From nobody Mon May 11 18:18:39 2026 X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@mlmmj.nyi.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2610:1c1:1:606c::19:1]) by mlmmj.nyi.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4gDnzY0xXGz6dPXs for ; Mon, 11 May 2026 18:18:49 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from linuxblood@proton.me) Received: from mail-10698.protonmail.ch (mail-10698.protonmail.ch [79.135.106.98]) (using TLSv1.3 with cipher TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (256/256 bits) key-exchange X25519 server-signature RSA-PSS (4096 bits) server-digest SHA256 client-signature RSA-PSS (4096 bits) client-digest SHA256) (Client CN "protonmail.com", Issuer "R13" (not verified)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 4gDnzX59CNz3NNx for ; Mon, 11 May 2026 18:18:48 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from linuxblood@proton.me) Authentication-Results: mx1.freebsd.org; none DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=proton.me; s=protonmail; t=1778523525; x=1778782725; bh=x7X23DjjclgVSAo/VcTR6IARFSut0dZAeigsYgaT9dQ=; h=Date:To:From:Cc:Subject:Message-ID:In-Reply-To:References: Feedback-ID:From:To:Cc:Date:Subject:Reply-To:Feedback-ID: Message-ID:BIMI-Selector; b=bnMhIXDB88y/qYtnlQxljiwsov5FF68gM5SJCFZs3Dxmdrkud1G0WeFHJVK9yWbu0 rl9YkzjM7+Mh6tyL+Y82VSq4vb48TKHp9GFHDQkcYF0K6YRZ51xXZMJb5b3VUUy1r7 IjBb1OTgWeV1ygwFzNgadHMEGPiyDt03/UjeSEATucWauaEhehZMCW25inbQSSSPqM C/ZrQUHQXyTyJdj2kNY/jdtcogr1v5KGKf4UpKi4EYaPBVQnpuQ5rnsa8CBXF5UQd5 PNq/AHYP8UD705TqmSTibe281DZVCAWBwKFJTefafhKcNk9aMu0pnDcf9mTLVOISlq OEt5EE970hDDw== Date: Mon, 11 May 2026 18:18:39 +0000 To: Jason Bacon From: linuxblood Cc: =?utf-8?Q?Dag-Erling_Sm=C3=B8rgrav?= , "Mark G." , "freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org" , jwb@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Unable to boot after update from within auto-admin Message-ID: <6jILMQNeCC5_M6CkqIVc_0z2KgEUjaZsc5FUL091h87ogWWx6dYjfj-LUhkAKNXtCFU3H1Lp-KfQzA8_XsTeBtNpzCVxuT2XyrTwIXW3q18=@proton.me> In-Reply-To: References: <-jWXlivnnS6JzOLtgdKgTjey5u550bHgIug6b2nMu8bxryJ5eNyXIQkpWZZ-q0Jbs8ndjWl0O521ZbDfIneWs2g0rquBziWMWrZqDBUiusY=@proton.me> <5f88b5f5e25c7fca7c5f3af2e74ab070@smokepit.net> <74dfc07e-0433-425f-b1d4-c02254eb06ce@palaceofretention.ca> <86se7zrpgn.fsf@ltc.des.dev> Feedback-ID: 189999937:user:proton X-Pm-Message-ID: 216a8b919fb02b1d96d989a4138c40b1a33ebbb9 List-Id: User questions List-Archive: https://lists.freebsd.org/archives/freebsd-questions List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org List-Id: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: List-Owner: Precedence: list MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Spamd-Result: default: False [-4.00 / 15.00]; REPLY(-4.00)[]; ASN(0.00)[asn:62371, ipnet:79.135.106.0/24, country:CH] X-Rspamd-Queue-Id: 4gDnzX59CNz3NNx X-Spamd-Bar: ---- X-Rspamd-Pre-Result: action=no action; module=replies; Message is reply to one we originated On Monday, May 11th, 2026 at 12:35 AM, Jason Bacon wr= ote: [...] > The auto-upgrade-base script (which does not yet do anything with > pkgbase), would pose a slightly higher risk, but also merely automates > the same commands the user would run by hand (freebsd-update upgrade, > freebsd-update install, reboot, freebsd-update install). >=20 > I've been using both these tools for many years (auto-upgrade-base > probably 100 times, auto-update-system thousands of times) and never > experienced an unbootable system following their use. In fact, I can't > actually recall a FreeBSD system ever becoming unbootable following an > upgrade, even before I created these tools. >=20 > Only freebsd-update and pkg upgrade with pkgbase have the potential to > lead to an unbootable system, and that's highly unlikely if the > pre-update system was clean. >=20 > I would look for a hardware issue, or some sort of pre-existing system > corruption caused by other activities before the update. Hi Jason. I appreciate your kind, highly detailed and informative post, tha= nk you. :) And thank you for making auto-update. When I saw the menu prior = to updating with it, it looked like a very feature rich program, I just had= a bad experience with it. I'm a newbie after all. I chose to install 'packages' vs. 'distribution' on my FreeBSD 15 install, = and had been updating my system using 'pkg update' followed by 'pkg upgrade= ' without issues. The freebsd-update fetch & install options are not availa= ble to me, as they say on the command line output when I try and use them. When I ran the update option (#1?) from the list in auto-update, the screen= flew by with operations which included some removal of some packages. I di= dn't have the chance to read because it went by so quickly. I still have th= e drive in it's non functional state if anyone wants to try and help me res= urrect it. I have little interest in doing so at this point however, since = I installed fresh to another drive. Perhaps if I had installed distribution instead of packages it would've mad= e a difference, I don't know. The hardware is fine, though I was admittedly using a USB flash drive for t= he install, which I've used tons of times for Linux without issue. As for "other activities before the update" I was simply in Openbox with Fi= refox -current version- loaded and the popup came as a small box with a que= stion mark inside and a message about updates. Rather than confirm as the p= opup was strange, I closed it and performed the update after exiting everyt= hing for the user and logging in again as root. Again, the install was encr= ypted and encrypted swap, if that makes a difference, using the guided disk= partitioning option. What concerns me is, many new users are using the 'desktop-installer' packa= ge to install their new desktop for the first time, and it pulls in 'auto-u= pdate' along with two other packages, one being some kind of notification p= rogram. A new user such as myself when greeted with this information may su= ccumb to the same problem I experienced so I wanted to warn others about th= is since the popup was quite jarring as well as unusual and confusing. I ne= ver knew about the 'auto-update' program and a quick search on the net prio= r to executing it seemed to check out alright. I wouldn't know what further to add unless someone is interested enough in = the logs and wants to help me revive the drive to a working state; enough t= o fetch the logs. I'm loving FreeBSD and the community, thank you.