Solved What is the most simple upgrade procedure from FreeBSD 15.0 to 15.1?

K

kirsche

Apologies, if I miss the obvious. I am new to FreeBSD since December 2025.

My system is at
Code: 
dvl@mybsd:~ % uname -a
FreeBSD mybsd 15.0-RELEASE-p10 FreeBSD 15.0-RELEASE-p10 GENERIC amd64
Code: 
dvl@mybsd:~ % doas freebsd-update install
Password:
No updates are available to install.
Run 'freebsd-update [options] fetch' first.
Code: 
dvl@mybsd:~ % cat /etc/pkg/FreeBSD.conf 
FreeBSD-ports: {
  url: "pkg+https://pkg.FreeBSD.org/${ABI}/quarterly",
  mirror_type: "srv",
  signature_type: "fingerprints",
  fingerprints: "/usr/share/keys/pkg",
  enabled: yes
}
FreeBSD-ports-kmods: {
  url: "pkg+https://pkg.FreeBSD.org/${ABI}/kmods_quarterly_${VERSION_MINOR}",
  mirror_type: "srv",
  signature_type: "fingerprints",
  fingerprints: "/usr/share/keys/pkg",
  enabled: yes
}
FreeBSD-base: {
  url: "pkg+https://pkg.FreeBSD.org/${ABI}/base_release_${VERSION_MINOR}",
  mirror_type: "srv",
  signature_type: "fingerprints",
  fingerprints: "/usr/share/keys/pkgbase-${VERSION_MAJOR}",
  enabled: no
}

If I try to upgrade I get the following message:
Code: 
dvl@mybsd:~ % freebsd-update upgrade -r 15.1-RELEASE
freebsd-update: Directory does not exist or is not writable: /var/db/freebsd-update
dvl@mybsd:~ % doas freebsd-update upgrade -r 15.1-RELEASE
Password:

The following modules have been installed from packages.
As a consequence they might not work when performing a major or minor upgrade.
It is advised to rebuild these ports:

Module                                                            Package                                            Port
------                                                            -------                                            ----
/boot/firmware/amd-ucode.bin                                      cpu-microcode-amd-20251202                         sysutils/cpu-microcode-amd
/boot/firmware/intel-ucode.bin                                    cpu-microcode-intel-20260227                       sysutils/cpu-microcode-intel
/boot/modules/amdgpu.ko                                           drm-latest-kmod-6.9.1500068_1                      graphics/drm-latest-kmod
/boot/modules/dmabuf.ko                                           drm-latest-kmod-6.9.1500068_1                      graphics/drm-latest-kmod
/boot/modules/drm.ko                                              drm-latest-kmod-6.9.1500068_1                      graphics/drm-latest-kmod
/boot/modules/i915kms.ko                                          drm-latest-kmod-6.9.1500068_1                      graphics/drm-latest-kmod
/boot/modules/radeonkms.ko                                        drm-latest-kmod-6.9.1500068_1                      graphics/drm-latest-kmod
/boot/modules/ttm.ko                                              drm-latest-kmod-6.9.1500068_1                      graphics/drm-latest-kmod
/boot/modules/amdgpu_dcn_3_1_5_dmcub_bin.ko                       gpu-firmware-amd-kmod-dcn-3-1-5-20250109.1500068   graphics/gpu-firmware-amd-kmod
/boot/modules/amdgpu_gc_10_3_6_ce_bin.ko                          gpu-firmware-amd-kmod-gc-10-3-6-20250109.1500068   graphics/gpu-firmware-amd-kmod
/boot/modules/amdgpu_gc_10_3_6_me_bin.ko                          gpu-firmware-amd-kmod-gc-10-3-6-20250109.1500068   graphics/gpu-firmware-amd-kmod
/boot/modules/amdgpu_gc_10_3_6_mec2_bin.ko                        gpu-firmware-amd-kmod-gc-10-3-6-20250109.1500068   graphics/gpu-firmware-amd-kmod
/boot/modules/amdgpu_gc_10_3_6_mec_bin.ko                         gpu-firmware-amd-kmod-gc-10-3-6-20250109.1500068   graphics/gpu-firmware-amd-kmod
/boot/modules/amdgpu_gc_10_3_6_pfp_bin.ko                         gpu-firmware-amd-kmod-gc-10-3-6-20250109.1500068   graphics/gpu-firmware-amd-kmod
/boot/modules/amdgpu_gc_10_3_6_rlc_bin.ko                         gpu-firmware-amd-kmod-gc-10-3-6-20250109.1500068   graphics/gpu-firmware-amd-kmod
/boot/modules/amdgpu_psp_13_0_5_asd_bin.ko                        gpu-firmware-amd-kmod-psp-13-0-5-20250109.1500068  graphics/gpu-firmware-amd-kmod
/boot/modules/amdgpu_psp_13_0_5_ta_bin.ko                         gpu-firmware-amd-kmod-psp-13-0-5-20250109.1500068  graphics/gpu-firmware-amd-kmod
/boot/modules/amdgpu_psp_13_0_5_toc_bin.ko                        gpu-firmware-amd-kmod-psp-13-0-5-20250109.1500068  graphics/gpu-firmware-amd-kmod
/boot/modules/amdgpu_sdma_5_2_6_bin.ko                            gpu-firmware-amd-kmod-sdma-5-2-6-20250109.1500068  graphics/gpu-firmware-amd-kmod
/boot/modules/amdgpu_vcn_3_1_2_bin.ko                             gpu-firmware-amd-kmod-vcn-3-1-2-20250109.1500068   graphics/gpu-firmware-amd-kmod
/boot/modules/if_re.ko                                            realtek-re-kmod-1101.00.1500068                    net/realtek-re-kmod
/boot/firmware/mediatek/WIFI_MT7922_patch_mcu_1_1_hdr.bin         wifi-firmware-mt76-kmod-mt792x-20240513.1500068_2  net/wifi-firmware-mt76-kmod
/boot/firmware/mediatek/WIFI_MT7961_patch_mcu_1_2_hdr.bin         wifi-firmware-mt76-kmod-mt792x-20240513.1500068_2  net/wifi-firmware-mt76-kmod
/boot/firmware/mediatek/WIFI_RAM_CODE_MT7922_1.bin                wifi-firmware-mt76-kmod-mt792x-20240513.1500068_2  net/wifi-firmware-mt76-kmod
/boot/firmware/mediatek/WIFI_RAM_CODE_MT7961_1.bin                wifi-firmware-mt76-kmod-mt792x-20240513.1500068_2  net/wifi-firmware-mt76-kmod
/boot/firmware/mediatek/mt7925/WIFI_MT7925_PATCH_MCU_1_1_hdr.bin  wifi-firmware-mt76-kmod-mt792x-20240513.1500068_2  net/wifi-firmware-mt76-kmod
/boot/firmware/mediatek/mt7925/WIFI_RAM_CODE_MT7925_1_1.bin       wifi-firmware-mt76-kmod-mt792x-20240513.1500068_2  net/wifi-firmware-mt76-kmod


