Re: NetBSD 8, non-desktop and desktop uses

["Thomas Mueller" <mueller6725%twc.com@localhost>]

from Greg Troxel:

> I noticed that we have just passed 4 years since the release of NetBSD
> 8.0, on July 17, 2018:
>   https://www.netbsd.org/releases/formal-8/NetBSD-8.0.html
        
> pkgsrc announcements have cautioned that desktop-type programs are  
> increasingly troubled on NetBSD 8 for a long time.  Soon(tm), for some
> value of soon, the releaes of NetBSD 10 will cause NetBSD 8 to be
> formally de-supported.
        
> I therefore wonder about usage of NetBSD 8 with up-to-date pkgsrc, and
> would like to hear about:

>   1) Is anyone using NetBSD 8 as a desktop, running X11 and things like
>   firefox, thunderbird, kde/gnome/lxqt/fce4/etc., gimp, qgis and other
>   large things?  If you are, I would like to hear
        
>      a) Why haven't you updated to NetBSD 9?

>      b) What branch of pkgsrc do you choose to run, and why?  What is
>         your experience? 

>      c) Do you care what the "8.0" symlink points to, or do you use some 
>         value like 8.0_2021Q1 in pkgin?  Or do you not use TNF-provided
>         binary packages?  (Note that policy says the symlink will be
>         moved forward even if upstream changes cause packages to not
>         build.  See https://www.pkgsrc.org/quarterly/.)

>   1A) Similar, but without things like firefox.  I mean more like
>   old-school X11, a few widgets, GTK emacs.

>   2) Are people using NetBSD 8 in a server environment (no X11, things like
>      apache/nginx, pgsql/mysql, postfix/dovecot, spamassassin, etc.)?

>      a) Are you able to just use the most recent pkgsrc branch without
>         difficulty, or are there missing packages that used to build?

> In part, my question is "Is any effort warranted to keep
> big-desktop-type things working on NetBSD 8?"  (That is not to suggest
> that anyone is willing to expend the effort!)

I believe the branch in the NetBSD-current source tree is already far behind schedule, not that I am impatient (more interested in quality than punctuality).

We wouldn't want the UFS filesystem upgrade to make a mess of current NetBSD and FreeBSD installations.

But I believe the branch in NetBSD-current source tree will mark the end of support for NetBSD 8, meaning NetBSD 8 users are on very borrowed time.

So there is great incentive for NetBSD 8 users to upgrade.

I am now on NetBSD 9.99.82, anticipate upgrading following the branch, plan to go with current rather than releng-9.

Tom