I decided that Thursday morning at 8:27 AM was the right time to start my first update from FreeBSD 15.0 to 15.1 – all my hosts are now on pkgbase. I used the pgkbasify script. Now it’s time to update again.
In this post:
- FreeBSD 15.0 (before)
- FreeBSD 15.1 (after; hopefully)
- The host is a Microsoft Azure instance
- FreeBSD 15.1-RELEASE Upgrading Instructions<
In the following sections, I am showing the steps I carried out. The section names here have the same names as the instructions.
Is it really pkgbase?
As seen under Introduction, I will be following the Upgrading with Base System Packages instructions:
[12:31 nagios04 dvl ~] % pkg which /usr/bin/uname /usr/bin/uname was installed by package FreeBSD-runtime-15.0p11
Snapshot the Current Installation
I create a new boot environment; this is the fallback position.
[12:33 nagios04 root ~] # bectl create -r pre-15.1 [12:33 nagios04 root ~] #
Upgrade the Installed System
[12:33 nagios04 root ~] # pkg upgrade -r FreeBSD-base Updating FreeBSD-base repository catalogue... FreeBSD-base repository is up to date. FreeBSD-base is up to date. Checking for upgrades (1 candidates): 100% Processing candidates (1 candidates): 100% Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting) Your packages are up to date.
Upgrade the Base System
The main thing to take note of in the paste below, this removal. Everything else seems OK. Turns out, it was of no consequence
Installed packages to be REMOVED: FreeBSD-lldb-dev: 15.0
The full output is in this gist.
[12:34 nagios04 root ~] # pkg -oABI=FreeBSD:15:$(uname -p) -oOSVERSION=1501000 upgrade -r FreeBSD-base Updating FreeBSD-base repository catalogue... pkg: Repository FreeBSD-base has a wrong packagesite, need to re-create database Fetching meta.conf: 100% 179 B 0.2 kB/s 00:01 Fetching data: 100% 82 KiB 84.0 kB/s 00:01 Processing entries: 100% FreeBSD-base repository update completed. 509 packages processed. FreeBSD-base is up to date. Checking for upgrades (486 candidates): 100% Processing candidates (486 candidates): 100% The following 499 package(s) will be affected (of 0 checked): New packages to be INSTALLED: FreeBSD-pam: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-pam-dbg: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-pam-dbg-lib32: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-pam-dev: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-pam-dev-lib32: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-pam-lib: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-pam-lib32: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-zstd: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-zstd-dbg: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-zstd-dbg-lib32: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-zstd-dev: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-zstd-dev-lib32: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-zstd-lib: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-zstd-lib32: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] Installed packages to be UPGRADED: FreeBSD-acct: 15.0 -> 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-acct-dbg: 15.0 -> 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-acpi: 15.0 -> 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] ... FreeBSD-zlib-lib32: 15.0 -> 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-zoneinfo: 15.0p7 -> 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] Number of packages to be installed: 14 Number of packages to be upgraded: 485 The process will require 12 MiB more space. 