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FreeBSD 5.0 RC2 Almost Ready

essdodson writes "Scott Long of the FreeBSD release engineering team has posted that FreeBSD 5.0 RC2 has been compiled and should be available shortly. Check it out and help make this the best FreeBSD release so far. The updated release schedule lists Jan 17, 2003 as the anticipated release date."

175 comments

  1. Jan 17 is the anticipated release date of 5.0 by atrus · · Score: 4, Informative

    The story body isn't worded very clearly... Jan 17th is the anticipated release date of 5.0, not 5.0RC2

  2. just a troll by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    don't report it till it is done please.

    1. Re:just a troll by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      my wife does the same thing.

      "i'm almost there... oh yeah, keep going!"

    2. Re:just a troll by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your wife publically announces orgasm release candidates on geek news sites? That's really, really sad. :).

  3. Just in time for Christmas!! by SuperDuG · · Score: 2, Informative
    Wait a minute, isn't FreeBSD some satan worshiping distro??

    But in all seriousness I'm going to say it again and again, if you get a chance to check it out, installing FreeBSD is definantelly worth a try. It's enough like linux where the linux user can feel comfortable, but different in many ways (try it out, you'll figure out what the differences are).

    I would be the happiest man alive if debian would use the FreeBSD kernel.

    --
    Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
    1. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by the_2nd_coming · · Score: 1

      why don't you ask them?

      --



      I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
    2. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You mean, Linux is enough like BSD, that FreeBSD is still usable for the average Linux user.

      Personally, I think everyone would have been a lot better off if FreeBSD had been adopted as the 'standard' 'unix' rather than linux.

      ah well..

    3. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by jon787 · · Score: 4, Informative

      I would be the happiest man alive if debian would use the FreeBSD kernel.

      They're working on it

      --
      X(7): A program for managing terminal windows. See also screen(1).
    4. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting
      From http://www.debian.org/ports/freebsd:

      Debian GNU/FreeBSD is a port that consists of a FreeBSD kernel, kernel-related utilities, C Library and a few specific utilities, coupled with the "regular" Debian (GNU) userland.

      It's not the stable, well-tested FreeBSD we know and love, but if that's what you want, it's there for you to use and improve.

    5. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by SuperDuG · · Score: 2
      This is absolutely PERFECT!

      Debian is absolutely identical to freebsd in the install (at least the net install version) where they install the most minimalistic system that you then have to expand upon. The worst part about Debian Linux is that it uses Linux. FreeBSD is just more stable, it's obvious to anyone who runs them side by side.

      And congrats, I am now the happiest man alive!

      --
      Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
    6. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by cymen · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I would be the happiest man alive if debian would use the FreeBSD kernel.

      I'd be the happiest man if a decent distribution was put together with the FreeBSD world and the linux kernel. Why would you want the opposite? I guess I can see it, but not really. make world + linux kernel == wahooO!

    7. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by LinuxInDallas · · Score: 2

      For those who don't remember this funny post, I believe the parent was referring to: http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/04/22/ 1457225&mode=thread&tid=133

    8. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by MobyTurbo · · Score: 3, Interesting
      I would be the happiest man alive if debian would use the FreeBSD kernel.
      Well, as has been pointed out, a very non-release-quality version of Debian has been made for FreeBSD. A somewhat more mature Debian is available for NetBSD. (My guess for their motivation for porting Debian to NetBSD first is that part of their philosophy is to be available on a lot of architectures, like NetBSD.)

      Personally I prefer to run *BSD without debianising it, pkgsrc/ports rock, and I consider the NetBSD and FreeBSD package and source tree upgrade utilities slightly superior to apt-get and friends. To each his own I guess. :-)

    9. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      make world == apt-get update; apt-get distupgrade

      fyi from somebody who likes debian and freebsd. (well, not exactly == but they're pretty close)

    10. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sounds like you want gentoo.

    11. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by jon787 · · Score: 2

      Well apt is largely based on ports anyway. The source packages are basically identical. The big thing is that apt provides binary packages (and handles dependencies great)

      --
      X(7): A program for managing terminal windows. See also screen(1).
    12. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by Weedhopper · · Score: 3, Insightful
      I'd be the happiest man if a decent distribution was put together with the FreeBSD world and the linux kernel. Why would you want the opposite? I guess I can see it, but not really. make world + linux kernel == wahooO!


      Its called gentoo linux.
    13. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      pkg_add -vr == apt-get install

      So I still dont get why? You've got what you want no?

    14. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by jon787 · · Score: 1

      I'll check that out next time I boot over to freebsd. Good thing I haven't removed it to try out gentoo.

      --
      X(7): A program for managing terminal windows. See also screen(1).
    15. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And why's that?

    16. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by Groganz · · Score: 1

      It's a strange thing. I think part of their philosophy is to colonize other OSen with the GPL.

      Look at the strange GNU/Darwin project that has just taken a sharp right turn towards abject failure.

      I can't think of any other reason to replace a perfectly good userland with an almost identical, in function, userland.

    17. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by sheriff_p · · Score: 2

      No no, it's:

      make world + linux kernel == gentooO! ;-)

      --
      Score:-1, Funny
    18. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by MobyTurbo · · Score: 2
      It's a strange thing. I think part of their philosophy is to colonize other OSen with the GPL.

      Look at the strange GNU/Darwin project that has just taken a sharp right turn towards abject failure.

