Major Version Upgrade 11.4-Release to 12.2-Release

ldgc

ldgc

Hello :)
I installed FreeBSD 11.4-Release on an old machine one week ago.
I noticed that today this version reached EOL.
It is my first time upgrading to a major version.
I read the handbook and search the forums for information about this subject.

freebsd-version: 11.4-RELEASE-p13; uname -r: 11.4-RELEASE-p9
Are the following steps a correct procedure for a GENERIC kernel and packages method?
# freebsd-update -r 12.2-RELEASE upgrade # freebsd-update install # freebsd-update install # pkg upgrade -f # freebsd-update install # shutdown -r now
 
Yep, that looks good. You don't need to add the -f to pkg upgrade though, it should detect the major version change and automatically do a reinstall of everything.
 
macondo said:
Excuse my ignorance, isn't he supposed to first go to 12.0??? and THEN go 12.2???
Click to expand...

12.0 is older (released Dec 2018) than 11.4 (released Jun 2020), so no! In general not a good idea to "upgrade" to an older release even if the major version number is higher than your current os version.

Also, I'd just as soon upgrade to 13.0. Saving everything you care about before hand of course. In general this is a good idea because you're more likely to find help when a new release is fresh in people's minds! On the other hand the latest release may still have some issues. You have to pick your poison!
 
ldgc said:
Hello :)
I installed FreeBSD 11.4-Release on an old machine one week ago.
I noticed that today this version reached EOL.
It is my first time upgrading to a major version.
I read the handbook and search the forums for information about this subject.

freebsd-version: 11.4-RELEASE-p13; uname -r: 11.4-RELEASE-p9
Are the following steps a correct procedure for a GENERIC kernel and packages method?
# freebsd-update -r 12.2-RELEASE upgrade # freebsd-update install # freebsd-update install # pkg upgrade -f # freebsd-update install # shutdown -r now
Click to expand...
You are forgetting a shutdown -r now after the first instance of freebsd-update install.
 
And FTR:
If you are using zfs it is always a good idea to do a beadm create beforeupgrade and maybe even a zfs snapshot -r zroot@before-upgrade before any (major) upgrade to roll back if something goes wrong.
On important systems I usually install the system upgrades in a new BE running in a jail (the new bectl(8) even has a bectl jail option for that), and if this goes through without any errors I reboot into that BE and finish the upgrade (packages, jails...).

edit:
Before going from 11.4 up to 13.0 also check the availability of the packages you have installed! IIRC there was some fallout e.g. due to EOL of python 2.x and some packages that were available for the 11 (and 12) branch are still not available for 13.
 
I'll second what sko says: if you are using ZFS, do the upgrade in a new boot environment. There are a few tutorials around (I followed the one by vermaden that's linked a few times).
Don't forget to pay attention to messages about boot blocks/boot code. 11 to 12 should be no need, but it's a good idea to keep that in mind.
 
I just tried freebsd-update -r 12.3-RELEASE upgrade
from 11.4-RELEASE-p13
Then pkg upgrade
It seemed to go though ok without error messages popping up.

But after the required restart, I discovered that bind9 and mod_php had both been uninstalled, there was no version of php on the machine at all after the upgrade.

I installed the mod_php81 and php81 packages which seemed to work.
Then I installed bind918 and that seemed to find my old config files and run.

I don't know if anything else has been uninstalled by the upgrade.

Is that kind of unrequested removal of packages normal, or did I miss a step?
 
ernie said:
Is that kind of unrequested removal of packages normal
Click to expand...
You blindly typed "y" without checking what pkg upgrade wants to do. Because it clearly shows packages that may need to be deleted (due to the default PHP changing to 8.0 for example).
 
At the time of the switch:


More generally (current):

github.com

freebsd-ports/UPDATING at main · freebsd/freebsd-ports

FreeBSD ports tree (read-only mirror). Contribute to freebsd/freebsd-ports development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com github.com

The essence of the file has not changed since 2004:

github.com

freebsd-ports/UPDATING at 71495f4e8e74931dcb3875362487316ce2289c31 · freebsd/freebsd-ports

FreeBSD ports tree (read-only mirror). Contribute to freebsd/freebsd-ports development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com github.com

– that was, around eight years before the pkgng mindset became a norm:

pkgng/CharterAndRoadMap - FreeBSD Wiki

wiki.freebsd.org

Documentation could be better; for people's mindsets to include both UPDATING files.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top