Description from YouTube:

In this video we will take a FreeBSD system and prepare, setup and configure FreeBSD jails (thin and thick) by using the Bastille jails automation framework.

Hi,

This is a video from Linux Renaissance that shows how to change the traditional logo of a Thinkpad to something more personal.

The author follows the instructions of a post from Justine Smithies blog.

There is also an older video on this subject from iBSD.

Enjoy 🙂

Description from YouTube:

This is Part 1 of a comprehensive A-to-Z series on setting up #FreeBSD 14.2 on my #ThinkPad X61. In this video, we focus on the base installation, laying the foundation for the full setup. Future videos will cover configuring the desktop environment or window manager, switching to bash, installing drivers, and more.

Description from YouTube:

In this video we will take you to the process of upgrading the FreeBSD bootloader after a release upgrade, ensuring system compatibility and preventing boot issues.
This step-by-step guide covers BIOS and UEFI based systems.

14.2-RELEASE now includes OCI-compatible images, and the Podman toolkit on FreeBSD is ready to use them, on both amd64 and arm64 systems.

Description from YouTube:

In this video to process to upgrade FreeBSD from one minor release to another is demonstrated, including essential background information, commands and tips.

Nice way to learn things about vidcontrol, nicely explained BTW.
Thanks @TECHMIMIC

Interesting video, I didn't even know that it was possible to change the menu logo to a random picture, not essential but funny.
Thanks @TECHMIMIC

14.1-RELEASE to 14.2-RELEASE

Essential reading:

• installation information at https://www.freebsd.org/releases/14.2R/

– you can create a configuration file for a Project-provided FreeBSD-kmods repo before beginning to follow the steps at https://www.freebsd.org/releases/14.2R/installation/#upgrade-binary.

1. mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos ; cd /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos
2. cp /etc/pkg/FreeBSD.conf ./FreeBSD-kmods.conf
3. ee ./FreeBSD-kmods.conf
4. change the repository name from FreeBSD to FreeBSD-kmods
5. change quarterly to kmods_quarterly_2
6. escape, save
7. cd
8. follow official installation information up to, and including, the second run of freebsd-update install
9. pkg upgrade --repository FreeBSD-kmods
10. ignore the mismatch (y)
11. if any upgraded kernel module is offered, proceed (y)
12. continue with official installation information – the first restart of the operating system, and so on
13. finally, re-edit /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/FreeBSD-kmods.conf – change kmods_quarterly_2 to kmods_quarterly_${VERSION_MINOR}

Notes:

• the Project's official call for testing (CFT) will lead to simplicity – please see https://old.reddit.com/r/freebsd/comments/1hd2h51/freebsd_projectprovided_repositories_for_kernel/m1ukuno/
• the less simple steps, above, are an interim approach to avoiding the DRM graphics issue that was noted for 14.2-RELEASE before the release announcement – https://www.freebsd.org/releases/14.2R/errata/#open-issues
• the steps assume use of the traditional quarterly repo for packages of ports.

https://wiki.freebsd.org/Ports/QuarterlyBranch should help to understand the difference between quarterly and latest

• and beware of confusion with base_latest, which relates to pkgbase (base, separate from ports).

YouTuber GaryHTech try to make a FreeBSD custom ISO by using release(7).
As usual with Gary the content is bare minimal but IMO this can be actually useful to know, and who knows may be a part 3 will follow.

Part 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3Ev4YDJrWY

Part 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM3UPQOGaZo

As usual thanks to the author.

Nice and quick video about the pkg command, explanations are good and easy to follow.
This video is apparently the first one of a hopefully long series, fingers crossed, thanks to the author.

In the manual page, what's meant by "the static environment"?

% kenv | wc -l
     266
% kenv -l
kenv: requested environment is unavailable
% kenv -s
kenv: requested environment is unavailable
% 

Hello everyone, I'm a first-semester CS student from Germany, currently switching from Fedora to FreeBSD on my desktop. I still run Fedora on my laptop. I work part-time at our university's data center, helping with the maintenance of an OpenStack private cloud because I am truly eager to learn how to operate systems.

I plan to repurpose my desktop as a server to host some services locally in my student dormitory. I'm excited about FreeBSD and hope that learning it will help me run and administer services with minimal effort long-term. It would be great to manage my own infrastructure while being confident that updates won't break my system or require relearning everything. I have several questions:

What are the recommended patterns for hosting multiple services on a single server like bsd.cafe does ? Should I create a new user for each service (e.g., Lemmy, Forgejo), or should I run them all under the same user with multiple jails?