672 MiB to be downloaded. Proceed with this action? [y/N]: y [ 1/499] Fetching FreeBSD-libmilter-dev-15.1: 100% 86 KiB 87.8 kB/s 00:01 ... [499/499] Fetching FreeBSD-ctf-dev-15.1: 100% 138 KiB 141.1 kB/s 00:01 Checking integrity... done (24 conflicting) - FreeBSD-sound-15.1 [FreeBSD-base] conflicts with FreeBSD-rc-15.0 [installed] on /etc/rc.d/mixer - FreeBSD-atf-15.1 [FreeBSD-base] conflicts with FreeBSD-tests-15.0p11 [installed] on /usr/share/atf/libatf-sh.subr - FreeBSD-pam-dbg-lib32-15.1 [FreeBSD-base] conflicts with FreeBSD-runtime-dbg-lib32-15.0p11 [installed] on /usr/lib/debug/usr/lib32/libpam.so.6.debug - FreeBSD-pam-dbg-lib32-15.1 [FreeBSD-base] conflicts with FreeBSD-utilities-dbg-lib32-15.0p11 [installed] on /usr/lib/debug/usr/lib32/pam_chroot.so.6.debug - FreeBSD-zstd-15.1 [FreeBSD-base] conflicts with FreeBSD-utilities-15.0p11 [installed] on /usr/bin/unzstd - FreeBSD-pam-dbg-15.1 [FreeBSD-base] conflicts with FreeBSD-runtime-dbg-15.0p11 [installed] on /usr/lib/debug/usr/lib/libpam.so.6.debug - FreeBSD-pam-dbg-15.1 [FreeBSD-base] conflicts with FreeBSD-utilities-dbg-15.0p11 [installed] on /usr/lib/debug/usr/lib/pam_chroot.so.6.debug - FreeBSD-clang-15.1p1 [FreeBSD-base] conflicts with FreeBSD-lldb-15.0p11 [installed] on /usr/lib/libprivatelldb.so.19 - FreeBSD-pam-lib-15.1 [FreeBSD-base] conflicts with FreeBSD-runtime-15.0p11 [installed] on /usr/lib/libpam.so.6 - FreeBSD-zstd-dev-lib32-15.1 [FreeBSD-base] conflicts with FreeBSD-runtime-dev-lib32-15.0p11 [installed] on /usr/lib32/libprivatezstd.a - FreeBSD-pam-lib32-15.1 [FreeBSD-base] conflicts with FreeBSD-runtime-lib32-15.0p11 [installed] on /usr/lib32/libpam.so.6 - FreeBSD-pam-lib32-15.1 [FreeBSD-base] conflicts with FreeBSD-utilities-lib32-15.0p11 [installed] on /usr/lib32/pam_chroot.so - FreeBSD-zstd-lib32-15.1 [FreeBSD-base] conflicts with FreeBSD-runtime-lib32-15.0p11 [installed] on /usr/lib32/libprivatezstd.so.5 - FreeBSD-zstd-lib-15.1 [FreeBSD-base] conflicts with FreeBSD-runtime-15.0p11 [installed] on /usr/lib/libprivatezstd.so.5 - FreeBSD-pam-dev-lib32-15.1 [FreeBSD-base] conflicts with FreeBSD-runtime-dev-lib32-15.0p11 [installed] on /usr/lib32/libpam.a - FreeBSD-zstd-dbg-lib32-15.1 [FreeBSD-base] conflicts with FreeBSD-runtime-dbg-lib32-15.0p11 [installed] on /usr/lib/debug/usr/lib32/libprivatezstd.so.5.debug - FreeBSD-clang-dbg-15.1p1 [FreeBSD-base] conflicts with FreeBSD-lldb-dbg-15.0p11 [installed] on /usr/lib/debug/usr/lib/libprivatelldb.so.19.debug - FreeBSD-clang-dev-15.1p1 [FreeBSD-base] conflicts with FreeBSD-lldb-dev-15.0 [installed] on /usr/lib/libprivatelldb.so - FreeBSD-zstd-dev-15.1 [FreeBSD-base] conflicts with FreeBSD-runtime-dev-15.0p11 [installed] on /usr/include/private/zstd/zstd.h - FreeBSD-pam-15.1 [FreeBSD-base] conflicts with FreeBSD-runtime-15.0p11 [installed] on /etc/pam.d/README - FreeBSD-pam-15.1 [FreeBSD-base] conflicts with FreeBSD-utilities-15.0p11 [installed] on /usr/lib/pam_chroot.so - FreeBSD-zstd-dbg-15.1 [FreeBSD-base] conflicts with FreeBSD-utilities-dbg-15.0p11 [installed] on /usr/lib/debug/usr/bin/zstd.debug - FreeBSD-zstd-dbg-15.1 [FreeBSD-base] conflicts with FreeBSD-runtime-dbg-15.0p11 [installed] on /usr/lib/debug/usr/lib/libprivatezstd.so.5.debug - FreeBSD-pam-dev-15.1 [FreeBSD-base] conflicts with FreeBSD-runtime-dev-15.0p11 [installed] on /usr/include/security/openpam.h Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting) Conflicts with the existing packages have been found. One more solver iteration is needed to resolve them. The following 500 package(s) will be affected (of 0 checked): New packages to be INSTALLED: