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diff --git a/website/content/en/releases/5.0R/early-adopter.html b/website/content/en/releases/5.0R/early-adopter.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..4309f388e2 --- /dev/null +++ b/website/content/en/releases/5.0R/early-adopter.html @@ -0,0 +1,508 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?> +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta name="generator" content="HTML Tidy, see www.w3.org" /> + <title>Early Adopter's Guide to FreeBSD 5.0-RELEASE</title> + <meta name="GENERATOR" + content="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.73 " /> + <link rel="STYLESHEET" type="text/css" href="docbook.css" /> + </head> + + <body class="ARTICLE" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" + link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"> + <div class="ARTICLE"> + <div class="TITLEPAGE"> + <h1 class="TITLE"><a id="AEN2" name="AEN2">Early Adopter's + Guide to FreeBSD 5.0-RELEASE</a></h1> + + <div class="AUTHORGROUP"> + <a id="AEN4" name="AEN4"></a> + + <h3 class="CORPAUTHOR">The FreeBSD Release Engineering + Team</h3> + </div> + + <p class="COPYRIGHT">Copyright © 2002, 2003 by The + FreeBSD Release Engineering Team</p> + + <p class="PUBDATE">$FreeBSD: + src/release/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/early-adopter/article.sgml,v + 1.8.2.3 2003/01/14 18:12:49 roam Exp $<br /> + </p> + <hr /> + </div> + + <div class="SECT1"> + <hr /> + + <h1 class="SECT1"><a id="INTRO" name="INTRO">1 + Introduction</a></h1> + + <p>FreeBSD 5.0 marks the first new major version of FreeBSD + in over two years. Besides a number of new features, it + also contains a number of major developments in the + underlying system architecture. Along with these advances, + however, comes a system that incorporates a tremendous + amount of new and not-widely-tested code. Compared to the + existing line of 4.<tt class="REPLACEABLE"><i>X</i></tt> + releases, 5.0 may have regressions in areas of stability, + performance, and occasionally functionality.</p> + + <p>For these reasons, the Release Engineering Team <tt + class="EMAIL"><<a + href="mailto:re@FreeBSD.org">re@FreeBSD.org</a>></tt> + does <span class="emphasis"><i + class="EMPHASIS">not</i></span> encourage users to blindly + update from older FreeBSD releases to 5.0. Specifically, + for more conservative users, we recommend running 4.<tt + class="REPLACEABLE"><i>X</i></tt> releases (such as + 4.7-RELEASE or the upcoming 4.8-RELEASE) for the near-term + future. We feel that such users are probably best served by + upgrading to 5.<tt class="REPLACEABLE"><i>X</i></tt> only + after a 5-STABLE development branch has been created; this + may be around the time of 5.1-RELEASE or 5.2-RELEASE.</p> + + <p>(FreeBSD 5.0 suffers from what has been described as a + ``chicken and egg'' problem. The entire project has a goal + of producing a 5.0-RELEASE that is as stable and reliable + as possible. This stability and reliability requires + widespread testing, particularly of the system's newer + features. However, getting a large number of users to test + the system, in a practical sense, means building and + distributing a release first!)</p> + + <p>This article describes some of the issues involved in + installing and running FreeBSD 5.0-RELEASE. We begin with a + brief overview of the FreeBSD release process. We then + present some of the more noteworthy new features in FreeBSD + 5.0, along with some areas that may prove troublesome for + unwary users. For those users choosing to remain with + 4-STABLE-based releases, we give some of the short- to + medium-term plans for this development branch. Finally, we + present some notes on upgrading existing 4.<tt + class="REPLACEABLE"><i>X</i></tt> systems to 5.0.</p> + </div> + + <div class="SECT1"> + <hr /> + + <h1 class="SECT1"><a id="RELEASE-OVERVIEW" + name="RELEASE-OVERVIEW">2 An Overview of the FreeBSD + Release Process</a></h1> + + <p>FreeBSD employs a model of development that relies on + multiple development branches within the source code + repository. The main branch is called ``CURRENT'', and is + referred to in the CVS repository with the <tt + class="LITERAL">HEAD</tt> tag. New features are committed + first to this branch; although this means that CURRENT is + the first to see new functionality, it also means that it + occasionally suffers from breakages as new features are + added and debugged.</p> + + <p>Most FreeBSD releases are made from one of several + ``STABLE'' branches. Features are only added to these + branches after some amount of testing in CURRENT. At the + moment, only one STABLE branch is under active development; + this branch is referred to as ``4-STABLE'', and all of the + FreeBSD 4.<tt class="REPLACEABLE"><i>X</i></tt> releases + were based on it. This branch has the tag <tt + class="LITERAL">RELENG_4</tt> in the CVS repository.