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FreeBSD 5.3 RC2 Released

ValiantSoul writes "FreeBSD 5.3 Release Candidate 2 was just released. This new RC includes an updated network stack that fixes a bug where the system stops responding when under severe network load, the complete disabling of the ULE scheduler due to instability, and other fixes. Originally the FreeBSD team decided not to release a RC 2 however the fixes in the latest CURRENT were important enough to do so. As long as there are no severe problems with RC 2, this will be the last test release until a final one. See the full announcement on the mailing lists."

150 comments

  1. Get with the times by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Whell, FreeBaSeD is only on Version 5.3 - speak to the hand, thats so like 2002 retro - You aren't all that and a bag of potato chips.

    Like whateva, Solaris is on version 8 and Fedora is on 9, Slickware is leading with 10, Gentoo is Gentoo is.... As if I would use something so not invouge. I run this click so I might just use 2003 since it has such highya numba.

    Where is my lip gloss. Don't mess with me. I'm one crazy mo-fo. I once popped a cop cause he wasn't giving my props in Oak town. I've heard that somewhere.

    1. Re:Get with the times by ValiantSoul · · Score: 1

      Although meant to be a joke, just to let you know Solaris is on 10 beta (9 final) and Fedora is on test 3 (not even a 1.0)

    2. Re:Get with the times by alerante · · Score: 1

      Umm ... no. Fedora Core is on version 2, and their current unstable is 3 test3.

    3. Re:Get with the times by ValiantSoul · · Score: 1

      Woops forgot it was 3 test 3 instead of just test 3...you can see how much I pay attention to Fedora

    4. Re:Get with the times by KingPunk · · Score: 0

      just shows how much sense you have.
      know wtf you're talking about, before you post.
      it helps, espically when you're pounding somebody else's ass

      foe shizzle!

    5. Re:Get with the times by Yusuf+Smith · · Score: 1

      Well, it was originally based on 4.4BSD-Lite, so if you add that to 5.3, you get pretty close to where the Linux distros are now. (It was version 2 - after the lawsuit - which was 4.4 Lite based, wasn't it?)

  2. Complete failure! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    #3 shouldn't have been in the list, I meant that to be part of the last paragraph. That was a pretty amateur thing to do.

  3. Coaster and a Frisbie by Ann+Coulter · · Score: 0, Troll

    You mean I just made a coaster and a frisbie? I just downloaded RC1 last week and burned them onto two CDs. Now I have to wait for 5.3 to come out before I burn two more CDs. By the way, does anyone want two used CD-Rs?

    I don't like it when they tell me that RC1 is most likely the final release candidate and then release another release candidate. I might just stick to 4.10 for the near, and possibly distant, future as I have heard of some performance slowdowns in the 5 branch when compared to the 4 branch on single processor machines.

    1. Re:Coaster and a Frisbie by Chicane-UK · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Christ - its hardly like it just cost you the price of two DLT tapes to write those ISO images or something.

      A spindle of 100 CD-R's costs around £14 here currently... so two blank CD-R's is around 28p, or the cost of a chocolate bar. Sound the bells!

      Try writing RC's onto CD-RW's and then when updates come out, wipe them and burn the latest version!

      Sheesh.

      --
      "Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in, get the hell off my property!!"
    2. Re:Coaster and a Frisbie by JamesTRexx · · Score: 1

      That's the risk of putting betas/rc's on cd. I know those cd's will become obsolete soon enough. If I'm going to use those, I'll just put them on rewriteables so I can use them again for the next release.
      I'm waiting for the final release this time because rc1 wouldn't even install on this Dell C810. In the meantime it runs 4-stable like a dream. :-)

      --
      home
    3. Re:Coaster and a Frisbie by archen · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If you're really concerned about the $.20 or the downloading, you should probably just track the branch using CVS until release. Is FreeBSD on 2 CD's now? I thought it was one disk, and one rescure disk.

      I've actually given up downloading the entire thing and now just use the mini install cd. For me the first step after setting up a system is always updating the ports tree and installing from ports anyway.

    4. Re:Coaster and a Frisbie by Ann+Coulter · · Score: 0, Redundant

      I just don't like it when I have to go through all the effort of downloaded 1.1 GB of data and burning two CDs just to find out that they are obsolete. What I hate more is when most people tell me that there won't be a new release condidate and I can rest assured that RC1 is going to be the final, and later find out out that there is a RC2. Thanks for the advice of writing to CD-RWs though. I'll try that since you probabilty have installed operating systems that way. I was afraid that there would be read errors and the second to last thing I want read errors in is an operating system install disc (compressed personal work being the first). I think I will just stick with 4.10 for the next few months just to see how 5.3 pans out.

    5. Re:Coaster and a Frisbie by canadian_widget · · Score: 0

      OMG. Like leave the guy alone. If he wants to complain about his CDs let him. It's more a statement on the accountablity of BSD. "RC1, then we release!" "Er, ok... we lied!"

    6. Re:Coaster and a Frisbie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Better yet...if you have the bandwidth to download that much...just do a network install...

      Downloading the whole ISO's is a waste of time and media.

    7. Re:Coaster and a Frisbie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, what's the point of making a Release Candidate when you're sure to release after it ? Better release right now... RCs are for finding bugs before the release.

    8. Re:Coaster and a Frisbie by Ann+Coulter · · Score: 1

      I am a student with a dialup connection at home. The only way I can possibly install most software is by compiling "fetch lists" and then fetching files from the school connection. The easiest way to get FreeBSD is to download ISOs, the second easiest might be to wget the entire FTP directory. The second method is very rude and so I use the first method. There are many people who have access to a fast connection only at certain times. Also, I have a laptop that runs Mac OS X. Furthermore, everything I access on the internet goes through this laptop. That means that can only install via files and not with any kind of a network install. Downloading ISOs is not much of a waste of time as I have it downloading on the background. In this case though, I it is a waste of media as I have two obsolete CD-Rs.

