Questions about updating...

[Scott W]

rotten rottie wrote:

> I am a linux user that wants to switch to freebsd... I am a bit confused
>
> about applying updates etc..
>
> I installed a box for trial it was 5.1, I wanted to see if I could use
> ports
> to update openssh for a test examp. After the port installed I noticed
> that
> another version of openssh was installed on the system. I talked with a
> friend and he said that it was part of usr/src and I could update it by
> compiling the usr.bin version.. which was fine and worked. Here are my
> questions:
>
> 1) if there are two trees(lack of better words) why would ssh exist in
> both
> the system tree and the ports tree ? Wouldnt it be better to have it in
> the
> ports tree ?

Well, it IS in the ports tree, but bear a few things in mind:
1. Everything in /usr/src is considered part of the base system, 
equivalent to 'system' in GenToo (unsurprisingly, as GenToo 
Portage/emerge is based heavily on bsd ports...but see below)

2. The ports tree is optional, but where you can track system source 
updates to a given CVS label, eg STABLE (recommended for 
production/stability), the ports tree isn't versioned, it's the 
equivalent of current. When you build from a port, it essentially builds 
the package and does a pkg_add, so it's still tracked by the bsd package 
system.

This combination allows you to keep the base system at a stable level, 
and then either NOT update your ports tree to get the equivalent ports 
from the particular label you're tracking on a given system, or to 
selectivly update single ports software, or all of the ports collection.

>
> 2) I have used gentoo in the past and am curious if there is something
> simular to emerge -up world/system -- I would like to cvs the ports/sys
> and
> then be able to see if anything need upgrading .. is this possible ?

Yep, install portupgrade and cvsup. If it's on a slower system, highly 
recommend doing it via pkg_add -r portupgrade or pkg_add -r cvsup
to avoid having to compile ruby, perl and possibly other dependencies 
from scratch. Once you become familiar with the way ports/portupgrade 
and cvsup work (Note- sections on all 3 in the handbook, should be 
installed under /usr/share/doc/handbook on your system), you can then if 
you decide to, use portupgrade and the buildworld target to effectively 
rebuild your entire system from source.

The quickest equivalent to emerge -pUD world is using pkg_version

> 3) Say there was a update to openssh .. which would be the proper way to
>
> update .. sync the sys tree and then just update ssh .. or sync the tree
> and
> recompile the system ? or remove the sys version and install the port
> version and update the port ?

Set up cvsup properly (handbook + example file in /usr/share/examples) 
to the label you want to track to, cron it, and have it mail you output, 
and subscribe to the freebsd security mailing list. Either should be 
enough to give you some indication by itself..

>
> I am very happy with freebsd .. Im still in the exploring stage .. The
> reasons for my questions is that I am a little weary of using freebsd in
>
> production if I dont easily know when updates are avail, having to
> recompile
> the system everytime I need a patch for a service.

You don't nescessarily need to recompile the entire base system, let 
alone the equivalent of 'world,' for an update. portupgrade and 
pkg_version will help out here...

Scott

> Thanks for helping me convert,
> rottie
>
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