3 ms·
Well, on Linux distros it is not uncommon for individual packages to be updates as updates become available. So if there is an update to, say, the web server, i
by krylon 11y ago
Well, on Linux distros it is not uncommon for individual packages to be updates as updates become available. So if there is an update to, say, the web server, it is sufficient to restart the web server.
On BSD systems, kernel and userland are developed in lock step, so it's usually a good idea to reboot to be sure they are in sync.
- laumars 11y agoUsually you'd be running the same userland daemons on FreeBSD that you might on Linux. Web servers, databases, OpenSSHd, file networking protocols (FTP, SMB, NFS, etc), and so on aren't generally tied to a particular kernel version since ABIs are not subject to frequent changes (it would be very bad if they were). So with that in mind, you can update your userland on FreeBSD without updating your kernel in much the same way as you can do with Linux. Though it is recommended that you update the entire stack on either platform.
- floatboth 11y agoUpdating the FreeBSD base (to the next major release) without updating the kernel is Not a Good Idea. Backward compatibility is there, down to version 4.x, but no one guarantees forward compatibility! Applications will usually work, but the base system will likely break in some places.
- laumars 11y agoYes, but 'freebsd-update' is akin to an 'apt-get dist-upgrade'. Regular updates from 'pkg' or ports should be fine.