Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2025 10:22:30 -0500 From: Paul Mather <paul@gromit.dlib.vt.edu> To: FreeBSD questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Cc: Kurt Hackenberg <kh@panix.com>, Sad Clouds <cryintothebluesky@gmail.com> Subject: Re: (2517) the error message when removing a dependency of a vital package is uninformative (was: Trying to understand base system packages) Message-ID: <7A4824F7-4007-4814-B364-28E73E59F338@gromit.dlib.vt.edu> In-Reply-To: <20251210203319.c248921c4e6aca9ba07458ae@gmail.com> References: <20251205122830.cb88058f193987b47a95a77c@gmail.com> <20251205134510.6fae5caf@dorfdsl.de> <20251205143119.441cc1bd8722345d074a4480@gmail.com> <16e766b9-f442-4cef-a991-c940f6b8182a@gmail.com> <20251207081139.7e2f65b97b4c089ac0add431@gmail.com> <aTkvIvFJHLf4WxUa@amaryllis.le-fay.org> <aTm6mdWQ_nyv21El@rain.cave> <20251210203319.c248921c4e6aca9ba07458ae@gmail.com>
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On Dec 10, 2025, at 3:33 pm, Sad Clouds <cryintothebluesky@gmail.com> wrote: > On Wed, 10 Dec 2025 13:23:21 -0500 > Kurt Hackenberg <kh@panix.com> wrote: > >>> however, pkgbase in 15.0 is shipped as a tech preview, and there are >>> several features and edge cases which do not work as well as we would >>> like. >> >> Maybe we shouldn't use it in 15.0. How can we know how to avoid it? >> > > I assumed that the "technology preview" meant: "the feature is fully > complete and ready to use, but may contain minor bugs". > > The fact that it is still undergoing development and design changes, > suggests that the feature is still work in progress. Some may > disagree with this definition. Anyway, I think this is fine and helps > to get test exposure from different users. If you are someone like me > who uses FreeBSD occasionally and not too deeply familiar with its > sysadmin features, then may be avoid using base packages on production > systems. Back in 2016 I posted to the freebsd-arm mailing list about moving to using pkgbase to update my FreeBSD/arm systems because it was too onerous to update them via the traditional src cross-building method. (https://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-arm/2016-July/014444.html) That was back on FreeBSD 11, where pkgbase was still a work-in-progress yet to see any official release. I am very grateful that the powers that be decided finally to provide pkgbase as a technology preview for the recent FreeBSD 15.0-RELEASE, because I believe it will bring more development focus and testing to this important feature. I applaud the decision to make this an optional technology preview for 15, with the understanding it will become default for 16. Given the long gestation, it's a relief to see an official release finally supporting it in the installer and official repositories as a mainstream option. The recent flurry of activity surrounding pkgbase and pkg itself shows that committing to a feature can really focus developer activity. Kudos to all those who have worked on this for the 15.0-RELEASE. I also appreciate this has been released as an opt-in feature for 15. I chose to select it for a fresh install on a new desktop system I was deploying, and it has been working wonderfully so far. For other servers and jails that were running FreeBSD 14, I decided to upgrade them to 15 using the existing src-based {build,install}{kernel,world} method I'd always used. That approach worked fine for me, too. Choices are a good thing. :-) I figure with the wider testing afforded by the FreeBSD 15 technology preview that the remaining kinks should get worked out at a faster rate for 16, when it becomes the default. The pragmatist in me suspects that without seeing an official release, it may have continued to languish as an "upcoming feature." Cheers, Paul.
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