# Are package versions locked with each FreeBSD Release?



## BrazilUNIXEROfficial (Feb 25, 2020)

For example, in Debian, major package versions are locked with each release.
So for example in, say Debian 10, KDE Plasma will always remain in version 5.14.x for the entire lifecycle of Buster.

Is this also the case with FreeBSD? 

Mind you, I'm not complaining in any way. Just asking to learn how the project works.


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## ralphbsz (Feb 25, 2020)

No, ports and packages are mostly independent of the base OS version.


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## BrazilUNIXEROfficial (Feb 25, 2020)

ralphbsz said:


> No, ports and packages are mostly independent of the base OS version.


Oh, right, then for example, this means that KDE Plasma 5.18, which was released a few weeks ago, will go through testing and will eventually land on 12.1-RELEASE's repositories, right?


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## ralphbsz (Feb 26, 2020)

I have no idea about KDE or Plasma. My point is generic for all packages and ports. They are generated by volunteers. For package X, at some random time the volunteer will decide to update from version X to version Y. At that point, version Y will land on all versions of FreeBSD (12.1, 11.2, whatever) that do an upgrade of their packages/ports, using whatever upgrade mechanism they choose. This has very little to do with whether FreeBSD itself is version 12.1 or any other version.

You say "... and will eventually land on 12.1-RELEASE's repositories". You are not understanding the concept: There is only one repository of packages/ports, and it applies to all FreeBSD versions. If KDE Plasma 5.18 (whatever that might be) is updated in the package/port collection, you can get it, and if you do automatic updates, you will.

Note that I'm deliberately ignoring the distinction between packages and ports here; for the purpose of this discussion, it doesn't matter whether you install a precompiled (binary) package, or compile and install a (source) port.


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## Lamia (Feb 26, 2020)

BrazilUNIXEROfficial said:


> So for example in, say Debian 10, KDE Plasma will always remain in version 5.14.x for the entire lifecycle of Buster.


Any version on Plasma will run as long as all its dependencies can run on your choice version of FreeBSD. Use portdowngrade or portupgrade in freshports to change versions.


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## T-Daemon (Feb 26, 2020)

BrazilUNIXEROfficial said:


> ... then for example, this means that KDE* Plasma 5.18*, which was released a few weeks ago, will go through testing and will eventually land on 12.1-RELEASE's repositories ...


Concerning plasma 5.18, it's already in the "latest" package repository. https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:12:amd64/latest/All/ plasma5-plasma-5.18.1.txz

If you are interested in tracking the latest available version of you favorite applications (ports), you can create a watch list or lists at https://freshports.org. From FAQ:

```
What is this website about?

This website will help you keep up with the latest releases of your favorite software.
When a new version of the software is available, FreshPorts will send you an email telling
you about the change.
```


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## Beastie (Feb 26, 2020)

BrazilUNIXEROfficial said:


> this means that KDE Plasma 5.18, which was released a few weeks ago, will go through testing and will eventually land on 12.1-RELEASE's repositories, right?


The FreeBSD project has a single ports tree for all third-party applications and it's _mostly_ version-independent. If everything goes as planned, packages for the entire tree (minus ports with licensing restrictions) are regularly built for Tier-1/2 architectures (more or less), for all currently-supported FreeBSD versions (more or less).


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