Hello. I'm still yet to find a Gnu/Linux distro that i'm truly happy with. I'm currently using Debian, but i really hate Debians package managing tools, and i find most of the other linux distros not much better. I'm yet to try Freebsd due to complex hardware incompatibility's with my laptop computer, (it is possible, but difficult).
I see on distro watch the beta for a new release developing and am building interest again. I require a frozen release style operating system with minimal updates. Debian stable offers this; other Linux distros however offer it too like Opensuse, but have constant updates coming in anyway; this is not what i want. Other perhaps most notably, Arch Linux run on rolling release: this is also no good for me.
I am having trouble determining if FreeBSD is a rolling release operating system or not. There seems to be conflicting opinions. Can someone please enlighten me.
Thankyou

Only question - what do you want in a system of your choice? Once that's clear, things will be sorted out itself.

(Off topic : The remedy is Slackware)

Regards.

Debian's package management (dpkg/apt) is one of the best systems there is. What exactly don't you like about it?

The important thing to remember with FreeBSD is that the base software is separated from the rest of the system. So, software like the FreeBSD kernel, the compiler, shells are kept in one part and everything else is part of the ports system.

So, is FreeBSD a rolling-release? Kind of, depending on what you track. Like Debian Stable, FreeBSD does generate a new release once every number of months or so. The current release is 9.0. However, you also have the option of tracking the -STABLE or -CURRENT branch. Basically, -STABLE is like Debian Testing, which is where the FreeBSD releases are derived for each incremental release (like 8.1, 8.2 and so on). -CURRENT is the next release, so if you track -CURRENT, you're tracking what will be FreeBSD 10.

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO...nt-stable.html

However, if you track just the release, you have access to ports system. Ports are additional software that you compile from source. If you've used Gentoo, it's a similar structure. FreeBSD ports are usually updated to whatever the upstream release is. That's a bit different from Debian stable, where everything is frozen.

FreeBSD's packages, if you choose to use them, are also somewhat done in a similar way. Packages from the -RELEASE section are built when a new or incremental version is release and aren't updated after that. Packages from stable and current are usually added daily or weekly. You can see an example from this ftp site: ftp://ftp6.us.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/

It's a little confusing, but if you want to run FreeBSD and don't want a development branch, stick with the releases. Usually what I do is update the base system with freebsd-update and then just install everything with ports.

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO...bsdupdate.html

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Your last link talks about updates but because the base system is seperate to the third part packages, i'm unsure if this applies to them as well. Do the third party packages still get security updates if required like Debian stable.

example, if a security bug is found in Apache or something else and a patch is available would the following update and apply the patch?


how long is a 'release' supported for?

Can you be selective about this, and have only one of two updated packages from ports while keeping the rest frozen?

Also, how well does Wine run on FreeBSD? because i've heard others say it is nowhere near as good as it is on Gnu/Linux.


Thanks for the helpful info and quick links angryfirelord.


@PrinceCruise
I want a system that is flexible and stable, and easy to maintain. Simple as that. Slackware is almost there, but i desire a package manger that is a bit more automated. Some people may point to slapt-get as an answer, but then it's limited by the slackwares limited repository, and i don't have much desire to use third party repos.

@caravel
As i previously stated to PrinceCruise, i desire a stable and flexible system. Debian gives me the stableness and automation i desire, but i find it's flexibility limiting. This would probably spawn a lot of hate from other avid Debian users and I will admit that i have not ventured into the package making side of things, but when i want to compile something from source I always get issues from Debians package tools. I know that compiling from source (make install) is not recommended in Debian, but alas it is something that i desire to do sometimes. Other times it isn't even to do with source. A fare while ago i had gnome installed in Squeeze. I desired to remove Nautilus and replace it with Xfdesktop, and Dolphin. Nautilus is a dependency of gnome-session, and removing it alone was ridiculously hard. Dpkg has it's "--ignore-depends" argument, but next time apt is used to install something else, it will refuse to do it unless it can fix the 'broken dependency' as well.

Either way, i'm still trying to find my foot hold and i think that trying new distros/os is always recommended for finding the one right for you, and i'm finding FreeBSD more and more appealing. Id i try it and it doesn't sit well, i'll probably end up back at Debian.

No, freebsd-update is only for the base system. If you use the generic kernel, it saves you from having to re-compile it when patches are released.
http://security.freebsd.org/#sup
You'll have to update it to the next incremental number to get updates. So, if you installed 7.0 when it came out, to still get updates to 7, you'd have to install 7.4.

My guess is that it's around 5 years or so. 7.0 came out in early 2008. Each incremental release is supported for 2 years in-between that 5 year period.
Yes. This is one area where the handbook isn't too clear. If you read it the first time, you'd think that you'd have to update it.

Basically, you can install and compile what you need and then run portaudit to check for updates. portaudit will compare your installed packages to a database and see if a vulnerability persists. If one is found, then you can just build the new port.

The only time when you need to rebuild everything is when you're updating the base system. This is the same case for Gentoo when a new gcc comes down. In that case, you'll usually use portupgrade to just update what's on your system. Just be aware that while ports are powerful, they don't hold your hand as much as apt-get does.
I think its gotten better, but you'll need to install the 32-bit version. I don't believe Wine builds on the 64-bit version. You can see on the Wine site what works and what doesn't.

http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManage...Ascending=true

Just remember, with FreeBSD, be patient and read the manual.

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So you want a fully automated package management system that makes package management easy and you want the flexibility to install whatever you want. No insult intended, but perhaps you expect too much. Given the description of what you hope to find, I am forced to wonder if such a system exists. I hope you all the best in your search.

Yeah, I'm kind of wondering what compilation issues he's had with Debian. It kind of sounds like he wants a base system that doesn't change, but will also be able to automatically pull in dependencies for compiling any updated packages that he wants. That certainly doesn't exist. I think his best bet is to use Ubuntu and enable PPAs that have his desired updated software.