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BSD Operating Systems

FreeBSD v.4.6 (NOT) Released 108

Posted by chrisd from the thats-one-pointy-pitchfork dept.
A FreeBSD fan writes "FreeBSD 4.6 was just released. It's a relief to see it arrive after a myriad of delays and excuses caused it to be held back. As always, with every new version, FreeBSD becomes even faster and more secure than before. Please be sure to find a mirror here before downloading." Update: There's been an update to the story, please note that "something fishy is going on"
Murray Stokely writes "We have gone over this for the past 2 releases now. I thought I had made it clear that you were not to publish information about FreeBSD being released until you saw a signed PGP message from one of the release engineers. Are you trying to help the spread of trojanned copies of FreeBSD? The release is not ready yet, and will not be until the front page of FreeBSD.org is updated and a PGP signed announcement message is posted to announce@FreeBSD.org." So I think we're all clear on how murray feels about this.
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FreeBSD v.4.6 (NOT) Released More

FreeBSD v.4.6 (NOT) Released

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  • It looks like Slashdot jumped the gun a wee bit too early... the official announcement hasn't been made on their site yet even though the linked Release Notes and other files have been posted here [freebsd.org].

    I guess it's a good thing about having a script that automatically updates the source tree and does the make world every other night :)

  • You trashed the primary mirror!!! (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Oh wait, it's not out yet.

    Dumb fucks.

    I wonder if you can install Lunix: Penguin Job [slashdot.org] on BSD?

  • I think enough people use FreeBSD that it's of enough interest to warrant a front page article. All the other FreeBSD releases have been frontpage, I believe.

    (cvsupping to 4.6-RELEASE as we speak)

  • FreeBSD 4.6 (Score:2, Insightful)

    by fdisk3hs ( 513270 )
    Recent convert from Linux, Happy B-day FreeBSD.

    Now what should I grab, since I'm using 4.6rc1 :)
    • just grab src-all ports-all and doc-all daily' it's easier that way
      • Do you have stability problems staying on the 'bleeding edge' like that?

        LR

        • Re:FreeBSD 4.6 (Score:2, Informative)

          by Geekboy(Wizard) ( 87906 )
          no, bleeding edge for freebsd is -current. (aka 5.0-current). -stable is, well, stable. None of this Linux "oh-we'll-just-totatly-change-the-virtual-memory- system-in-the-stable-tree" crap.

          -stable == STABLE

          • Re:FreeBSD 4.6 (Score:4, Informative)

            by Fweeky ( 41046 ) on Tuesday June 11, 2002 @10:21AM (#3679012) Homepage
            Not exactly. In-between a -RELEASE, the stable branch is not guaranteed to always be buildable or working.

            RELENG_4 is the STABLE development branch most people who track STABLE use; this is where prereleases arrive and things are merged from current (MFC); the biggest recent change was an MFC of the new ATA subsystem. New versions of sendmail and smallish changes to the rc system can happen here too.

            Although MFC'd stuff is only done so after a lot of testing, and commits to this branch are usually fine, it is still a development branch. Treating it somewhat like Debian /testing is probably a good idea.

            For a truely stable up to date system, you should track the RELENG_4_<release> branches, which are the security-update branches for individual releases. Track RELENG_4_6 for 4.6 and you know you won't need to worry too much about running mergemaster to keep /etc in sync, or parts of the base system changing under you in preperation for the next release.

            If you track RELENG_4, you should be prepared to at least watch stable@freebsd.org and keep an eye on /usr/src/UPDATING.

            And while we're on the subject, remember that cvsup is quite IO intensive; keep your cvsup's conservative. Once a day is usually a bit over the top, and just serves to increase the load on the servers. http://freshports.net/ and ports@freebsd.org are good resources to help decide when it's worth supping.

  • Excuses? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by brad-x ( 566807 ) <brad@brad-x.com> on Monday June 10, 2002 @09:29PM (#3676672) Homepage

    I'm a little surprised a poster would say the reasons behind the 4.6 release being late are excuses.

