# "Latest" vs "Quarterly" on pkg.freebsd.org



## Hornpipe2 (Jun 18, 2017)

I thought I'd do some digging on https://pkg.freebsd.org to see why I never got offered any package updates.

For reference, here is my /etc/pkg/FreeBSD.conf.  (I do not have a local copy in /usr/local/etc.)

```
# $FreeBSD: stable/11/etc/pkg/FreeBSD.conf 263937 2014-03-30 15:24:17Z bdrewery $
#
# To disable this repository, instead of modifying or removing this file,
# create a /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/FreeBSD.conf file:
#
#   mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos
#   echo "FreeBSD: { enabled: no }" > /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/FreeBSD.conf
#

FreeBSD: {
  url: "pkg+http://pkg.FreeBSD.org/${ABI}/latest",
  mirror_type: "srv",
  signature_type: "fingerprints",
  fingerprints: "/usr/share/keys/pkg",
  enabled: yes
}
```

Clearly this URL is referring to here:
https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:11:armv6/latest/

But wait... there is another folder under FreeBSD:11:armv6 called "quarterly"... and the modification date on these is *nearly a year later*.

Does this mean that `quarterly` packages are actually more recent than `latest`?  And if so, why is `latest` the default on my installation?


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## Beastie (Jun 18, 2017)

The *LATEST* repository is supposed to be updated once every week or two and the *QUARTERLY* every quarter or so.
It seems the *LATEST* repository hasn't been updated for a year. So yes, in this case *QUARTERLY* is more up to date compared to *LATEST*. This is probably because armv6 is not a Tier 1 platform so it has limited manpower.


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## Hornpipe2 (Jun 19, 2017)

In that case, why doesn't *latest* at least mirror *quarterly*?

EDIT: Here is a post with more info on latest vs quarterly:
A mini-FAQ on pkg

FreeBSD 10 sets the default to "quarterly", but on my RPi image FreeBSD 11 defaults to "latest", which keeps me out of date.  It's the opposite problem of what Tier 1 users face : )


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