Confused about keeping system up to date

[Patrick Lamaiziere]

Le Tue, 5 Oct 2010 11:55:50 -0700,
Ed Flecko <edflecko at gmail.com> a écrit :

Hello,

> 1.) I want to follow the 8.1 errata branch, which (after rebuilding)
> pretty much just applies any released patches, right?

Yes

> 2.) I want the entry in my supfile to read: tag=RELENG_8_1_0 - or
> tag=RELENG_8.1_0 ?

You must use RELENG_8_1 

see http://www.freebsd.org/releng/
RELENG_8_1 is the errata branch for FreeBSD 8.1

RELENG_8_1_0 is the tag for the released FreeBSD 8.1, so without any
patch applied since the release.

> 5.) If I'm just trying to keep my system up to date as far as applying
> security patches, should I just follow the directions in the security
> patch notes to apply it, or should I update via cvsup (or csup, etc.)
> and rebuild the system? I guess what I'm asking is: when, if ever (?)
> should you just apply patches or should you always update, rebuild,
> etc.???

You can follow the directions, csup + rebuild + and reinstall all the
system (or just the kernel if the problem is a kernel one), or use
freebsd-update(8) for binary update.

Regards.