Re: etcupdate usage

On Tue, Oct 14, 2025 at 09:03:40AM +0200, Erwan David wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I do not understand how to use etcupdate. I am lost in the different options. 
> s there somewhere a tutorial on its usage ?

The general reference I use for updating FreeBSD, which discusses several
different methods (src, binary, etc):

https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/cutting-edge/

For upgrading systems from src (*not* pkgbase or freebsd-update) I use
this as a reference:

"26.6. Updating FreeBSD from Source"
https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/cutting-edge/#makeworld

There are several examples and walk-thru, both quickstart and more
thorough + annotated. For etcupdate in particular, there is this
specific section:

"26.6.6.1. Merging Configuration Files with etcupdate(8)"
https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/cutting-edge/#updating-src-completing-merge-etcupdate

in general, in my experience there isn't usually a lot you need to do
most times for etcupdate to work. I run it with every world src upgrade
procedure as advised, so my /etc/ doesn't grow stale or drift from the
installed binaries and such.

> PS: on a machine that juste went from 14.2 to 14.3, etcuodate diff
> shows diff, but etcupdate says 
> Failed to build new tree.
> 
> Is it because src is not on the machine ? (not enough disk)

That's a possibility; etcupdate is for upgrading systems from src
(not freebsd-update binary upgrades) and it constructs its list of
diffs and changes from /usr/src/etc/ for reference.

> I soon will upgrade another machine (with /usr/src this one), and I'd
> prefer to be sure to be able to use etcupdate on it (especially if I
> need to to a extract or build before upgrade)

If you're just getting started building FreeBSD from src, it's worth
reading that whole Handbook chapter 26.6 IME.

sr.