[olug] FreeBSD upgrade details

[neal rauhauser]

  In my post I mentioned the OS upgrade path *within* a particular
version. Below Sean Kelly mentions dropping to single user mode, which
I've never found to be an issue, and he also mentions mergemaster.

   The mergemaster utility takes the contents of /etc and patches it to
work with the new software you install. I've found that I have to pay
attention to what happens with /etc/passwd, /etc/group, /etc/namedb/*,
etc - but in general there are only a dozen files that require any
thought out of the hundred or so that seem to get updated by
mergemaster. This is a requirement when moving from major versions, say
4.8 to 4.9, but I've not had any trouble moving without it in a given
branch.

~This is no longer the approved and suggested method to update one's
kernel
~and world. I don't think it has been since the beginning of FreeBSD
4.x.
~The proper way is listed in /usr/src/UPDATING, which should be read
every
~time you update your source tree. That method is:

~        make buildworld
~        make buildkernel KERNCONF=YOUR_KERNEL_HERE
~        make installkernel KERNCONF=YOUR_KERNEL_HERE
~        reboot  (in single user)
~        make installworld
~        mergemaster
~        reboot


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