Re: Recommended upgrade procedure to avoid drm-kmod panic on 15.1-RELEASE

On 6/17/26 7:08 AM, vermaden wrote:
> As FreeBSD project treats 15.0 and 15.1 the same the solution is to
> use GhostBSD as 'backend' for your FreeBSD desktop because
> GhostBSD ALWAYS builds its packages - including kernel related
> ones against the FreeBSD version they use - no no such problems.
>
> I mean - install default MATE GhostBSD and then setup your
> FreeBSD desktop any way you want with dwm or Openbox or KDE.
>
> You can also use GhostBSD repos on FreeBSD but its risky:
> - https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2025/02/13/ghostbsd-pkg-repository-on-freebsd/
>
> FreeBSD - to not build separate packages for 15.0 and 15.1 and 15.2
> introduced additional 'FreeBSD-ports-kmods' pkg(8)repository - where
> all kernel related (about 60+ of them) packages are rebuilt against
> proper 15.1 or 15.0 version - but if someone forgets to update them
> along with kernel upgrade - sometimes kernel panic as in Your case
> happens.
>
> Hope that helps.
>
> Regards,
> vermaden
Thank you for the quick and informative response.

I was not aware of the FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository. I will read your 
article carefully and start using it.

I strongly hope that /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/kmods.conf will be 
configured by default in future FreeBSD releases. Without documentation 
or default configuration, most desktop users will never know this 
repository exists — and will continue to encounter the same panic I 
experienced.

I write articles in Japanese introducing FreeBSD to general audiences. I 
will share this information as widely as possible, including the 
existence of the FreeBSD-ports-kmods repository and the workaround 
procedure.

Thank you again for your help.

Best regards

Takashi Shimizu