Re:So I think we're all clear on how murray feels by JabberWokky · · Score: 2, Flamebait
    Oh, gimmie a break - this is a tips and rumors site. His whole attitude of "Discussion of The Release is doubleplusungood and Shall Not be done until the Powers That Be bless such an activity" vaguely sickens me. Sure it's bad news reporting, and someone with the initials CD should be slapped with a wet noodle. But this site is made up of contributions. Since when have you ever seen a pile of volunteered contributions without a fishy or off one in the stack? Even over and over. Yeesh, you'd think people would know by know from the duplicate articles that the editors are a rather loose group.

    --
    Evan "standing next to his grain of salt, not to scale, whenever I read /."

    --
    "$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
  23. nice move by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    chris de-boned-it

  24. Re:So I think we're all clear on how murray feels by bmah · · Score: 5, Informative

    As the person who committed the 4.6 release documentation to the FreeBSD Web site, I can pretty authoritatively say why these files were there in advance of the release. The reason is so that when Murray (or whomever else) makes the release announcement, the pages pointed to by the release announcement are already on the main Web site. It basically makes it easier for users to find the information they need.

    But these pages had (have) no inbound links to them at all. The fact that some people had to do some "creative surfing" to actually find the release documentation should really have been a clue that the release wasn't ready yet. If we *had* released, wouldn't it be kind of silly to keep this information obscured?

    This wouldn't be such a big deal except we had a very similar situation in 4.5 with someone posting a bogus release announcement to Slashdot (and having it slip past the editors). I really hope there isn't a third time.

    Oh yes. I'm also the person who wrote the so-called "delays and excuses" message. I didn't see it as making excuses for anything. I wanted to give our users some explanation as to why things would be delayed.

    Peace,

    Bruce A. Mah
    (Member, FreeBSD Release Engineering Team)

  25. Whats the rush? by jdparker · · Score: 2, Insightful

    All the code is readily available on the cvsup servers? Whats the big deal about a release? I'd rather see 5.0-RELEASE wait another 6 months and get the finishing touches on SMPng and the sparc port, as well as all the other cool stuff I've surely missed. Good code takes time, and will come if it's not rushed.

  26. possible reason by step · · Score: 1
    very simple, actually. you need to populate the mirrors.
    yes, "creative surfing" may get you to the most recent release notes on some of the mirrors, and the release files might be there as well. but as long as there are sites that haven't been updated yet people will pound on the other mirrors even more.

    *cough*slashdot effect*cough*

    so, please give the freebsd folks a fair chance of populating all the mirrors. if you really can't wait for the hottest release, you have have been tracking -stable via cvsup anyway.

  27. Re:So I think we're all clear on how murray feels by Arandir · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Since when have you ever seen a pile of volunteered contributions without a fishy or off one in the stack? Even over and over.

    Slashdot may get a million submissions a day, but they only post about ten or twenty of them. That gives them plenty of time to actually check out the story.

    This is the third time this has happened with a FreeBSD release, and it's happened to Linux distro releases as well. Is Slashdot deliberately trying to destroy their credibility?

    --
    A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
  28. something fishy? by thanjee · · Score: 3, Funny

    "something fishy is going on"

    Something fishy you say? That would mean a penguin had something to do with it! Unless of course demons eat fish too :p

    Well now I just have to wait for FreeBSD.org to give the official word then adownloadin' I will go :)

    --
    Saying your OS is the best because more people use it is like saying MacDonalds make the best food
    1. Re:something fishy? by Arandir · · Score: 0, Troll

      Yup, something fishy. Chris got all these submissions saying that FreeBSD-4.6 had been released. They could not have all been wrong. Maybe one or two, but not all of them. I mean, at least one of them had to be right. Something's fishy over at FreeBSD. I think they're just trying to make Slashdork look bad.

      --
      A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
  29. Re:So I think we're all clear on how murray feels by DiSKiLLeR · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Why were there so many magazines, websites, books about WindowsME (I think that's the one, I can't keep track of it anymore. I mean the successor of WindowsNT) before the product was on the shelves in the shops?

    Um, the successor to Windows NT 4.0 was Windows NT 5.0, more commonly known as Windows 2000 when its name was renamed by the marketroids a few months before release.

    Windows ME? That was the end of the line(tm), for that pile of shit known as Windows 3.1/95/98/98SE.