    9. Re:Coaster and a Frisbie by cmad_x · · Score: 0

      Once you got a FreeBSD system set up, you could/should use cvsup to update. Way faster than downloading the ISOs and burning them and reinstalling.

    10. Re:Coaster and a Frisbie by rainer_d · · Score: 2, Informative
      Lehmann's in Germany is going to release a DVD-ROM of 5.3 with about 8000 packages.
      That should keep most people busy and relieve dial-up users from download-hell.
      The DVD seems to be very cheap, so even with international shipping, it shouldn't cost a fortune.

      Rainer

      --
      Windows 2000 - from the guys who brought us edlin
    11. Re:Coaster and a Frisbie by devphaeton · · Score: 1

      In this case though, I it is a waste of media as I have two obsolete CD-Rs.

      Or you've got two bootable 5.x series cdroms that you can use to do a netinstall w/o fiddling with floppies. The second CD you have there probably won't change much from the actual release.

      It all depends on how you look at it.

      Sure, I got jacked in the middle of a binary install bc the mirror i was on changed from RC1 to RC2 in the middle, but oh well. What do you expect for free?

      I give the fbsd team credit for pulling the plug on a release that wasn't ready yet. It takes a lot of guts to say "we thought we were set, but we were wrong."

      --


      do() || do_not(); // try();
    12. Re:Coaster and a Frisbie by freshman_a · · Score: 1

      the whole point of a RC is to find and fix bugs. hence the name "release candidate", not "release". there is no definitive number of RCs before a final release.

      and if downloading and burning 1.1GB is too much of an effort, why don't you just pre-order 5.3? you don't have to worry about how many RCs there are and you'll be giving back a little. then again, you are complaining about wasting 2 CD-Rs, which costs less than the amount of change i have on the floor of my car...

    13. Re:Coaster and a Frisbie by Vidael · · Score: 1

      When RC1 was released, it was stated that it was "likely" to be the final, not that it was 100% going to _be_ the final before the actual release.

      CD-RWs work fine for installing operating systems, I haven't burned an OS image to a CDR in years. CD-RW's are cheap enough now as well.

    14. Re:Coaster and a Frisbie by outZider · · Score: 1

      Perhaps you could download the 'bootonly' ISO, at 20mb, and install over the network?

      --
      - oZ
      // i am here.
    15. Re:Coaster and a Frisbie by ulib · · Score: 1
      OMG. Like leave the guy alone. If he wants to complain about his CDs let him. It's more a statement on the accountablity of BSD. "RC1, then we release!" "Er, ok... we lied!"

      This is is clearly a Troll.
      From the announcement of RC1: "This will likely be the only Release Candidate before the final release of 5.3". The word 'likely' should ring a bell...

    16. Re:Coaster and a Frisbie by ahacop@wmuc.umd.edu · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Unlike most Linux distros FreeBSD is really easy to upgrade. Go ahead and install RC1. Updating FreeBSD amounts to:
      % cvsup
      % make buildworld
      % make installworld
      % reboot

      It's a little more complicated than that, but not much more.

    17. Re:Coaster and a Frisbie by ulib · · Score: 1
      What I hate more is when most people tell me that there won't be a new release condidate and I can rest assured that RC1 is going to be the final

      No you *can't* rest assured. Here, have a look at what the word "likely" means.

      Kudos to who marked a Troll "interesting"... :-/

    18. Re:Coaster and a Frisbie by snol · · Score: 1

      It must be those goddamned liberals and their treason again.

    19. Re:Coaster and a Frisbie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I somehow believe that's the moderators job, not yours, to decide. All he said was leave the grandparent alone about the CDs comment. Debate about the definition of the world likely isn't the point here, but clearly you missed that.

    20. Re:Coaster and a Frisbie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Unlike most Linux distros FreeBSD..."

      You bet is just "most" not all Linux distros...

      For upgrading a Debian GNU/Linux is just two commands, three at most:
      # apt-get update
      # apt-get dist-upgrade
      # reboot

      It's not more complicated than this, no more at all.

    21. Re:Coaster and a Frisbie by DoctorPepper · · Score: 1

      Why three separate commands?

      apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade && reboot

      Works for me!

      --

      No matter where you go... there you are.
    22. Re:Coaster and a Frisbie by welsh+git · · Score: 1

      > I am a student with a dialup connection at home. The only way I can possibly install most
      > software is by compiling "fetch lists" and then fetching files from the school connection.
      > The easiest way to get FreeBSD is to download ISOs,

      If it is that awkward for you, why didn't you simply wait another week for the final release ?

      --
      Sig out of date
    23. Re:Coaster and a Frisbie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      All he said was leave the grandparent alone about the CDs comment.

      No. Read again the post you're referring to.

      Debate about the definition of the world likely isn't the point here, but clearly you missed that.

      If you actually *read* the post you're referring to (hopefully you *can* read, can't you?) the definition of the world likely *is* the point, since the word "likely" is what distinguishes a lie from what's simply a wrong expectation.

  4. This is good. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is just more proof that the folks over at FreeBSD are committed to releasing nothing that's not at-or-near perfect. For sure, nothing will hold the -RELEASE tag unless I'd run it at home if not in a production environment.

    Personally, I'm happy that they're more concerned with stability than they are with the release schedual. The bugs in RC1 were pretty severe if not overreaching.

    1. Re:This is good. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree, every distro should have a release engineering team like we do.

      This is not a flame, but just giving kudos to where its needed

    2. Re:This is good. by a_hofmann · · Score: 4, Interesting
      I always had the impression that FreeBSD has gathered one of the most professional teams around an open source project of this scale. They focus on delivering a high quality operating system, and that's seemingly the only rationale behind engineering decisions. I like that attitude.

      Maybe that is why it works out so well ?

    3. Re:This is good. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They've been trying to get the 5- branch ready for "prime time" for some time now. Around the fire on the various mailing lists says that 5.3 has a good chance to be promoted to -STABLE, but it's really hard to say; there are a lot of folks running 5.X in production environments now, but I personally would never advocate running any release in the -CURRENT or even -RELEASE branches, but instead opt into the much more proven -STABLE branch unless you have an overwhelming need to use features that only exist in 5.X (although the "cream of the crop" will almost certainly make it into the -STABLE release, which is currently 4.X).