      To be fair, GNU/Darwin was *not* either a Debian or actual GNU project, so their bizzare spin into death via license-fanatacism shouldn't be taken as symtomatic of Debian's approach - though the Debian folks do indeed tend to be too political for my taste.
      I can't think of any other reason to replace a perfectly good userland with an almost identical, in function, userland.
      Agreed. GNU's utilities are largely a superset of BSD Unix, so the result is largely a somewhat more bloated userland with basically the same command structure. Also using a third-party userland means you no longer get the advantage of an frequently updated /usr/src tree. (That includes some GNU utilities BTW, which will probably get updated in -STABLE and -CURRENT faster than Debian updates theirs!)

      If I had a seperate machine just to do useless experiments with, I had thought of just for kicks installing Debian/NetBSD on it; just to see "Debian GNU/NetBSD" on the login screen. ;-)

    19. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by DA-MAN · · Score: 1

      I personally think a Linux kernel with the OpenBSD userland would be the best thing ever.

      --
      Can I get an eye poke?
      Dog House Forum
    20. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by zentex · · Score: 1

      Nothing is sacred from RMS slapping GNU on it is there?!

      Let me guess what's next GNU/Disney? GNU/GNU? GNU/Microsoft? GNU/Solaris? GNU/Coke? (oh wait, coke tried that in the 80's :-). ...see where i'm going? What is the point of having a bsd kernel for a linux userland? that's like the red-headed bastard child of the mailman.

      sheeh!

      --
      Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
    21. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by jericho4.0 · · Score: 2

      Dude. You just got me really hot and exited. Where has this been?

      --
      "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
    22. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I agree wholeheartedly. Linux userland is suffering some major bloat, but the kernel supports more hardware, more network funkyness, faster filesystems, and it's SMP code is decidedly non-beta. When I get the time I'm going to port FreeBSD's libc as a starting point and see what I can get working :)

      As a side note, some FreeBSD kernel-land things would be nice in Linux, such as PROPER process accounting and limits, stuff like accept filters and kqueue/kselect... Oh well..

    23. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by brad-x · · Score: 1, Troll

      So I'm reading about RC2 and a thread about Debian breaks out.

      Why is this topical? Does apt do something FreeBSD ports doesn't, or is this just another example of people being militant and off topic? Preference is great until it fills my browser window with my pet peeve.

      "Oh this is great, now if only it were !"

      Sigh

      --
      // -- http://www.BRAD-X.com/ -- //
    24. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by axxackall · · Score: 2, Troll
      FreeBSD:
      • BSD is dying: not popular; not enough of critical mass in the user base to attract new users; ignored by commercial vendors;
      • FreeBSD not really mutliplatform: Mac OS X is not FreeBSD, they just share few utils and tools; you cannot install FreeBSD exactly same way on x86, PPC and Sparc and have the same (99%) set of applications and same stability;
      • BSD was traditionally for servers: there is no such thing as BSD desktop geeks;
      • FreeBSD is technically only for small servers: cluster and SMP support is either week or unstable; commercial cluster vendors ignore BSD;
      Linux, especially Gentoo:
      • Gentoo is the most prospective free OS: the best of FreeBSD (Portage is like ports but even better); the best of Linux (many drivers out of the box); attractive for already "poisoned" by Linux IT managers;
      • Linux, especially Gentoo, is really multi-platform: Linux kernel is multiplatform; Gentoo Portage even improves it (architecture keywords, CFLAGS); insalls and works exactly same (99%) way on x86, PPC and Sparc;
      • Linux is desktop enhanced: there are many Linux desktop geeks playing with DVD, video cameras, TV/FM tuners and so on;
      • Linux has a "big server" support: SMP and clusters are already stable; commercial vendors love Linux for clusters;
      Now, the question is: where would you invest your money (if you have one), your skills (if you have one) and your effort time (if you have one)?
      --

      Less is more !
    25. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by cymen · · Score: 2

      Does it really? Does Gentoo keep the base system on cvsup or at least make sure it all plays nice? Or do they just toss in the latest versions of everything and hope the haystack doesn't blow away? I know that is a loaded assumption, but I'm still curious. Unfortunately I'm bandwidth challenged at the momemnt--otherwise I would have tried Gentoo again.

      What I absolutely *love* about FreeBSD is the ease of upgrading a remote system. Built into that is a well-maintained base system and a sensible upgrade route. When I say FreeBSD + linux kernel, I mean absolutely that. I wonder how much work it would be...

    26. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by cymen · · Score: 2

      Forgot to say: I just think the combo would be interesting. I don't find anything particularly wrong with the FreeBSD kernel--far from it, it works excellently.

    27. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by dmelomed · · Score: 1

      And this gets a score of 2?. Moderators, YHBT!

    28. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by Arandir · · Score: 1

      I would be the happiest man alive if debian would use the FreeBSD kernel.

      But then they would have to call it "GNU/BSD", which would cause the universe to implode.

      --
      A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
    29. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by cant_get_a_good_nick · · Score: 2

      I shouldn't respond to trolls, but...

      1) In general I find FreeBSD more stable. Evidently so does Yahoo. Hotmail used to, but MS couldn't have a different OS on "their" servers, so they tried to change it. Problem is, FreeBSD just worked better and they had a big problem in changing off of it. FreeBSD tends to be more stable under load than Linux. Though Linux has better SMP, neither Linux 2.4 nor FreeBSD 4.7 have good threading models, which is crucial for stuff my business would use. FreeBSD 5.0 has real threads and better SMP support. I'm going to try to have us look into it, though I don't know where thast going to lead. I don't follow linux enough to see where 2.5 (soon to be 2.6) stands on gettign real threads in, I should look at this, from a pragmatic, not a religious "FreeBSD is better, no Linux is" approach, just find the right tool for the job.