    If your still slow, Win2000 (NT5.0) was followed by Windows XP (NT5.1), and Windows .NET (NT5.2). Windows .NET is the Server version of XP. When .NET comes out, people except a XP Second Edition with the same build number of .NET. (it'll be NT5.2 too)

    Yes, all the different names, and now mismatched release of Server and Workstaton/Professional versions is very confusing. If MS has any consistency, it's its consistency in being inconsistent!

    D.

    --
    You can tell how powerful someone is by the magnitude of the crime they can commit and be able to get away with.
  30. Re:So I think we're all clear on how murray feels by biglig2 · · Score: 2

    Well, then post "I hear rumurs that FreeBSD 4.6 is released, although if you look at their official site, it isn't". No-one would object to that, other than that it's a stupid thing to post.

    It's not like people expect detailed fact checking on /. but for something you can check with a visit to one web site, that you've been asked not to report prematurely twice in the past....

    --
    ~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
  31. Fish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    To: chrisd and the rest of the /. crew.
    Subject: Fish

    There is nothing fishy going on, you are just fucking morons who can't do like you've been asked.

    Thanks

  32. Spreading trojanned copies of FreeBSD? by palfreman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I was interested to se that Murray Stokely asked if the poster of the story was "trying to help the spread of trojanned copies of FreeBSD" Why would he think that? It is a serious thing to alledge. Is it likely that someone was trying to?

  33. Re:So I think we're all clear on how murray feels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The problem I have is a /.'ing could break the pre-release distribution system with every one hitting on the same mirror, that is supposed to be feeding other mirrors.

  34. Re:So I think we're all clear on how murray feels by JabberWokky · · Score: 2
    Is Slashdot deliberately trying to destroy their credibility?

    What credibility? This is a forum for a bunch of like minded people to gather on the net. Just like everything else, consider the source. /. is dead on about some things, and horribly off about others, just like a bunch of techies in the break room waiting for coffee to brew.

    Of course, so is the "credible media", which consistantly refered to the nonexistant "anthrax virus" for a few months. It's high school level science to know the difference between a virus and bacterium, and every major news outlet has a high paid science editor, plus several consultants. And yet the media got it wrong over and over again.

    Me? I take stuff on Slashdot as someone calling a neat "fact" over a cube wall - you check it out yourself.

    --
    Evan

    --
    "$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
  35. Want 4.6-REL? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just cvsup to the RELENG_4_6 branch (open for almost a week now) et voila...

    FreeBSD 4.6-RELEASE #0

    It's probably just the finishing touch to packages, ISO's and the like, not to mention giving them a chance to get the data on the FTP mirrors that takes a while still.

    Anyone who keeps track of RELENG_4 (or _4_6) can already have it. Suckers who perform a reinstall from CD at every release will just have to wait some more :)

  36. Feelings. by saintlupus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So I think we're all clear on how murray feels about this.

    Yeah, he feels that the editorial staff are a pack of unprofessional assclowns who can't be bothered to perform the sort of rudimentary fact-checking demanded of the average high school newspaper.

    And hey presto, he's right.

    --saint

    1. Re:Feelings. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I agree. The Slashdot crew are a bunch of wanky twats.

    2. Re:Feelings. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ditto.

    3. Re:Feelings. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      me too

  37. Re:So I think we're all clear on how murray feels by dohcvtec · · Score: 1

    ALL of the release stages are detailed on this page. And actually, the simplest way to verify whether or not 4.6 is really released is to take a look at the FreeBSD FTP site. After the 4.6-RELEASE directory and the ISO directory is populated on the main server, the mirrors will be updated and the hammering can begin. I could be wrong, but for the time that I've been running FreeBSD, the binaries are usually available before the actual announcement, so if the binaries aren't there, there is no release.

    --
    -- Never hit a man with glasses. Hit him with a baseball bat.
  38. Oh dear by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Hehe, Slashdot really is a load of shit sometimes. The editors clearly can't learn from pervious mistakes, and would never keep a job going in real-life professional journalism.

  39. Re:So I think we're all clear on how murray feels by brass1 · · Score: 1
    I honestly don't think it's that simple. Why are release notes up for it? Why did I get 10 submissions celebrating it's release? So, oops, sorry, really don't do it for me, no, not yet.