</p> + + <p>FreeBSD 5.0 will be based on the CURRENT branch. This + will be the first release from this branch in over two + years (the last was FreeBSD 4.0, in March 2000).</p> + + <p>At some point after the release of FreeBSD 5.0, a + ``5-STABLE'' branch will be created in the FreeBSD CVS + repository with the branch tag <tt + class="LITERAL">RELENG_5</tt>. The past two stable branches + (3-STABLE and 4-STABLE) were created immediately after + their respective ``dot-oh'' releases (3.0 and 4.0, + respectively). In hindsight, this practice did not give + sufficient time for either CURRENT or the new STABLE + branches to stabilize after the new branches were + created.</p> + + <p>Therefore, the release engineering team will only create + the 5-STABLE branch in the CVS repository after they have + found a relatively stable state to use as its basis. It is + likely that there will be multiple releases in the 5.<tt + class="REPLACEABLE"><i>X</i></tt> series before this + happens; we estimate that the 5-STABLE branch will be + created sometime after 5.1-RELEASE or 5.2-RELEASE.</p> + + <p>More information on FreeBSD release engineering + processes can be found on the <a + href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/releng/index.html" + target="_top">Release Engineering Web pages</a> and in the + FreeBSD <a + href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/releng/index.html" + target="_top">Release Engineering</a> article.</p> + </div> + + <div class="SECT1"> + <hr /> + + <h1 class="SECT1"><a id="NEW" name="NEW">3 New + Features</a></h1> + + <p>A large attraction of FreeBSD 5.0 is a number of new + features. These new features and functionality generally + involve large architectural changes that were not feasible + to port back to the FreeBSD 4-STABLE development branch. + (By contrast, many self-contained enhancements, such as new + device drivers or userland utilities, have already been + ported.) A brief, but not exhaustive list includes:</p> + + <ul> + <li> + <p>SMPng: The ``next generation'' support for SMP + machines (work in progress). There is now partial + support for multiple processors to be running in the + kernel at the same time.</p> + </li> + + <li> + <p>KSE: Kernel Scheduled Entities allow a single + process to have multiple kernel-level threads, similar + to Scheduler Activations.</p> + </li> + + <li> + <p>New architectures: Support for the sparc64 and ia64 + architectures, in addition to the i386, pc98, and + alpha.</p> + </li> + + <li> + <p>GCC: The compiler toolchain is now based on GCC + 3.2.1, rather than GCC 2.95.<tt + class="REPLACEABLE"><i>X</i></tt>.</p> + </li> + + <li> + <p>MAC: Support for extensible, loadable Mandatory + Access Control policies.</p> + </li> + + <li> + <p>GEOM: A flexible framework for transformations of + disk I/O requests. An experimental disk encryption + facility has been developed based on GEOM.</p> + </li> + + <li> + <p>FFS: The FFS filesystem now supports background <a + href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=fsck&sektion=8&manpath=FreeBSD+5.0-RELEASE"> + <span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span + class="REFENTRYTITLE">fsck</span>(8)</span></a> + operations (for faster crash recovery) and filesystem + snapshots.</p> + </li> + + <li> + <p>UFS2: A new UFS2 on-disk format has been added, + which supports extended per-file attributes and larger + file sizes.</p> + </li> + + <li> + <p>Cardbus: Support for Cardbus devices.</p> + </li> + </ul> + + <p>A more comprehensive list of new features can be found + in the release notes for FreeBSD 5.0.</p> + </div> + + <div class="SECT1"> + <hr /> + + <h1 class="SECT1"><a id="DRAWBACKS" name="DRAWBACKS">4 + Drawbacks to Early Adoption</a></h1> + + <p>Along with the new features of FreeBSD 5.0 come some + areas that can cause problems, or at least can lead to + unexpected behavior. Generally, these come from the fact + that a number of features are works-in-progress. A partial + list of these areas of difficulty includes:</p> + + <ul> + <li> + <p>A number of features are not yet finished. Examples + from the feature list above include SMPng and KSE.</p> + </li> + + <li> + <p>Because of changes in kernel data structures and + ABIs/APIs, third-party binary device drivers will + require modifications to work correctly under FreeBSD + 5.0. There is a possibility of more minor ABI/API + changes before the 5-STABLE branch is created.</p> + </li> + + <li> + <p>Several parts of FreeBSD's base system functionality + have been moved to the Ports Collection. Notable + examples include <b class="APPLICATION">Perl</b>, <b + class="APPLICATION">UUCP</b>, and most (but not all) + games. While these programs are still supported, their + removal from the base system may cause some + confusion.</p> + </li> + + <li> + <p>A number of ports and packages do not build or do + not run correctly under FreeBSD 5.0, whereas they did + under FreeBSD 4-STABLE. Generally these problems are + caused by compiler toolchain changes or cleanups of + header files.