      2) Linux I believe has had some missteps in the 2.4 kernel. In the "stable" series they've changed Virtual Memory, added a new scheduler, and added an optimization to the VFS code that corrupted the default filesystem in some configurations (though not the default one).

      3) Who the f*ck cares about what I think (and by extension you) about points 1 or 2? People make their own damn decisions.

      I think a lot of the problems with the "FreeBSD is dying" crap is that it lacks the sound and the fury of Linux development. Every Linux debate, every RHS quote, every "accidentally" leaked "internal" MS memo, RedHat good news, Mandrake bad news, Caldera no news, gets played out on the front page of Slash and a couple hundred advocacy sites. The FreeBSD camp just sits back and writes good code.

    30. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... then don't change it and keep it with its meant-to-be-for useland?

    31. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      any problem with the truth?

    32. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      The FreeBSD camp just sits back and writes good code...

      Who is using that code?

      And what code?

      BSD kernel code? that's certainly is not used much.

      Userland code? Some of it is used on Linux. But b/c it's used mostly on Linux - is this the code for BSD or for Linux?

    33. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by Empty+Threats · · Score: 1

      In a very real way, it has been. FreeBSD is very much the successor to 4.3BSD as a sort of reference implementation of unix. Note Apple's use of FreeBSD to update NeXTstep.

    34. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      too late

    35. Re:Just in time for Christmas!! by jo42 · · Score: 2
      ...and Linux is a bestiality (Penguin) fetish.

      - Linux is for people that hate Microsoft; BSD is for people that love Unix.

  4. OS X by snitty · · Score: 2, Informative

    And the new code should be integrated into OS X sometime in late 2003!

    --
    Modular Redundancy--Because 4 out of 5 Nodes agree
    1. Re:OS X by FireBook · · Score: 2, Informative

      actually thats dead right, os XI (yes, os eleven) is gonna be built on the bsd 5 system :o) just it may not make it in 2003, seeing as theres another 7 .1 pointreleases apple can use to fleece their userbase

      --
      My other OS is also FreeBSD
    2. Re:OS X by IamTheRealMike · · Score: 2

      But when will OS X code be integrated into FreeBSD? So far they only appear to have received one or two minor patches and some test suites, hardly big contributions.

  5. How Insightful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful
    FreeBSD is almost ready. That is good to know.



    On the plus side, the article isn't saying FreeBSD is being
    released like the editors love to tell a few weeks before
    the actual release and only make themselves look like idiots.

  6. 8th post for RPN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Learn RPN today, and join the likes of edison, newton, tesla, faraday, bohr and maxwell!

    1. Re:8th post for RPN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because saving a couple of keystrokes is THAT much quicker. Why can't you morons CONFORM to the American Public School standard? RPN is a tool of terrorists!

  7. Preemptive Slashdotting by robbyjo · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... should be available shortly. Check it out ...

    This gives a whole new meaning to preemptive Slashdotting.

    --

    --
    Error 500: Internal sig error
    1. Re:Preemptive Slashdotting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      This gives a whole new meaning to preemptive Slashdotting.

      Why, what was the old meaning?

      --

      I hate it when people use phrases they don't understand.

  8. Almost...? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    FreeBSD 5.0RC2 is almost released? Are we trying to Slashsot the system *before* it even released?

  9. FreeBSD 5.0 rc2 now and Gentoo 1.4 soon! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    This is good news that the BSD is obvioously not dying as has been suspected. With such good news we noe have a BSD 5.0 and a Linux 1.4 (gentto)coming for christmas.

    Obviously The BSD is better OS than the Linux's becuase of the high version number!

    1. Re:FreeBSD 5.0 rc2 now and Gentoo 1.4 soon! by filekutter · · Score: 1

      As my fren' BSDNotes sez....... BSD is mature (30 yrs old), Linux still a child (10 yrs old). Who do you want running your rig?

      --
      I call computer-illiteracy job security
    2. Re:FreeBSD 5.0 rc2 now and Gentoo 1.4 soon! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah escuse me Gentoo just faded out like Stampede I guess, this is what happens when you try to specilize a distro too much. Well it was a good try.

  10. Better Hurry up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    or it might make the VaporWare List.

    ----
    Yes this is humor. Unless of course it wasn't funny, then mod it up informative.

    1. Re:Better Hurry up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It (the mythical 5.0 release) already made the list last year, maybe a streak like that is too much to hope for. Then again, for a project as dead as FreeBSD, anything is possible.

  11. Oh boy by wray · · Score: 1, Troll

    I vehemently defend Slashdot for choices of their articles, because after all, it is their choice. But come on -- we are announcing "almost" releases now... :_)

    I find this _very_ amusing. Its like having a planning meeting for a planning meeting (actually happened to my dad)

    --
    Guess what? I got a fever! And the only prescription.. is more cowbell!
    1. Re:Oh boy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can't wait for the day that they start announcing that odd-numbered 'experimental' kernel releases will be available 'sometime in the future.'

      And to think of all the "good" articles that get submitted and thrown away. This site has gone down the tubes. And, to think, they want us to subscribe?!? Ha, I took my money and bought a TotalFark subscription. At least it's worth it.

    2. Re:Oh boy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      it's been a few months since RC1 so.. how is this not news. there are alot of new and innovative features in/planned for 5

    3. Re:Oh boy by FireBook · · Score: 1

      a few months?????? errrr not quite that long actually :o) wtf is the point in reporting that a preview is almost ready for release, when the first preview was oooo 5 minutes before :o)

      --
      My other OS is also FreeBSD
    4. Re:Oh boy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I guess it's not news for 2 reasons:

      1.) *BSD is dead
      2.) Fact: Only .01% of Slashdotters actually use BSD for anything important.

