Re: Update for 14.3 when it is out of date - not pretty

> No, `freebsd-update fetch` fetches and prepares patches for the
> current release, while `freebsd-update upgrade` fetches and prepares
> an upgrade (or downgrade) from your current release to another.  You
> do one or the other, not both, then run `freebsd-update install` to
> apply the result.



Yeah.

That was my understanding.

As I see it, ...

Update goes from, say, FreeBSD 14.3-p4 to 14.3-p5.

While

Upgrade goes from FreeBSD 14.3 to 14.4.

Is that a correct understanding of the difference between "upgrade" and 
"update?"

But as you note in a prior comment on this thread ...
> The exact wording of this message in 14.3 is as follows:
>  Completing this upgrade requires ...


So, yeah, as you also note, the message could have been worded better.


Again, thanks for your reply.





On 5/23/2026 7:14 PM, Dag-Erling Smørgrav wrote:
> Mike <[email protected]> writes:
>> Is that the regular procedure when using freebsd-update?  i.e., ...
>>
>>     freebsd-update fetch
>>     freebsd-update upgrade
>>     freebsd-update install
>>
>> ?
> 
> No, `freebsd-update fetch` fetches and prepares patches for the current
> release, while `freebsd-update upgrade` fetches and prepares an upgrade
> (or downgrade) from your current release to another.  You do one or the
> other, not both, then run `freebsd-update install` to apply the result.
> 
>> The man page for freebsd-update says that "upgrade" is used when
>> upgrading to a new release.  It makes no mention of using "upgrade"
>> when updating a current release.  If I run it when I am doing an
>> update for a current release, will it upgrade me to a new release?
> 
> `freebsd-update upgrade` alone will only print an error message:
> 
>      % sudo freebsd-update upgrade
>      freebsd-update: Release target must be specified via '-r' option.
> 
> nor will it let you “upgrade” to the same release:
> 
>      % sudo freebsd-update upgrade -r 15.0-RELEASE
>      freebsd-update: Cannot upgrade from 15.0-RELEASE to itself
> 
> unless you lie to it about what you are currently running:
> 
>      % freebsd-version
>      15.0-RELEASE-p9
>      % sudo freebsd-update upgrade -r 15.0-RELEASE --currently-running 14.3-RELEASE
>      Looking up update.FreeBSD.org mirrors... 3 mirrors found.
>      Fetching metadata signature for 14.3-RELEASE from update2.freebsd.org... done.
>      Fetching metadata index... done.
>      Fetching 2 metadata patches.. done.
>      Applying metadata patches... done.
>      Fetching 2 metadata files... done.
>      [...]
> 
> so there is no way to accidentally upgrade.
> 
> DES