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[How-To] Upgrade FreeBSD from Version 10.2 to 10.3

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This tutorial by user Vinícius Zavam shows us how to upgrade your FreeBSD 10.2 to version 10.3. See the link below for the full instructions.

Introduction

FreeBSD is constantly evolving; the team is adding new features and patching security vulnerabilities. Keeping your server operating system up to date ensures better security and compatibility, and FreeBSD includes the freebsd-update tool to make this easy. In this tutorial, you’ll upgrade an existing FreeBSD server running FreeBSD 10.2-RELEASE to 10.3.RELEASE-p4.

Prerequisites

To follow this tutorial, you will need:

  • A server running FreeBSD 10.2.
  • A user account configured to run commands with sudo. We will use the default freebsd account which is created automatically when you create a FreeBSD Droplet. To learn more about logging into your FreeBSD Droplet and its basic management, check out the Getting Started with FreeBSD tutorial series.

Step 1 — Fetching and Applying Patches

In order to upgrade the operating system, we first need to fetch the packages and patches for our destination release. Log into the server with the freebsd account.

  • ssh freebsd@your_server_ip

Then, use the freebsd-upgrade command to gather information about the system upgrade and determine what needs to change. Run the following command:

Full tutorial: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-upgrade-freebsd-from-version-10-2-to-10-3

[How-To] FreeBSD UEFI Root on ZFS and Windows Dual Boot

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User Kev009 shows us how to get UEFI Root on ZFS set up along with Windows dual boot on FreeBSD. See the link below for the full instructions.

windowsbsdSomehow I’ve managed to mostly not care about UEFI until now. On my new laptop, I decided I should give it a go. There are some small benefits, nothing life changing, but booting multiple OSes is a lot easier especially if they are UEFI native, and you get a nice frame buffer the boot manager can use as will the OS before starting graphically (and after, if you don’t have accelerated graphics drivers).

For reference, how I run FreeBSD desktop/laptop: digital-life

Thanks to

Most of this was cribbed from the following sources:

Install Windows 10 or other UEFI OS ….

Full tutorial: http://kev009.com/wp/2016/07/freebsd-uefi-root-on-zfs-and-windows-dual-boot/

FreeBSD Foundation July 2016 Update + Mid-Year Fundraising Campaign Kick-Off

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The FreeBSD Foundation has released their recap for the month of July. This edition includes development project updates focusing on security, HOPE XI and Texas Linuxfest conference summaries, and release engineering updates. In addition, they are kicking off the mid-year campaign for the Foundation fundraiser.

freebsd_foundationDear FreeBSD Community Member,

It’s hard to believe we’re halfway through 2016. Along with all of the summer fun, July is also the perfect opportunity to take a look at what we’ve accomplished so far and determine where we need to focus our efforts for the rest of the year. From increasing our presence at non-BSD events to funding new development projects, to making it easier to get started using FreeBSD, we’re definitely making progress towards our goals. However, our progress can only go as far as our funding allows. This is where you come in. We hope as you finish reading the latest update, you’ll take a minute to donate, and help us grow and improve the OS you love as much as we do.
Deb

FreeBSD Foundation July 2016 Update – https://www.freebsdfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/FreeBSD-Foundation-July-2016-Update.pdf

I’m pleased to announce the kickoff of our mid-year fundraising campaign! We are more than halfway through the year, but we’ve only raised $265,000 towards our goal of raising $1,250,000. We are reaching out to you, the FreeBSD community, to help us promote our work and to make a donation so we can continue supporting FreeBSD.

Mid-Year Fundraising Campaign Kick-Off – https://www.freebsdfoundation.org/blog/mid-year-fundraising-campaign-kick-off/

[Blog] Documentation: Linux vs. FreeBSD – a real-world example

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User Eerie Linux discusses the differences between documentation provided by Linux and FreeBSD. Read on about why the FreeBSD man pages and handbook can serve as an excellent resource for those who may not know when configuring the operating system.

docWith every operating system there comes the time when you need help with something (if you’re not the absolute Über-guru, that is). If you are in need of help, there are many ways to get it. You can ask an experienced colleague or friend if available. If not, you can search the web. There is a very high possibility of the information that you need being out there, somewhere. If not, you could ask for help and hope that somebody answers. Well, or you could consult the documentation!

… There are many sources on the net that say BSD has far superior documentation compared to Linux. And I was impressed enough about that fact to add another one by writing this post. So if you’re a *BSD user and you need help I can only give the advice to take the time to read some manpages instead of looking or even asking on the net. It is much more rewarding to figure out things yourself using the documentation and the chance is quite high that you’ll learn another useful thing or two from it!