</p> + </li> + + <li> + <p>Because FreeBSD 5.0 is the first release from the + CURRENT branch in over two years, many of its features + are seeing wide exposure for the first time. Many of + these features (such as SMPng) have broad impacts on + the kernel.</p> + </li> + + <li> + <p>A certain amount of debugging and diagnostic code is + still in place to help track down problems in FreeBSD + 5.0's new features. This may cause FreeBSD 5.0 to + perform more slowly than 4-STABLE.</p> + </li> + + <li> + <p>Features are only added to the 4-STABLE development + branch after a ``settling time'' in -CURRENT. FreeBSD + 5.0 does not have the stabilizing influence of a + -STABLE branch. (It is likely that the 5-STABLE + development branch will be created sometime after + 5.1-RELEASE or 5.2-RELEASE.)</p> + </li> + + <li> + <p>Documentation (such as the FreeBSD <a + href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/index.html" + target="_top">Handbook</a> and <a + href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/index.html" + target="_top">FAQ</a>) may not reflect changes + recently made to FreeBSD 5.0.</p> + </li> + </ul> + + <p>Because a number of these drawbacks affect system + stability, the release engineering team recommends that + more conservative sites and users stick to releases based + on the 4-STABLE branch until the 5.<tt + class="REPLACEABLE"><i>X</i></tt> series is more + polished.</p> + </div> + + <div class="SECT1"> + <hr /> + + <h1 class="SECT1"><a id="PLANS-STABLE" + name="PLANS-STABLE">5 Plans for the 4-STABLE + Branch</a></h1> + + <p>The release of FreeBSD 5.0 does not mean the end of the + 4-STABLE branch. There will be at least one more release on + this branch, namely 4.8-RELEASE, currently scheduled for 1 + March 2003.</p> + + <p>As of this writing, the release engineering team has no + definite plans for future releases (past 4.8) on the + 4-STABLE branch. However, a 4.9-RELEASE or even a + 4.10-RELEASE are likely possibilities. Any future releases + from this branch will depend on several factors. The most + important of these is the existence and stability of the + 5-STABLE branch. If CURRENT is not sufficiently stable to + allow the creation of a 5-STABLE branch, this may require + and permit more releases from the 4-STABLE branch. Until + the last declared release on the 4-STABLE branch, new + features may be merged from HEAD at the discretion of + developers, subject to existing release engineering + policies.</p> + + <p>To some extent, the release engineering team will take + into account user demand for future 4-STABLE releases. This + demand, however, will need to be balanced with release + engineering resources (in terms of personnel, computing + resources, and mirror archive space).</p> + + <p>The Security Officer Team <tt class="EMAIL"><<a + href="mailto:security-officer@FreeBSD.org">security-officer@FreeBSD.org</a>></tt> + will continue to support releases made from the 4-STABLE + branch in accordance with their published policies, which + can be found on the <a + href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/security/index.html" + target="_top">Security page</a> on the FreeBSD web site. + Generally, the two most recent releases from any branch + will be supported with respect to security advisories and + security fixes. At its discretion, the team may support + other releases.</p> + </div> + + <div class="SECT1"> + <hr /> + + <h1 class="SECT1"><a id="UPGRADE" name="UPGRADE">6 Notes on + Upgrading</a></h1> + + <p>For those users with existing FreeBSD systems, this + section offers a few notes on upgrading a FreeBSD 4.<tt + class="REPLACEABLE"><i>X</i></tt> system to 5.<tt + class="REPLACEABLE"><i>X</i></tt>. As with any FreeBSD + upgrade, it is crucial to read the release notes and the + errata for the version in question, as well as <tt + class="FILENAME">src/UPDATING</tt> for source upgrades.</p> + + <div class="SECT2"> + <hr /> + + <h2 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN113" name="AEN113">6.1 Binary + Upgrades</a></h2> + + <p>Probably the most straightforward approach is that of + ``backup everything, reformat, reinstall, and restore + everything''. This eliminates problems of incompatible or + obsolete executables or configuration files polluting the + new system.</p> + + <p>As of this time, the binary upgrade option in <a + href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=sysinstall&sektion=8&manpath=FreeBSD+5.0-RELEASE"> + <span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span + class="REFENTRYTITLE">sysinstall</span>(8)</span></a> has + not been well-tested for cross-major-version upgrades. + Using this feature is not recommended. In particular, a + binary upgrade will leave behind a number of files that + are present in FreeBSD 4.<tt + class="REPLACEABLE"><i>X</i></tt> but not in 5.0. These + obsolete files may create some problems.