      It's all really personal preference and has a lot to do with the scale of your production environment and any SLAs you may or may not have to take into consideration. That, and how big a risk-taker you are.

    4. Re:This is good. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yeah, cause no other OS's have release candidates.

  5. Re:and the kernel is? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Afraid not, the kernel is all hacked in house, along with the userland tools to make it a Real OS.

  6. Not just another RC by corby · · Score: 3, Funny

    I am really impressed with the work that went into this RC. GDB fixes, plus work on memory allocations and networking data structures.

    Bravo! I hereby increase my bid to $52,000.

    Sincerely,
    Jeff Merkey

    (Please remember that directing vitriol against the mentally disabled may be a violation of Federal Hate Crimes statues)

    1. Re:Not just another RC by ulib · · Score: 1

      This is as serious as the offer that was made to Linux. ;)

  7. Re:Minor Interest ... by Mjlner · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah, but this release is probably just to show off to the NetBSD team that the FreeBSD team has the guts to stick with the demon logo.

    --
    Lemon curry???
  8. Re:and the kernel is? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anyway, i wouldn't give a damn buck for a BSD licensed FreeBSD kernel...

  9. Re:Complete success! by diegocgteleline.es · · Score: 4, Informative

    "1. Why not fix the new schedular?" "2. Why did it take so long for them to realise it wasn't going to work" 5.x has been too slow. They want to release a stable, functional operative system. Despite of the lack of the ULE scheduler there're a lot of stable areas and new features in FreeBSD 5.X which people need in the real world to solve real problems. Hence the "need" of a 5.x-based "stable" release, to leave 4.x behind (just for mainteinance) and start to work 100% with 5.X. The ULE scheduler has some problems but it also has a lot of good things that work, it'll be just delayed to get maximum stability for 5.3. It looks like they don't want to have Yet Another Delay. Other operative systems (linux 2.6, windows, other BSDs) are also a natural competition for freebsd and freebsd needs a stable 5.x to face them because 4.X is just old and misses lots of features. I'd guess the ULE scheduler will be fixed and enabled by default in 5.4.

  10. is it just me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    not meaning to troll, but isn't linux certed to have faster networking than FBSD now? please post links in reply so we can discuss evidence, I just remember hearing a whole heap of BSDers always claim the networking is better and then someone counter-claiming that linux had FBSDs scalp finally.

    1. Re:is it just me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      fair enough, but im just going to chime in and say - on what distro is the fastest internet land speed record performed on.

      nothing else but netbsd.

    2. Re:is it just me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Distro? Damn Linux bastard....

      Remind me again, which BSD is it than can handle the most packets per second? FreeBSD.

      But what's this point of all this? Leave the pointless bickering to the Linux crowd.

  11. Obligatory BSDis dying troll by nels_tomlinson · · Score: 5, Funny
    [man with cart] Bring out yer dead!
    [Man with OS slung over his shoulder] 'ere's one!
    [FreeBSD, slung over shoulder] But I'm not dead yet!
    [Man with cart] 'e sez e's not dead.
    [Man with OS] Don't mind 'im, what does he know?
    [Man with cart] Well ... I can't take 'im 'til Netcraft confirms it, can I now?
    [FreeBSD] Netcraft? Netcraft! Well, that bloody does it!

    FreeBSD jumps off the second man's shoulder and begins to club both men, vigorously.

    1. Re:Obligatory BSDis dying troll by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Troll? Christ, some moderators need a swift kick to the nuts.

      Idiots.

      I modded you funny. And yes, I'm posting to let you know.

  12. Re:Complete success! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Flatery aint going to get you shit my dear.

  13. XP? by spectrokid · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...includes an updated network stack ...
    In other news, Microsoft has declared they have just improved the network-stack of Windows XP, making it more robust under heavy loads....

    --

    10 ?"Hello World" life was simple then

    1. Re:XP? by ceeam · · Score: 0

      No, that's MS'ers who used that one when they had nothing ;)

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

      The stack was completely re-written for NT 3.5. The stack in NT 3.5 was then ported to Win9x for the release of Windows 95.

      Exactly... rewritten from scratch to include a huge number of security issues. They were too stupid to know when to stick with a proven TCP stack.

    3. Re:XP? by ulib · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Troll-joking-about-the-few-restrictions-of-the-BSD -license says
      In other news, Microsoft has declared they have just improved the network-stack of Windows XP, making it more robust under heavy loads....

      Strange... you should be happy, because GNU/Linux can adopt it as well. And it's about time... :)
      What's New in the FreeBSD Network Stack (Sep 2004)
      Quote: "FreeBSD can now route 1Mpps on a 2.8GHz Xeon whilst Linux can't do much more than 100kpps."

      Seriously... It looks like most of you GNU/Linux users hate Microsoft more than you love your OS. I hope I'm wrong, because that would be a bit sad... :-/

    4. Re:XP? by daft_one · · Score: 0

      Yeah, you're wrong. At least out of the sample of 20 in my social circle (read: my operating systems class... let's be honest, I don't have any friends), only one hates MS more than he likes linux.

  14. does fbsd have good framebuffer console? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    i'm using 1024x768 @75Hz (128 columns of text!) and it's a dream for coding in. i don't wanna use X, so only way i'll be happy in fbsd is if i can get big BIG console windows like this. anywhere from 128 to 132 cols is good enough for me.
    (i already checked fbsd web site man pages for wscons, and it looks like 800x600 with 90 cols is the max???)

    1. Re:does fbsd have good framebuffer console? by SillyNickName4me · · Score: 5, Informative

      > i'm using 1024x768 @75Hz (128 columns of text!) and it's a dream for coding in. i don't wanna use X, so only way i'll be happy in fbsd is if i can get big BIG console windows like this. anywhere from 128 to 132 cols is good enough for me.
      (i already checked fbsd web site man pages for wscons, and it looks like 800x600 with 90 cols is the max???)