Read the full article: https://eerielinux.wordpress.com/2016/07/30/documentation-linux-vs-freebsd-a-real-world-example/

FreeBSD Q2 2016 Status Report

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The FreeBSD Team has released their full status report for the 2nd Quarter of 2016. Other updates, as noted by Phoronix, are Allwinner SoC support improvements, ARM64 enhancements, LLVM, and GNOME/KDE updates. Follow the link below to see detailed reports from each team project.

Now available: the 2016Q2 model of the FreeBSD Project Status Report!

This quarter brings several exciting improvements over previous models. We have enhancements from different teams, new features like robust mutexes and support for full disk encryption with GELI. You’ll find expanded graphics support, both at the chipset and window manager levels, and ongoing development in many pending features.

Perhaps most exciting, under the hood you’ll find a brand-new Core Team.

Don’t wait. Take FreeBSD for a spin today.

—Michael W. Lucas

Official status report: https://www.freebsd.org/news/status/report-2016-04-2016-06.html

Related links:

Hacker News Discussion – FreeBSD Q2 2016 Status Report

Phoronix – FreeBSD Q2’2016: EFI Improvements, Prepping For FreeBSD 11.0, Package Updates

FreeBSD 11.0 BETA-3 now available

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The developers of FreeBSD have made available the third BETA of version 11.0. Notable changes are listed below, you can download the ISOs from here. The official 11.0-RELEASE is scheduled to go out on September 2nd.

freebsdlogo

A summary of changes since BETA2 includes:

o Improvements to libunwind

o Updates to locales

o Increase the vt(4) framebuffer maximum size

o bsdinstall(8) updates to prompt for the date and time during install,
  as well as prompting to enable various system hardening tuning options

o Various other updates and fixes

A list of changes since 10.0-RELEASE are available on the stable/11
release notes:

    https://www.freebsd.org/relnotes/11-STABLE/relnotes/article.html

Please note, the release notes page is not yet complete, and will be
updated on an ongoing basis as the 11.0-RELEASE cycle progresses.

Official announcement: https://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-stable/2016-July/085114.html

Related links:

Softpedia – FreeBSD 11.0 Beta 3 Out Now, Final Release Is Expected to Land on September 2

DistroWatch – Development Release: FreeBSD 11.0-BETA3

Softpedia – FreeBSD 11.0 Beta 3 ISO Download

2016 BSDCan Trip Reports

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BSDCan 2016 was held at the University of Ottawa in Ontario on the weekend of June 10-11. The FreeBSD Foundation sponsored several users who have summarized their experiences in the posts below.

bsdcan-logo

2016 heralded my return to BSDCan after a 4 year hiatus. In part, I was inspired to return this year, after I took some holidays in France back in February. I had the distinct pleasure, that weekend, to have supper with just about all the Paris based FreeBSD committers. Plus, I got to meet my first ever mentee, jadawin@, who made a special trip to come visit. Keeping company with these great people for the night reminded me of the great camaraderie I had experienced at the conferences in years gone by, and I wanted to try experience that again. So, I showed up on campus, and everything felt familiar. This was the first good sign! From there, a few familiar faces were revealed, and before too long, it was almost old homecoming for me!

Thomas M. Abthorpe: https://www.freebsdfoundation.org/blog/2016-bsdcan-trip-report-thomas-m-abthorpe/

Trent Thompson: https://www.freebsdfoundation.org/blog/2016-bsdcan-trip-report-trent-thompson/

Li-Wen Hsu: https://www.freebsdfoundation.org/blog/2016-bsdcan-trip-report-li-wen-hsu/

Ruslan Bukin: https://www.freebsdfoundation.org/blog/2016-bsdcan-trip-report-ruslan-bukin/

[Blog] Leo Laporte – A Grand Experiment

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New user Leo Laporte, known US tech journalist, documents his switch to FreeBSD after being an avid and longtime Linux user. Read about his findings on why and how he chose to go with FreeBSD as a robust solution for his next project.

leolaporte

The latest debacle over the “forced” upgrade to Windows 10 and Apple’s increasingly locked-in ecosystem has got me thinking. Do I really need to use a proprietary operating system to get work done? And while I’m at it, do I need to use commercial cloud services to store my data?

I’ve always used Linux since the first time I tried installing Slackware in the mid-90s. In 1998 we were the first national TV show to install Linux live (Red Hat). And I’ve often advocated Ubuntu to people with older computers. I usually have at least one computer running Linux around, in the past couple of years Dell XPS laptops have been great choices. And a couple of months ago I bought a 17″ Oryx laptop from System76, an Ubuntu system integrator, for use in studio.

Original blog: http://www.leolaporte.com/blog/a-grand-experiment

/r/opensource discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/opensource/comments/4u6pff/a_grand_experiment_by_leo_laporte_i_love_linux/t1_d5o848x

/r/linux discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/4u55tv/a_grand_experiment_by_leo_laporte_i_love_linux/t1_d5navuz

FreeBSD forums: https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/57024/