Re: freebsd-update and pkgbase

> On Wed, Aug 06, 2025 at 05:17:19PM -0400, Mark Johnston wrote:
>> The future of freebsd-update post 15.0 isn't totally clear.  There have
>> been proposals to remove it in 15.0.  IMO we can't remove it outright,
>> since may be needed in order to upgrade 13.x and 14.x jails on a 15.0
>> host.

Hi Mark,

This is an excellent point.

It is also a shame to lose a simple upgrade utility that is
>> well-documented and that many users are familiar with; compare
>> "freebsd-update upgrade -r 14.3-RELEASE" with the upgrade instructions
>> on the pkgbase wiki page.
>> 
>> pkgbase offers a lot of flexibility but I suspect many users don't need
>> it; they need a one-shot "upgrade my system, please" utility that will
>> automatically create a boot environment, configure pkg repositories as
>> needed for major/minor/security upgrades, fetch packages, and handle
>> package installation order (i.e., kernel first, followed by a reboot).

Arguably a "pkg-base-update" tool should aim for this level of simplicity anyway. And if pkgbase overall can't provide that,
we should address that.

>> I don't really think this functionality belongs in pkg itself.  So,
>> seeing as freebsd-update already handles some of the above, and users
>> are already familiar with it, I propose extending freebsd-update to work
>> in a pkgbase world.  Users would be free to not use it and instead use
>> pkg directly if they so desire, but this would provide a simple
>> alternative to those who don't want or need that flexibility.
>> 
>> I'm going to try implementing this, if only to see if there are 

thank-you. This seems like an excellent idea, happy to pilot this.

A+
Dave
———
O for a muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention!