RE: RFC: Renaming "FreeBSD" repo in /etc/pkg/FreeBSD.conf to "FreeBSD-ports"

> From: "Colin Percival" <cperciva@freebsd.org>
> To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org, "freebsd-ports@FreeBSD.org" <freebsd-ports@freebsd.org>
> Cc: "FreeBSD Release Engineering Team" <re@FreeBSD.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, 20 August, 2025 00:49:23
> Subject: RFC: Renaming "FreeBSD" repo in /etc/pkg/FreeBSD.conf to "FreeBSD-ports"
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> With pkgbase being the intended way for users to manage 15.0 systems,
> the current default /etc/pkg/FreeBSD.conf gives rise to confusion: It
> defines a "FreeBSD" pkg repository which is in fact specifically bits
> maintained *outside* of FreeBSD (and packaged via the ports tree).
>
> To reduce long-term confusion, I'm intending to rename the "FreeBSD"
> repository to "FreeBSD-ports", and similarly rename "FreeBSD-kmods" to
> "FreeBSD-ports-kmods".  The repositories will still work, and will still
> access the same URLs, but the change will be visible; probably the most
> common scenario where this would cause problems for users is if they have
> "FreeBSD: {enabled: no }" in /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/FreeBSD.conf, since
> that would need to be adjusted to chase this change.
>
> For obvious reasons, this change would not be MFCed.
>++
> You've got a week to convince me that this is a bad idea, otherwise I'll
> make the change on the 27th; I want to get this out of the way before we
> get too close to branching stable/15.

I don't prefer:
"FreeBSD" -> "FreeBSD-ports"
"FreeBSD-kmods" -> "FreeBSD-ports-kmods"

A long time ago in FreeBSD, in many versions there
was only source. With a ports tree (source),
remote derived package repositories (binaries) have been
supplied in two main varieties: 'latest' and 'quarterly'.
However, out of necessity and in order to being able to
supply the newest driver developments to users, the number

of remote repositories has been extended. FreeBSD-kmods
has been added with separate instances for supported
stable and release versions, and also for main/head.

Package repositories are accessed and set
up differently compared to the ports tree structure;
they form a separate collection from which _packages_
can be selected. Ports can be viewed as agnostic where
it concerns
- CPU architecture
- source branch: releng vs stable vs main/current
- a specific supported FreeBSD version, e.g. 14.{2,3}-RELEASE

Only when building them resulting binaries will have
these specific properties.

Packages are derived from ports, but I think by
many users they are foremost perceived as a separate
collection and mechanism to get to a desired installed
FreeBSD OS beyond a base install. Current trends,
such as (in slogan format):

- prefer packages over ports
- warning: do not mix ports and packages
- IIRC, portmaster in its original role is no longer supported
    and has been moved out of base
- poudriere: not intended for the average FreeBSD user

only seem to emphasize this evolutionary path.

Attempts to increase its user base would likely
be hindered if ports were declared as preferred.


If a name change is what is needed, I'd prefer:
"FreeBSD"       -> "FreeBSD-pkgs"
"FreeBSD-kmods" -> "FreeBSD-pkgs-kmods"

Kind regards,
Eric