    5. Re:Oh boy by wray · · Score: 2

      For those that modded me as troll... lighten up! Don't you find it the least bit humorous that we are announcing that a RELEASE CANDIDATE is ALMOST ready?!

      Come on, have a little smile on your face... Use your minds and enjoy life... not everyone is trolling to defame Slashdot, or get some stupid remarks, I thought it was funny. :)

      --
      Guess what? I got a fever! And the only prescription.. is more cowbell!
  12. I vote FBSD 5.0 as the best vaporware in 2002 by the_2nd_coming · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    how many times did this release get delayed?

    --



    I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
    1. Re:I vote FBSD 5.0 as the best vaporware in 2002 by PFAK · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's only been delayed 3 months, how is that a vaporware? At least the FreeBSD core team makes sure they have a quality release before they actually release it to the public, unlike other Operating Systems..

      --

      Free means no restrictions, ironic the FSF's GPL forces restrictions, isn't it? What's your definition of free?
    2. Re:I vote FBSD 5.0 as the best vaporware in 2002 by Geekboy(Wizard) · · Score: 1

      only 3 months? I suppose the year delay before that doesn't count.

      Before you think I'm a retard, why don't you look it up. I'm tired of doing research for people.

  13. ahhh nuts by Morgahastu · · Score: 3, Funny

    I better retract my email to wired that nominated FreeBSD 5.0 RC2 as the biggest vapourware.

    1. Re:ahhh nuts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Vaporware? I'm running it. The fact that
      you need them to make an ISO for you is quite
      telling.

      Second thought, perhaps you shouldn't run freebsd.

      You're not ready.

  14. say what? by ldspartan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Not to join the ranks of the whining /. denizens, but you just announced thate a release candidate is almost ready? Granted its important, but almost doesn't really count, and its not a final release, it just might be.

    "Something that might some day be a final release is almost ready!"
    "Say what?"

    --
    Phil

    1. Re:say what? by softweyr · · Score: 3, Informative

      Uh, duh, the announcement didn't say it was almost ready, it said it was done. The available shortly part means it was being copied to the ftp mirrors as the post went out. You're really dense about online software, aren't you?

  15. This is pretty cool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Say what you want about BSD, but I think it's pretty cool that they decided to make their final release before closing up shop a nice round number like 5.0.

  16. Oh great... by AnonymousCowheard · · Score: 2, Funny

    I was doing fine...until the freeBSD release candidate 2 announcment. Then all the trolls scurry their furry digits over to File Manager and cut/paste C:\ms-advocacy\bsd_dying.txt into slashdot.

    Give me a break. I'm in the moment of downloading freeBSD, now I must stop because all the trolls can organize a slashdotting verry accuratly. They'll announce to their buddies over AIM; "Put up BSD signal! Set up bomb! ha ha..."

    --

    But I'm sure you already Gnu that.
    1. Re:Oh great... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If only 5.0 had reliable + informative signals like the next netBSD will have, and leik Linux Debian has. They had it on one day, but I don't see it now. They have siginfo_t but it's broken. Since you mention signals :)

    2. Re:Oh great... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yes, all 14 bsd users are hogging that bandwidth right now.

  17. 4.7 - 5.0 by Wheaty18 · · Score: 1

    I'm running 4.7 on my Router/Firewall box right now (with some Apache/PHP/MySQL goodness as well). NATD was a cinch to set up. Looking forward to 5.0.

    1. Re:4.7 - 5.0 by DrSkwid · · Score: 2

      not being troll but seriously dump mysql and give postgres a try

      It's like comparing a motorbike with a limo

      --
      There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
    2. Re:4.7 - 5.0 by Wheaty18 · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I've been meaning to give Postgres a try. Have not had the time recently to get around to it, though.

    3. Re:4.7 - 5.0 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd rather have the motorcycle, it would be more fun to drive, handle better in corners. But I am a man, I would rather be in control instead of letting someone else drive.

  18. Thank God Nothing You Say Actually Matters. by Shturmovik · · Score: 1

    Otherwise we'd have to start worrying! Luckily for us you're just another dickhead.

    1. Re:Thank God Nothing You Say Actually Matters. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Its a good thing you know how to reconginize dickheads. Years of looking in the mirror is good training eh?

    2. Re:Thank God Nothing You Say Actually Matters. by Shturmovik · · Score: 1

      Ha! Haha! Hahahahahahahahahahaha! You work the comedy club circuit, right? You know, you're the guy that sells those Microsoft Works t-shirts out front by the entrance?

  19. Good timing. by grub · · Score: 1


    They're releasing FreeBSD 5.0 on January 17, 2003. According to my sources FreeBSD is scheduled to die the following weekend.


    Yes I'm joking, I'm actually a BSD nut

    --
    Trolling is a art,
  20. uh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought freebsd was dead?

  21. In related news, Duke Nukem Forever... by Blaede · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...is almost done as well, we think. All that's left to do is the art, programming and game design.

  22. Thats weird.. by PFAK · · Score: 2, Funny

    I downloaded FreeBSD 5.0-RC2, and burned it 4 hours ago, this is very weirdly worded. Somethings fishy about this ;)

    --

    Free means no restrictions, ironic the FSF's GPL forces restrictions, isn't it? What's your definition of free?
  23. Re:No, Mr. BSD, I expect you to DIE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    yes it does. But shut up anyway.

