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FreeBSD 5.2.1 RC Ready For Getting
MobyTurbo writes "FreeBSD 5.2.1 RC is now available, and now can be downloaded from the FreeBSD site and mirrors, or if you are currently running FreeBSD 5.2 (or for that matter some earlier versions) you can simply cvsup to it. The upcoming 5.2.1 release should fix a number of outstanding bugs in the 5.2 release, and this is a chance to make sure those bugs get fixed!"
Given Gentoo's similarities to FreeBSD (i.e. provide the 'recipies' and compile from source), I've always wondered why the Gentoo project didn't use a BSD CVSup system (for the unwashed, the tree is updated using rsync). What are the technical advantages/disadvantages/differences between Portage and BSD's Ports?
-- Stu
/. ID under 2,000. I feel old now.
I understand how major releases of software is what is termed "news for nerds", but do we need to submit every single update to every single piece of software that is of slight interest? Can I remind everyone this isn't even a release, but a Release Candidate?
It is News for Nerds : who else would care about a Release Candidates of FreeBSD?
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
I would like to test kernels from time to time, as I test linux distros. Apart from Debian, what is the state of bulding familiar systems (with familiar package management, etc) on different kernels, e.g. FreeBSD?
Is there any possibility to get a Debian-like (or Mandrake-like, why not?) experience with non-linux kernels? I would certainly give them a try... Or are there FreeBSD live-CDs with a hardware auto-recognition comparable with that of knoppix? That would be a nice way to try, too :)
My journal. Mainly about freedom.
I have some sympathy with your point of view, however, let me offer another nonetheless.
The software nerd, as opposed to those who view software merely as a means to get their work done, is more inclined to be interested in software "in the rough" than as a finished product. Thus release candidates are of particular interest.
What's more, since most people are somewhat "embeded" in their favorite enviroment (Windows lock in anyone?) they aren't likely to personally keep track of the development of platforms outside their own, even those that they have some genuine interest in.
I haven't used FreeBSD, but the posting of stories such as this keeps my interest up in doing so someday in a way that other news venues don't, because I don't see them.
And I don't really see that posting a few of these in anyway takes away from other Slashdot stories. I don't know that this story was posted instead of some other story as opposed to as well as the other story.
As with all Slashdot stories I read those that interest me and skip those that don't, just as I ignore the social pages of my local newspaper. I don't write letters to the editor complaining that they exist.
KFG
FreeBSD certainly does support CD writing and has for some time. Maybe you last used it before CD burners were produced :-P
Even your favourite K3b is available.
Following the rules doesn't get the job done.
Well, I sort of agree with you in general; we have better sites for software announcements.
/. as much or more than the actual releases. This is _really_ a case of the widest possible testing being beneficial for everybody, and if /. can help to corral more tester it can only be good.
That said, release candidates for really major pieces - like a new Linux kernel or this FreeBSD update - deserve a place on
So yes, agree in general, but not in this particular case.
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
So why is BSD at version 5.2.1 already, and LINUX is still stuck at 2.6?
Pff, FreeBSD is still stuck at version numbers, while some Linux distros have cool movie characters names. I'm still waiting for FreeBSD Potato or FreeBSD Woody. But then again, FreeBSD doesn't exactly gives woodies to anyone does it?
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
of what has been reported broken in 5.2 and MFC'd to 5.2.1 can be found here
I just hope I can use my USB mouse with out needing a PS/2 mouse plugged in and my sound works again!
Music is everybody's possession.
It's only publishers who think that people own it.
Fuck Beta
~John Lenno
I am sure many users of FreeBSD who own computers with multiple processors are eagerly waiting to switch around 5.3. I know I am drooling over better performance but patience is the key. After reading that pdf on the new ULE scheduler, I became even more excited by all the hard work put in by the FreeBSD team. I am still a user of 3.x and mostly 4.x with one 5.x box. I cannot be more pleased with this operating system's stability since 3.4. Two hundred day uptimes are taken for granted with FreeBSD users. Also in 5.x perl was removed! thank you for getting that mess out of the base install. One always had to upgrade it anyway for recent software like spamassassin. Keep putting the FreeBSD stories on slashdot editors, because isp admins run it.
... is a FreeBSD-based liveCD. You can find it at www.freesbie.org. I downloaded it awhile ago but haven't yet checked it out, must get onto that. So many distros, so little time. L
From the announcement e-mail on the -CURRENT mailing list.
[...]
- many improvements and fixes to the ATA driver
- new kdeadmin3 package to address the 'KUser' problem
- fixes to several network drivers, IPSec, NFSv4, and NNS.
- fix for the cd bootloader code to handle USB cdrom drives.
[...]
As you see, most of the above fixes do not apply to ports/packages as they are in the base system.
Ignoring the fact that the parent post was a joke for a moment, BSD has been around since the 1970s.
The original Windows (not NT, which is a different OS) was released in 1985 (Windows 1.0), and the last version was released in 2000 (Windows Me).
Linux and NT are about the same age: Linux 1.0 was released in 1994; Windows NT 3.1, (which was really NT 1.0, but called 3.1 to match the version number of Windows 3.1) was released in 1993.
Also:
Windows 2000 = NT 5.0 (really 3.0, since NT started with version 3.x)
Windows XP = NT 5.1
Windows 2003 = NT 5.2
The 5.x branch is expected to go -STABLE with FreeBSD 5.3, which should be out some time this spring. There is a list of outstanding issues at http://www.freebsd.org/releases/5.3R/todo.html.