PkgBase

grahamperrin · Mar 13, 2022

Alain De Vos said:
No offence pkgbase looks to me like an idea without any clear deadline.

I don't imagine that a deadline was ever intended, there is the timeline above.

Also above:

grahamperrin said:
Michael W Lucas has a few laughs …

understandable, however I am fairly optimistic about things not straying too far from the timeline, since the FreeBSD Foundation is involved.

Personally: I'll refocus on PkgBase after <https://codeberg.org/pkgbase/website/issues/8> (recently discussed in EFNet) is progressed.

grahamperrin · Nov 4, 2023

zoujiaqing said:
Looking forward to FreeBSD Package Base!

ericbsd said:
… GhostBSD builds the OS packages from ports. …

<https://lists.freebsd.org/archives/freebsd-pkgbase/2023-October/000221.html> last month, bapt@ wrote:

Hello everyone,

The project has started building and populated official packages for pkgbase. …

Cool.

grahamperrin · Nov 14, 2023

Graham Perrin (@grahamperrin@bsd.cafe)

Attached: 1 image PkgBase is the FreeBSD base operating system (OS), packaged. #FreeBSD #PkgBase

mastodon.bsd.cafe

grahamperrin · Nov 27, 2023

rawthey said:
… Is there a way I can add the dbg components and continue to use freebsd-update …

You might (in the following order):

upgrade to 14.0-RELEASE
add some of what's available for PkgBase.

Assuming AMD64:

– please note, directory listings such as this may be 403 (forbidden) in future.

I'll ping someone in Matrix who'll probably know which packages to choose. FreeBSD Cafe at <https://matrix.to/#/#FreeBSD:bsd.cafe>.

astyle · Nov 27, 2023

grahamperrin said:
– please note, directory listings such as this may be 403 (forbidden) in future.

Now that is a bit unfortunate, I sometimes want to get a directory listing, rather than fetch a specific package. Well, in my case, I did need that years ago, before I learned to work with ports.

The long way around that 403 would be to switch the repo in /etc/pkg.conf and then navigate to package listings in bsdconfig(8)...

rawthey · Nov 30, 2023

grahamperrin said:
You might (in the following order):

upgrade to 14.0-RELEASE

add some of what's available for PkgBase.

That looked interesting so I gave it a try but hit some snags.

First I created the following as /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/FreeBSD-base.conf

Code:

FreeBSD-base: {
  url: "pkg+http://pkg.FreeBSD.org/${ABI}/base_release_0"
  mirror_type: "srv",
  signature_type: "fingerprints",
  fingerprints: "/usr/share/keys/pkg",
  enabled: yes
}

But this complained about a kernel version mismatch

Code:

curlew:/tmp# pkg update -r FreeBSD-base 
Updating FreeBSD-base repository catalogue...
Fetching meta.conf: 100%    163 B   0.2kB/s    00:01    
Fetching packagesite.pkg: 100%   33 KiB  33.8kB/s    00:01    
Processing entries:  97%
Newer FreeBSD version for package FreeBSD-kernel-generic:
To ignore this error set IGNORE_OSVERSION=yes
- package: 1500000
- running kernel: 1400097
Ignore the mismatch and continue? [y/N]:  
pkg: repository FreeBSD-base contains packages for wrong OS version: FreeBSD:14:amd64
Processing entries: 100%
Unable to update repository FreeBSD-base
Error updating repositories!
curlew:/tmp#

So I changed 'base_release_0' to 'base_weekly' and got a package version of 1400500 which was closer to my value of 1400097 and then tried to install a package.

Code:

curlew:/tmp# pkg install -r FreeBSD-base FreeBSD-at-dbg
Updating FreeBSD-base repository catalogue...
FreeBSD-base repository is up to date.
All repositories are up to date.
The following 9 package(s) will be affected (of 0 checked):

New packages to be INSTALLED:
        FreeBSD-at: 14.snap20231120020451 [FreeBSD-base]
        FreeBSD-at-dbg: 14.snap20231120020451 [FreeBSD-base]
        FreeBSD-clibs: 14.snap20231126071433 [FreeBSD-base]
        FreeBSD-libarchive: 14.snap20231120020451 [FreeBSD-base]
        FreeBSD-libbsm: 14.snap20231120020451 [FreeBSD-base]
        FreeBSD-libbz2: 14.snap20231120020451 [FreeBSD-base]
        FreeBSD-liblzma: 14.snap20231120020451 [FreeBSD-base]
        FreeBSD-openssl-lib: 14.snap20231120020451 [FreeBSD-base]
        FreeBSD-runtime: 14.snap20231126071433 [FreeBSD-base]

Number of packages to be installed: 9

The process will require 19 MiB more space.
6 MiB to be downloaded.

Proceed with this action? [y/N]:  
curlew:/tmp#

So it looks like I can't add a single package unless the whole system is built with pkg-base. I understand that PkgBase isn't quite ready for production use yet so I expect it will be safer for me to rebuild from source to add the missing dbg components instead of rebuilding the whole system from packages.