  24. Re:No, Mr. BSD, I expect you to DIE! by PFAK · · Score: 0

    Yes, you can run Linux binarys on FreeBSD, and it's easier, and may be faster then the actual Linux binary on a native system.

    kldload linux && ./sick-linux-binary

    Don't forget to brandelf it too, if the said sick-linux-binary happens to have a broken elf header which says it's a Solaris binary or whatever,

    ie: brandelf -t Linux sick-linux-binary

    Since while FreeBSD will use the elf header to make things like Linux emulation work, Linux just ignores it, meaning a lot of tools like to produce incorrect headers.

    Make sure that you have the package installed before running evil Linux binary's on FreeBSD.

    --

    Free means no restrictions, ironic the FSF's GPL forces restrictions, isn't it? What's your definition of free?
  25. cylinder limit by guile*fr · · Score: 3, Informative

    wonder if they worked out the 1024 cylinder limit.
    it's a big show stopper for me

    1. Re:cylinder limit by tigga · · Score: 1
      1024 cylinder limit ?

      It is not a problem for 3-4 years, I think.


      Well, just try it ;)

    2. Re:cylinder limit by MobyTurbo · · Score: 2
      wonder if they worked out the 1024 cylinder limit. it's a big show stopper for me
      I'm using NetBSD 1.6 and have used FreeBSD 4.6 on an 80 gig HD. I am booting above the 8 gig barrier of OpenBSD. (OpenBSD supports large HDs fine but you have to boot on the first 8 gigs - a show stopper for me.) Earlier versions of FreeBSD worked too I assume.

      It looks like nothing is stopping you from trying it then, so almost-download, and almost-install the almost-released FreeBSD 5.0 already! ;-) (Actually if you want stability try running FreeBSD 4.7-RELEASE first. Upgrading is simple under *BSD, no Linux compares in this respect except perhaps Gentoo or Debian.)

    3. Re:cylinder limit by shamilton · · Score: 3, Informative

      man boot0cfg

      -o options
      A comma-separated string of any of the following options may be
      specified (with ``no'' prepended as necessary):

      packet Use the disk packet (BIOS Int 0x13 extensions) interface,
      as as opposed to the legacy (CHS) interface, when doing
      disk I/O. This allows booting above cylinder 1023, but
      requires specific BIOS support. The default is
      `nopacket'.

      sh

      --
      "[A] high IQ is like a Jeep; you will still get stuck, just farther from help!" --Just d' FAQs, c.g.a
    4. Re:cylinder limit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      oh, that limit only applies to faggots. wait a minute... OMG LOL YUO GOT TEH GHEY!1!!

    5. Re:cylinder limit by micheas · · Score: 1
      I've installed 5.0dp2 on a test server. After recompiling the kernel and world the only problem I've had was when someone threw a circut breaker. Personally I would recommend that you try 5.x instead of 4.x because of all the impovements in almost everything.
      Upgrading is simple under *BSD, no Linux compares in this respect except perhaps Gentoo or Debian.)
      Upgrading within 4.x has been pretty smooth

      4.x to 5.0 may not be however. This from the 5.0-DP2 release notes Warning: Binary upgrades to FreeBSD 5.0-DP2 from FreeBSD 4-STABLE are not supported at this time. This may change by the time 5.0 is released.

      As a clean install it was fairly painless. The debugging level on the 5.0-DP2 iso's was painfully high, so making world and kernel had a huge effect.

    6. Re:cylinder limit by MobyTurbo · · Score: 3, Informative
      Upgrading within 4.x has been pretty smooth

      4.x to 5.0 may not be however. This from the 5.0-DP2 release notes "Warning: Binary upgrades to FreeBSD 5.0-DP2 from FreeBSD 4-STABLE are not supported at this time. This may change by the time 5.0 is released."

      Yes, but the best way to upgrade if the computer is on the internet and is already running FreeBSD is to CVSup /usr/src, which, with changes documented in the early adopter's guide, and in /usr/src/UPDATE after the CVSup, should work fine. (Disclaimer, I haven't tried this myself - but since it's not the "binary upgrade" that is warned against it should work, as long as you *read* the UPDATE file and follow it step by step.)
    7. Re:cylinder limit by Arandir · · Score: 1

      I don't know if it's still there or not, but if it is, it's only a problem with the boot loader. Use another instead, like LILO or Grub.

      --
      A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
    8. Re:cylinder limit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My CD burner apppears to have gone eeky. I found that out when my 5.0-DP2 ISO wouldn't boot. Luckily I had an old 4.6-MINI_ISO which in my book is an iso of the 2.88 MB boot image they have on their ftp sites.

      Ok, so it had to start from 4.6-rel. OK. No prob. I installed minimal system then built cvsup from ports. Cvsup'ed and built sysinstall (off the 5.0 brach) and ran it (cvsup the release part of src), then did a binary upgrade. Bang. I had DP2.

      That's how good it works.

  26. Where's the beef? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Can we stop talking about whether BSD is dying or not, why you use FreeBSD, etc. and start talking about FreeBSD itself?

  27. IT'S A JOKE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    JESUS! I guess this is evidence that BSD lamers truely do have no grasp of humor.

  28. YOU ARE SO FIRED! by YOU+ARE+SO+FIRED! · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Pack up your shit and get out of my office! NOW!

  29. The real story by shlong · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I appreciate the submitter's enthusiasm with submitting this article, but it really doesn't come across well. RC2 is available now, though it probably hasn't reached all of the mirrors yet because I jumped the gun with announcing it. And yes, 5.0-RELEASE is scheduled for Jan 17. There will be an RC3 on Jan 10 in order to verify that some last-minute bug fixes don't cause more regressions. Still, I encourage everyone to give it a try and let us know how it works for you.

