Why Are You Using FreeBSD?

[Damien Fleuriot]

On 6/1/12 8:54 AM, Daniel Kalchev wrote:
> 
> 
> On 31.05.12 18:41, Damien Fleuriot wrote:
>> You missed the bit about 3 reboots, while these don't take 15 mins each,
>> they're still time consuming and disruptive.
>> 1/ reboot after installing new kernel
>> 2/ reboot after installing new world
>> 3/ reboot after rebuilding ports
> 
> About the only time I ever do that is when moving from very distant
> versions, like from 6.4 to 9.0...
> 
> Upgrading from say, 8-stable from year ago, to today's 8-stable usually
> requires just one reboot: rebuild world, kernel, reinstall kernel,
> world, update configuration files, rebuild ports, reboot.
> There are many cases where I do rebuild/reinstall kernel and world but
> do not reboot for one reason or other. Cases, where the kernel is
> incompatible with userspace are extremely rare and typically documented.
> 
> So yes, for example during port rebuild there might be glitches with
> services. You are better to shut down these services that will be
> affected, like web server. (Although usually say, apache would load all
> modules at startup time and replacing them under its feet will only be
> noticed after it is restarted). Most of the time however is spent just
> compiling... and unless your server is really underpowered or overloaded
> it does not impact anything. This again, is especially true for the OS.
> I wish ports could be rebuilt and reinstalled on a single step like
> FreeBSD.
> 
> In any case, if you have 'server farms', or like you said firewalls with
> CARP etc, you can usually shut down any of the members for as long as
> necessary and not impact any services. If you rebuild things on
> 'central' server, the downtime will be indeed minimal.
> 
> Daniel

Yup I've been considering using a central server to hold /usr/src and
/usr/obj for some time, would save me quite some time...

I'll try to put something of the sort in place sometime this summer, the
less painful the updates, the more likely we are to actually publish them.