# Binary Updates



## Majorix (Jul 3, 2013)

I have been away from FreeBSD for a while now. The main reason for my absence was that I wanted to stay on the edge and therefore picked -STABLE. I had to compile most of the software and it was tedious to do so on a first gen notebook.

Now I am thinking about coming back, tracking only -RELEASE if I must, and am looking into a solution that would let me work with binary packages only.

Updating the base is really easy with freebsd-update. But I am unsure about packages. I have googled a bit and could only find old threads. I believe pkgng is getting more and more widely used nowadays, and wanted to know if I could use it. Or if there is another tool that would let me upgrade ALL packages to new releases using BINARY ONLY.

Thanks for the help!


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## wblock@ (Jul 3, 2013)

You may have been away over a misunderstanding.  The latest packages work on -STABLE.  Old-style packages are available again, and I think pkgng packages are due soon.


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## Majorix (Jul 3, 2013)

I checked the pkgng packages and they seemed incomplete and out-of-date at the same time. I tend to think it will take A LOT more time for it to be usable.

Other than that, how can I use packages on -STABLE? I mean which tool would not ask me to compile this port and that and just work with binary?


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## kpa (Jul 3, 2013)

The instructions from the handbook apply to both -STABLE and -RELEASE:

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/packages-using.html


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## Majorix (Jul 4, 2013)

If I am not mistaken the wiki page doesn't talk about updates though, only about installing and removing.


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## wblock@ (Jul 4, 2013)

Both ports-mgmt/portmaster and ports-mgmt/portupgrade can use binary packages for upgrades.


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## kpa (Jul 4, 2013)

Then there's sysutils/bsdadminscripts with pkg_upgrade(1). It's only for the old style packages, PKGNG packages are installed and updated with the PKGNG tools.


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## SirDice (Jul 4, 2013)

Majorix said:
			
		

> If I am not mistaken the wiki page doesn't talk about updates though, only about installing and removing.



Updating involves removing the old and installing the new version


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