# Pkg bootstrap



## ronaldlees (Nov 5, 2015)

Is there any reason that the pkg binary bootstrap has to be upgraded so often?  On a new installation, I prefer to copy the pkg source files from archive to distfiles, build pkg, and then install my binary packages from my own archive (all built from source at one point or another).  I have old pkg source for this (1.2.x), and it works great. 

But, it seems that when I install "pkg" as a binary download at installation time, I often have problems with it (I think it's usually SQL related).  It seems that every time I pull down another pkg bootstrap, it's been incremented again (1.5.x now).  What are they changing?


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## SirDice (Nov 5, 2015)

The tool is still very new and is constantly updated to add new features and fix bugs. You can follow (and help) its development on Github: https://github.com/freebsd/pkg

If you have your own repository pkg(8) can be bootstrapped from there. There's no need to "bootstrap" it by hand with an old version.


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## ronaldlees (Nov 6, 2015)

SirDice said:


> The tool is still very new and is constantly updated to add new features and fix bugs. You can follow (and help) its development on Github: https://github.com/freebsd/pkg
> 
> If you have your own repository pkg(8) can be bootstrapped from there. There's no need to "bootstrap" it by hand with an old version.



SirDice: thanks for the information.  I'm using the old source build of pkg because I've had no problems at all with it, at least within my narrow range of usage.  Of course I should be submitting bug reports on the pkg bootstrap failures, and  that is a _shame on me_.  Still - I'd think we'd want to be as careful about the package bootstrap as say - the kernel - because a user's experience (especially a first-time user's experience) is really tanked when they cannot install applications easily, or are forced to build from source (although my preferred way - not everybody's).


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## SirDice (Nov 6, 2015)

As you already have your own archive why don't you set up ports-mgmt/poudriere? If you then configure pkg(8) to use your own repository you don't have to bootstrap anything by hand. The only thing you'd have to do on a new install is to add your own repository.


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## wblock@ (Nov 6, 2015)

Just install or upgrade ports-mgmt/pkg and forget about it.  Using an old version of `pkg` is going to cause problems and might be the cause of the problems you are seeing.


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