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comparerelease4to5 [2005/02/15 18:01] – Add a reference to GEOM and GBDE. A better description would be good. GaranceDrosehncomparerelease4to5 [2015/11/15 05:32] (current) – historical interest only MarkLinimon
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   * Softupdates (vs logged filesystems like extfs3)   * Softupdates (vs logged filesystems like extfs3)
     * See info at http://www.mckusick.com/softdep/index.html     * See info at http://www.mckusick.com/softdep/index.html
-    * UFS snapshots  (see separate example //-- not included on this wiki page!//)+    * UFS snapshots  (see separate wiki page:  ExampleUfsSnapshots )
     * The /sbin/dump command includes a -L option to automatically use a snapshot when dumping a live filesystem, so your dump will be a consistent snapshot of the filesystem.     * The /sbin/dump command includes a -L option to automatically use a snapshot when dumping a live filesystem, so your dump will be a consistent snapshot of the filesystem.
     * The /sbin/newfs command creates a .snap directory (which is owned by user operator) after initializing any filesystem partition, for use by /sbin/dump -L .     * The /sbin/newfs command creates a .snap directory (which is owned by user operator) after initializing any filesystem partition, for use by /sbin/dump -L .
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   * In 5.x, softupdates also allows us to do "background fsck" at startup.  If these are used, then after a system crash (for any reason), the system startup will not have to wait until the initial "fsck" finishes.  That means the system can be available to users, even though "fsck" may not have completed.  This is a big advantage on huge partitions that have millions of files.   * In 5.x, softupdates also allows us to do "background fsck" at startup.  If these are used, then after a system crash (for any reason), the system startup will not have to wait until the initial "fsck" finishes.  That means the system can be available to users, even though "fsck" may not have completed.  This is a big advantage on huge partitions that have millions of files.
  
-  * There is a major rewrite and improvement of the code which handles the partitioning of hard disks, called GEOM.  This rewrite will make it easier to reliably implement new features in disk support, disk partitioning and disk I/O.+  * Release 5.3 includes GEOM, which is a major rewrite and improvement of the code which handles the partitioning of hard disks.  Among other changes, this brought in support for the types of disk labels which are standard formats on sparc64 and PPC architecture. This rewrite will also make it easier to reliably implement new features in disk support, disk partitioning and disk I/O (such as additional styles of RAID support).
  
   * One of the benefits of GEOM which is available in 5.3 is called GBDE.  This provides support for encrypted disk partitions.   * One of the benefits of GEOM which is available in 5.3 is called GBDE.  This provides support for encrypted disk partitions.
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   * procfs is used much less.  It is not mounted by default, and is likely to disappear at some point (6.0 or later).   * procfs is used much less.  It is not mounted by default, and is likely to disappear at some point (6.0 or later).
 +
 +  * /dev/random now provides much better randomness.  It is now "cryptographic quality".  This includes the checking of multiple sources of entropy to make sure it supplies truly unpredictable random values.
 +
 +  * You can also checkout the migration guide at: http://www.freebsd.org/releases/5.3R/migration-guide.html
  
   * My recommendation: If you are upgrading a system from 4.x to 5.3-RELEASE, you would probably be better off backing up all your important data, and doing a clean install.  You can upgrade from (say) 4.10-release to 5.3-release, but you will have better results if you create brand new partitions, and install into them.  Among other things, you probably want a larger root partition.   * My recommendation: If you are upgrading a system from 4.x to 5.3-RELEASE, you would probably be better off backing up all your important data, and doing a clean install.  You can upgrade from (say) 4.10-release to 5.3-release, but you will have better results if you create brand new partitions, and install into them.  Among other things, you probably want a larger root partition.
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 //GaranceDrosehn wrote in November and December 2004, and thus it// //GaranceDrosehn wrote in November and December 2004, and thus it//
 //might be a bit out-of-date//. //might be a bit out-of-date//.
 +
 +----
 +
 +[[CategoryHistorical]]
  
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