      First of all, you'd need man syscons, not wscons.

      At any rate, I'm currently using 132x43 character mode on my console, which works fine as logn as you have a graphics card with a vesa 1.2 bios or better, and have enabled vesa support (either by compiling it into your kernel or by loading the vesa kernel module)

      800x600 (with 90 text collums) seems to be the maximum for graphics mode with syscons, but for character mode it seems to rather support anythign that your vesa bios supports.

      Som if all you need is a 132x43 text mode screen, then yeah, that will work fine. If you need graphics mode, checkout the manpages on vga, vgl and vesa and see if that woulf work for you.

    2. Re:does fbsd have good framebuffer console? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yeah sorry syscons/vidcontrol, not wscons! i've been reading net/open bsd site too (looking for one that will work for me) and i'm getting htem all confused. ;-)
      i'd prefer a "real" graphics mode (like Linux fbdev) because that way i can use image/video software like mplayer/fbi/links2 on the console (but maybe it's ok to limp along with svgalib for now...)
      i'm sure my video cards have vesa1.2, they're not that old. here's 'lspci' output:
      01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Trident Microsystems CyberBlade/i1 (rev 6a)
      01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS630 GUI Accelerator+3D (rev 31)

      oh one last thing: is there a way to get the console moused to copy text with button1 and paste with button2 (like with gpm) instead of it assuming i have a 3-button mouse? (i tried the emulate 3 button thing before and it didn't work very well, even tried remapping button 3 -> button 2 in moused, but then it started wigging out...)

    3. Re:does fbsd have good framebuffer console? by SillyNickName4me · · Score: 2, Informative

      > i'd prefer a "real" graphics mode (like Linux fbdev) because that way i can use image/video software like mplayer/fbi/links2 on the console (but maybe it's ok to limp along with svgalib for now...)

      Hmm, that seems to work on a radeon 9200 here when using xvidx driver, but yeah, using background graphics would be a reason to want graphics mode.

      Eventho xvidx manages to play a movie as background of a text mode console, it isn't without flaws (scaling does not always work properly, and cpu cost is rather high when compared to using xvideo for example, not to mention the impact on responsiveness of the machine)

      I prefer the speed and low resource use of a character mode console, tho that seems mostly relevant on low-end hardware, and changes as soon as you want to use something like xvidx. I found I'm usually better off using a very minimal x-windows setup for running graphics mode programs in such cases on FreeBSD.

      > i'm sure my video cards have vesa1.2, they're not that old. here's 'lspci' output:
      01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Trident Microsystems CyberBlade/i1 (rev 6a)
      01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS630 GUI Accelerator+3D (rev 31)

      Hmm, from what I can tell both should work indeed, just ensure you have the VESA module loaded (add vesa_load="YES" to /boot/loader.conf) and ensure that you have softfonts loaded (see the 'configure' menu of the installer, goto 'Console' and from there got 'Fonts' and select the font(s) suitable for your language)

      You should now be able to do a vidcontrol 132x43 and such.

      Btw, the 800x600 pixel mode that FreeBSD's syscons driver supports is actually intended for forcing certain laptops into graphics mode so X can properly use it later. I happen to use it to get a console on tv-out for a pc I use as media center. Supporting hires screens for text doesn't seem part of the plan for it. Interestingly, vidcontrol on my system lists quite a few graphics modes beyond 800x600, but refuses to consider them as valid when trying to switch to them.

  15. FreeBSD Newbie here by acherrington · · Score: 1

    What is the best way to upgrade to this version? Download the CDs? Through the ports? Do you have some sort of strange method that no one else has heard of?

    --


    Victory is gained, not in knowing your opponents next move, but in preempting them.
    1. Re:FreeBSD Newbie here by Moloch666 · · Score: 3, Informative

      What is the best way to upgrade to this version? Download the CDs? Through the ports? Do you have some sort of strange method that no one else has heard of? The answer falls under then 3rd option. Although every FreeBSD user should have heard of it. It's called cvsup. Take a look at the FreeBSD handbook. It will describe the process much better than I ever could. Look for the heading "make world".

      --
      Understanding is a three-edged sword. -- Kosh Naranek
    2. Re:FreeBSD Newbie here by acherrington · · Score: 1

      Thank you very much for your help. Much appreciated sir.

      --


      Victory is gained, not in knowing your opponents next move, but in preempting them.
    3. Re:FreeBSD Newbie here by a_hofmann · · Score: 3, Informative
      Have a look at Synchronizing Your Source and the next chapter, Rebuilding world in the FreeBSD handbook. The whole procedure of a source upgrade is explained there.

      You should settle to this method as it is the preferred way of keeping your system up-to-date, wether on updating between releases or incooperating security or maintainance updates from the respective RELEASE branches.

      Basically after having your source updated to the latest RELENG_5_3 branch, typically via cvsup(1), it consists of the following steps:

      # make buildworld
      # make buildkernel
      # make installkernel
      # reboot

      single mode:

      # mergemaster -p
      # make installworld
      # mergemaster
      # reboot

      It is very straight-forward, still be sure to read about the details in the handbook.

    4. Re:FreeBSD Newbie here by kirkjobsluder · · Score: 3, Informative

      I really need to disagree with the previous two posters on this. The early adopter's guide recommends backup-install-restore rather than cvsup from source.

    5. Re:FreeBSD Newbie here by Moloch666 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Np, glad to help

      I should add, that I found the tag specification somewhat confusing. The default is ".", which is current. Current is now FreeBSD-6.0 probably very unstable.

      Your tag should be tag=RELENG_5_3, although it may need to be tag=RELENG_5. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that for the most up to date 5.3 you need tag=RELENG_5_3. This will make sense after reading the make world section of the handbook.

      I did google on the make world process for clarity. You may come across a site "BSDVault" that is rather helpful.

      Sorry I can't provide any links. The school net connection is always overloaded, so all I can stand waiting on is the gentoo forums and slashdot.

