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Binary package management in FreeBSD isn't well-advertised, but it's definitely there: # portupgrade -rvP --batch foo-1.2.3 This will upgrade installed pack
by sigil 16y ago
Binary package management in FreeBSD isn't well-advertised, but it's definitely there:
# portupgrade -rvP --batch foo-1.2.3
This will upgrade installed package foo and anything that depends on it using binary packages from the mirror site, falling back on a build from source.
Installing a new binary package:
# portupgrade -vNP bar/baz
If you're using portaudit to stay on top of vulnerabilities (it's part of the default install these days), here's a nice way to upgrade everything:
# portaudit -a | sed -ne 's/^Affected package: //p' | sort -u | \
xargs portupgrade -rvP --batch
I'm like you, for some vulnerabilities I don't want to upgrade a ton of stuff. FreeBSD is perfect for this though, you can just pop into the port directory, "make extract," apply the patch, and "make reinstall." You can avoid full rebuilds by always passing "-W" to portupgrade whenever you install / upgrade stuff.
- alec 16y agoThat example of how to upgrade for security fixes is much more complicated and less reliable than Debian's "apt-get upgrade". For example, take a Firefox or PHP security vulnerability. Those projects generally don't just release a new version with the security fixes; they'll throw in whatever feature changes they've made along the way. I don't want to sort through the various changes and patches to find the right combination; trust me, it's no fun, I worked on the Debian security team for a while. It's important to me to get just the security fixes because I don't have time for a constant upgrade treadmill and there will be new bugs in with the new features. I really want my operating system to just work and get out of the way. If I didn't need any packages from ports, I think FreeBSD would fit that bill.