Call for testing: pkgbase support in 15.0

[Useradd]

TL;DR 15.0-ALPHA5 upgrade: go ahead or wait?

When I ran pkg upgrade just now on my test PC which has 15.0-ALPHA5 installed, I got the following output:

Newer FreeBSD version for package FreeBSD-zoneinfo:
To ignore this error set IGNORE_OSVERSION=yes
- package: 1500500
- running userland: 1500066
Ignore the mismatch and continue? [y/N]: n
pkg: repository FreeBSD-base contains packages for wrong OS version: FreeBSD:15:amd64
Processing entries:   0%
Unable to update repository FreeBSD-base
Error updating repositories!
# uname -r
15.0-ALPHA5

Checking the FreeBSD 15.0 Release Process gives me these details:
Action: 3 October 2025
Expected: 10 October 2025
Actual: 11 October 2025
Description: First beta test snapshot.

I have read through this thread for all related information and found the explanations but I'm still not sure whether to go ahead or wait. This isn't urgent and I don't mind waiting. This is a Packages (experimental) installation.

 

[T-Aoki]

TL;DR 15.0-ALPHA5 upgrade: go ahead or wait?

When I ran pkg upgrade just now on my test PC which has 15.0-ALPHA5 installed, I got the following output:

Newer FreeBSD version for package FreeBSD-zoneinfo:
To ignore this error set IGNORE_OSVERSION=yes
- package: 1500500
- running userland: 1500066
Ignore the mismatch and continue? [y/N]: n
pkg: repository FreeBSD-base contains packages for wrong OS version: FreeBSD:15:amd64
Processing entries:   0%
Unable to update repository FreeBSD-base
Error updating repositories!
# uname -r
15.0-ALPHA5

Checking the FreeBSD 15.0 Release Process gives me these details:
Action: 3 October 2025
Expected: 10 October 2025
Actual: 11 October 2025
Description: First beta test snapshot.

I have read through this thread for all related information and found the explanations but I'm still not sure whether to go ahead or wait. This isn't urgent and I don't mind waiting.

If you want to track stable/15, it should be "GO AHEAD".
But if you want 15.0-Release afterwards, it should be "wait for annoucement for BETA1 and switch to it". Now BETA1 should be on build / preparation for distributing.

As I'm on source upgrade method, not sure how to for pkgbase.

 

[fmc000]

If you want to track stable/15, it should be "GO AHEAD".
But if you want 15.0-Release afterwards, it should be "wait for announcement for BETA1 and switch to it". Now BETA1 should be on build / preparation for distributing.

As I'm on source upgrade method, not sure how to for pkgbase.

Now on my system I have three repositories enabled:

• FreeBSD-ports (included in /etc/pkg/FreeBSD.conf) that tracks "latest";
• FreeBSD-ports-kmods (also included in /etc/pkg/FreeBSD.conf that tracks "kmods_latest";
• FreeBSD-base (included in /usr/local/etc/pkg/FreeBSD-base.conf) that tracks "base_latest".
  

I guess I'm tracking "stable/15" as we're still on ALPHA5? What should I do if I decided to track 15.0-release? (and why would I want it to?)

 

[T-Aoki]

I guess I'm tracking "stable/15" as we're still on ALPHA5?

Exactly. ALPHA* are built using stable (here, stable/15 for 15.0) branch.

On the other hand, BETA*, RC* and final 15.0-Release are built using releng/15.0 branch.
So as following patch releases like future 15.0-Release-p*.

But sorry, as I'm not at all using pkgbase, not sure how you can do to switch to BETA1.

For source upgrades, if we want to switch branches, there are basically 2 ways. Use git switch or git checkout.

 

[hruodr]

To update from one point release to another, simply run pkg upgrade.

Does this mean that if I am on FreeBSD 15.3, there is a release of 15.4 and 16.0, then it is impossible to upgrade
packages without upgrading to 15.4 or to 16.0?

 

[rbranco]

I got the same issue Useradd mentioned and if I run pkg upgrade -f I get:

Installed packages to be DOWNGRADED:
FreeBSD-acct: 15.0.a4.20251003184850 -> 15.snap20251011015136 [FreeBSD-base]
...

Number of packages to be reinstalled: 560
Number of packages to be downgraded: 207


Judging by the dates it's not a downgrade for me so I continued and now freebsd-version shows me:
15.0-STABLE

This release is looking very solid. Now I'll test on Raspberry Pi 4b.

 

[fmc000]

Exactly. ALPHA* are built using stable (here, stable/15 for 15.0) branch.

On the other hand, BETA*, RC* and final 15.0-Release are built using releng/15.0 branch.
So as following patch releases like future 15.0-Release-p*.

But sorry, as I'm not at all using pkgbase, not sure how you can do to switch to BETA1.

