Hmm, `freebsd-update upgrade -r 15.1-RELEASE` failed to recover from lost files in /var. :-(

"freebsd-update: Cannot upgrade from 15.1-RELEASE to itself"

Unfortunately it is pretty clear only a portion of the update got done. :-(

Are "Distribution Sets" being deprecated?

I see the sense in doing so, but nothing has explicitly stated such.

geometry: generally, though i wouldn't be surprised to see a tool pop up to quickly assemble distset lookalikes from a pkgbase repo

Would make some sense, but right now I'm getting a feeling of being pushed towards packages which hints at someone hoping for deprecation.

right, at some point they don't make as much sense to promote as a first-class citizen because their use is inherently not compatible with pkgbase

freeebsd-update will not be a thing in its current form in 16, so you'll just have the one option for updating provided by the project, at least

heyy, there's a broken link on freebsd documentation: man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=sysinstall&sektion=8&format=html

linked from here: docs.freebsd.org/en/articles/remote-install

ahhhh, worms!!

(sysinstall was removed from base 15 years ago)

Was that /stand/sysinstall?

really? no more freebsd-update? :(

i know fbsd was sort of leaning that way but that's kind of depressing

yes, pkgbase makes much more sense for the kind of job that freebsd-update grew into, especially in 2026

My nobody take: change is constant, innovation requires change, and FreeBSD do a good job at keeping a system that feels familiar over many decades.

Handy if lots of people rebuild only kernel/basic userspace shell utils OR add-on extra complicated software; yet worse if most people do both or neither (also worse for reducing redundancy).

Essentially all Linux distributions have been using a single tool for everything since the mid-1990s so FreeBSD seems almost behind here.

Linux has no stability though. I mean, the kernel does. But userland is constantly reinventing itself. It's very hard to stay 'current' on Linux.