On Sun, Jul 6, 2008 at 7:43 AM, Robert Watson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Fri, 4 Jul 2008, Matthias Apitz wrote: > >> I'm running a RELENG_7 kernel and a userland as 7.0-REL on one of my >> laptops; I've been asked to check if a given driver problem in RELENG_7 is >> as well with HEAD... can I update the kernel to HEAD and let the userland >> (and all my compiled ports) as 7.0-REL; I know that this is not the >> intention, but it would cost me a lot of work if I should compile as well >> ~200 ports.... > > As a general rule, running old userspace on a new kernel works pretty well, > but you should expect certain types of things to not work -- for example, > monitoring tools that expect the kernel layout of data structures to be > unchanged. Within a particular -STABLE branch this is a bit less volatile, > but as you go from, say, 6-STABLE to a 7-STABLE kernel, the chances that > some of the more obscure options to netstat, etc, will not work are pretty > high. Likewise, be careful to disable any third-party kernel modules that > may require recompiling but aren't caught by the base system build, or > you'll get a nasty surprise when they panic. :-)
Robert, really good point. I ran into this exact problem not so long ago (third-party driver not supporting newer kernels, chaos ensued). I also think Mike's nextboot suggestion is one I (and others) should pay attention too. I tend to just install my test kernel blindly and if it fails, reboot and interrupt the boot, etc. - I will use nextboot for sure! -aps _______________________________________________ freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