FreeBSD-pam: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-pam-dbg: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-pam-dbg-lib32: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-pam-dev: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-pam-dev-lib32: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-pam-lib: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-pam-lib32: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-zstd: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-zstd-dbg: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-zstd-dbg-lib32: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-zstd-dev: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-zstd-dev-lib32: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-zstd-lib: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] FreeBSD-zstd-lib32: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] Installed packages to be UPGRADED: FreeBSD-acct: 15.0 -> 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] ... FreeBSD-zoneinfo: 15.0p7 -> 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] Installed packages to be REMOVED: FreeBSD-lldb-dev: 15.0 Number of packages to be removed: 1 Number of packages to be installed: 14 Number of packages to be upgraded: 485 The process will require 12 MiB more space. Proceed with this action? [y/N]: y Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting) [ 1/507] Upgrading FreeBSD-bootloader from 15.0 to 15.1... [ 1/507] Extracting FreeBSD-bootloader-15.1: 100% ... [506/507] Installing FreeBSD-set-optional-dbg-15.1... [507/507] Installing FreeBSD-set-base-dbg-15.1... ==> Running trigger: mandoc.ucl Generating apropos(1) database for /usr/share/man... Generating apropos(1) database for /usr/share/openssl/man... ===== Message from FreeBSD-local-unbound-15.1: -- After upgrading local-unbound, the configuration file should be regenerated by running "service local_unbound setup" before restarting the service.
Upgrade Third-party Kernel Modules
[12:43 nagios04 root ~] # pkg upgrade -r FreeBSD-ports-kmods Updating FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository catalogue... pkg: Repository FreeBSD-ports-kmods has a wrong packagesite, need to re-create database Fetching meta.conf: 100% 179 B 0.2 kB/s 00:01 Fetching data: 100% 35 KiB 35.6 kB/s 00:01 Processing entries: 100% FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository update completed. 239 packages processed. FreeBSD-ports-kmods is up to date. Checking for upgrades (0 candidates): 100% Processing candidates (0 candidates): 100% Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting) Your packages are up to date. [12:44 nagios04 root ~] #
Check for Failed Configuration Updates
[12:44 nagios04 root ~] # find /etc /usr/local/etc -name '*.pkgnew' -ls [12:46 nagios04 root ~] #
[12:46 nagios04 root ~] # sysctl machdep.bootmethod machdep.bootmethod: UEFI
Identifying the ESP
[12:46 nagios04 root ~] # efibootmgr -v Boot to FW : false BootCurrent: 0001 Timeout : 0 seconds BootOrder : 0001, 0000 +Boot0001* EFI SCSI Device AcpiEx(@@@0000,@@@0000,0x0,VMBus,,)/VenHw(9b17e5a2-0891-42dd-b653-80b5c22809ba,d96361baa104294db60572e2ffb1dc7f1a78b3f8821e1848a1c363d806ec15bb)/Scsi(0x0,0x0) Boot0000* EFI Network AcpiEx(@@@0000,@@@0000,0x0,VMBus,,)/VenHw(9b17e5a2-0891-42dd-b653-80b5c22809ba,635161f83edfc546913ff2d2f965ed0ed63a0d000bbd0d003ad6bd0b000d3ad6)/MAC(000000000000,0x0)/IPv4(0.0.0.0,0x0,DHCP,0.0.0.0,0.0.0.0,0.0.0.0) Unreferenced Variables: Boot0002* EFI SCSI Device AcpiEx(@@@0000,@@@0000,0x0,VMBus,,)/VenHw(9b17e5a2-0891-42dd-b653-80b5c22809ba,d96361baa104294db60572e2ffb1dc7f1a78b3f8821e1848a1c363d806ec15bb)/Scsi(0x0,0x1) [12:49 nagios04 root ~] #
Eh? That doesn’t resemble the documented output at all. The drive device is not mentioned.
I know I have this:
[12:49 nagios04 root ~] # gpart show
=> 40 134217648 da0 GPT (64G)
40 2008 - free - (1004K)
2048 348 1 freebsd-boot (174K)
2396 66584 2 efi (33M)
68980 62914560 3 freebsd-zfs (30G)
62983540 71234148 - free - (34G)
=> 40 33554352 da1 GPT (16G)
40 29360048 1 freebsd-ufs (14G)
29360088 4194304 2 freebsd-swap (2.0G)
[12:50 nagios04 root ~] # zpool list
As such, I’d expect to see da0p2 in the output above.
