make minor & major version upgrades easy by dch · Pull Request #2674 · freebsd/pkg

dch · 2026-05-09T07:52:15Z

This simplifies base system package upgrades enormously for the
bulk of users, who have not configured custom repositories, and
makes intuitive use of the obvious VERSION_MINOR var found in both
/etc/pkg/FreeBSD.conf and /usr/local/etc/pkg.conf to allow
the user to go from 15.0-RELEASE to 15.1, and in future to 16.0:

pkg -o VERSION_MINOR=1 upgrade -r FreeBSD-base
...

Alternatively, we could allow OSVERSION by itself to assume same
ABI as the running system, but this requires users to figure out
what OSVERSION should be, and isn't as nice for major version
upgrades.

OSVERSION on its own does not work

dch@akai /r/pkg> pkg  -oOSVERSION=1501000 repos |grep release
    url             : "pkg+https://pkg.FreeBSD.org/FreeBSD:15:amd64/base_release_0",

needs the ABI as well, not nice UX

dch@akai /r/pkg> pkg -oABI=FreeBSD:15:amd64 -oOSVERSION=1501000 repos |grep release
    url             : "pkg+https://pkg.FreeBSD.org/FreeBSD:15:amd64/base_release_1",

with patch applied

dch@akai /r/pkg> /repos/pkg/src/pkg-static -oVERSION_MINOR=1 repos |grep release
    url             : "pkg+https://pkg.FreeBSD.org/FreeBSD:15:amd64/base_release_1",

This simplifies base system package upgrades enormously for the bulk of users, who have not configured custom repositories: pkg -o VERSION_MINOR=1 upgrade -r FreeBSD-base Allows a user to go from 15.0-RELEASE to 15.1.

dch · 2026-05-09T07:52:53Z

I will add a test & docs today

dch · 2026-05-09T08:26:34Z

example upgrade:

$ doas ./src/pkg-static -oVERSION_MINOR=1 upgrade -r FreeBSD-base
Updating FreeBSD-base repository catalogue...
pkg-static: Repository FreeBSD-base has a wrong packagesite, need to re-create database
Fetching meta.conf: 100%     179 B   0.2 kB/s    00:01
Fetching data: 100%    82 KiB  84.4 kB/s    00:01
Processing entries:   0%
Newer FreeBSD version for package FreeBSD-xz:
To ignore this error set IGNORE_OSVERSION=yes
- package: 1501000
- running userland: 1500068
Ignore the mismatch and continue? [y/N]: y
Processing entries: 100%
FreeBSD-base repository update completed. 509 packages processed.
FreeBSD-base is up to date.
Checking for upgrades (183 candidates): 100%
Processing candidates (183 candidates): 100%
The following 188 package(s) will be affected (of 0 checked):
...

concussious · 2026-05-12T21:12:44Z

I haven't looked at the patch yet but that workflow looks great to me!

vermaden · 2026-05-12T22:00:36Z

Not sure if that helps but these methods worked for me:

https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2026/05/10/freebsd-pkgbase-minor-upgrades/

Regards,
vermaden

grahamperrin · 2026-05-13T18:40:10Z

+To upgrade base system packages from 15.0-RELEASE to 15.1-RELEASE using
+the FreeBSD-base repository:
+.Pp
+.Dl pkg -o VERSION_MINOR=1 upgrade -r FreeBSD-base


Suggested change

To upgrade base system packages from 15.0-RELEASE to 15.1-RELEASE using

the FreeBSD-base repository:

.Pp

.Dl pkg -o VERSION_MINOR=1 upgrade -r FreeBSD-base

To upgrade the base system and non-base kernel modules from 15.0-RELEASE

to 15.1-RELEASE:

.Pp

.Dl pkg -o VERSION_MINOR=1 upgrade -r FreeBSD-base -r FreeBSD-ports-kmods

The word packages is superfluous (from the Description and other parts of the page, it's clear enough that packages are involved).

This one does not upgdade from 15.0 to 15.1 ...