    --
    Cat, the other, tastier white meat.
    1. Re:The real story by Mad+Marlin · · Score: 2

      Will there be any real issues with the change from 4.7 to 5.0, or will I just have to change RELENG_4 to RELENG_5 for cvsup, and then do the typical compilation dance?

    2. Re:The real story by roguerez · · Score: 2

      After cvsupping read the file /usr/src/UPDATING which is always there afaik.

    3. Re:The real story by micheas · · Score: 1

      you will have to change RELENG_4 to 5-STABLE for cvsup.

      There will be no RELENG_5 until 5.1 (I didn't see the flame fest^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h discussion that caused this change for the 5.x series so I can't comment on why.)

      There may be some files that need to be manualy deleted. Read /usr/src/UPDATING. after you cvsup. It should tell you all you need to know.

    4. Re:The real story by jonbelson · · Score: 2, Informative

      According to Bruce Mah, the reason for not creating the stable branch until at least 5.1 is to encourage people to work on fixing up the 5.x series. If a 5 STABLE branch was created first, people would more likely keep working on adding new features to HEAD.

      --Jon

    5. Re:The real story by shlong · · Score: 2

      As others have pointed out, you should always read the /usr/src/UPDATING file if you're going to do an upgrade from source. There is also an Early Adopter's Guide available on the installation media that would be a good idea to read (it might be on the web also, but I can't find it at the moment.). That said, FreeBSD 5.0 has quite a number of experimental features. Some of them, like the new GEOM block layer, are non-optional and change traditional behavior in ways that make upgrading hard. I have successfully upgraded from source, but it's very tricky. My advice would be to back up your data and install fresh.

      --
      Cat, the other, tastier white meat.
  30. Difference between FreeBSD and OpenBSD? by Eric_Cartman_South_P · · Score: 3, Interesting
    What the diff? Is FreeBSD as secure-luvin as OpenBSD? Does FreeBSD also have cryptographic drivers (need PW to access all content on encrypted partition, etc). I'm choosing FreeBSD unless there is some strong crypto that OpenBSD offers that FreeBSd doesn't have.

    Yeah, I know, RTFM and spend more time searching on Google... just thought I'd pick your smart brain in addition. Thanks!

    1. Re:Difference between FreeBSD and OpenBSD? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      As follows:

      * FreeBSD was founded by a group that wanted to make the best damn i386 operating system ever.

      * NetBSD was founded by a group that wanted to make an operating system that would run on every computer ever made.

      * OpenBSD was founded by an asshole who was kicked off the NetBSD project for telling people who asked him questions to 'stop shoving your cock down my throat'.

    2. Re:Difference between FreeBSD and OpenBSD? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      an asshole who was kicked off the NetBSD project for telling people who asked him questions to 'stop shoving your cock down my throat'

      Oddly enough, I never did quit shoving my cock down Theo's throat. Maybe it's because it tastes like fugu.

    3. Re:Difference between FreeBSD and OpenBSD? by Clover_Kicker · · Score: 3, Informative
      What the diff?

      FreeBSD installs tcsh as /bin/csh . The others don't.

      NetBSD runs on a Cobalt Qube2. The others don't.

      OpenBSD can encrypt swap. The others don't.

  31. Are you sure? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  32. Re:Tux is cuter by tigga · · Score: 1
    Geez,
    Who you are if your reason for software use is a cuteness ?

    Are you BLONDE?

  33. Quick Download It by codepunk · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Quick download it before the one other user of BSD starts his download and chokes the pipe.

    As he raises the shields in anticipation of the flame throwers.....

    --


    Got Code?
  34. yes it is - Daemons and Texans don't mix by Openadvocate · · Score: 2
    --
    my sig
  35. *HORSE is dead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Most of those who claim that *BSD is dying are beating a horse that's more dead than the SOVIET RUSSIA and ALL YOUR BASE jokes.

    1. Re:*HORSE is dead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In Soviet Russia, Zig takes off YOU!

  36. Re:*BSD is dying by PacketCollision · · Score: 1

    Bah. If your post were anything other than mindless trash, it would have some points that could be backed up. But since all you seem to be interested in is flaming a perfectly good OS, I guess that's too much to hope for.

    I used BSD back in the days of 4.0, and it was solid then - I'm sure it's even better now.

  37. When you get back to work by yerricde · · Score: 1

    but you just announced thate a release candidate is almost ready?

    How about "FreeBSD 5.0 RC2 will probably be available for download by the time you step back into your cubicle this coming Monday"? Is that any better?

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
  38. The Superfluous Headline Emergency Response Team! by eatenn · · Score: 1
    T-SHERT Alert:

    This is awesome. I anxiously await Slashdot headlines like "FreeBSD to be released in one week!" and "FreeBSD to be released tomorrow!" and the ever classic, "FreeBSD to be released in an hour!"

    Relax, I'm only kidding.

    I know I'll never forget where I was when I heard the news that FreeBSD was released the day before yesterday...

    --
    "But the cars are all flashing me, bright lights are passing me, I feel life passing me by" - Stiff Little Fingers
  39. I could not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    find it on Kazaa. Does anyone know of a warez
    group that might have it?

    1. Re:I could not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      www.linux.org, you can download it there.. LOLz

    2. Re:I could not by slavik · · Score: 1

      IT'S FREE!!! From their ftp servers

  40. uh. by Pros_n_Cons · · Score: 2, Insightful

    BSD sucks its not "buzzword" compatible. I didn't hear one word about OOP, Linux, or .NET -Managment

    --

    -- "of course thats just my opinion, I could be wrong." --Dennis Miller
    1. Re:uh. by MobyTurbo · · Score: 2
      BSD sucks its not "buzzword" compatible. I didn't hear one word about OOP, Linux, or .NET
      Actually, Microsoft themselves released a bare-bones edition of .Net for FreeBSD with a restrictive "shared source" license. C++ and many other OOP languages both well known and obscure run on it as well, many (though not M$'s offering) are in the ports tree.

