14.1-RELEASE to 14.2-RELEASE

Essential reading:

• installation information at https://www.freebsd.org/releases/14.2R/

– you can create a configuration file for a Project-provided FreeBSD-kmods repo before beginning to follow the steps at https://www.freebsd.org/releases/14.2R/installation/#upgrade-binary.

1. mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos ; cd /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos
2. cp /etc/pkg/FreeBSD.conf ./FreeBSD-kmods.conf
3. ee ./FreeBSD-kmods.conf
4. change the repository name from FreeBSD to FreeBSD-kmods
5. change quarterly to kmods_quarterly_2
6. escape, save
7. cd
8. follow official installation information up to, and including, the second run of freebsd-update install
9. pkg upgrade --repository FreeBSD-kmods
10. ignore the mismatch (y)
11. if any upgraded kernel module is offered, proceed (y)
12. continue with official installation information – the first restart of the operating system, and so on
13. finally, re-edit /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/FreeBSD-kmods.conf – change kmods_quarterly_2 to kmods_quarterly_${VERSION_MINOR}

Notes:

• the Project's official call for testing (CFT) will lead to simplicity – please see https://old.reddit.com/r/freebsd/comments/1hd2h51/freebsd_projectprovided_repositories_for_kernel/m1ukuno/
• the less simple steps, above, are an interim approach to avoiding the DRM graphics issue that was noted for 14.2-RELEASE before the release announcement – https://www.freebsd.org/releases/14.2R/errata/#open-issues
• the steps assume use of the traditional quarterly repo for packages of ports.

https://wiki.freebsd.org/Ports/QuarterlyBranch should help to understand the difference between quarterly and latest

• and beware of confusion with base_latest, which relates to pkgbase (base, separate from ports).

In the manual page, what's meant by "the static environment"?

% kenv | wc -l
     266
% kenv -l
kenv: requested environment is unavailable
% kenv -s
kenv: requested environment is unavailable
% 

Related: Write to a USB drive from the URL of a compressed disc image.

The example below assumes that your USB drive is at /dev/da0.

Run commands as the superuser.

1. mkdir /media/aninstaller
2. mount_cd9660 /dev/da0 /media/aninstaller
3. mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos
4. ee /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/aninstaller.conf
5. pkg bootstrap --yes -r aninstaller
6. pkg update --repository aninstaller
7. pkg rquery -r aninstaller "%o%n" | sort | less

You'll get a list of available packages. Key q to quit the pager.

Then use pkg as you normally would, but limited to the aninstaller repo. For example:

• pkg install -r aninstaller firefox

Content for the aninstaller.conf file:

aninstaller: {
  url: "file:///media/aninstaller/packages/FreeBSD:14:amd64",
  REPO_AUTOUPDATE: "false",
  mirror_type: "none",
  enabled: yes
}

Important: switch from yes, to no, after temporarily using the USB drive as a source for the repo.

Some manual pages:

• ee(1)
• less(1)
• mount_cd9660(8)