FreeBSD 6.* and 7.* or 5.5 ?

[fawz]

I was wondering while solving some problems here in my FreeBSD 6.2 which would be the difference between 5.5 and 6.2 (including new releases from 6.* to 7.*). I would like to ask which would be the best option for stability. I'm really experiencing some problems, I don't know if it has something to do with it, but the ammount of problems I'm having while installing softwares like qbittorrent, bittyrant, wmweather+, mldonkey, amsn, etc is becoming something annoying. Well, it doesn't means I'm giving up. Surely maybe I've done something wrong like installing conflicting options or whatsoever. I will try to reinstall the 6.2 again tomorrow.

So what is the difference between 5.5 and the new series ?

[abhishek456]

here are the new things on BSD 6.2 release.

FreeBSD/i386 6.2-RELEASE Release Notes

got from BSD website.Check their website for more info

[anomie]

You want FreeBSD 6.2.

5.5. is production legacy, which receives only bugfixes and security updates.

Reinstalling FreeBSD is probably not necessary. How about explaining how you're installing ports and the problems you're seeing?

[fawz]

You want FreeBSD 6.2.

5.5. is production legacy, which receives only bugfixes and security updates.

Reinstalling FreeBSD is probably not necessary. How about explaining how you're installing ports and the problems you're seeing?

I'm following your advice , surely it sounds better. Anyway, can we say that 5.5 is more stable than the new versions? Or it has nothing to do with it?

[daark.child]

I don't think 5.5 is more stable than 6.x just because it is recieving bug fixes and security updates only. 6.x gets the same bug fixes and security updates where necessary.

[anomie]

I'm following your advice , surely it sounds better. Anyway, can we say that 5.5 is more stable than the new versions? Or it has nothing to do with it?

It hasn't been my experience that the production legacy is more stable than the regular production -RELEASE branch.

Unless you have some reason not to, you're probably best using 6.2-RELEASE.

[mahlerfan]

I have to strongly disagree. I was fine with the amd64 build of FreeBSD 6.2, but the i386 version is buggy! It's Windows ME level bad, it kept crashing on me over and over and over again. It would crash every few hours. FreeBSD 5.5-- no crashing problems at all.

[anomie]

... the i386 version is buggy! It's Windows ME level bad, it kept crashing on me over and over and over again.

Even if that was your personal experience, it's a mis-characterization of FBSD 6.2. Windows ME level bad? C'mon.

It's extremely stable for everyone I talk with who runs it. Maybe you had some other issues (broken / poorly supported hardware) going on.

[mahlerfan]

Even if that was your personal experience, it's a mis-characterization of FBSD 6.2. Windows ME level bad? C'mon.

It's extremely stable for everyone I talk with who runs it. Maybe you had some other issues (broken / poorly supported hardware) going on.

That response doesn't even make sense. If my hardware wasn't supported properly by FreeBSD, then why would I have no problems with the earlier release?

In my experience I've only known two operating systems that crash frequently-- ME and FreeBSD 6.2 i386. So I really can't see myself as having mischaracterized that release.

My contrasting experience is valid, your nuh-uh response doesn't invalidate what I've said.

[Juan Pablo]

This shouldn't degenarate in a flame war with personal attacks, let's keep this calm. My experience with FreeBSD is no more than a couple of days on my laptop so I don't have much to say about this issue.

Maybe some change (maybe just one) from 5.5 to 6.2 is your problem and you shouldn't generalize, saying that the whole OS itself is buggy and instead file a bug