      --
      Understanding is a three-edged sword. -- Kosh Naranek
    6. Re:FreeBSD Newbie here by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Note that the above procedure is only recommended for upgrading minor versions (e.g 5.x to 5.x). Do not use this to upgrade 4.x to 5.x. To upgrade from 4.x, the recommended method is to backup, install 5.x and restore - this allows you to take advantage of UFS2.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    7. Re:FreeBSD Newbie here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's also important to keep in mind that the system structure changed signifcantly. If you try an upgrade by source from 4x to 5x you will end up with old 4x stuff strewn all over the system. This could potentially end up confusing yourself, or even worse the system.

    8. Re:FreeBSD Newbie here by bcrowell · · Score: 1
      Actually, a FreeBSD newbie probably shouldn't be running 5.3-RC2 at all. A newbie should be running 4.x. The RC releases exist so that hard-core users can bang on it and debug it.

      But if there is some crucial feature of 5.3 that this person really needs (support for a certain USB device or something), I agree, download the ISOs and backup-install-restore.

  16. Re:and the kernel is? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    earth to mods, i was joking.

  17. kgi4BSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    some time ago there was something happenning about grapgics for the console, hmm let me google...

    http://people.freebsd.org/~nsouch/kgi4BSD/

    1. Re:kgi4BSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      thanx for the link. looks like ist's still in heavy development stage, but it's good to see something's going on though...

  18. Re:Complete success! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Flatery? Isn't that what the Japanese call that Lord of the Dance guy? Did you mean Flattery?

  19. WOOOOOO!!!!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    SchedulAAAARRRRRR!!!!

  20. Damn. by StarKruzr · · Score: 1

    Those are some cheap chocolate bars you've got (ours are at least 35p, typically). Also some expensive CD-Rs. I can get CD-Rs for around a nickel (2-3p, about) apiece.

    --

    +++ATH0
  21. Re:Complete success! by esbjerg · · Score: 5, Informative

    The ULE scheduler was supposed to be the default scheduler. It was placed as the default in 5.2. Between 5.2 and 5.3 kernel preemption was enabled. Some serious flaws in ULE popped up leading to crashes and other instability. Due to the complexity of ULE and preemption together only a handful of core people are able to fix this.
    Since 5.x has been hold back long enough it was decided to drop ULE as the default scheduler for 5.3 and concentrate on releasing 5.3.
    This doesn't mean that nobody is working on fixing the problem nor that ULE will not be the default scheduler. It is just going to take a while before it happens.

    The reason for totally disabling ULE in 5.3 was to focus on other bugs in 5.3 and fix ULE on current (6.0) and then backport this to a later 5.x release.

    I suggest you read cvs-src summaries at http://www.xl0.org/FreeBSD/ which gives a view on what is happening on current.

  22. Re:Wow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    damn, we're 3 now?!? Who's the new one?

  23. Another reason to run DragonFly FreeBSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This 5.3 release is full of bugs and is slow too. It still does not release the Big Giant Lock like it was promised a year ago. It looks like it's time to give the DragonFly branch of FreeBSD 4 a try.

    1. Re:Another reason to run DragonFly FreeBSD by SillyNickName4me · · Score: 2, Funny

      > This 5.3 release is full of bugs and is slow too.

      It certainly has some bugs. Regarding slow, it is far from slow for what I happen to do with it, but it might be for your case.

      > It still does not release the Big Giant Lock like it was promised a year ago.

      It does for some and not for other cases. It is definitely not free from giant locks for now.

      > It looks like it's time to give the DragonFly branch of FreeBSD 4 a try.

      I find Dragonfly very interesting but at the moment it is not usable for production for me for the simple reason that it lacks support for hardware that I have and use (and so does FreeBSD 4.x), so little choice there (alternative woudl be to run Linux on that hardware)

      What hardware?

      Broadcom gigabit ethernet chipset (yea, I know its crappy, but it is on many mid/lowcost systemboards, and it does work well enough for most workstation purposes)

      Any graphics hardware with accelerated opengl that actually performs somewhat better then software rendering.

      Support for multiple audio cards, preferably with virtual audio channels.

      Now, those may not be features you require, fine for you. I do happen to need them, so I will pcik a platform that supports them.

      If/when Dragonfly happens to support either smp on a hypersparc machine or most of the hardware that I happen to use every day, it will have a good chance of finding a spot on a machine here.

      I wonder about your post tho. Commenting on the scheduler and locking problems is justified tho hardly new, but do you think you are doing anyone a favor by acting similar to that HawkinsOS guy? (ie, hijack each and every FreeBSD related thread anywhere to promote your system of choice while re-iterating the same argument over and over)

    2. Re:Another reason to run DragonFly FreeBSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think Broadcom cards work now under DragonFly. I don't know about multiple audio cards. In both cases, it's worth asking on one of the DragonFly mailing lists (kernel@dragonflybsd.org or users@dragonflybsd.org) - if they aren't supported, there's folks who may be able to work on it.

      As for accelerated GL - FreeBSD nvidia drivers work through a port override, and anything else that XFree86/X.org works with should go fine.

      There's a lot of VFS work going on right now, so if this is for work machines, it may be worth waiting... but it will also be worth evaluating.

      Disclaimer: I work on DragonFly, so of course I think it's great.

    3. Re:Another reason to run DragonFly FreeBSD by SillyNickName4me · · Score: 1

      > I think Broadcom cards work now under DragonFly. I don't know about multiple audio cards. In both cases, it's worth asking on one of the DragonFly mailing lists (kernel@dragonflybsd.org or users@dragonflybsd.org) - if they aren't supported, there's folks who may be able to work on it.

      Well, good to hear that it is developing well in that area also.

      > As for accelerated GL - FreeBSD nvidia drivers work through a port override, and anything else that XFree86/X.org works with should go fine.

      Hmm, means it will work on at least oen machien here with accelerated opengl, good to know. Is dri available for the opensource opengl drivers for older ati and matrox hardware also?

