23.4. Tracking a Development Branch
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## 23.4. Tracking a Development Branch

FreeBSD has two development branches: FreeBSD-CURRENT and FreeBSD-STABLE.

This section provides an explanation of each branch and its intended audience, as well as how to keep a system up-to-date with each respective branch.

### 23.4.1. Using FreeBSD-CURRENT

FreeBSD-CURRENT is the “bleeding edge” of FreeBSD development and FreeBSD-CURRENT users are expected to have a high degree of technical skill. Less technical users who wish to track a development branch should track FreeBSD-STABLE instead.

FreeBSD-CURRENT is the very latest source code for FreeBSD and includes works in progress, experimental changes, and transitional mechanisms that might or might not be present in the next official release. While many FreeBSD developers compile the FreeBSD-CURRENT source code daily, there are short periods of time when the source may not be buildable. These problems are resolved as quickly as possible, but whether or not FreeBSD-CURRENT brings disaster or new functionality can be a matter of when the source code was synced.

FreeBSD-CURRENT is made available for three primary interest groups:

1. Members of the FreeBSD community who are actively working on some part of the source tree.

2. Members of the FreeBSD community who are active testers. They are willing to spend time solving problems, making topical suggestions on changes and the general direction of FreeBSD, and submitting patches.

3. Users who wish to keep an eye on things, use the current source for reference purposes, or make the occasional comment or code contribution.

FreeBSD-CURRENT should not be considered a fast-track to getting new features before the next release as pre-release features are not yet fully tested and most likely contain bugs. It is not a quick way of getting bug fixes as any given commit is just as likely to introduce new bugs as to fix existing ones. FreeBSD-CURRENT is not in any way “officially supported”.

To track FreeBSD-CURRENT:

1. Join the freebsd-current and the svn-src-head lists. This is essential in order to see the comments that people are making about the current state of the system and to receive important bulletins about the current state of FreeBSD-CURRENT.

   The svn-src-head list records the commit log entry for each change as it is made, along with any pertinent information on possible side effects.

   To join these lists, go to http://lists.FreeBSD.org/mailman/listinfo, click on the list to subscribe to, and follow the instructions. In order to track changes to the whole source tree, not just the changes to FreeBSD-CURRENT, subscribe to the svn-src-all list.

2. Synchronize with the FreeBSD-CURRENT sources. Typically, svnlite is used to check out the -CURRENT code from the `head` branch of one of the Subversion mirror sites listed in Section A.3.6, “Subversion Mirror Sites”.

3. Due to the size of the repository, some users choose to only synchronize the sections of source that interest them or which they are contributing patches to. However, users that plan to compile the operating system from source must download all of FreeBSD-CURRENT, not just selected portions.

   Before compiling FreeBSD-CURRENT , read `/usr/src/Makefile` very carefully and follow the instructions in Section 23.5, “Updating FreeBSD from Source”. Read the FreeBSD-CURRENT mailing list and `/usr/src/UPDATING` to stay up-to-date on other bootstrapping procedures that sometimes become necessary on the road to the next release.

4. Be active! FreeBSD-CURRENT users are encouraged to submit their suggestions for enhancements or bug fixes. Suggestions with accompanying code are always welcome.

### 23.4.2. Using FreeBSD-STABLE

FreeBSD-STABLE is the development branch from which major releases are made. Changes go into this branch at a slower pace and with the general assumption that they have first been tested in FreeBSD-CURRENT. This is still a development branch and, at any given time, the sources for FreeBSD-STABLE may or may not be suitable for general use. It is simply another engineering development track, not a resource for end-users. Users who do not have the resources to perform testing should instead run the most recent release of FreeBSD.

Those interested in tracking or contributing to the FreeBSD development process, especially as it relates to the next release of FreeBSD, should consider following FreeBSD-STABLE.

While the FreeBSD-STABLE branch should compile and run at all times, this cannot be guaranteed. Since more people run FreeBSD-STABLE than FreeBSD-CURRENT, it is inevitable that bugs and corner cases will sometimes be found in FreeBSD-STABLE that were not apparent in FreeBSD-CURRENT. For this reason, one should not blindly track FreeBSD-STABLE. It is particularly important not to update any production servers to FreeBSD-STABLE without thoroughly testing the code in a development or testing environment.

To track FreeBSD-STABLE:

1. Join the freebsd-stable list in order to stay informed of build dependencies that may appear in FreeBSD-STABLE or any other issues requiring special attention. Developers will also make announcements in this mailing list when they are contemplating some controversial fix or update, giving the users a chance to respond if they have any issues to raise concerning the proposed change.

   Join the relevant svn list for the branch being tracked. For example, users tracking the 9-STABLE branch should join the svn-src-stable-9 list. This list records the commit log entry for each change as it is made, along with any pertinent information on possible side effects.

   To join these lists, go to http://lists.FreeBSD.org/mailman/listinfo, click on the list to subscribe to, and follow the instructions. In order to track changes for the whole source tree, subscribe to svn-src-all.

2. To install a new FreeBSD-STABLE system, install the most recent FreeBSD-STABLE release from the FreeBSD mirror sites or use a monthly snapshot built from FreeBSD-STABLE. Refer to www.freebsd.org/snapshots for more information about snapshots.

   To compile or upgrade to an existing FreeBSD system to FreeBSD-STABLE, use svn to check out the source for the desired branch. Branch names, such as `stable/9`, are listed at www.freebsd.org/releng.

3. Before compiling or upgrading to FreeBSD-STABLE , read `/usr/src/Makefile` carefully and follow the instructions in Section 23.5, “Updating FreeBSD from Source”. Read the FreeBSD-STABLE mailing list and `/usr/src/UPDATING` to keep up-to-date on other bootstrapping procedures that sometimes become necessary on the road to the next release.

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