But I've been trying this out in a spare boot environment so if there's any workaround to allow individual base packages to be added to my existing system I'm happy to give it a try.

grahamperrin · Dec 1, 2023

I posted the wrong directory listing above. Please revisit <https://forums.freebsd.org/posts/630506>.

grahamperrin · Jan 15, 2024

astyle said:
BTW, I only read today (like, a few hours ago) what pkgbase even is... And I realized something:

To be able to submit patches to the actual code of pkgbase, there's no way around having a good handle on how to install FreeBSD from a command-line rescue environment, without the help of an installer script. Picking out individual sets, detecting the SSD, using /bin/dd, and the like. I can probably figure out the ropes, and put the details together into something coherent - but as things stand now, just putting it all together and reporting on whether it works as intended is probably the limit of what I have the ability do with pkgbase...

And that's OK.

Reporting on whether it works as intended is no less valuable than patching. Thanks.

Edge case (not in Bugzilla, developers in Discord are aware):

Graham Perrin (@grahamperrin@bsd.cafe)

Attached: 1 image FreeBSD PkgBase: a non-orthodox attempt to downgrade (vaguely sidestep) from 14.0-STABLE to 14.0-RC4. Attention to: /usr/lib/debug/bin/uuidgen.debug

mastodon.bsd.cafe

I'll request addition of <https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/tags/PkgBase> to the wiki.

blazingice · Jan 26, 2024

I have just upgraded a vm from 14.0-RELEASE to 14-STABLE using PkgBase. Everything went well. It was great completing the upgrade in few minutes without having to build from source, which would have taken hours for a vm.

A few questions/observations:

Dealing with .pkgsave config files manually, doesn't seem the most elegant solution. Unless one knows exactly what to copy, it's likely to cause issues for many users.
I'm not sure if /etc/src.conf does anything. Despite having WITHOUT_LIB32= I saw a lot of 32-libraries packages being installed.
I'm not sure I fully understand the step of removing linker.hints rm /boot/kernel/linker.hints

astyle · Jan 26, 2024

blazingice said:
I'm not sure if /etc/src.conf does anything. Despite having WITHOUT_LIB32= I saw a lot of 32-libraries packages being installed.

PkgBase provides precompiled, packaged base... all the compilation work was done by the FreeBSD project devs already, just find your kernel and install it. /etc/src.conf is for situations when you do your own kernel recompilation.

kalleboy · Jan 26, 2024

I really hope "freebsd-update" tool will not be removed when pkgbase comes in.

blazingice · Jan 27, 2024

astyle said:
PkgBase provides precompiled, packaged base... all the compilation work was done by the FreeBSD project devs already, just find your kernel and install it. /etc/src.conf is for situations when you do your own kernel recompilation.

I undertand that src.conf is used for updating from source. However the following sentence from wiki:

PkgBase comprises a few hundred packages with the default build (empty src.conf(5) and make.conf(5)) for amd64. The number of packages depends on several factors.

made me assume that PkgBase could be sophisticated enough to filter out the relevant packages that relate to settings in src.conf. At least theoretically that could be possible for 32-bit libraries as according to wiki:

Debugging symbols and most shared libraries are packaged individually. 32-bit is bit packaged separately.

Obviously, I made the wrong assumption!

It does make me think however that the main benefit of using PkgBase (i.e. convenience of speed) when tracking STABLE or CURRENT becomes limited, as often users who track them like to customise their builds more often than those that track RELEASE. There are no real benefits at the moment in using PkgBase to track RELEASE as freebsd-update provides similar speed and better control in merging the config files. Perhaps as PkgBase matures it will offer more options to tweak the list of installed packages.

grahamperrin · Jan 27, 2024

astyle said:
I thought pkgbase was already something that used freebsd-update …

No, pkg is the essence. For example:

<https://github.com/freebsd/pkg/pulls?q=is:pr+is:open+pkgbase> no pkgbase PRs at the time of writing.
<https://github.com/freebsd/pkg/issues?q=is:issue+is:open+label:pkgbase> three open issues with the pkgbase label
<https://github.com/freebsd/pkg/issues?q=is:issue+is:open+pkgbase> eight open issues, some of which do not yet use the label.

grahamperrin · Jan 27, 2024

Two recent developments that might help to paint a big picture:

release: rework distributions list · freebsd/freebsd-src@2e9b8c8

Components like base.txz and ports.txz are called distributions in the installer, and with the introduction of pkgbase we will start dealing with normal pkg packages in the installer. Rename EXTRA...

github.com

base, kernel, ports, and src are distributions.

⚙ D43632 pkgbase: Create a FreeBSD-dtb package

reviews.freebsd.org

towards installation of multiple kernels.

A user of CURRENT or STABLE might:

typically boot GENERIC-DEBUG, only rarely boot GENERIC for debug purposes

– or vice versa.