      > There's a lot of VFS work going on right now,

      Yeah, read about it on the Dragonfly website.

      > so if this is for work machines, it may be worth waiting...
      > but it will also be worth evaluating.

      Yep. current lack of a modern x86 machine that is available for this is why I don't have it running right now. THe x86 hardware that I have is used for work and somewhat serious personal stuff. Most 'playing' with operating systems is on things like slightly older sgi and sun hardware here for now.

      Definitely something I will keep an eye on tho, and as said, when it supports enough of the hardware that I use daily, it is likely to find a spot on a machine here. Good to kmow that it is closer to that point then I thought.

      > Disclaimer: I work on DragonFly, so of course I think it's great.

      Hehe, well, no problem there.

      Also pls note that my original comemnt was not to say that Draginfly is not interesting, but to point at the thread hijacking by some of its supporters that imho is rather counter productive (and I hoped to do so in a somewhat funny way, which oh wonders seems to have been understood by at least one moderator)

      At any rate, good luck with the system, and I will definitely keep an eye on how it is developing.

    4. Re:Another reason to run DragonFly FreeBSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      HawkinsOS has a fully fixed ULE scheduler, fully working KSE and journalled FFSv2.

      --
      HawkinsOS, kicking Smorgreff in the ass since 2004.

  24. Is 5.3 final going to be production ready? by DrShasta · · Score: 1

    I've been running FreeBSD 4.x on my web and database servers for a while. I'm about ready to buy some new hardware, and I'd love to put 5.x on it, but after looking at the release notes for 5, it appears that they are urging me not to do this. So I guess I'll go with 4.10 on my new machines. Does anyone know when the 5 branch will be ready? Is 5.3 final going to be it? If so, how many more months before it arrives?

    1. Re:Is 5.3 final going to be production ready? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Chances are if you're really concerned about what 5.x will do for you, you'll probably test it anyway - so really it's not going to matter when other people say it's ready.

      Personally I've migrated all my servers (except 1) to 5.2.1 with no problems (except a typo in wordexp.h) If you're looking for stability, I'd say that 5.3 will be ready. If you're looking for performance... well that depends.

  25. Will this release be PRODUCTION quality... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and recommended over 4.10?

  26. ULE vs. `the one that will be in 5.3-RELEASE` by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    what's the main difference between ULE and the one that will come with 5.3-RELEASE? what difference does that make to a sysadmin that has absolutely no clue of c programming? what features am i missing without ULE?

    1. Re:ULE vs. `the one that will be in 5.3-RELEASE` by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ULE is the new, better scheduler. It's not coming in 5.3-RELEASE because it has showstopping bugs when combined with PREEMPTION that weren't noticed until the release candidates, and can't be fixed because the kernel developers that understand it won't work for free.

      Dragonfly will be ready soon enough.

  27. Freedbsd-Stable? by krammit · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I remember a few months ago that 5.3 was the target for making the 5.X branch the official "stable" branch. Any word on when 5.X goes stable if not with this release?

    --
    "Watch your cornhole, bud."
    1. Re:Freedbsd-Stable? by The+Black+Vegetable · · Score: 1
      Umm, I'm running 5.3-STABLE now actually; kristin# uname -a FreeBSD kristin.lpl.nu 5.3-STABLE FreeBSD 5.3-STABLE #17: Tue Oct 26 00:29:25 CEST 2004 root@kristin.lpl.nu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/KRISTIN i386
      I'm tracking RELENG_5 in case anyone is wondering.

      CVSWeb also has some interesting reading...
      For those not bothering to check the link, FreeBSD has gone from 5.3-STABLE -> 5.3-RELEASE -> 5.3 RC1 and now 5.3 RC2!?

    2. Re:Freedbsd-Stable? by The+Black+Vegetable · · Score: 2, Informative

      This document also has some useful information:The Road Map for 5-STABLE

  28. Re:and the kernel is? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Good, then that means I can use it in commercial embedded systems without the encumbrance of the GPL.
    It's great to have choice!

  29. anyone remember 2.4.0-2.4.10? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Let's not get too huffy here about ULE. Anyone care to bring remember the ugly VM wars of the early 2.4 series? Even now there's still plenty of LKM traffic over scheduling in the 2.6 kernel. The unfortunate thing is that I think a bunch of the work is for naught. I believe Dragonfly (at least in concept) will end up being much more scalable. If that proves true, I'd hope that down the road they re-merge to focus resources on IMHO is the most robust of the FOSS OS's.

  30. OT but I had to share! by crazyboie · · Score: 4, Funny

    My daemon pumpkin http://www.joyrank.com/misc/daemon-finish-20041028 .jpg I did Tux last year with a stencil I found on the net so this year I made the daemon one from scratch. Kinda rough in a few places but overall, I was pretty satisfied with the results. Cheers,

    1. Re:OT but I had to share! by gearry · · Score: 1

      I did Tux two years ago. Last year I carved ;) in my pumpkin. This year I skipped the computer theme and somebody stole my pumpkin. Next year I think I am going to carve some binary, but have not decided what yet. Any suggestions?

      --
      like g-a-r-y, only different
    2. Re:OT but I had to share! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    3. Re:OT but I had to share! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cute "hollow" Beastie! :)
      Nice work indeed.

  31. Can ordinary users use this? by northcat · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I once tried to install FreeBSD on my system. I couldn't get X and many other apps to work. And installation wasn't very "pleasant". So, here is my question: Can an ordinary user like me use FreeBSD?

    1. Re:Can ordinary users use this? by sremick · · Score: 2, Funny

      I know a 16yo girl who installed FreeBSD on her own. She loves using Firefox, Gaim, and AbiWord.

      She even tells me about how she uses Yahoo chat rooms to get FreeBSD support (when I'm not around).