Looking up update.FreeBSD.org mirrors... 3 mirrors found.
Fetching metadata signature for 15.0-RELEASE from update1.freebsd.org... done.
Fetching metadata index... done.
Fetching 1 metadata patches. done.
Applying metadata patches... done.
Fetching 1 metadata files... done.
Inspecting system... done.

The following components of FreeBSD seem to be installed:
kernel/generic src/src world/base

The following components of FreeBSD do not seem to be installed:
kernel/generic-dbg world/base-dbg world/lib32 world/lib32-dbg

Does this look reasonable (y/n)? n

And indeed, if I follow the upgrade instructions I run into a Core Dump because of drm module.

Do I have to search where I load the modules shown above and deactivate them before doing a doas freebsd-update install followed by shutdown -r now? Or is there a simpler way?

What is the most simple upgrade procedure?
 
:cool: Anyone with children is always in a hurry. I only have an hour or two a day to get things done. That’s why I thought it would be a good idea to do the upgrade now.

But you are right. Now I will wait until June, 15th and start a new thread if something breaks again.
 
I had one laptop that was using freebsd-update rather than pkg base. I attempted an upgrade, trying to do what I did on a vm, go to rc3 then to release, but after the upgrade it kept going back to the boot menu. So, as I had the time, used the Boot Environment to revert and converted it to pkgbase. And, decided to wait for the announcement, especially as there's a potential issue, since it boots via Grub (a Linux multibooting laptop and not sure what'll happen after it's upgraded.)
 
Actually as I was rather bored tonight. I updated the laptop. First created a Boot Environment of the working system. Then, as I said before, I'd updated it to pkgbase, so I used the pkgbase instructions to upgrade to RC3. Then from RC3, I just ran pkg update, pkg upgrade and it upgraded to 15.1-RELEASE. This is on a laptop that I use more often with a few Linux distributions that are also installed on it.
 
Seems I spoke too soon. I went right from RC-3 to 15.1 so I don't know how much is part of that. Anyway, it installed a bunch of Xlibre Nvidia stuff--I don't have nvidia on this laptop and I don't want Xlibre anything. Also alacritty stopped working saying it needed some GLX something. (Not asking for help, just commenting, when the release becomes final if the issue persists, I'll ask for help and give better info.)

So, as I'd made a Boot Environment I called WORKING, I went back to 15.0-p10 for now.
 