For source upgrades, if we want to switch branches, there are basically 2 ways. Use git switch or git checkout.

FWIW, BETA1 is out but a simple pkg upgrade does not show anything available at the moment.

 

[T-Aoki]

FWIW, BETA1 is out but a simple pkg upgrade does not show anything available at the moment.

Possibly the mirror nearest (as network) you still don't have updates.

 

[T-Aoki]

freebsd-version shows me:
15.0-STABLE

Putting pkgbase things (that I don't know enough) aside, the output means you don't switched to releng/15.0 branch and keep on tracking stable/15 branch.

Currently, stable/15 is marked as STABLE as of commit b15f726dfe60, while releng/15.0 is marked as BETA1 as of commit a2829ff9d10f.

See BRANCH= line of newvers.sh part of each commit.

 

[Erichans]

FWIW, BETA1 is out but a simple pkg upgrade does not show anything available at the moment.

15.0: create releng/15.0 branch - commit as of 2025-10-09 23:59:00 :

Update from ALPHA5 to BETA1
Switch pkg(8) configuration to use the quarterly repository
Bump __FreeBSD_version

Perhaps, as the BETA's are now on releng/15 (instead of the ALPHA's that are on stable/15), it may require some adjusting of your pkg .conf settings.

 

[fmc000]

15.0: create releng/15.0 branch - commit as of 2025-10-09 23:59:00 :

Update from ALPHA5 to BETA1
Switch pkg(8) configuration to use the quarterly repository
Bump __FreeBSD_version

Perhaps, as the BETA's are now on releng/15 (instead of the ALPHA's that were on stable/15), it may require some adjusting of your pkg .conf settings.

Replacing "latest" with "quarterly" on my test VM made no difference. I'll try again later.

 

[rbranco]

BETA1 is using .snap20251011* packages for downloading by default.

 

[Erichans]

Replacing "latest" with "quarterly" on my test VM made no difference. I'll try again later.

That particular change most likely affects only the 'traditional' packages derived from the ports tree.

Can you post the output of: pkg -vv | sed -nE -e '/(OSVERSION|ABI)/ p' -e '/^Repositories:/,$ p'

 

[rbranco]

According to https://download.freebsd.org/releas...est/FreeBSD-15.0-BETA1-amd64-pkgbase-repo.tar the packages should end with .b1.20251011075131.pkg

But I want -STABLE so I'm ok. But the BETA1 installation downloads .snap20251011* anyway =/

 

[Erichans]

But I want -STABLE [...]

That means one had ALPHA5 at their disposal, but now just the 'normal' Post-15.0-branch updates:

Rename stable/15 to -STABLE

Bump __FreeBSD_version

 

[Useradd]

I downloaded 15.0-BETA1 from release and did a clean install with Xfce desktop environment, and it all seems to be going OK so far. The only thing I think might be worth mentioning is an unusual message when I try to upgrade the packages:

pkg: Repository FreeBSD-ports-kmods cannot be opened. 'pkg update' required

but pkg updatefails:

# pkg upgrade
Updating FreeBSD-ports repository catalogue...
FreeBSD-ports repository is up to date.
Updating FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository catalogue...
Unable to update repository FreeBSD-ports-kmods
Updating FreeBSD-base repository catalogue...
FreeBSD-base repository is up to date.
Error updating repositories!
pkg: Repository FreeBSD-ports-kmods cannot be opened. 'pkg update' required
Checking for upgrades (396 candidates): 100%
Processing candidates (396 candidates): 100%
Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting)
Your packages are up to date.
# pkg update
Updating FreeBSD-ports repository catalogue...
FreeBSD-ports repository is up to date.
Updating FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository catalogue...
Unable to update repository FreeBSD-ports-kmods
Updating FreeBSD-base repository catalogue...
FreeBSD-base repository is up to date.
Error updating repositories!

Update: I forgot to mention that I installed with the Packages (Experimental), and Offline (Limited Packages) options.

 

[T-Aoki]

I downloaded 15.0-BETA1 from release and did a clean install with Xfce desktop environment, and it all seems to be going OK so far. The only thing I think might be worth mentioning is an unusual message when I try to upgrade the packages:

pkg: Repository FreeBSD-ports-kmods cannot be opened. 'pkg update' required

but pkg updatefails:

# pkg upgrade
Updating FreeBSD-ports repository catalogue...
FreeBSD-ports repository is up to date.
Updating FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository catalogue...
Unable to update repository FreeBSD-ports-kmods
Updating FreeBSD-base repository catalogue...
FreeBSD-base repository is up to date.
Error updating repositories!
pkg: Repository FreeBSD-ports-kmods cannot be opened. 'pkg update' required
Checking for upgrades (396 candidates): 100%
Processing candidates (396 candidates): 100%
Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting)
Your packages are up to date.
# pkg update
Updating FreeBSD-ports repository catalogue...
FreeBSD-ports repository is up to date.
Updating FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository catalogue...
Unable to update repository FreeBSD-ports-kmods
Updating FreeBSD-base repository catalogue...
FreeBSD-base repository is up to date.
Error updating repositories!