    2. Re:Can ordinary users use this? by Vidael · · Score: 3, Informative

      Anyone who can read the handbook should be able to install it and use it. The problem is that not many people (including myself a year ago) want to spend the time to RTFM. The handbook really is well put together though. FreeBSD certainly isn't as "easy" to get up and running as Fedora or Mandrake, but it's certainly possible. Only severe issue I've had with FreeBSD lately is with my Compaq laptop. If you want to run FreeBSD, avoid Compaq like the plaque. I can't even boot into the installer (it shuts the machine down). At least it runs arch linux...

    3. Re:Can ordinary users use this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And just what are you doing around a 16yo girl? :)

    4. Re:Can ordinary users use this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      I know a 16yo girl

      Yeah, right.

    5. Re:Can ordinary users use this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      do you mean her?

    6. Re:Can ordinary users use this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah damnit. I'm sitting here on a Campaq trying to decide between Debian and FreeBSD. Looks like I don't have a choice after-all.

  32. This is bad. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The release was all ready to go out, imperfect and buggy as it was, but was called off at the last minute due to 2 of the numerous bugs lying around in FreeBSD 5.3. Who knows how many more bugs there are just waiting to bite an unsuspecting FreeBSD user who naively believes the FreeBSD 5 experimental warning is finally ready to be lifted. This last minute recall does not inspire confidence at all.

  33. The most secure OS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, it must be a security feature. When you are under a DOS attack, stop processing requests...

  34. Definition of Release Candidate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought a release candidate was supposed to be the actual code which would be released, unless problems were found in it. That is, the final release candidate should be *exactly* the same as the final release. Somehow, 'release candidate' has become just another synonym for beta version.

    If changes are made after the final release candidate, then they haven't been tested in the real world.

  35. Re:Wow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Hey! I'm in as well! And I brought some friends. Here we are. ;)
    Nearly 2.5 Million Active Sites running FreeBSD

  36. Re:Complete success! by anholt · · Score: 1

    Incidentally, jeffr just came back and applied a couple of significant fixes to ULE, notably the KSE+ULE+PREEMPTION that was the primary reason it was disabled. Now let's hope its speed can be brought up to 4BSD levels for server tasks (assuming that it hasn't got better since the last benchmarking was done, which may not be true), so it can be turned back on and give us back that desktop-interactivity love.

    (Parent post was definitely accurate on the reasoning)

  37. TEST IT PEOPLE - PLEASE DL the CD! by QuietRiot · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Get the CD and install on a spare machine. BEAT THE HELL OUT OF IT.

    If you find a bug you will be a GOD in the eyes of those that want to run 5.3 production-style.

    I vote wait untill that release is FULLY READY TO GO OUT THE DOOR. 5.3 is critical to further acceptance of FreeBSD, further commercial funding support, further legitimacy of the platform, and confidence in the developers/Release Engineering team.

    If you need it now, run the RC. Unless a TON of people need 5.3 NOW, the developers should feel no pressure to get it out the door. They should feel pressure to get testers to find problems. They should feel pressure to find people that like inflicting damage on a running OS. Find those twisted individuals and give them a RC CD and a keyboard. Hear their stories.

    Make it good as the worlds's eyes will be upon this relase and any further potential problems. RC2 should be fixing a much smaller list of bugs.

    WE'RE STILL PLAYING AROUND WITH SCHEDULER CHOICES!! ???? I'd suggest more RCs. Blank CD-R media is CHEAP. Corporate downtime when bugs are discovered 1.5 weeks out from a release IS NOT!

    Test Test Test Test Test. Beat the hell out of it - portinstall all ports. Rock the box and see how she holds. Try and crash it. Pound it from the network. Pull a live disk. JMP to a block of random bytes. Run 200 instances of your JVM. Start up as many desktop applications as possible. Try and kill your install and see how Beastie holds.....

    5.3 is going to ROCK but SHOULD NOT BE RUSHED!!! If it needs time, by all means give RE-team time!

    I hope we don't have to see a 5.3.1 release.

    Perhaps the developers should require a certain variation in hardware platforms tested on or a given number of people to run it with no problems before final release.

    (I don't run FreeBSD in a corporate environment or profess to know much about RE's testing process. Just trying to get in people's heads that extreme testing WILL make this release a HUGE success.)

    1. Re:TEST IT PEOPLE - PLEASE DL the CD! by l0b0 · · Score: 1

      Hm, OK. The last week I've tried Fedora Core 3 Test 3, Mandrake 10.1 Official, and SimplyMEPIS 2004.04, and found bugs in all of them within minutes of use (and severa. Just hope that your bug feedback system user registration email doesn't get rated "definitely spam" (like it did with Mandrake).

      I might not be an expert, but I know a bug when I see one...

    2. Re:TEST IT PEOPLE - PLEASE DL the CD! by l0b0 · · Score: 1
      (and severa
      This was supposed to read "(and several during the Mandrake installation)". These were mostly cosmetic, but still...
  38. Re:Complete success! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who modded this piece of shit spic up? All his saying is bullshit, and what the hell are "operative systems"?

    Puto sudaca.

    HawkinsOS, total pwnage.

  39. Re:Complete success! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Jeff Roberson, the only person who understands the ULE code has been away for some months. I have patches that fix 2/3 of the bugs (some of the PREEMPTION stuff is nasty), and I'll happily donate them as soon as I see a public apology by DES and PHK.

    HawkinsOS, FreeBSD 5.3 done right.

  40. Why all of the yelling? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Your fetish with the reminds me of a Billy Mays commercial. Hold it down. Seriously...

  41. Re:Wow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow, that's a lot of dying sites! I think that is the internet version of the "Black Death".

  42. No, FreeBSD is LOTS faster by koinu · · Score: 1
  43. good! by bcrowell · · Score: 1

    I think it was an excellent idea to delay the release and revert to the older scheduler. I installed RC1, and am using it now for ordinary day to day desktop stuff. In general it seems to be an excellent release, but within the first week of use, I experienced problems that seem to be problems with the scheduler. It's only a sample size of one, admittedly, but I think it indicates that the problems with the scheduler were not esoteric ones that would only bother a few people.

    1. Re:good! by chenwah · · Score: 1

      The difference in RC2 was not to change back to using SCHED_BSD - this was done quite some time ago when the issues with SCHED_ULE became apparent.