      Of course, if you really want to avoid the hype, do like me and run NetBSD - we don't have (though NetBSD folks are working on it) Java2 yet in pkgsrc :-(, though we do have a wide variety of other languages with less restrictive licensing and more readily portable code than Sun's. :-)

    2. Re:uh. by bovinewasteproduct · · Score: 2

      many (though not M$'s offering) are in the ports tree.

      For the Microsoft C# on FreeBSD check out /usr/ports/lang/cli. I played with it, but there is not much there...

      I've went back to Perl and C++ for scripting and compiled work.

      Looked at C#, just about worthless unless your on Microsoft (Sorry, I get paid for results, and the free stuff is not quite up to snuff yet).

      BWP

  41. FreeBSD...GEEBSD.... by sujan · · Score: 0, Troll

    Anything that does not work on my laptop truly sucks for me and I think I speak for all the people I know. So who cares?

    1. Re:FreeBSD...GEEBSD.... by ffsnjb · · Score: 1

      Get some real hardware, and stop playing with toys.

      --
      "Why do you consent to live in ignorance and fear?" - Bad Religion
    2. Re:FreeBSD...GEEBSD.... by sujan · · Score: 1

      Oh yea, are you ready to provide me one? I didn't think so.

    3. Re:FreeBSD...GEEBSD.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps if your laptop wasn't a iMac.....

    4. Re:FreeBSD...GEEBSD.... by MobyTurbo · · Score: 3, Informative
      Anything that does not work on my laptop truly sucks for me
      One of the things 5.0 is supposed to bring is better laptop support.
    5. Re:FreeBSD...GEEBSD.... by sujan · · Score: 1

      Ok, maybe my comment was a bit abrasive. I am thankful that FreeBSD and all the other unices are free, not only for US citizens but for any people all over the world.
      However, before anyone have a sort of 'religious conversion' agendas on these petty issues, I have a problem. Much the problem with linux and other geeky freaks today. You know coz of this particular community, I had to throw away my hard drive alongside my precious documents with it. I could never forgive that. I mean com'on if a newby happens to read these 'oh so great bsd' post everytime, he'd be tempted to try it and therein lies a big problem. There should be sort of 'no guarantee to work' label pasted too under these postings to avoid any conflict of real interest.
      About being imac being a perfect pc, therein lies a fundamental problem in your being. You are too biased, a freak even. Why in the world would I shell out more money for a hardware thats less configurable, less speed, less features and the only thing shiny is their case covers. I certainly think they're ripping off BSD community big time, which figures anyway, since all the mac users seem to be from the 'religious right of the computer world.' The other day, I was watching this show by connie chung on cnn with an apple freak who went at great, i mean nasty detail to nail down the bastard who ripped him off. On my eyes, both of them are nuts.
      And did I mention, had apple had its own way, we would have even bigger 1600lbs gorilla on our back, the only difference would be that Jobs would certainly take over this country and convert the political system to totalitarianism. :)

    6. Re:FreeBSD...GEEBSD.... by phoenix_rizzen · · Score: 1

      Have you tried 5.0-DP2 or higher?? Works much better on my el cheapo SeaNote laptop than any Linux distro did (in fact, RedHat 8.0 was the only one that actually installed successfully, but it's a pig).

      FreeBSD 5.0 supports ACPI and CardBus, the last two show-stoppers for modern laptop support. What more do you need??

  42. Have you hugged your troll today? by DrMrLordX · · Score: 0

    Yes, BSD blah blah blah, big deal. The real story here is, as usual, trolls. They make Slashdot what it is, providing it with all the All Your Base and Hot Grits it can handle. Imagine a Beowulf cluster of those! So, if you find a troll, give the troll a hug and mod him up. You should thank said troll for interrupting insipid and pointless discussions with hate-filled rants, mindless banter, and pointless blathering. As usual, all the best posts are a -1, so MOD ME DOWN.

  43. Choice man !!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Using 4.7 at present on the desktop. Really looking forward to 5.0, (with KDE 3.1?).

    If I could find a linux distro with as nice a manual, a ports system, and as little fragmentation as FreeBSD, I could be enticed back to Linux.

  44. Security? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think that FreeBSD should take a more conservative approach as Open BSD does. I would like to set-up a FreeBSD box without services enabled.

    I am looking forward to check 5.0 and ACPI, firewire, bluetooth, and other goodies.

    Great job people!

  45. pkg_add -r port_name by DrSkwid · · Score: 2

    installs binaries if they are available

    --
    There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
  46. Re:FIRSTEST POSTEST WITH THE MOSTEST!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You can't even count, no wonder linux sucks so much.

  47. Re:The Superfluous Headline Emergency Response Tea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're only kidding, but you're still wrong. It was released, the summary was just poorly worded. It had not reached all the mirrors yet when that was posted.

  48. Ironically! by DA-MAN · · Score: 0, Troll

    Ironically enough... In Soviet Russia all your base are still belong to us!

    --
    Can I get an eye poke?
    Dog House Forum
  49. In other news... by Rhubarb+Crumble · · Score: 2, Funny
    .NET "almost" ready!

    Duke Nukem forever "almost" ready!

    Linux 2.6 "almost" ready!