Is there a good identity management solution for FreeBSD? In the Fedora/Red Hat communities, people tend to use FreeIPA, but I haven't found an equivalent for FreeBSD yet. I'd like to provide my friends with single accounts that would give them access to services like Forgejo and Lemmy.

Looking forward to your suggestions!

I actually never saw that video before, I've learned things.
Thanks to the guy who made this.

I saw once libxo in a script but didn't really pay attention to it, but it looks like a cool feature.
Nicely explained in this video thanks to this guy, and well done FreeBSD devs.

Related: Write to a USB drive from the URL of a compressed disc image.

The example below assumes that your USB drive is at /dev/da0.

Run commands as the superuser.

1. mkdir /media/aninstaller
2. mount_cd9660 /dev/da0 /media/aninstaller
3. mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos
4. ee /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/aninstaller.conf
5. pkg bootstrap --yes -r aninstaller
6. pkg update --repository aninstaller
7. pkg rquery -r aninstaller "%o%n" | sort | less

You'll get a list of available packages. Key q to quit the pager.

Then use pkg as you normally would, but limited to the aninstaller repo. For example:

• pkg install -r aninstaller firefox

Content for the aninstaller.conf file:

aninstaller: {
  url: "file:///media/aninstaller/packages/FreeBSD:14:amd64",
  REPO_AUTOUPDATE: "false",
  mirror_type: "none",
  enabled: yes
}

Important: switch from yes, to no, after temporarily using the USB drive as a source for the repo.

Some manual pages:

• ee(1)
• less(1)
• mount_cd9660(8)

Use the output from the third command to determine which number – not 99 – must be set in the fourth command.

1. tcsh
2. su -
3. geom disk list
4. setenv dadevicenumber 99
5. setenv remotesumfile https://download.freebsd.org/releases/ISO-IMAGES/14.1/CHECKSUM.SHA512-FreeBSD-14.1-RELEASE-amd64
6. setenv localsumfile ./CHECKSUM.SHA512-FreeBSD-14.1-RELEASE-amd64
7. setenv remoteimage https://download.freebsd.org/releases/ISO-IMAGES/14.1/FreeBSD-14.1-RELEASE-amd64-dvd1.iso.xz
8. setenv localimage ./FreeBSD-14.1-RELEASE-amd64-dvd1.iso.xz
9. cd /tmp && fetch $remotesumfile && fetch -v $remoteimage -o $localimage && setenv image512 `openssl sha512 $localimage | cut -w -f2` ; grep $image512 $localsumfile && xzcat $localimage | dd bs=1m status=progress of=/dev/da$dadevicenumber
10. exit
11. exit

Hint:

• triple-click to select a paragraph.

The example above uses the ⋯dvd1.iso.xz file (compressed DVD image) for FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE on AMD64, which:

• does not require a DVD
• includes packages for popular software such as KDE Plasma, SDDM, and Mozilla Firefox.

More images at https://download.freebsd.org/, although please note that README.TXT files are outdated.

Manual pages:

• cut(1)
• dd(1)
• fetch(1)
• openssl(1)
• xz(1)

Note:

% strings /usr/bin/xzcat | grep terminal
Compressed data cannot be written to a terminal
Compressed data cannot be read from a terminal
% 

https://github.com/yang991178/fluent-reader#build-from-source suggests npm run electron, which does not work, so I tried:

electron28 ./dist/electron.js

% pkg iinfo electron
electron28-28.3.3
% npm run electron

> fluent-reader@1.1.4 electron
> electron ./dist/electron.js

/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/node_modules/electron/index.js:17
    throw new Error('Electron failed to install correctly, please delete node_modules/electron and try installing again');
    ^

Error: Electron failed to install correctly, please delete node_modules/electron and try installing again
    at getElectronPath (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/node_modules/electron/index.js:17:11)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/node_modules/electron/index.js:21:18)
    at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1358:14)
    at Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1416:10)
    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1208:32)
    at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1024:12)
    at Module.require (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1233:19)
    at require (node:internal/modules/helpers:179:18)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/node_modules/electron/cli.js:3:18)
    at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1358:14)