root@freebsd:~ # pkg -o VERSION_MINOR=1 upgrade -r FreeBSD-base Updating FreeBSD-base repository catalogue... pkg: Repository FreeBSD-base has a wrong packagesite, need to re-create database Fetching meta.conf: 100% 179 B 0.2kB/s 00:01 Fetching data.pkg: 100% 80 KiB 82.2kB/s 00:01 Processing entries: 100% FreeBSD-base repository update completed. 496 packages processed. FreeBSD-base is up to date. Checking for upgrades (22 candidates): 100% Processing candidates (22 candidates): 100% The following 22 package(s) will be affected (of 0 checked): Installed packages to be UPGRADED: FreeBSD-blocklist: 15.0 -> 15.0p3 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-clibs-dev: 15.0 -> 15.0p6 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-devmatch: 15.0 -> 15.0p2 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-dhclient: 15.0 -> 15.0p8 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-kernel-generic: 15.0 -> 15.0p8 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-librpcsec_gss: 15.0 -> 15.0p5 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-librpcsec_gss-dev: 15.0 -> 15.0p5 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-librpcsec_gss-dev-lib32: 15.0 -> 15.0p5 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-librpcsec_gss-lib32: 15.0 -> 15.0p5 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-openssl: 15.0 -> 15.0p2 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-openssl-dev: 15.0 -> 15.0p2 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-openssl-dev-lib32: 15.0 -> 15.0p2 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-openssl-lib: 15.0 -> 15.0p2 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-openssl-lib32: 15.0 -> 15.0p2 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-pf: 15.0 -> 15.0p5 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-rescue: 15.0 -> 15.0p8 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-runtime: 15.0 -> 15.0p8 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-runtime-dev: 15.0 -> 15.0p7 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-runtime-dev-lib32: 15.0 -> 15.0p7 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-runtime-lib32: 15.0 -> 15.0p7 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-utilities: 15.0 -> 15.0p1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-zoneinfo: 15.0 -> 15.0p7 [FreeBSD-base] Number of packages to be upgraded: 22 115 MiB to be downloaded.

grahamperrin · 2026-05-13T18:43:45Z

+variable used in repository URL expansion, allowing the repository URL
+to resolve to the 15.1 package set.


Suggested change

variable used in repository URL expansion, allowing the repository URL

to resolve to the 15.1 package set.

variable used in repository URL expansion, allowing use of the repos

for 15.1.

dch · 2026-05-14T17:37:42Z

@vermaden AFAICT it works here:

> uname -a
FreeBSD a04.cabal5.net 15.0-RELEASE-p8 FreeBSD 15.0-RELEASE-p8 releng/15.0-n281036-53054229dcb3 GENERIC arm64
> git clone https://github.com/freebsd/pkg -b main ~/src/pkg
> cd ~/src/pkg
> ./autogen.sh && ./configure --mandir=/usr/local/share/man && make clean && make -j2.0 && doas make install

root@a04 /h/d/s/pkg# pkg-static -v
2.7.99.1-3b89fa92e
root@a04 /h/d/s/pkg# pkg -d repos |grep base_
    url             : "pkg+https://pkg.FreeBSD.org/FreeBSD:15:aarch64/base_release_0",
root@a04 /h/d/s/pkg# pkg -d -o VERSION_MINOR=1 repos |grep base_
    url             : "pkg+https://pkg.FreeBSD.org/FreeBSD:15:aarch64/base_release_1",

root@a04 /h/d/s/pkg# pkg-static -o VERSION_MINOR=1 upgrade -r FreeBSD-base
Updating FreeBSD-base repository catalogue...
pkg-static: Repository FreeBSD-base has a wrong packagesite, need to re-create database
Fetching meta.conf: 100%     179 B   0.2 kB/s    00:01
Fetching data: 100%    81 KiB  83.3 kB/s    00:01
Processing entries:   0%
Newer FreeBSD version for package FreeBSD-zlib-lib32:
To ignore this error set IGNORE_OSVERSION=yes
- package: 1501000
- running userland: 1500068
Ignore the mismatch and continue? [y/N]: y
...
        FreeBSD-zlib: 15.0 -> 15.1.b2.20260508031406 [FreeBSD-base]
        FreeBSD-zlib-dev: 15.0 -> 15.1.b2.20260508031406 [FreeBSD-base]
        FreeBSD-zoneinfo: 15.0p7 -> 15.1.b2.20260508031406 [FreeBSD-base]

Number of packages to be installed: 6
Number of packages to be upgraded: 203

The operation will free 8 MiB.
195 MiB to be downloaded.

Proceed with this action? [y/N]:

If this still fails for you, lets move it to a new issue and add me.

dch added 2 commits May 9, 2026 07:34

config: Expose VERSION_MAJOR and VERSION_MINOR

c9a21a1

This simplifies base system package upgrades enormously for the bulk of users, who have not configured custom repositories: pkg -o VERSION_MINOR=1 upgrade -r FreeBSD-base Allows a user to go from 15.0-RELEASE to 15.1.

config: update docs, NEWS, tests for VERSION_* env vars

6023a60

grahamperrin suggested changes May 13, 2026

View reviewed changes

bapt merged commit 3b89fa9 into freebsd:main May 13, 2026
7 of 8 checks passed

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make minor & major version upgrades easy#2674

make minor & major version upgrades easy#2674
bapt merged 2 commits into
freebsd:mainfrom
skunkwerks:feature/expose-version

dch commented May 9, 2026 •

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