      The problem was that a lot of people were still using SCHED_ULE in their kernel configs and getting mysterious problems. Developers were spending a lot of time trying to figure out what the problem was before the user owned up to using ULE which was known to be broken.

      The change for RC2 was to forcibly break ULE so that if a user attempts to compile a kernel with ULE as the scheduler it will error out. Less noise on the lists, fewer unhappy users.

      So it is not like there is any last minute schedule shuffling going on here. The BSD scheduler is rock solid and has recently gained a lot of the features that ULE has too but it has fewer bugs and is actively maintained.

      ULE will be great when someone steps forward with the time to finish it off.

      - flip

    2. Re:good! by bcrowell · · Score: 1

      Hnm... this is what I was referring to. I was not using any nonstandard settings, and this was new behavior after upgrading from 5.2 to 5.3. The reply from Kris Kennaway made me think that it was a known issue that was probably fixed after RC1 came out. Maybe I'll download and install RC2, see if the problem is indeed fixed, and report it if it's not.

  44. My bad. Sorry for getting loud. (More shoutouts2) by QuietRiot · · Score: 1

    Sorry about the yelling people.

    I LOVE FreeBSD!!! I really can't wait for this release. Actually I can (perhaps unlike others), but it does excite me quite a bit. Just wish I had a MP machine on which to play....

    Developers. Developers. Developers. You're all beautiful. Your work is wonderful. You code so we don't have to. Kudos, thanks, and appreciation to the Nth!

    Same goes for the testers. FreeBSD wouldn't be where it is today if it weren't for you installing untested code on your machines and diligently reporting problems and fixes. Cheers to you brave, brave souls.

    Shoutouts to the documentation crew! THE HANDBOOK ROCKS and has since I started reading it. What a value. It comes free! Free OS, Free docs. What's not to love???

    Port maintainers. Put up your hands for these guys. A wide range of code setup for flawless builds with a single command.

    Wizardry. Pure wizardry.

  45. Re:Wow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    ...and in the link I posted Netcraft reports the number is growing at the rate of half a million a year!

    But fear not: it's not a plague. Actually, you know, it often makes your PC go definitely faster. :)
    About FreeBSD's Network Stack

  46. XMMS skipping? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Do the ULE scheduler problems have anything to do with XMMS skipping while doing certain other things? For example, every time I mouse over a link in Firefox, XMMS skips a bit even though Firefox is niced at +10. This is really the only thing that still bugs me about my new 5.3 RC1 install...

  47. Outstanding by nsayer · · Score: 2

    I just upgraded my desktop at work to RC2 from 5.2.1. The hiccups were minimal (remove PFIL_HOOKS, add devices io and mem, re-download HFS support), and for my trouble my problems getting my iPod to talk to the USB 2.0 interfaces have all gone away. While I was at it, I added LDAP NSS and PAM support ports and am now a very happy camper! Kudos to everyone involved.

  48. HawkinsOS Cured My Halitosis!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Look, I too suffered from the same halitosis, foot odor, kronik badd speehlin, and social ineptitude as T.J. Hawkins.....then I read THIS!!! It changed my life, and for only $132/year it can change yours, too! How, you ask? None of your business, asshole, 'cause that's proprietary - just like all of the Really Big & Important Software projects. Read on.....

    Look, I've been doing consulting work for nearly 15 years. About the site, I had to put up an old copy because after that thread several FreeBSD members broke into my network and nearly deleted everything. I'm 75% sure that it's the work of Dag-Erling and his friends, as most of the packets and exploit attempts (until they succeded) were coming from Norway and Denmark.

    I've sold 2,000 copies and made money off *my* work. How many copies has the FreeBSD foundation sold? Oh, that's what I thought, becuase 5.3 is not usable in a production environment, not without my patches. And guess what, they won't be getting my patches unless I see public apology from DES and PHK.

    Support my [hawkinsos.com] operating system!

  49. Two RCs, four betas, still can't run on HP laptops by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Neil Winterbaue identified a serious problem with all versions of FreeBSD (5 and 4) on all recent Compaq/HP laptops, on all architectures (i386 and amd64):

    http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=amd64/6 7745

    There is a patch, but its not being committed. Anyone know why? How come the patch exists.... works perfectly.... and isn't being commited?

  50. HawkinsOS Cured My Halitosis!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Look, I too suffered from the same halitosis, foot odor, kronik badd speehlin, and social ineptitude as T.J. Hawkins.....then I read THIS!!! It changed my life, and for only $132/year it can change yours, too! How, you ask? None of your business, asshole, 'cause that's proprietary - just like all of the Really Big & Important software projects. Read on:

    Look, I've been doing consulting work for nearly 15 years. About the site, I had to put up an old copy because after that thread several FreeBSD members broke into my network and nearly deleted everything. I'm 75% sure that it's the work of Dag-Erling and his friends, as most of the packets and exploit attempts (until they succeded) were coming from Norway and Denmark.

    I've sold 2,000 copies and made money off *my* work. How many copies has the FreeBSD foundation sold? Oh, that's what I thought, becuase 5.3 is not usable in a production environment, not without my patches. And guess what, they won't be getting my patches unless I see public apology from DES and PHK.

    Support my [hawkinsos.com] operating system!

  51. FreeBSD scores a hat-trick :) by ulib · · Score: 1

    Most Reliable Hosting Providers during October
    and the 4th is a bsd as well

  52. Re:Complete success! by molnarcs · · Score: 1
    Yes!!! That is very good news! Thanks for the info :)

    I'm primarily a desktop user of FreeBSD, and I miss ULE soo much (hiccups in mplayer - and even JUK sometimes - during compile with 4BSD, and general responsivity issues - on the desktop of course).

    Just a minor correction (granpda) : ULE was not made the default scheduler in 5.2/5.2.1! In fact, I think that was the main problem (switching to ULE only in current later meant less exposure, and less chance to find the bugs as early as possible, less time to work on those bugs, etc...)