Clarification on updating FreeBSD through csup

[Daniel Bye]

On Mon, Sep 17, 2007 at 09:24:26PM +0400, Rakhesh Sasidharan wrote:
> 
> Hi there!
> 
> Just seeking a clarification on keeping FreeBSD up-to-date through csup. I 
> am on FreeBSD 6.2 and want to keep up-to-date for security patches 
> etc.
> 
> I understand I can use csup to follow the RELENG_62 branch. After the 
> sources are downloaded, do I have to follow all the steps outlined in this 
> (http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/makeworld.html) 
> handbook document? I can understand building and installing world and 
> kernel, but would I have to reboot to single user and do the mergemaster 
> stuff too?

If you follow the complete rebuild instructions, yes. If you follow the
instructions for *patching* the system as given in the relevant security
notifications, then only if those instructions say so. You do subscribe
to security-notifications@, don't you?  ;-)

> I *think* I might not have to do mergemaster coz security updates 
> shouldn't have changes in the /etc files and so there'd be no need for 
> merging files.

Sometimes, the security fixes involve changes under /etc. The recent
jails error comes to mind, as a case in point.

> And I *think* I might have to reboot depending on whether I 
> use the stuff being affected or not ... But I'd like a clarify 
> from more knowledgeable folks nevertheless. :)

If you follow the full procedure (buildworld, buildkernel, installkernel,
installworld), then you absolutely must reboot after installing the new 
kernel, and before installing the new world. Not doing so will soon lead 
along the road to madness as your userland and kernel get out of step. As 
I said above, though, if you follow the shorter instructions given in the 
security notifications, then you may not need to - it depends very much on 
which bit of the system is affected by the changes. 

> Also, would the "make buildworld installworld" part take a long time? Or 
> through the magic of "make" it just compiles the stuff that's getting 
> updated (and stuff that requires on this)?

The time taken depends very much on the specification of your system. My
old Sun Ultra SPARC10, for example, takes up to 14 hours to do a full
buildworld/buildkernel sequence, whereas the core duo boxes I look after
for clients, zip through it in less then 1.5 hours.

I'd suggest trying it out on a non-critical system, so as to familiarise
yourself with the procedure. You'll be glad you did.

Dan 


-- 
Daniel Bye

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