# Problem with freebsd-update and 9.3-RELEASE



## pjk (Dec 28, 2014)

Updating a 9.3-RELEASE install with freebsd-update to p2 was fine. Today when I tried to install the latest patch revision (apparently p7) I got an error message and after installing the updates the system claims it is on p5 (using `uname -a`).

The only thing out of ordinary that I can see is at the end of the fetch stage, I see this:

```
The following files will be added as part of updating to 9.3-RELEASE-p7:
/usr/src/contrib/tzdata/zone1970.tab
```
During the install stage, I see this:

```
Installing updates... install: ///usr/src/contrib/tzdata/zone1970.tab: No such file or directory
```
I've tried running freebsd-update 3 times now and I keep seeing the same issue. I don't really care about the timezone thing because it doesn't affect me, but I really need to install the latest patches, e.g. the recent ntp security fix.


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## protocelt (Dec 28, 2014)

Please see Thread 48632 for a couple different methods to fix this issue.


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## pjk (Dec 28, 2014)

protocelt said:


> Please see Thread 48632 for a couple different alternative fixes for this issue.




Thanks so much for the lightning-quick response to my question. Created /usr/src/contrib/tzdata/ and the error on install went away.

However I also have the same issue that poster mentioned in the other thread: `uname -a` still displays 9.3-RELEASE-p5 instead of p7.

The `freebsd-version` command referenced there doesn't appear to exist on 9.3, and I cannot find any other method of checking the system patch level.


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## protocelt (Dec 28, 2014)

I don't know of any way to check the actual patch level if the kernel hasn't been updated, which it has not in your case. If freebsd-update(8) informed you it was going to install 9.3-RELEASE -p7 and succeeded, you can be safe in the assumption that you are fully patched and up to date on security fixes regardless of the output of uname(1). I believe this was exactly the reason the freebsd-version(1) utility was created, but unfortunately is not available on your installed version of FreeBSD or versions below 10-RELEASE according to the man page.


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## pvoigt (Jan 6, 2015)

Some time ago I have read about a way to find out the current patch level of your system: `grep BRANCH=\" /usr/src/sys/conf/newvers.sh`. This works independently of freebsd-version.

Regards,
Peter


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## SirDice (Jan 6, 2015)

pvoigt said:


> Some time ago I have read about a way to find out the current patch level of your system: `grep BRANCH=\" /usr/src/sys/conf/newvers.sh`. This works independently of freebsd-version.


Unfortunately this only shows the version of the source. Not what's actually installed, they don't necessarily have to be in sync although they usually are.


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## tingo (Jan 8, 2015)

Also there is a difference between "BRANCH" and "patch level". Both can be useful, but they are different.


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## pvoigt (Jan 8, 2015)

tingo said:


> Also there is a difference between "BRANCH" and "patch level". Both can be useful, but they are different.


I agree with you, but I have thought it's obvious that `grep BRANCH=\" /usr/src/sys/conf/newvers.sh` provides the patch level of the current branch with respect to SirDice's addition.

Or did I not fully understand your remark?

Regards,
Peter


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## tingo (Jan 9, 2015)

Example:

```
root@kg-core1# egrep "^BRANCH|^REVISION" /usr/src/sys/conf/newvers.sh
REVISION="9.3"
BRANCH="STABLE"
```
no patch level there, not even a date to tell how old the source might be.


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## kpa (Jan 9, 2015)

tingo said:


> Example:
> 
> ```
> root@kg-core1# egrep "^BRANCH|^REVISION" /usr/src/sys/conf/newvers.sh
> ...



The patch level applies only to release versions. With CURRENT and STABLE versions you have to use svn(lite) on the sources to figure out the date and revision of the them.


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