I know that I have done this using Debian Linux, but is there a way to do pinning the with the repository? Where you can pick and choose what apps are updated to the latest?
There is no such function on FreeBSD. What
mjollnir suggests with
pkg lock
would mean tracking the latest repository and locking certain packages to a certain version to prevent them being updated/upgraded . The reverse, tracking quarterly and updating/upgrading certain packages to latest is not intended nor advised, therefore no such functionality is provided ( in theory you can force latest packages besides quarterly installed packages, but that would mean asking for trouble ).
That reddit procedure of the OP there won't work ( Besides the fact the -R option doesn't exist, it's -r, and the repository name is not provided. A ( incomplete ) path to a repository file is not a valid repository name. ).
You have two options, change to latest repository or if you want to track the default quarterly repository ( "
a more predictable and stable experience for port and package installation and upgrades" ) file a bug report. If you ask why file a bug report, the maintainer seems not to track the quarterly port, maybe unaware it's being left on 1.4.1, behind a necessary update ( I refer to the vulnerability fixes in 1.4.2 ). The current port, 1.5.0 version, is updated on July 24th, the quarterly 1.4.1 on July 2, version 1.4.3 is skipped on quarterly, that suggests the quarterly port might not be updated until 2020Q4 ( packages from the repositories are build from those ports ).
Tracking the quarterly repository doesn't mean you are on the save side, as you can see with the 1.4.1 version being left vulnerable. The latest repository is as good as the quarterly. On both it's advised, particularly on production systems, to check for security updates or bugs of the installed packages yourself upstream, then, if the port is not updated/upgraded within a reasonable time, file a bug report.