Update: I forgot to mention that I installed with the Packages (Experimental), and Offline (Limited Packages) options.

Does the contents of your /etc/pkg/FreeBSD.conf looks like whichever of below?

• FreeBSD.conf.quarterly-release
• FreeBSD.conf.quarterly

If none of them matches, your /etc/pkg/FreeBSD.conf is not properly installed.

I'm not sure which is actually installed, as I'm on stable/15 and it defaults to FreeBSD.conf.latest.

If you're overriding it with /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/FreeBSD.conf or something else, you need to edit it.

 

[Useradd]

Does the contents of your /etc/pkg/FreeBSD.conf looks like whichever of below?

• FreeBSD.conf.quarterly-release
• FreeBSD.conf.quarterly

It looks exactly like the first one.

 

[T-Aoki]

ABI is the major version (for 15.0, 15) and VERSION_MINOR for 15.0 should be 0, it should not be needed, but possibly pkg-static bootstrap -f could help.

 

[Erichans]

Does the contents of your /etc/pkg/FreeBSD.conf looks like whichever of below?

• FreeBSD.conf.quarterly-release
• FreeBSD.conf.quarterly

It looks exactly like the first one.

That is how it is supposed to look.

Based on:

[0-0] # fetch -v https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:amd64/kmods_latest/meta.conf   <-- stable/15
resolving server address: pkg.freebsd.org:443
SSL options: 82004850
Peer verification enabled
Using OpenSSL default CA cert file and path
Verify hostname
TLSv1.3 connection established using TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384
Certificate subject: /CN=pkg.freebsd.org
Certificate issuer: /C=US/O=Let's Encrypt/CN=E8
requesting https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:amd64/kmods_latest/meta.conf
local size / mtime: 179 / 1737583847
remote size / mtime: 179 / 1737583847
meta.conf                                              179  B 1576 kBps    00s   <-- is present and downloads successfully
[1-0] # fetch -v https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:amd64/kmods_latest_0/meta.conf   <-- releng/15
resolving server address: pkg.freebsd.org:443
SSL options: 82004850
Peer verification enabled
Using OpenSSL default CA cert file and path
Verify hostname
TLSv1.3 connection established using TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384
Certificate subject: /CN=pkg.freebsd.org
Certificate issuer: /C=US/O=Let's Encrypt/CN=E8
requesting https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:amd64/kmods_latest_0/meta.conf

404 Not Found

404 Not Found
nginx


fetch: https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:amd64/kmods_latest_0/meta.conf: Not Found
[2->1<] # fetch -v https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:amd64/kmods_quarterly_0/meta.conf    <-- releng/15
resolving server address: pkg.freebsd.org:443
SSL options: 82004850
Peer verification enabled
Using OpenSSL default CA cert file and path
Verify hostname
TLSv1.3 connection established using TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384
Certificate subject: /CN=pkg.freebsd.org
Certificate issuer: /C=US/O=Let's Encrypt/CN=E8
requesting https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:amd64/kmods_quarterly_0/meta.conf

404 Not Found

404 Not Found
nginx


fetch: https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:amd64/kmods_quarterly_0/meta.conf: Not Found
[3->1<] #

It seems the 'kmods' repositories for releng/15 are not yet set up.

 

[fmc000]

That particular change most likely affects only the 'traditional' packages derived from the ports tree.

Can you post the output of: pkg -vv | sed -nE -e '/(OSVERSION|ABI)/ p' -e '/^Repositories:/,$ p'

 

[USerID]

Yes, I'll test it and update it. When the release comes out, it'll be interesting and fun.
Developing FreeBSD according to the "Linux concept" (as they sometimes write on the forum) doesn't scare me.
I'm not planning to switch to OpenBSD/NetBSD.
Now I'm off to read more about pkgbase...

 

[Useradd]

possibly pkg-static bootstrap -f could help

I tried that and it did a forced reinstall of pkg-2.3.1. When I do a pkg upgrade I still get a message saying it is unable to update repository FreeBSD-ports-kmods, followed by a new message saying that there is a newer FreeBSD version for package FreeBSD-zoneinfo:
- package: 1500500
- running userland 1500067

I am not sure whether to ignore the mismatch and continue.

Perhaps it's worth mentioning that, during the installation of BETA1, I selected everything in the Select System Components list.

Update: Perhaps it's also worth mentioning that I have IPv6 disabled. I use only IPv4.