Subj : FreeBSD query
To   : Angus Mcleod
From : Frank Reid
Date : Sun Jan 09 2005 07:03 am

  Re: FreeBSD query
  By: Angus Mcleod to All on Sat Jan 08 2005 19:39:00

 > If I have a machine running FreeBSD 4.9 (or 5.2) and another running 4.4,
 > can I FTP executables from the later version machine to the earlier and
 > hope they will work?
 > 
 > IOW, if I grab something like the 'wget' binary from the 5.2 machine and
 > copy it onto the 4.4 machine, will it work on the 4.4 machine?

I guess "sometimes" is the best answer.  Basically, if the external 
library dependencies haven't changed between architectures (meaning the 
binary is relatively simple and static), then it'll probably run on the 
new machine.  I suspect more often than not, you're going to find you need 
to recompile it for the new box.

I like to build from ports, but I understand if bandwidth is a challenge, 
that might be difficult.  FreeBSD does maintain a current binary ports 
tree online (as well as many places to get the entire precompiled ports 
tree on CD for very cheap).  Your best bet would be either to compile the 
port from the ports tree on the new platform (after cvsup'ing the tree) 
or, at least, installing the precompiled binary port from FreeBSD for the 
target.

Frank

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