I sought advice via IRC. The consensus was: proceed using da0p2.
Mounting the ESP
[13:28 nagios04 root ~] # mount_msdosfs /dev/da0p2 /boot/efi mount_msdosfs: /dev/da0p2: Operation not permitted [13:28 nagios04 root ~] # mount | grep /boot/efi /dev/gpt/efiboot0 on /boot/efi (msdosfs, local)
Eh? What’s that? Oh, it’s da0p2 by another name:
[13:28 nagios04 root ~] # gpart show -l
=> 40 134217648 da0 GPT (64G)
40 2008 - free - (1004K)
2048 348 1 bootfs (174K)
2396 66584 2 efiboot0 (33M)
68980 62914560 3 rootfs (30G)
62983540 71234148 - free - (34G)
=> 40 33554352 da1 GPT (16G)
40 29360048 1 (null) (14G)
29360088 4194304 2 (null) (2.0G)
[13:29 nagios04 root ~] #
See efiboot0 mentioned there… same thing as da0p2
Install the Boot Loader
The instructions say (for me, on amd64) to do this:
cp /boot/loader.efi /boot/efi/efi/freebsd/loader.efi cp /boot/loader.efi /boot/efi/efi/boot/bootx64.efi
However, the /boot/efi/efi/freebsd directory does not exist on my host.
Consultations indicated that this system does not have an efi boot entry and is relying on bootx64.efi
… it is now Friday morning, and I have resumed my quest. In the meantime, the host has been performing as expected.
Back to my directories.
Is this a situation to be fixed?
Answer was: no particular need to fix it if the system boots fine.
Onward I go!
[16:07 nagios04 root ~] # cp /boot/loader.efi /boot/efi/efi/boot/bootx64.efi [16:10 nagios04 root ~] #
NOTE: that is an MSDOS file system:
[16:13 nagios04 root ~] # mount | grep /boot/efi /dev/gpt/efiboot0 on /boot/efi (msdosfs, local)
Finish
Before you reboot, I didn’t do the following on this host, but I did on the next host. I set the BE to boot one time (-t). In case there was a problem, the next boot would be back on FreeBSD 15.0. This is how I did that:
[16:42 r730-03 root ~] # bectl list BE Active Mountpoint Space Created 15.0-RELEASE-p9_2026-06-10_111727 - - 468M 2026-06-10 11:17 default NR / 15.1G 2023-08-10 21:51 pre-15.1 - - 948K 2026-07-17 16:37 pre-pkgbasify_2026-06-30_152431 - - 397M 2026-06-30 15:24 [16:42 r730-03 root ~] # bectl activate pre-15.1 Successfully activated boot environment pre-15.1 [16:42 r730-03 root ~] # bectl activate -t default Successfully activated boot environment default for next boot [16:42 r730-03 root ~] # sudo shutdown -r now Shutdown NOW! shutdown: [pid 37935] .... [12:46 pro05 dvl ~] % r730-03 Last login: Fri Jul 17 16:37:25 2026 from pro05.startpoint.vpn.unixathome.org [16:46 r730-03 dvl ~] % uptime 4:46PM up 42 secs, 1 user, load averages: 0.35, 0.09, 0.03 [16:46 r730-03 dvl ~] % freebsd-version -ukr 15.1-RELEASE-p1 15.1-RELEASE-p1 15.1-RELEASE-p1 [16:46 r730-03 dvl ~] % uname -a FreeBSD r730-03.int.unixathome.org 15.1-RELEASE-p1 FreeBSD 15.1-RELEASE-p1 releng/15.1-n283582-0f691888dc56 GENERIC amd64 [16:46 r730-03 dvl ~] % bectl list BE Active Mountpoint Space Created 15.0-RELEASE-p9_2026-06-10_111727 - - 468M 2026-06-10 11:17 default N / 1.49G 2023-08-10 21:51 pre-15.1 R - 13.6G 2026-07-17 16:37 pre-pkgbasify_2026-06-30_152431 - - 397M 2026-06-30 15:24 [16:46 r730-03 dvl ~] % sudo bectl activate default Successfully activated boot environment default [16:47 r730-03 dvl ~] % bectl list BE Active Mountpoint Space Created 15.0-RELEASE-p9_2026-06-10_111727 - - 468M 2026-06-10 11:17 default NR / 15.1G 2023-08-10 21:51 pre-15.1 - - 952K 2026-07-17 16:37 pre-pkgbasify_2026-06-30_152431 - - 397M 2026-06-30 15:24 [16:47 r730-03 dvl ~] %
I’m happy with the boot, so I made default the next boot for the BE.