    EVERY RELEASE HAS DELAYS

    This is not a corporation. We do not keep a schedule. We release it when it's ready, slashdot be damned. Don't like it? Jump ship, goodbye, we don't need you on our team. You're not good enough mindshare to work on this project or take part in it.

    Congratulations to the core on another release of FreeBSD, keep 'em coming strong.

    • Yeah, 4.5 just hit in Jan. or Feb, how long has it been since the newest Windows release hit?
    • Hell, even corporations get their releases delayed. How long did Apple sit on OS X before they decided it was ready... I thought I remember them talking about releasing it in the 93-94 time frame... When did it finally make it out... Damned it, I wish people would quit beating up groups for doing the right thing, releasing quality rather than early...
  • So I think we're all clear on how murray feels about this.

    damn't, is it that hard to say "oops sorry"
  • How is something not being released news? I dont recall ever seeing a "Linux kernel not being released yet" because we screwed up again story on Slashdot? What gives? Do you people CHECK the stories or just post?

  • Whats the rush? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by jdparker ( 559464 )
    All the code is readily available on the cvsup servers? Whats the big deal about a release? I'd rather see 5.0-RELEASE wait another 6 months and get the finishing touches on SMPng and the sparc port, as well as all the other cool stuff I've surely missed. Good code takes time, and will come if it's not rushed.
  • very simple, actually. you need to populate the mirrors.
    yes, "creative surfing" may get you to the most recent release notes on some of the mirrors, and the release files might be there as well. but as long as there are sites that haven't been updated yet people will pound on the other mirrors even more.

    *cough*slashdot effect*cough*

    so, please give the freebsd folks a fair chance of populating all the mirrors. if you really can't wait for the hottest release, you have have been tracking -stable via cvsup anyway.

  • something fishy? (Score:3, Funny)

    by thanjee ( 263266 ) on Tuesday June 11, 2002 @01:54AM (#3677706) Journal
    "something fishy is going on"

    Something fishy you say? That would mean a penguin had something to do with it! Unless of course demons eat fish too :p

    Well now I just have to wait for FreeBSD.org to give the official word then adownloadin' I will go :)

  • Spreading trojanned copies of FreeBSD? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by palfreman ( 164768 ) on Tuesday June 11, 2002 @06:35AM (#3678205) Homepage
    I was interested to se that Murray Stokely asked if the poster of the story was "trying to help the spread of trojanned copies of FreeBSD" Why would he think that? It is a serious thing to alledge. Is it likely that someone was trying to?

  • Feelings. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by saintlupus ( 227599 ) on Tuesday June 11, 2002 @07:41AM (#3678305)
    So I think we're all clear on how murray feels about this.

    Yeah, he feels that the editorial staff are a pack of unprofessional assclowns who can't be bothered to perform the sort of rudimentary fact-checking demanded of the average high school newspaper.

    And hey presto, he's right.

    --saint

    • Re:Feelings. (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I agree. The Slashdot crew are a bunch of wanky twats.

  • Oh dear (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Hehe, Slashdot really is a load of shit sometimes. The editors clearly can't learn from pervious mistakes, and would never keep a job going in real-life professional journalism.

  • I have the 4.6-mini iso, the binaries are out and full iso's will be available soon, so in other words they're doing the smart thing and saying that we'll say its released when all the mirrors have the files needed, rather than say its released and not have it available for a couple of days.
  • The (real) announcement came out a couple hours ago; presumably it will appear on the freebsd.org website at 0800 UTC when the site is rebuilt.

    • Delivered-To: freebsd-announce@freebsd.org
      To: freebsd-announce@FreeBSD.ORG
      Cc: bmah@FreeBSD.ORG
      Subject: FreeBSD 4.6-RELEASE is now available
      From: bmah@FreeBSD.ORG (Bruce A. Mah)
      Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 16:34:26 -0700
      Sender: owner-freebsd-announce@FreeBSD.ORG

      I am happy to announce the availability of FreeBSD 4.6-RELEASE, the very latest release on the FreeBSD -STABLE development branch. Since FreeBSD 4.5-RELEASE in January 2002, we have made hundreds of fixes, updated many system components, and addressed a wide variety of security issues.