I have my "production" server initially set up with FreeBSD 15.1-RC1 with pkgbase and I must say that it's much simpler than the old way, I went through every RC build and today I "sudo pkg upgrade"ed to 15.1 RELEASE without any issues or hiccups, everything just works and doesn't require me to do anything special to keep the system updated
 
FWIW, I did an install from scratch using FreeBSD-15.1-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso in a VM and it went without a hitch. I did a maximal install (minus src & tests). Including FreeBSD-15.1 packages there are over a thousand packages & everything worked including xfce in a VNC window. Next I will try this on an old mini pc I acquired this week for a few bucks.
 
MG said:
Anybody managed to fetch all the lang/rust dependencies on 15.1 with the RELEASE portstree?
Click to expand...
Is there an easy way to generate a list of all of the 'corroded' dependents in the portstree? I am just interested to see how fast the contamination is spreading over time and what ports to avoid.
 
vmb said:
Is there an easy way to generate a list of all of the 'corroded' dependents in the portstree? I am just interested to see how fast the contamination is spreading over time and what ports to avoid.
Click to expand...
Corroded? 😅
Are you talking about Rust dependency bloat? I think python is worse. Let's install 100 deps of 100K each with their own version requirements amd conflicts....
I'm no Rust user but too many things need it, unfortunately.
 
I know the thread has been marked as 'solved' already, but... I'm in "that" mood right now so I'm happily going to ignore all that ;)

kirsche said:
Apologies, if I miss the obvious. I am new to FreeBSD since December 2025.
Click to expand...
Welcome aboard! I hope you're going to have a lot of fun with FreeBSD.

kirsche said:
What is the most simple upgrade procedure?
Click to expand...
First of all I'd like to compliment you for your thorough question: providing as much possibly relevant detail as you can. I really appreciate that because it's a sharp contrast from the sometimes "It doesn't work, why?" kind of stuff.

Well... the first thing you want to do is to check the latest release information (<= link?). As you can see, the currently mentioned production releases are either 15.0 or 14.4. So as of right now (= time of writing!) there simply isn't anything official yet to upgrade to.

Of course if you'd insist then you could always grab the source tree and use that to keep things up to date, but as much as I enjoy that process myself it's also not something I'd recommend doing casually.
 
Ok, I'm not even sure what I did. On that laptop, once again, I thought I'd try the update to RC3. But when I rebooted, it was 15.1 RELEASE. And all was fine, no xlibre, alacritty worked, etc.
 
bakul said:
FWIW, I did an install from scratch using FreeBSD-15.1-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso in a VM and it went without a hitch. I did a maximal install (minus src & tests). Including FreeBSD-15.1 packages there are over a thousand packages & everything worked including xfce in a VNC window. Next I will try this on an old mini pc I acquired this week for a few bucks.
Click to expand...
Upgrading process uses different install sources. I did the same with 15.0R-ISO some days before official release in 2025 without any problems. 15.0 started and all worked like a charm - except Mediatek MT7922 (AMD RZ616), which took ages to run in timeout during boot. I solved this by adding a /usr/local/etc/rc.d/mediatek_bt which I maybe can remove when FreeBSD 16.0R is released.

ShelLuser said:
Welcome aboard! I hope you're going to have a lot of fun with FreeBSD.
Click to expand...
It’s a ton of fun. I’ve just sent two small reports to FreeBSD Bugzilla... I started with the KC 85/3, then switched to the C64, then got to know the benefits of preemptive multitasking with the Amiga 1200, and then accidentally got stuck with Windows and Linux VMs for two decades (Man, have I gotten old...). Since I switched to FreeBSD, my life has become simpler. No Microsoft driving me insane with its “Greek gifts”. No Debian that completely blows itself up by an upgrade. No systemd dependency hell... I hope I win my bet on FreeBSD – despite of the switch to package base.

ShelLuser said:
Of course if you'd insist then you could always grab the source tree and use that to keep things up to date, but as much as I enjoy that process myself it's also not something I'd recommend doing casually.
Click to expand...
As Bakul has already said: "Hold your horses for a few days...". Why build the entire system from source when I only have to wait two more days for the problem to resolve itself? :cool:
 
kirsche said:
Code: 
dvl@mybsd:~ % freebsd-update upgrade -r 15.1-RELEASE 
freebsd-update: Directory does not exist or is not writable: /var/db/freebsd-update
Click to expand...
mkdir /var/db/freebsd-update
You probably nuked that directory at some point in time. The directory MUST exist. When upgrading with freebsd-update(8) disable anything that's not strictly necessary, like the DRM drivers (you do not need X/Wayland to upgrade). Just do the whole thing from the console.

If you're using pkgbase; so do NOT use freebsd-update(8). Instructions how to use pkgbase to upgrade the system will be in the release notes.
 
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