This is what I did with this host:
[16:14 nagios04 root ~] # shutdown -r now
Shutdown NOW!
shutdown: [pid 7690]
[16:14 nagios04 root ~] #
*** FINAL System shutdown message from dvl@nagios04.unixathome.org ***
System going down IMMEDIATELY
*** FINAL System shutdown message from dvl@nagios04.unixathome.org ***
System going down IMMEDIATELY
System shutdown time has arrived
Connection to nagios04.unixathome.org closed by remote host.
Connection to nagios04.unixathome.org closed.
[12:15 pro05 dvl ~] %
Success
Welcome to my first FreeBSD 15.1 host:
[12:15 pro05 dvl ~] % nagios04 Last login: Fri Jul 17 15:55:22 2026 from tallboy.unixathome.org [16:15 nagios04 dvl ~] % uptime 4:15PM up 37 secs, 1 user, load averages: 0.30, 0.08, 0.03 [16:15 nagios04 dvl ~] % freebsd-version -urk 15.1-RELEASE-p1 15.1-RELEASE-p1 15.1-RELEASE-p1 [16:15 nagios04 dvl ~] %
Things which go wrong
Sometimes, there is an Authentication error. Perhaps multiple times during one update. For this host, it was 4 times.
In which case, just try again:
[17:21 zuul root ~] # pkg -oABI=FreeBSD:15:$(uname -p) -oOSVERSION=1501000 upgrade -r FreeBSD-base Updating FreeBSD-base repository catalogue... pkg: Repository FreeBSD-base has a wrong packagesite, need to re-create database Fetching meta.conf: 100% 179 B 0.2 kB/s 00:01 Fetching data: 100% 82 KiB 84.0 kB/s 00:01 ... [123/340] Fetching FreeBSD-clang-15.1p1: 100% 38 MiB 6.6 MB/s 00:06 [124/340] Fetching FreeBSD-cron-15.1: 100% 39 KiB 40.1 kB/s 00:01 pkg: https://pkgmir.geo.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:amd64/base_release_1/Hashed/FreeBSD-utilities-dbg-15.1p1~2f499f2b0b.pkg: Authentication error [17:22 zuul root ~] # pkg -oABI=FreeBSD:15:$(uname -p) -oOSVERSION=1501000 upgrade -r FreeBSD-base Updating FreeBSD-base repository catalogue... FreeBSD-base repository is up to date. FreeBSD-base is up to date. Checking for upgrades (333 candidates): 100% Processing candidates (333 candidates): 100% The following 340 package(s) will be affected (of 0 checked): New packages to be INSTALLED: FreeBSD-pam: 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] ... FreeBSD-zoneinfo: 15.0p7 -> 15.1 [FreeBSD-base] Number of packages to be installed: 8 Number of packages to be upgraded: 332 The operation will free 1 MiB. 359 MiB to be downloaded. Proceed with this action? [y/N]: y [ 1/216] Fetching FreeBSD-utilities-dbg-15.1p1: 100% 13 MiB 4.7 MB/s 00:03 [ 2/216] Fetching FreeBSD-xz-dbg-15.1: 100% 298 KiB 305.5 kB/s 00:01 ... [ 48/216] Fetching FreeBSD-hast-15.1: 100% 102 KiB 104.8 kB/s 00:01 pkg: https://pkgmir.geo.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:amd64/base_release_1/Hashed/FreeBSD-bluetooth-15.1~e5694024a5.pkg: Authentication error
Repeat.. etc. Eventually, you’ll get them all downloaded.