</p> + + <p>On the i386 and pc98 platforms, a UserConfig utility + exists on 4-STABLE to allow boot-time configuration of + ISA devices when booting from installation media. Under + FreeBSD 5.0, this functionality has been replaced in part + by the <a + href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=device.hints&sektion=5&manpath=FreeBSD+5.0-RELEASE"> + <span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span + class="REFENTRYTITLE">device.hints</span>(5)</span></a> + mechanism (it allows specifying the same parameters, but + with a very different interface).</p> + + <p>Floppy-based binary installations may require + downloading a third, new floppy image holding additional + device drivers in kernel modules. This <tt + class="FILENAME">drivers.flp</tt> floppy image will + generally be found in the same location as the usual <tt + class="FILENAME">kern.flp</tt> and <tt + class="FILENAME">mfsroot.flp</tt> floppy images.</p> + + <p>CDROM-based installations on the i386 architecture now + use a ``no-emulation'' boot loader. This allows, among + other things, the use of a <tt + class="LITERAL">GENERIC</tt> kernel, rather than the + stripped-down kernel on the floppy images. In theory, any + system capable of booting the Microsoft Windows NT 4 + installation CDROMs should be able to cope with the + FreeBSD 5.0 CDROMs.</p> + </div> + + <div class="SECT2"> + <hr /> + + <h2 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN133" name="AEN133">6.2 Source + Upgrades</a></h2> + + <p>Reading <tt class="FILENAME">src/UPDATING</tt> is + absolutely essential. The section entitled ``To upgrade + from 4.x-stable to current'' contains a step-by-step + update procedure. This procedure must be followed + exactly, without making use of the ``shortcuts'' that + some users occasionally employ.</p> + </div> + + <div class="SECT2"> + <hr /> + + <h2 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN139" name="AEN139">6.3 Common + Notes</a></h2> + + <p><b class="APPLICATION">Perl</b> has been removed from + the base system, and should be installed either from a + pre-built package or from the Ports Collection. Building + Perl as a part of the base system created a number of + difficulties which made updates problematic. The base + system utilities that used Perl have either been + rewritten (if still applicable) or discarded (if + obsolete). <a + href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=sysinstall&sektion=8&manpath=FreeBSD+5.0-RELEASE"> + <span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span + class="REFENTRYTITLE">sysinstall</span>(8)</span></a> + will now install the Perl package as a part of most + distribution sets, so most users will not notice this + change.</p> + + <p>It is generally possible to run old 4.<tt + class="REPLACEABLE"><i>X</i></tt> executables under 5.<tt + class="REPLACEABLE"><i>X</i></tt>, but this requires the + <tt class="FILENAME">compat4x</tt> distribution to be + installed. Thus, using old ports <span + class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">may</i></span> be + possible.</p> + + <p>When installing or upgrading over the top of an + existing 4-STABLE-based system, it is extremely important + to clear out old header files in <tt + class="FILENAME">/usr/include</tt>. Renaming or moving + this directory before a binary installation or an <tt + class="LITERAL">installworld</tt> is generally + sufficient. If this step is not taken, confusion may + result (especially with C++ programs) as the compiler may + wind up using a mixture of obsolete and current header + files.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="SECT1"> + <hr /> + + <h1 class="SECT1"><a id="SUMMARY" name="SUMMARY">7 + Summary</a></h1> + + <p>While FreeBSD 5.0 contains a number of new and exciting + features, it may not be suitable for all users at this + time. In this document, we presented some background on + release engineering, some of the more notable new features + of the 5.<tt class="REPLACEABLE"><i>X</i></tt> series, and + some drawbacks to early adoption. We also presented some + future plans for the 4-STABLE development branch and some + tips on upgrading for early adopters.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr /> + + <p align="center"><small>This file, and other release-related + documents, can be downloaded from <a + href="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/">ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/</a>.</small></p> + + <p align="center"><small>For questions about FreeBSD, read the + <a href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/docs.html">documentation</a> + before contacting <<a + href="mailto:questions@FreeBSD.org">questions@FreeBSD.org</a>>.</small></p> + + <p align="center"><small>For questions about this + documentation, e-mail <<a + href="mailto:doc@FreeBSD.org">doc@FreeBSD.org</a>>.</small></p> + <br /> + <br /> + </body> +</html> + |