    Actually, it is just that simple. There is an explanation for all of this.


    Why did you get 10 submissions that the release was out? Because the release has been tagged in the cvs tree, that's why. This doesn't mean that it's been released, just that we know what versions of what files (may) make up the release. It may only take an hour of so to build the release itself, but it takes a lot longer to build all the packages, get the stuff shipped to the mirrors and all the other things the RE people have to do before they can announce the release.


    Why are the release notes on the website? Easy, the website is part of the cvs tree. The website build system has been building the release notes for 4.6-RELEASE for weeks (if not months). With that said, I note that the 4.6 release notes are NOT linked anywhere, but it does provide access to the handy release schedule.


    Part if the issue here, IMO, is the transparency of the Project itself (this is a good thing). People can see the release happening in real time as each part is completed, so I can see how some people would jump the gun a bit and start submitting stuff to /. before the RE process has completed.


    As for Murray? Well, I understand his feelings, but I may have taken a different path to the same result...

  40. Re:So I think we're all clear on how murray feels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Someone with the initials CD should be slapped with a wet noodle.

    Sheesh... this isnt Celine Dion's fault, give the ol' girl a break, will ya?
  41. Re:What we can learn from BSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Amen to that, brother. Take a trip over to comp.os.linux.advocacy for a taste of the dark side. It's a chilling ride indeed. If that's the future of Linux, God help 'em. Now, when's 4.6 available again?

  42. Re:So I think we're all clear on how murray feels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


    Bite me.

  43. Re:What we can learn from BSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This sounds like the ranting of a bitter and twisted penguin.

  44. Sure it may not be released but ... by msergeant · · Score: 1

    I have the 4.6-mini iso, the binaries are out and full iso's will be available soon, so in other words they're doing the smart thing and saying that we'll say its released when all the mirrors have the files needed, rather than say its released and not have it available for a couple of days.

    --
    -mutter- something something something...
  45. The international city of BSD seems to be doing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    just fine.

    http://www.bsdcity.com

    They even have a security policy

    http://www.bsdcity.com/faq.php3?mode=faq1#Anwser 19

    And they think 600,000 people is 'just right'

    http://www.bsdcity.com/faq.php3?mode=faq1#Anwser 16

    And, for the BSD is dying crowd

    http://www.bsdcity.com/faq.php3?mode=faq2#Anwser 11

  46. Re:What we can learn from BSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you gotta have it right this minute, make cvsup, get the STABLE supfile, sync up with the latest STABLE source tree, and build world. Done. I'm running STABLE right now, and it runs great.

  47. Re:*BSD is dying by Higher+Authority · · Score: 0

    This should be fun to tear apart. First, for the record: fact - you are stupid. Now I'll prove it.

    less than a fraction of 1 percent of all servers - virtually impossible to prove. Perhaps 1% of the market is /buying/ *BSD, but I *seriously* doubt even that figure; and the majority of *BSD systems are free for download, mind you. There goes most of the first paragraph, if not all.

    The second paragraph is pure speculative opinion, and bullshitted at that. Two down.

    Next up. having lost 93% of its core developers -- since when? I've seen 2 resignations during my years as a FreeBSD user. The core developer team is *not* made up of 2.15 developers. Perhaps 7% of the core development team was lost (assuming ~28 members; I don't know the figure exactly). Down goes another paragraph.

    And another: Let's keep to the facts -- too late, my friend.

    ratio of 5 to 1. Therefore there are about 7000/5 = 1400 NetBSD users. That took a lot of thinking, mang. Are you that dense? That would assume an amount proportionate to OpenBSD's user base of NetBSD users that post to usenet. One can hardly assume that. My, you're falling flat on your ass, aren't you?

    FreeBSD went out of business -- I'm sorry, I wasn't aware FreeBSD was a business. Perhaps you can point me to their URL? FreeBSD was never owned by anyone but the community itself, with perhaps a vague exception of the Regents and their contributors. Walnut Creek CDROM was a business; BSDI bought it. BSDI still is a business. Well, the mass is increasing, but the volume is staying the same. You're getting denser by the paragraph.

    *BSD has steadily declined in market share? Fancy that. I haven't noticed that at all. If anything, I've noticed *more* news about *BSD, not less. More enthuasm, not less. Pay attention, eh?

