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 8/1/26 09:59, Mark Millard wrote:
> 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:

For reference:

Index of /FreeBSD:15:amd64/latest/

File Name  ↓ 	File Size  ↓ 	Date  ↓
Parent directory/	-	-
Latest/	-	2026-Aug-01 05:22
data.pkg	12699213	2026-Aug-01 03:13
packagesite.pkg	12699325	2026-Aug-01 03:13
meta.conf	168	2026-Jul-20 21:24
meta	168	2026-Jul-20 21:24

> 
> # 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


There now is no published files.pkg listed in :

Index of /FreeBSD:16:amd64/latest/

File Name  ↓ 	File Size  ↓ 	Date  ↓
Parent directory/	-	-
Latest/	-	2026-Aug-02 02:15
packagesite.pkg	12667823	2026-Aug-02 00:53
data.pkg	12668541	2026-Aug-02 00:53
meta.conf	168	2026-Jul-20 23:03
meta	168	2026-Jul-20 23:03


So, now, there is no upstream that has a files.pkg that would lead to
huge /var/db/pkg/repos/FreeBSD-ports/db files being generated by
2.8.[01] of pkg .


> 
> The above files.pkg still exists,

Not any more. Hopefully pkg 2.8.2 will well justify enabling the support
for rwhich information again on the build servers.

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.

No such files now.

>>
>>
> 
> 


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