More broadly (search results across doc and three other trees):

<https://freshbsd.org/freebsd?q=pkgbase>

grahamperrin · Jan 27, 2024

rawthey said:
… it looks like I can't add a single package unless the whole system is built with pkg-base. …

Download the file, then use pkg-add(8).

Example: experimentally adding vi, and its manual page, to a system that's normally without these things

Code:

% uname -KU
1500010 1500010
% man vi
No manual entry for "vi"
% which vi
vi: Command not found.
% su -
Password:
root@mowa219-gjp4-zbook-freebsd:~ # bectl list -c creation | tail -n 5
n267378-8bf0882e186e-h -      -          1.33G 2024-01-13 11:50
n267555-e3c7b76fa810-a -      -          727M  2024-01-13 19:52
n267555-e3c7b76fa810-b -      -          438M  2024-01-16 09:34
n267555-e3c7b76fa810-c -      -          384M  2024-01-21 11:42
n267555-e3c7b76fa810-f NR     /          213G  2024-01-26 13:42
root@mowa219-gjp4-zbook-freebsd:~ # bectl create n267555-e3c7b76fa810-g
root@mowa219-gjp4-zbook-freebsd:~ # bectl mount n267555-e3c7b76fa810-g /tmp/up
/tmp/up
root@mowa219-gjp4-zbook-freebsd:~ # pkg -r /tmp/up add /tmp/FreeBSD-vi-man-15.snap20240125183519.pkg
Installing FreeBSD-vi-man-15.snap20240125183519...
Newer FreeBSD version for package FreeBSD-vi-man:
To ignore this error set IGNORE_OSVERSION=yes
- package: 1500012
- running kernel: 1500010
Ignore the mismatch and continue? [y/N]: y
`-- Installing FreeBSD-vi-15.snap20240125183519...
`-- Extracting FreeBSD-vi-15.snap20240125183519: 100%
Extracting FreeBSD-vi-man-15.snap20240125183519: 100%
root@mowa219-gjp4-zbook-freebsd:~ # chroot /tmp/up
root@mowa219-gjp4-zbook-freebsd:/ # which vi
/usr/bin/vi
root@mowa219-gjp4-zbook-freebsd:/ # man vi
root@mowa219-gjp4-zbook-freebsd:/ # exit
exit
root@mowa219-gjp4-zbook-freebsd:~ # bectl umount n267555-e3c7b76fa810-g
root@mowa219-gjp4-zbook-freebsd:~ # bectl destroy n267555-e3c7b76fa810-g
root@mowa219-gjp4-zbook-freebsd:~ # exit
logout
% man vi
No manual entry for "vi"
% which vi
vi: Command not found.
%

Condensed:

prior to the commands, download two files to /tmp
create then mount a boot environment
add one file (for the manual page) to the mounted boot environment
two packages are added
test
unmount then destroy the environment.

grahamperrin · Feb 7, 2024

<https://wiki.freebsd.org/PkgBase#Initial_setup> step 6 of 6, additional surprises for me included three files in root's home directory:

Code:

root@mowa219-gjp4-zbook-freebsd:~ # pwd
/root
root@mowa219-gjp4-zbook-freebsd:~ # find . -name "*.pkgsave" -print
./.cshrc.pkgsave
./.shrc.pkgsave
./.profile.pkgsave
root@mowa219-gjp4-zbook-freebsd:~ #

Discussing at <https://discord.com/channels/727023752348434432/1204547751925391360> with a view to updating the wiki.

Attached: notes from an update to CURRENT. Condensed:

pkg -r /tmp/up upgrade --quiet

– whilst a new boot environment was mounted at /tmp/up, then:

a check for *.pkgsave files in two places
activate and boot the new environment.

rawthey · Feb 12, 2024

rawthey said:
So it looks like I can't add a single package unless the whole system is built with pkg-base.

grahamperrin said:
Download the file, then use pkg-add(8).

Thanks, that works fine.

Though it turns out that my initial need to add kernel debugging has gone away. Some time ago I was suffering from intermittent crashes when trying to start certain programs such as libreoffice, audacity and gimp These problems have gone away after upgrading from 13.2 to 14.0 but I'll keep this procedure in mind if the need arises in the future.

PkgBase

grahamperrin

grahamperrin

grahamperrin

Graham Perrin (@grahamperrin@bsd.cafe)

Attachments

grahamperrin

astyle

rawthey

grahamperrin

grahamperrin

Graham Perrin (@grahamperrin@bsd.cafe)

blazingice

astyle

kalleboy

blazingice

grahamperrin

grahamperrin

release: rework distributions list · freebsd/freebsd-src@2e9b8c8

⚙ D43632 pkgbase: Create a FreeBSD-dtb package

grahamperrin

Example: experimentally adding vi, and its manual page, to a system that's normally without these things

grahamperrin

Attachments

rawthey

PkgBase

Attachments

Example: experimentally adding vi, and its manual page, to a system that's normally without these things​

Attachments

Example: experimentally adding vi, and its manual page, to a system that's normally without these things