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Operating Systems Announcements Software BSD

FreeBSD 4.9 Released 421

Posted by timothy from the new-toys dept.
Digital Dharma writes "Excellent! FreeBSD 4.9 has been released, and if it's anything like the RC series, this will be a release to remember. You can obtain it from the usual sources, or if you're feeling generous and supportive, you can buy the cd set. Support your local Daemon!" As Jani Laaksonen writes, the new release includes "numerous security advisory fixes, kernel changes and support for the Physical Address Extensions (PAE) capability on Intel Pentium Pro and higher processors (see page(4)). This release also adds support for a few more hardware NIC cards, ipfw network protocol enhancements, userland changes, and more. Check FreeBSD 4.9 Release Notes for more information."
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FreeBSD 4.9 Released More

FreeBSD 4.9 Released

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  • Panther/Darwin contributions? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mccalli ( 323026 ) on Wednesday October 29, 2003 @08:49AM (#7336961) Homepage
    Interesting - seems very close to the Panther and Darwin releases. Has this accepted any code from Apple?

    Cheers,
    Ian

  • I thought 5.x was the latest (Score:3, Interesting)

    by jaaron ( 551839 ) on Wednesday October 29, 2003 @08:55AM (#7336996) Homepage
    I thought FreeBSD was already on 5.x or something like that. Is that the development version? Does FreeBSD use a linux-like version numbering where odd numbers are development releases?

    • Re:I thought 5.x was the latest (Score:5, Informative)

      by quantum bit ( 225091 ) on Wednesday October 29, 2003 @09:04AM (#7337054) Journal
      I thought FreeBSD was already on 5.x or something like that. Is that the development version? Does FreeBSD use a linux-like version numbering where odd numbers are development releases?

      No, 4.9 is the latest release from the -stable branch. The 5.0 and 5.1 releases were made from the -current development branch (actually the main trunk in CVS). Eventually, probably around 5.2 or 5.3, 5.x will be branched off as 5-STABLE and development will begin on 6.x.
      • This is actually one of the things that I like about BSD. Stability and security improvements to the old version are still being developed until the new version has time to "burn in".
    • 4.x series are production releases. 5.x is the new technology releases. There are two development branches to FreeBSD: FreeBSD-CURRENT and FreeBSD-STABLE. This seem confusing but keep this rule in mind if u want to use FreeBSD STABLE branch if you are going use it as a production server else use the current branch more information here [freebsd.org].


    • 4.X, with 4.9 being the latest is the -STABLE train - use this if you want to not mess with stuff.

      5.X is the new stuff. Getting quite stable, but still closer to the bleeding edge than 4.9.

      Earlier this week someone suggested I move a production box from 4.9-RC to 5.1 for a certain feature's support. 5.1 is *almost* cooked enough for me to put production stuff on it.
      • I'd love to give BSD a try. I downloaded FreeBSD 5.1 a few months ago and installed it, but lacking support for my wireless network card (Atheros chipset), I decided to put it off. I'm sure I could learn all about fetching drivers and recompiling the kernel and so on, but I have to admit I'm a little spoiled by Gentoo to take the trouble. :)

        5.2 promises to have support. At that point, I'll be happy to give it a shot, though I don't know how long that will be...
        • FreeBSD 4.8 doesn't work with my Gigabyte GA-8IG1000MK's ethernet controller... it's supposed to support it with the fxp(4) driver, but it doesn't. I was sad. I don't think it's fixed in 4.9, at least the release notes don't mention it.

          Gentoo is acceptable, but I had trouble with it too. "emerge e100" installed a module for the wrong kernel version and broke it completely. I had to add support manually. Easy (about 20 seconds in "make menuconfig"), but annoying. Pretty good otherwise.

          I think I'd like to u
        • I downloaded FreeBSD 5.1 a few months ago and installed it, but lacking support for my wireless network card (Atheros chipset), I decided to put it off.


          Actually Atheros chipset cards are supported now.
          Driver called ath. You may install 5.1 and upgrade (cvs) or you may wait for 5.2. It's due in couple months.

      • I wouldn't suggest an upgrade to 5.1. It currently has GIANT still in kernel, so in some cases it is trying to do the same thing twice or with significant overhead. I believe they aim to improve that in 5.2.

        On the other hand, if performance is not your goal, 5.1 may be ready for some limited use. But I do not see the point, unless you really need some hardware support which is not in 4.9.

  • Just In Time For Halloween (Score:4, Funny)

    by deadlinegrunt ( 520160 ) on Wednesday October 29, 2003 @08:57AM (#7337012) Homepage Journal
    To rise up yet once again from the dead!

  • I wonder... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mitch0 ( 237776 ) on Wednesday October 29, 2003 @09:03AM (#7337050)
    I wonder why those idiots with no more to say than "bsd is dying", "pull the plug", "bsd sux, linux rulez" are not simply filtering out BSD related posts and be done with it... they get moderated down to oblivion anyway...

    I'm personally very happy with FreeBSD, thank you.
    Hope SMP support (and pthreads support) will get better soon now. Can't wait for 5.x becoming -STABLE. :)

  • At least they didn't jump the gun this time (Score:4, Funny)

    by quantum bit ( 225091 ) on Wednesday October 29, 2003 @09:06AM (#7337066) Journal
    Wow, Slashdot posting the story of a BSD release AFTER the official release announcement and the web page being updated? Must be a first.

