Re: 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]

On 7/30/26 12:36, Mark Millard wrote:
> [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


There now is no published files.pkg listed in
"Index of /FreeBSD:15:amd64/latest/" .

In the base_latest (stable/15) amd64 context:

# pkg-static update -rFreeBSD-ports -f
Updating FreeBSD-ports repository catalogue...
Fetching meta.conf: 100%     168 B   0.2 kB/s    00:01
Fetching data: 100%    12 MiB   6.4 MB/s    00:02
Processing entries: 100%
FreeBSD-ports repository update completed. 38014 packages processed.
FreeBSD-ports is up to date.

So it no longer reports reading the 40 GiByte or so byte file. Also,
after I used my upgrade script I looked and found:

# ls -lodT /var/db/pkg/repos/FreeBSD-ports/db
-rw-r--r--  1 root wheel - 77889536 Jul 31 20:13:16 2026
/var/db/pkg/repos/FreeBSD-ports/db

So: no longer a huge file.

Similarly, after:

# poudriere jail -jofficial14-amd64 -u

the related file had shrunk back down to a previously normal size:

# ls -lodT
/usr/local/poudriere/jails/official-amd64/var/db/pkg/repos/FreeBSD-ports/db
-rw-r--r--  1 root wheel - 77889536 Jul 31 20:13:16 2026
/usr/local/poudriere/jails/official-amd64/var/db/pkg/repos/FreeBSD-ports/db


So, for now, FreeBSD:15:amd64/latest/ has rwhich support disabled
upstream, avoiding the file size related issues.


> 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

The above files.pkg still exists, which makes possible sense for main
(CURRENT) as a primary development/testing area for functionality before
any stable/* gets such support.

> 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