Re: PKGBASE Removes FreeBSD Base System Feature

On 7/29/25 19:18, Shawn Webb wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 30, 2025 at 02:28:35AM +0200, vermaden wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> after short discussion here:
>> - https://github.com/freebsd/pkg/issues/2485
>>
>> I got REALLY concerned.
>>
>> One of THE features and selling points of a FreeBSD UNIX system is the 'untouchable' Base System.
>>
>> Without PKGBASE all the features are preserved.
>>
>> But when You convert to PKGBASE its ... GONE!
>>
>> Consider this command:
>>
>> # pkg delete -af
>>
>> What it does?
>>
>> It removes all third party packages on 'classic' FreeBSD system without touching the FreeBSD Base System.
>>
>> What the same "pkg delete -af" command does on a PKGBASE FreeBSD system?
>>
>> It kills/destroys almost all of the FreeBSD Base System and leaves only two PKGBASE packages called:
>>
>> - FreeBSD-clibs
>> - FreeBSD-runtime
>>
>> All the rest of Base System is GONE. Destroyed.
> 
> Hey vermaden,
> 
> As mentioned in the GitHub ticket, it appears there might be some room
> for discussion on which base packages ought to be marked vital and if
> the current list (of two) should be expanded.
> 
> I suspect there could also be room for discussion on technical
> measures pkg could adopt to help mitigate issues like this.
> 
> I myself don't have much in the way of suggestions on either topic of
> discussion. I'm simply hoping this email moves the needle forward in a
> positive direction.

Fortunately pkgbase doesn't seem to be changing what is IMHO the real 
differentiator of BSD - the fact that the tools, userland and kernel are 
all part of one coherent development process.  This feels like a natural 
progression to me.

To the original point of ensuring you can't nuke the entire base system 
by accident.  one idea i didn't see on the github thread (apologies if i 
missed it) is adding a config parameter to the repo config.  So perhaps 
a FreeBSD-base.conf could look like so:


FreeBSD-base: {
   url: "pkg+https://pkg.FreeBSD.org/${ABI}/base_release_3",
   mirror_type: "srv",
   signature_type: "fingerprints",
   fingerprints: "/usr/share/keys/pkg",
   enabled: yes
   protected: yes
}

where "protected" would prevent packages from getting outright deleted? 
I could even see this getting extended to private repo configs - for 
example i may want to make sure people can't uninstall the software i 
deploy to my site using our internal repo.

-pete

-- 
Pete Wright
pete@nomadlogic.org