    1. Re:In other news... by mark_space2001 · · Score: 2
      Your post was "almost" funny.

      :)

    2. Re:In other news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My wife almost ready

  50. As opposed to: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Linux, which has to BEG for money.

  51. darn it all by nutznboltz · · Score: 2

    I had just upgraded to FreeBSD 5.0-RC last night.

  52. Re:DeepsideFAQ v0.000001 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Mod parent up! Very funny. Please post more like this in forthcoming BSD articles!

  53. As a confirmed, hardcore FreeBSD Zealot... by sawilson · · Score: 2

    I hate to say I got sick of waiting and installed
    Gentoo. I'm also sad to say that I'm enjoying the
    better compatibility with my kt333 chipset, sound,
    network, etc. I'm also enjoying the serious
    stability and performance increases with the linux
    nVidia drives for my ti500. It's also just a
    workstation/gaming platform. All the machines I've
    done on contract recently have been FreeBSD. At
    some point in the future if I can get AGP 4x with
    all the goodies like page-flipping and whatnot to
    work with the nVidia drivers for FreeBSD, and the
    issues with the kt333 chipset are resolved, and
    I can pry myself away from UT2003 and inferno
    long enough to do it, I'll go back to FreeBSD on
    my workstation. :)

    1. Re:As a confirmed, hardcore FreeBSD Zealot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what's inferno, and why are you so lame?

    2. Re:As a confirmed, hardcore FreeBSD Zealot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Inferno is the most badass map in UT2003 dumbass. Get a life.

  54. FreeBSD has interesting History by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    I converted to FreeBSD 3 from RedHat 5 and have not looked back since. It just makes more sense structurally and is more solid than anything I have found on i386. BSD argueably has the most solid TCP/IP stack out there. A few examples:

    - F5 BigIP's converted from BSDi to a modified FreeBSD kernel in v4 (microsoft uses these for Windows update)

    - Also I had to laugh when I found out F5 inserted the BSD TCP/IP stack in one of their "Red Hat" cache appliances (EdgeFX) for performance resons. :)

    - The evil empire also uses FreeBSD for hotmail. You didn't think Winders could hang?

    - Nokia/Checkpoint FW1 and IDS sensors run BSD kernels

    - Can you folks think of anymore on the resume?
    The interesting history is that Bill Joy (went on to help form SUN) was behind the original BSD movement. I heard it used to be called Bills' Software Distro... Wasn't Berkley behind tcp/ip? You folks probably know more of the history than me.

    Anyways, I had a crash and burn attempt at 5.0RC2 last night so I'll probably wait for 1/17/03 and get a new box for 5.0 Release.

    FYI - looks like RC2 is posted.

    1. Re:FreeBSD has interesting History by nutznboltz · · Score: 2

      - Can you folks think of anymore on the resume?

      MacOS X.

    2. Re:FreeBSD has interesting History by tukangsekoteng · · Score: 1

      - Can you folks think of anymore on the resume? Juniper routers use JUNOS that was developed from FreeBSD.

  55. src/sys/conf/newvers.sh was not updated by nutznboltz · · Score: 2

    This file:

    src/sys/conf/newvers.sh

    Still says "5.0-RC" when it should say "5.0-RC2".

    1. Re:src/sys/conf/newvers.sh was not updated by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's right, that wont change in cvs(up)

  56. Debian FreeBSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They should port glibc to FreeBSD and provide a complete GNU envirnment, otherwise it would have no sense. FreeBSD is fine as it is though, Debian is not needed.

  57. Nice Birthday present by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Jan 17 2003... indeed a very nice present for my 20th birthday :-)

    Merry Christmas to all /. people!

  58. Fool! Re:IN SOVIET RUSSIA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    IN SOVIET RUSSIA, You are dying for *BSD.

  59. some of us would like to know in advance by SHEENmaster · · Score: 2

    so we can get our ISO downloads before they get /.ed!

    --
    You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
  60. Status upgraded! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The FreeBSD team just upgraded status from "FreeBSD 5.0 RC2 almost ready" to "FreeBSD 5.0 RC2 really close to being ready."

  61. SO YOU HAVE VIRTUAL MEMORY THAT WORKS!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    if your box _ever_ touches swap, you WANT freebsd!!!!!!

    (!!!!)

    omfg im gonna burst a vein or something ://

    THE LINUX VM DOES NOT WORK AAAARGH
    ohg od ,,my heart

  62. Re:Tux is cuter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Perhaps this is more to your liking.

  63. Yeah, sure. Gentoo is great, until it breaks. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Portage has been horribly broken for over a week now. That doesn't happen with ports. Glad I went back to try out DP2 and now 5.0 through cvsup.

    Gentoo & portage are a very nice idea but it's too immature now. Just look at portage.py and how for example ascertain calls (which is for debugging) are structually used for checking things that in normal circumstances can happen. Those shouldn't be caught like that. And then there's creative use of exceptions, anywhere but where needed.

    Sorry but ports are very VERY much ahead. I'll admit that it could be modernized and perhaps allow for more than one version number under one identifier (e.g. category/portname could have category/potname/portname-version-n and category/portname/portname-version-n+1 etc). Then again major version bumps usually go into seperate ports/packages anyway.

    Gentoo is nice, really nice, until it breaks. FreeBSD unless building world every other day doesn't break. Perhaps on a port but not on the core parts.

  64. if nothing else - read the manual by DrSkwid · · Score: 2

    html format

    downloadable inc. pdf & html

    Only takes about a day to read the whole thing if you don't try and understand everything.

    I was forced to do it in one sitting once when one of my colleagues got into difficulty and I was drafted in on a "this project was supposed to ship last week and Fred can't get to grips with Postgres, turns out his database skills were copy & paste" scenario and I've never looked back.

    --
    There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter