FreeBSD 14.5-Release(freebsd.org) |
FreeBSD 14.5-Release(freebsd.org) |
(Yes. I know.)
Linux distros only recently started doing this with the rise of flatpaks on top of immutable distros (or Debian stable).
A RELEASE is good for installing FreeBSD on a new computer, or for upgrading from a previous major version of FreeBSD, e.g. from 13 to 14 or from 14 to 15.
After installing a RELEASE, you normally update it to STABLE, before starting to use the computer.
STABLE versions correspond to the long-term-support versions of Linux, i.e. they include only essential back-ported patches, like security patches or bug fixes.
RELEASE are the initial versions, like a Linux x.x.0 version, which may have various problems that are discovered later and corrected in the STABLE versions.
I have been running FreeBSD continuously 24/7 on many servers for more than a quarter of century, and I have always used STABLE on them (after installing RELEASE first, especially when upgrading from an older major version, to minimize the risks of incompatibilities).
“FreeBSD-STABLE is the development branch from which major releases are made.”
(https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/cutting-edge)
probably works, but i’m not doing that on my prod thanks. (perhaps you’re thinking of the releng/foo branches instead?)
These days, I always use RELEASE and apply patches with freebsd-update.
Also, real businesses use -CURRENT, everybody knows that.
No, not really.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/03/buffer-overruns-lice...