Some precise procedure...

[Gary Jennejohn]

On Sun, 07 May 2017 05:11:13 -0700 (PDT)
"Jeffrey Bouquet" <jbtakk at iherebuywisely.com> wrote:

> Given the following procedure:
> 
> svn up /usr/src
> make buildworld
> make buildkernel
> make installkernel
> mergmaster
> reboot single user
> mergemaster
> make installworld
> pkg install compatN-i386
> reboot
> make check-old
> make delete-old
> 
> etc [ pardon the missing stuff and out of order, this is from memory]
> 
> At which precise point either
> 1... Xorg fails to work
> 2... nvidia-driver fails to work?
> Because in my experience unless a minor upgrade, it happens every time, and
> I am caught unawares.. so am wanting in the summaries in UPDATING
> 3a... do not proceed beyond this without backups, as your video driver may not work...
> and am slightly confused.
> If I svn, but do not buildworld,  is nvidia-driver somehow more unusable? etc etc. 
> looking at it from an entirely newbie frame of mind, because  a more authoritative
> source than I may know more about the precise how and why an svn OR a buildworld
> should not be attempted if one is more concerned about the driver not breaking
> or being unusable 'version mismatch' upon upgrade, than the upgrade itself.
> 
> tl;dr
> anyone have an expert summary?  if not, just thanks for reading, or throw a concept
> at me. 
> 1... Xorg ceases to work and/or 
>

I also use nvidia-driver.

I ALWAYS test a new kernel for compatibility with Xorg/nvidia-driver
before I decide to make it the default.

I have a bash alias called mitk (make install kernel to /boot/test):

mikt is aliased to `pushd /usr/src;make -s installkernel KODIR=/boot/test;nbt;popd'

nbt is aliased to `nextboot -k test'

At the next boot the new test kernel will be loaded.

If nvidia-modeset.ko fails to load (that's what the newer nvidia-driver
reuires), then I know the kernel is no longer compatible.

If starting Xorg fails then I also knaow that the new kernel is no
longer compatible.

I just do a reboot to get the old, working kernel again.  I then
have the option to update nvidia-driver, if I consider it to be
important to me.

Generally, it's not Xorg itself which is failing, but rather the
nvidia-driver.

If Xorg starts OK then I have a bash shell function called t2k
which copies the test kernel to /boot/kernel.  Here it is:

t2k is a function
t2k ()
{
    cd /boot;
    rm -rf kernel.oldold;
    mv kernel.old kernel.oldold;
    mv kernel kernel.old;
    mkdir kernel;
    cp test/* kernel;
    touch kernel/linker.hints;
    cd
}

-- 
Gary Jennejohn