    Well, anonymous, you're post was 0% factual, 100% flame. Then again, we all knew that. Consider this post my talking directly to *you*, and only *you*, because you are the only one here who needs to hear it. I just wonder what you'll say next...

  48. Re:*BSD is dying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This same unpleasant little tirade has been around a long time now. I've seen it posted to this forum and others several times, with just a few minor changes to keep it vaguely topical. No matter how effectively dismissed, this nasty little troll will continue to post his drivel whenever the subject of bsd appears on a news site

  49. Re:Insider's scoop: Why FreeBSD is dying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    [ed. note: in the following text, former FreeBSD developer Mike Smith gives his reasons for abandoning FreeBSD]

    Mike Smith didn't "abandon" FreeBSD, he simply resigned from -CORE.

    He's still using FreeBSD.

  50. Re:*BSD is dying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Don't feed the trolls!

  51. HAHAHAHAHA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    yhbt, since it's NOT RELEASED YET. hahaha.

  52. Holy fucking biter, Batman! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Surely with a sub 250000 uid you have seen the *BSD is dying crapflood on EVERY BSD ARTICLE since before you joined?? Why respond in detail now, today, to this particular crapflood? Was there something particularly special about it, or were you just particularly oblivious?

  53. Re:*BSD is dying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    BSDI still is a business.

    Actually, BSDi was assimilated into Windriver (AKA Win Driver) last year.

  54. Re:Spreading trojanned copies of FreeBSD? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Unfortunately, penguin slaves who engineer Linux distros and the cvsup-challenged dorks who gotta have the latest-greatest-coolest don't understand the concept of being thorough.

  55. Re:So I think we're all clear on how murray feels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You are an idiot, the people that read/post/contribute to your "weblog" are idiots.

    You and your readers could not pool enough IQ points to pull that off.

    FOAD, you sophomoric little fag.

    -chrisd

    -chrisd

  56. Re:What we can learn from BSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > I'm really sorry that Linux bigots out there
    > (most of them probably unable to compile
    > hello_world.c) feel threatened by the continued
    > success of BSD, but it's a free country.

    Consider this: 99% of the computing world out there can't compile hello_world.c. Now, unless someone steps up to the plate and offers a solid OS that less savvy users can easily make use of, Microsoft will keep their stranglehold on the computing public. Let me repeat that, because its vaguely important: Microsoft will keep their stranglehold on the computing public.

    I think everyone here would love to see Microsoft lose their tight grip, but in order to break the cycle, SOMETHING has to replace it. The Linux community figured that out. Apple ultimately figured that out too. This is the exact kind of short sighted view that has held the *BSD projects back; so long as its followers take the Nick Burns superior attitude (MOVE!) the prospective people who would look at BSD as a viable alternative can and will turn to other operating systems, or worse, stay with Microsoft.

  57. Re:So I think we're all clear on how murray feels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    actually BankOfAmerica_ATM (or whatever his name is) is a brilliant troll. The others are idoits.

  58. FreeBSD 4.6 Released by cperciva · · Score: 2

    The (real) announcement came out a couple hours ago; presumably it will appear on the freebsd.org website at 0800 UTC when the site is rebuilt.

  59. The announcement... by cperciva · · Score: 2


    Delivered-To: freebsd-announce@freebsd.org
    To: freebsd-announce@FreeBSD.ORG
    Cc: bmah@FreeBSD.ORG
    Subject: FreeBSD 4.6-RELEASE is now available
    From: bmah@FreeBSD.ORG (Bruce A. Mah)
    Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 16:34:26 -0700
    Sender: owner-freebsd-announce@FreeBSD.ORG

    I am happy to announce the availability of FreeBSD 4.6-RELEASE, the very latest release on the FreeBSD -STABLE development branch. Since FreeBSD 4.5-RELEASE in January 2002, we have made hundreds of fixes, updated many system components, and addressed a wide variety of security issues.

    One of the most significant changes in FreeBSD 4.6 is the adoption of XFree86 4.2.0 as the default version of the X Windows System. We encourage users (particularly those upgrading from older installations of XFree86) to consult the relevant section of the FreeBSD Handbook for information on installing and configuring XFree86 4.2.0. This information can be found on-line at:

    http://www.FreeBSD.org/handbook/x11.html

    On systems with the doc distribution installed, it can also be found at:

    /usr/share/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handb ook/x11.html

    A number of enhancements to network device drivers have been made, as well as updates to the ATA storage subsystem.