  • good for BSD (Score:4, Insightful)

    by tetrahedrassface ( 675645 ) on Wednesday October 29, 2003 @09:15AM (#7337117) Journal
    This is good for BSD and good for all of us. For those you saying that BSD lost its vigor in 1990 (lawsuit) then i wonder how the current Linux fiasco is going to impact the penguin. We are all in this together really, a strong BSD means more security for all of us. Espescially with the SCO monster running around. Who know in 5 years maybe BSD will be growing at 17%/year and linux will be on life support. Remember fame is fickle.
  • Anybody ever hear what happened to the fork. DragonFly or something?...
    -t

  • FrreBSD collector's box (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    If you buy the complete CD Set from BSDMall, you get a collector's box. That's right, a mini-coffin to hold your *BSD CDs!

  • Scary troll ratio (Score:5, Interesting)

    by BenjyD ( 316700 ) on Wednesday October 29, 2003 @09:25AM (#7337181)
    The average all posts:non-0 rated post ratio on slashdot is around 1.3. On bsd.slashdot.org it's more like 3:1 to 5:1 (there's currently a story with 40:1). What is wrong with these people? Choice is good, mmm-kay.
  • "numerous security advisory fixes"

    At first I read that as "humerous". But of course this isnt Windows we are atalking about. eyethangyoo.

  • Isn't it interesting (Score:5, Insightful)

    by utlemming ( 654269 ) on Wednesday October 29, 2003 @10:02AM (#7337595) Homepage
    that the difference between a *BSD release and a Linux distro release is a night and day difference. When a linux distro is released everyone comes out of the wood-work, says it is the best thing since the 386 was released, praises Allah, and there would be few if any comments to the contrary. Yet, when a *BSD release comes out it becomes a religious war over which is better, and all the trolls come out of the wood-work?
    • Amen! Linux is still not stable like *BSD yet. I've ran into a few issues with a top of the line system running Red Hat 9 doing more then 4 compiles at once would cause the box to hang and have to be reset, but my Dinky P166, 64 meg FreeBSD box can handle like 10 compiles at once.
    • I have spent my fair share of time using various versions of Linux-based OS's and *BSD(mostly FreeBSD). There aren't any ground shaking differences between them. I have one very important observation though. FreeBSD is alive and well! It even excels over most Linux distributions because it has ALL of the following:

      1. A package system that supports both binary and source installation of software packages.

      2. An OS upgrade procedure (other than wipe out your system and install the new version).

      3. Very m
  • Subject header says it all... I'll just rely on good ol' fashioned ftp then.

    • Re:110 comments and no .torrent file?!?!?!?!?! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by David_W ( 35680 ) on Wednesday October 29, 2003 @10:43AM (#7338066)

      I think most FreeBSD folks (whether official project members or just us users) don't bother with torrents since the most popular way to upgrade a system is via cvsup (at least that's the perception). It took a long time before ISOs were even offered since it was believed most people wouldn't be using them. It would probably take an analysis of the FTP logs after a release, showing a lot of traffic on the ISOs, before torrents would show up often.

  • BSD is SCO Insurance (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 29, 2003 @10:37AM (#7337996)
    Be nice to the FreeBSD project. In the remote event SCO wins its lawsuits, FreeBSD, especially the 5.x series, would easily be able to replace Linux.

  • I've switched (Score:3, Insightful)

    by devphaeton ( 695736 ) on Wednesday October 29, 2003 @10:49AM (#7338109)
    I've used linux for about 4 years, but i have always peeked into the BSD camp now and again.

    While i like linux, and it has always done well for me, i think it's time for me to jump the fence to FreeBSD completely.

    The BSDs always seem to be more mature and logical, and `cleaner'.

    Maybe this isn't the best reason to drive such a decision, but i think a lot of the noise and trolling from the linux camp of late has really put me off. I know *all* linux users aren't like this, but it's really turning into something don't want to be associated with. I have a similar situation with the Apple community, and Windows, well... i just hate the OS enough.

    The level of integrity that i've seen in my (albeit limited) interaction on usenet, slashdot and irc with BSD folks is impressive. There aren't any issues of acting juvenile or overly zealous.

    Maybe in a while the linux camp will "grow up" some and i'll come back.

    Sorry.
    • Maybe this isn't the best reason to drive such a decision, but i think a lot of the noise and trolling from the linux camp of late has really put me off. I know *all* linux users aren't like this, but it's really turning into something don't want to be associated with.

      Ironically these two lines make this post a troll itself. There is a huge difference between end users feuding and developers feuding. The latter is rare between both OSes, and it is what counts in life.

      Do you think Alan Cox, et al are

    • Here's my impression of the Linux camp. It's not accurate, but it seems to be the dominant noise:

      "2.4.97 is here! Yeah! We finally get [bugfix|VM|whatever]! Now the world will take us serisouly. Anyone who sticks with 2.4.96 is a loser!"

      Repeat for every minor release...
  • Dammit, and I was just thinking about installing 4.8 on an old machine I have. I got it with the 'latest', to the U.S. at least, issue of LinuxFormat.

    Now I feel compelled to download 4.9 instead of 4.8 and try and install it.
    • Depending on your download speed (I am on modem), it might be quicker to install 4.8 from the CD then use CVSUP to download the latest (4.9) bits. Although if you have never recompiled a whole system, it may seem a bit daunting and tricky for an inexperienced BSD user, but when you reboot after doing a make world it is a glorious feeling :p
  • <sarcasm>I think I will just wait for longhorn before I upgrade my OS again.</sarcasm>
  • If you have troubles, try this mirror...

    ftp://olaf.spack.nu/pub/mirror/freebsd-iso/ [spack.nu]

    Enjoy :)

    Ender
  • ...Linux is not impacting Windows at all - it is simply killing off Unix variants.

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