      One of the most significant changes in FreeBSD 4.6 is the adoption of XFree86 4.2.0 as the default version of the X Windows System. We encourage users (particularly those upgrading from older installations of XFree86) to consult the relevant section of the FreeBSD Handbook for information on installing and configuring XFree86 4.2.0. This information can be found on-line at:

      http://www.FreeBSD.org/handbook/x11.html

      On systems with the doc distribution installed, it can also be found at:

      /usr/share/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handb ook/x11.html

      A number of enhancements to network device drivers have been made, as well as updates to the ATA storage subsystem.

      Some contributed programs have been updated, such as sendmail (updated to 8.12.3) and the ISC DHCP client (updated to 3.0.1RC8).

      For more information about the most significant changes with this release of FreeBSD, please see the release notes:

      http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/4.6R/relnotes.html

      It is also useful to peruse the errata file, as it contains late-breaking news about the release:

      http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/4.6R/errata.html

      For more information about FreeBSD release engineering activities (including a schedule of upcoming releases), please see:

      http://www.FreeBSD.org/releng/

      Availability
      ------------

      FreeBSD 4.6-RELEASE supports the i386 and alpha architectures and can be installed directly over the net using the boot floppies or copied to a local NFS/FTP server. Distributions for the i386 are available now. Final builds for the alpha architecture are in progress and will be made available shortly.

      We can't promise that all the mirror sites will carry the larger ISO images, but they will at least be available from:

      ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/
      ftp://ftp2.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/
      ftp://ftp.au.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/
      ftp://ftp.cz.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/
      ftp://ftp.lt.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/
      ftp://ftp.nctu.edu.tw/FreeBSD/

      If you can't afford FreeBSD on media, are impatient, or just want to use it for evangelism purposes, then by all means download the ISO images, otherwise please continue to support the FreeBSD Project by purchasing media from one of our supporting vendors. The following companies have contributed substantially to the development of FreeBSD:

      FreeBSD Mall, Inc. http://www.freebsdmall.com/
      FreeBSD Services Ltd. http://www.freebsd-services.com/
      Daemon News http://www.bsdmall.com/freebsd1.html

      Each CD or DVD set contains the FreeBSD installation and application package bits for the i386 ("PC") architecture. For a set of distfiles used to build ports in the ports collection, please see the FreeBSD Toolkit, a 6 CD set containing extra bits which no longer fit on the 4 CD set, or the DVD distribution from FreeBSD Services Ltd.

      FreeBSD is also available via anonymous FTP from mirror sites in the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Korea, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Trantor, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.

      Before trying the central FTP site, please check your regional mirror(s) first by going to:

      ftp://ftp..FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD

      Any additional mirror sites will be labeled ftp2, ftp3 and so on.

      More information about FreeBSD mirror sites can be found at:

      http://www.FreeBSD.org/handbook/mirrors-ftp.html

      For instructions on installing FreeBSD, please see Chapter 2 of The FreeBSD Handbook. It provides a complete installation walk-through for users new to FreeBSD, and can be found online at:

      http://www.FreeBSD.org/handbook/install.html

      Acknowledgments
      ---------------

      Many companies donated equipment, network access, or man-hours to finance the release engineering activities for FreeBSD 4.6, including Compaq, Yahoo!, and The FreeBSD Mall.

      In addition to myself, the release engineering team for 4.6-RELEASE includes:

      Murray Stokely : Release Engineering Lead, i386 Builds
      Robert Watson : Release Engineering
      John Baldwin : Release Engineering, alpha Builds
      Brian Somers : Release Engineering
      Steve Price : Package Splits
      Will Andrews : Package Splits
      Kris Kennaway : Package Building
      David O'Brien : XFree86 Integration

      Please join me in thanking them for all the hard work which went into making this release. Many thanks are also due to the FreeBSD committers , without whom there would be nothing to release, and thousands of FreeBSD users world-wide who have contributed bug fixes, features, and suggestions.

      Enjoy!

      Bruce A. Mah
      (For the FreeBSD Release Engineering Team)

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