    Some contributed programs have been updated, such as sendmail (updated to 8.12.3) and the ISC DHCP client (updated to 3.0.1RC8).

    For more information about the most significant changes with this release of FreeBSD, please see the release notes:

    http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/4.6R/relnotes.html

    It is also useful to peruse the errata file, as it contains late-breaking news about the release:

    http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/4.6R/errata.html

    For more information about FreeBSD release engineering activities (including a schedule of upcoming releases), please see:

    http://www.FreeBSD.org/releng/

    Availability
    ------------

    FreeBSD 4.6-RELEASE supports the i386 and alpha architectures and can be installed directly over the net using the boot floppies or copied to a local NFS/FTP server. Distributions for the i386 are available now. Final builds for the alpha architecture are in progress and will be made available shortly.

    We can't promise that all the mirror sites will carry the larger ISO images, but they will at least be available from:

    ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/
    ftp://ftp2.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/
    ftp://ftp.au.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/
    ftp://ftp.cz.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/
    ftp://ftp.lt.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/
    ftp://ftp.nctu.edu.tw/FreeBSD/

    If you can't afford FreeBSD on media, are impatient, or just want to use it for evangelism purposes, then by all means download the ISO images, otherwise please continue to support the FreeBSD Project by purchasing media from one of our supporting vendors. The following companies have contributed substantially to the development of FreeBSD:

    FreeBSD Mall, Inc. http://www.freebsdmall.com/
    FreeBSD Services Ltd. http://www.freebsd-services.com/
    Daemon News http://www.bsdmall.com/freebsd1.html

    Each CD or DVD set contains the FreeBSD installation and application package bits for the i386 ("PC") architecture. For a set of distfiles used to build ports in the ports collection, please see the FreeBSD Toolkit, a 6 CD set containing extra bits which no longer fit on the 4 CD set, or the DVD distribution from FreeBSD Services Ltd.

    FreeBSD is also available via anonymous FTP from mirror sites in the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Korea, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Trantor, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.

    Before trying the central FTP site, please check your regional mirror(s) first by going to:

    ftp://ftp..FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD

    Any additional mirror sites will be labeled ftp2, ftp3 and so on.

    More information about FreeBSD mirror sites can be found at:

    http://www.FreeBSD.org/handbook/mirrors-ftp.html

    For instructions on installing FreeBSD, please see Chapter 2 of The FreeBSD Handbook. It provides a complete installation walk-through for users new to FreeBSD, and can be found online at:

    http://www.FreeBSD.org/handbook/install.html

    Acknowledgments
    ---------------

    Many companies donated equipment, network access, or man-hours to finance the release engineering activities for FreeBSD 4.6, including Compaq, Yahoo!, and The FreeBSD Mall.

    In addition to myself, the release engineering team for 4.6-RELEASE includes:

    Murray Stokely : Release Engineering Lead, i386 Builds
    Robert Watson : Release Engineering
    John Baldwin : Release Engineering, alpha Builds
    Brian Somers : Release Engineering
    Steve Price : Package Splits
    Will Andrews : Package Splits
    Kris Kennaway : Package Building
    David O'Brien : XFree86 Integration

    Please join me in thanking them for all the hard work which went into making this release. Many thanks are also due to the FreeBSD committers , without whom there would be nothing to release, and thousands of FreeBSD users world-wide who have contributed bug fixes, features, and suggestions.

    Enjoy!

    Bruce A. Mah
    (For the FreeBSD Release Engineering Team)

  60. It's OFFICIALLY out now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://docs.freebsd.org/cgi/getmsg.cgi?fetch=2600+ 0+current/freebsd-announce

    Go for it!

  61. geesh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "We have gone over this for the past 2 releases now. I thought I had made it clear that you were not to publish information about FreeBSD being released until you saw a signed PGP message from one of the release engineers. Are you trying to help the spread of trojanned copies of FreeBSD? The release is not ready yet, and will not be until the front page of FreeBSD.org is updated and a PGP signed announcement message is posted to announce@FreeBSD.org."

    I do not believe that kind of demeanour is going to attract new people to FreeBSD.
    You may call me a troll for saying this, but you know I'm right.