Node.js v20.14.0
% electron28 ./dist/electron.js
[77731:0630/191651.898667:ERROR:nss_util.cc(357)] After loading Root Certs, loaded==false: NSS error code: -8018
App threw an error during load
Error: Error: font-list can not run on freebsd.
    at 4538 (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:129827)
    at t (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:189853)
    at 5807 (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:158974)
    at t (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:189853)
    at 9465 (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:163890)
    at t (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:189853)
    at 3571 (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:153054)
    at t (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:189853)
    at /usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:189963
    at Object.<anonymous> (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:189972)
A JavaScript error occurred in the main process
Uncaught Exception:
Error: Error: font-list can not run on freebsd.
    at 4538 (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:129827)
    at t (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:189853)
    at 5807 (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:158974)
    at t (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:189853)
    at 9465 (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:163890)
    at t (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:189853)
    at 3571 (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:153054)
    at t (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:189853)
    at /usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:189963
    at Object.<anonymous> (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/dist/electron.js:2:189972)
Gtk-Message: 19:16:52.450: Failed to load module "appmenu-gtk-module"
load: 3.01  cmd: electron 77733 [uwait] 144.52r 0.08u 0.02s 0% 122628k

As far I can tell, the Gtk-Message is negligible.

Can anyone tell/guess why a window does not appear?

https://github.com/yang991178/fluent-reader?tab=readme-ov-file#build-from-source

Below, am I doing something wrong? I'm not familiar with npm.

% npm install 
npm warn deprecated electron-osx-sign@0.6.0: Please use @electron/osx-sign moving forward. Be aware the API is slightly different
npm error code 1
npm error path /usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/node_modules/electron
npm error command failed
npm error command sh -c node install.js
npm error HTTPError: Response code 404 (Not Found)
npm error     at Request._onResponseBase (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/node_modules/got/dist/source/core/index.js:913:31)
npm error     at Request._onResponse (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/node_modules/got/dist/source/core/index.js:948:24)
npm error     at ClientRequest.<anonymous> (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/node_modules/got/dist/source/core/index.js:962:23)
npm error     at Object.onceWrapper (node:events:634:26)
npm error     at ClientRequest.emit (node:events:531:35)
npm error     at origin.emit (/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader/node_modules/@szmarczak/http-timer/dist/source/index.js:43:20)
npm error     at HTTPParser.parserOnIncomingClient (node:_http_client:698:27)
npm error     at HTTPParser.parserOnHeadersComplete (node:_http_common:119:17)
npm error     at TLSSocket.socketOnData (node:_http_client:540:22)
npm error     at TLSSocket.emit (node:events:519:28)
npm error A complete log of this run can be found in: /home/grahamperrin/.npm/_logs/2024-06-30T14_07_35_330Z-debug-0.log
% less /home/grahamperrin/.npm/_logs/2024-06-30T14_07_35_330Z-debug-0.log
% pwd
/usr/home/grahamperrin/dev/fluent-reader
% ls -hln
total 1
drwxr-xr-x  4 1002 1002   11B 30 Jun 15:07 build
drwxr-xr-x  5 1002 1002   10B 30 Jun 15:07 dist
drwxr-xr-x  3 1002 1002    5B 30 Jun 15:07 docs
-rw-r--r--  1 1002 1002  909B 30 Jun 15:07 electron-builder-mas.yml
-rw-r--r--  1 1002 1002  1.3K 30 Jun 15:07 electron-builder.yml
-rw-r--r--  1 1002 1002  1.5K 30 Jun 15:07 LICENSE
-rw-r--r--  1 1002 1002  456K 30 Jun 15:07 package-lock.json
-rw-r--r--  1 1002 1002  1.8K 30 Jun 15:07 package.json
-rw-r--r--  1 1002 1002  3.5K 30 Jun 15:07 README.md
drwxr-xr-x  7 1002 1002   12B 30 Jun 15:07 src
-rw-r--r--  1 1002 1002  173B 30 Jun 15:07 tsconfig.json
-rw-r--r--  1 1002 1002  2.1K 30 Jun 15:07 webpack.config.js
% 

From what's in the debug log – 1,440 lines (available on request) – I don't know where to start.

Hi BSD community,

Just for fun I would like to give forgejo a go, after looking at this post I noticed that it is available in ports so I wonder if someone has a link or a guide that shows how to configure it on FreeBSD or should I just follow a gitea guide because forgejo looks like it?

It will remain only on the LAN without being reachable from the internet, does the "not https" aka "personal certificate" will be a problem?

Thank you.