Hi, I am currently trying to switch from Ubuntu to FreeBSD 5.3. Right now I am dual-booting and doing all my work in Ubuntu while I read through the FreeBSD handbook and work in FreeBSD when I have time. I have decided to avoid the ports section as every piece of software I have looked for has been available as binaries using the pkg_add -r packagename command.

I came across a piece of software called freebsd-update. It is supposed to update a system with security updates, etc. if you are not using the ports system.

Can someone please let me know if anything I have said above is wrong.

Anyways, I honestly cannot figure out how to use it. Am I missing something? Anyways, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Here's a free tip: In BSD you are expected to use man pages to find out the info you're looking for. It's a simple trick, but very often just checking the man page for some command or program can bring light to their usage. For beginners man pages may at first appear a bit cryptic but they have a common format that repeats from one man page to another, and after you've become familiar with this common format, it's often quite easy to find the information you're looking for.

I'm not kidding you. Try "man freebsd-update". Then read the man page. Then post here if you don't understand something or have some further questions. Often man pages are your best help resource when no-one else seems to know the answer to your questions. Please, do yourself a big favour and learn to use man pages.

Hello... The ports system is THE best management system I have come across by far. I don't really understand why you would not want to use it? It's simple to maintain and extremely reliable. Its one of the strengths of FreeBSD for sure...

But then I have never heard of freebsd-update and I would be skeptical if it is indeed better than the ports... time to look it up I guess?

www.taosecurity.com
blog
November's stuff

He (Richard Bejtlich) gives a quick run down here;
http://www.osnews.com/comment.php?news_id=9073
and here
http://www.taosecurity.com/keeping_f...p-to-date.html

Pretty interesting blog.

Myself, I just portupgrade, but who knows, maybe someday.....

Tried that already before I posted here. Did I post somewhere specificially that I didn't do that? Talked about what the program did, just didn't tell you how to make the program do that. None of the commands they listed worked. And yes, after using Linux for over a year, I know how to use man pages.
Is this the whole elitist thing everyone always brings up when BSD and its users come up? Well, so far with *BSD I have had documentation (excluding the FreeBSD handbook) that assumes I'm a programmer and elitist users who jump at your throat about not reading man pages when they have no clue (espescially considering reading the man page is the FIRST thing I do when I can't figure something out). In fact, I read the man page, read the homepage of the program, searched this sites forums, googled, dogpiled and yahooed. Anything I miss? Have I searched enough yet? So here's a free tip for you : pointing someone to a man page is a bit better then getting mad at them for not reading the man page.

I think I'm going to stick with Linux as the community is much more friendly. I don't have my throat jumped down when I ask a question.

Portupgrade is for ports. FreeBSD-Update is for the base OS, not ports, but you knew that.

Being a linux user for a year doesn't automatically make you a guru, it makes you a user. There are people here with years on years, even decades of UNIX experience that would readily admit that they don't know everything there is to know. Knowing when to ask for help is one thing. Knowing what to do with the help you get is, apparantly, another.

I don't see anything in this thread that indicates a personal attack on you or your ability. If you want that, go on the openbsd lists and ask a FAQ question. The BSD family isn't elitist (even if I am), but BSD users aren't going to spoon feed you either. Most of us "Earned our spurs" so to speak, and while we'll lead you to the answer, you'll have to find it yourself 99 times out of 100.

Sorry it that is a disappointment.

I speak only for myself and the BSD users that I know personally. I'm sure there are users out there that like doing charity work, I just don't happen to know any of them.

Just for grins, I installed freebsd-update and took a look at it. There was a post install message about a sample conf file. Clear to me. Then I checked out the man page. Clear description on binary updates. Using it with a conf file and without options would be;
# freebsd-update fetch
# freebsd-update install

I think the point was, your post didn't mention anything about reading some instructions first, and/or your post didn't ask anything about clearing some thoughts of the man pages. Showing some type of research is helpful.

OS ease of use is something like;
Windows/Apple -> RedHat/various linux -> Unix -> OS/390

Moving up a level requires a little more involvement on the user's part. And... I've seen RTFM as a regular phase on Linux forums to newcomers.

Actually, I didn't see the answer to your question as you did. May the didn't show on your end.

Coming to BSD, take a little time and learn from the folks here. Grow some tough skin and stick around.

I'd like to personally apologize to ubuntu-addict. I had no idea that you'd take my suggestion to read the available documentation on the subject as a personal insult.

The string of events that lead me to make this unfortunate proposition was that after reading your question I first took a look at the freebsd-update man page and found it quite clear and helpful. I thought I should maybe post you the few commands that the man page introduced, but then I thought that you are bound to meet similar situations in the future and that it would actually be more useful to you if I pointed out that you can very easily find out answers to many questions using the same method that I use. Of course, I couldn't possibly know that you had already checked the man page and had trouble understanding it. You should have mentioned this in your initial post.

Really, my intention was not to insult you. I was just trying to give you a useful tip "from one newbie to another". Now where do you see elitist attitude in that?

LOL. I dont know why linux users are so senisitive?