The
tool is used to fetch, install, and rollback binary
updates to the FreeBSD base system.
Note that updates are only available if they are being built for the
FreeBSD release and architecture being used; in particular, the
Fx Security Team only builds updates for releases shipped in binary form
by the
Fx Release Engineering Team, e.g.,
Fx 6.1-RELEASE and
Fx 6.2-RC1, but not
Fx 6.2-STABLE or
Fx 7.0-CURRENT.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported
-b basedir
Operate on a system mounted at
basedir
(default:
/
or as given in the configuration file.)
-d workdir
Store working files in
workdir
(default:
/var/db/freebsd-update/
or as given in the configuration file.)
-f conffile
Read configuration options from
conffile
(default:
/etc/freebsd-update.conf
-k KEY
Trust an RSA key with SHA256 of
KEY
(default: read value from configuration file.)
-r newrelease
Specify the new release to which
should upgrade (upgrade command only).
-s server
Fetch files from the specified server or server pool.
(default: read value from configuration file.)
-t address
Mail output of
cron
command, if any, to
address
(default: root, or as given in the configuration file.)
COMMANDS
The
command
can be any one of the following:
fetch
Based on the currently installed world and the configuration
options set, fetch all available binary updates.
cron
Sleep a random amount of time between 1 and 3600 seconds,
then download updates as if the
fetch
command was used.
If updates are downloaded, an email will be sent
(to root or a different address if specified via the
-t
option or in the configuration file).
As the name suggests, this command is designed for running
from
cron(8);
the random delay serves to minimize the probability that
a large number of machines will simultaneously attempt to
fetch updates.
upgrade
Fetch files necessary for upgrading to a new release.
Before using this command, make sure that you read the
announcement and release notes for the new release in
case there are any special steps needed for upgrading.
install
Install the most recently fetched updates or upgrade.
rollback
Uninstall the most recently installed updates.
IDS
Compare the system against a "known good" index of the
installed release.
TIPS
If your clock is set to local time, adding the line
0 3 * * * root /usr/sbin/freebsd-update cron
to /etc/crontab will check for updates every night.
If your clock is set to UTC, please pick a random time
other than 3AM, to avoid overly imposing an uneven load
on the server(s) hosting the updates.
In spite of its name,
IDS should not be relied upon as an "Intrusion Detection
System", since it if the system has been tampered with
it cannot be trusted to operate correctly.
If you intend to use this command for intrusion-detection
purposes, make sure you boot from a secure disk (e.g., a CD).
FILES
/etc/freebsd-update.conf
Default location of the
configuration file.
/var/db/freebsd-update/
Default location where
stores temporary files and downloaded updates.
