https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:1[56]:amd64/latest/files.pkg still exist but are not being updated; leads to downstream 1.5 GiByte+ /var/db/pkg/repos/FreeBSD-ports/db files from pkg 2.8.[01]

Mark Millard <[email protected]> Thu, 30 Jul 2026 12:36:03 -0700

Newsgroups	gmane.os.freebsd.stable,gmane.os.freebsd.current
Message-ID	<[email protected]>

[One common message for freebsd-stable@ and freebsd-current@ rather than
separate ones for each. Also "pkg rwhich" for port packages is involved:
the https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:1[56]:amd64/latest/files.pkg files
mentioned are involved in the "pkg rwhich" implementation.]


As I understand it /FreeBSD:*:amd64/latest/files.pkg generation has been
suspended on the port-package builders until some issues are dealt with,
such as (size related) mishandling the file by pkg 2.8.[01] leading to
huge files downstream, like the over 1.5 GiByte file on amd64:

# du -sAm /var/db/pkg/repos/FreeBSD-ports/db
1516	/var/db/pkg/repos/FreeBSD-ports/db

My understanding is that pkg 2.8.2 is intended to avoid the size issue
and part of that work has been committed. (But, as I understand, bapt is
away for a while.)


The /FreeBSD:1[56]:amd64/latest/files.pkg files have not updated in
about a week, and so are likely inaccurate as well:

Index of /FreeBSD:15:amd64/latest/

File Name  ↓ 	File Size  ↓ 	Date  ↓
Parent directory/	-	-
Latest/	-	2026-Jul-28 06:10
data.pkg	12734053	2026-Jul-28 05:47
packagesite.pkg	12735357	2026-Jul-28 05:47
files.pkg	43439619	2026-Jul-21 17:11
meta.conf	168	2026-Jul-20 21:24
meta	168	2026-Jul-20 21:24

Index of /FreeBSD:16:amd64/latest/

File Name  ↓ 	File Size  ↓ 	Date  ↓
Parent directory/	-	-
Latest/	-	2026-Jul-28 07:20
packagesite.pkg	12691297	2026-Jul-28 06:54
data.pkg	12692357	2026-Jul-28 06:54
files.pkg	42323007	2026-Jul-21 20:20
meta	168	2026-Jul-20 23:03
meta.conf	168	2026-Jul-20 23:03

Other /FreeBSD:*:amd64/latest/ do not have files.pkg files at this
point: There look to be just the 2. There look to be no
/FreeBSD:*:amd64/quarterly/ examples.


It would probably be best if the 2 out of date files.pkg files were
removed for now until generation of such files is re-enabled on the pkg
builder systems.


-- 
===
Mark Millard
marklmi at yahoo.com