I was operating under the assumption that -F would actually force the fetch operation to do something... it just notes that there isn't anything to update, even though I'm one rev off of the latest version of 10.3-RELEASE. $ sudo freebsd-update fetch -F Looking up update.FreeBSD.org mirrors... 4 mirrors found. Fetching metadata signature for 10.3-RELEASE from update4.freebsd.org... done. Fetching metadata index... done. Inspecting system... done. Preparing to download files... done. No updates needed to update system to 10.3-RELEASE-p12. $ what -q /boot/kernel/kernel FreeBSD 10.3-RELEASE-p11 #0: Mon Oct 24 18:49:24 UTC 2016 $ uname -a FreeBSD picasso.local 10.3-RELEASE-p11 FreeBSD 10.3-RELEASE-p11 #0: Mon Oct 24 18:49:24 UTC 2016 root@amd64-builder.daemonology.net:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC amd64 $ freebsd-update usage: freebsd-update [options] command ... [path] Options: -b basedir -- Operate on a system mounted at basedir (default: /) -d workdir -- Store working files in workdir (default: /var/db/freebsd-update/) -f conffile -- Read configuration options from conffile (default: /etc/freebsd-update.conf) -F -- Force a fetch operation to proceed -k KEY -- Trust an RSA key with SHA256 hash of KEY -r release -- Target for upgrade (e.g., 6.2-RELEASE) -s server -- Server from which to fetch updates (default: update.FreeBSD.org) -t address -- Mail output of cron command, if any, to address (default: root) --not-running-from-cron -- Run without a tty, for use by automated tools --currently-running release -- Update as if currently running this release Commands: fetch -- Fetch updates from server cron -- Sleep rand(3600) seconds, fetch updates, and send an email if updates were found upgrade -- Fetch upgrades to FreeBSD version specified via -r option install -- Install downloaded updates or upgrades rollback -- Uninstall most recently installed updates IDS -- Compare the system against an index of "known good" files. $ svn info freebsd-update.sh Path: freebsd-update.sh Name: freebsd-update.sh Working Copy Root Path: /usr/src URL: https://svn.freebsd.org/base/releng/10.3/usr.sbin/freebsd-update/freebsd-update.sh Relative URL: ^/releng/10.3/usr.sbin/freebsd-update/freebsd-update.sh Repository Root: https://svn.freebsd.org/base Repository UUID: ccf9f872-aa2e-dd11-9fc8-001c23d0bc1f Revision: 308389 Node Kind: file Schedule: normal Last Changed Author: delphij Last Changed Rev: 303304 Last Changed Date: 2016-07-25 08:04:17 -0700 (Mon, 25 Jul 2016) Text Last Updated: 2016-07-31 13:38:57 -0700 (Sun, 31 Jul 2016) Checksum: 2fe5a12eb864e11e4be5c247b317e9772fb784f9 $
Added in r279571, perhaps it just needs more documentation? -F just disables a new check added in that rev: # Check that we have updates ready to install if [ -f ${BDHASH}-install/kerneldone && $FORCEFETCH -eq 0 ]; then echo "You have a partially completed upgrade pending" echo "Run '$0 install' first." echo "Run '$0 fetch -F' to proceed anyway." exit 1 fi
A commit references this bug: Author: emaste Date: Tue Feb 19 17:38:25 UTC 2019 New revision: 344280 URL: https://svnweb.freebsd.org/changeset/base/344280 Log: freebsd-update: Clarify help text Improve help text to include example release numbers for reference and clarify the -F option. PR: 231185, 214619 Submitted by: Gerald Aryeetey <aryeeteygerald_rogers.com> Reviewed by: delphij, rgrimes MFC after: 1 month Sponsored by: The FreeBSD Foundation Differential Revision: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D18944 Changes: head/usr.sbin/freebsd-update/freebsd-update.8 head/usr.sbin/freebsd-update/freebsd-update.sh
A commit references this bug: Author: emaste Date: Tue Apr 2 13:57:53 UTC 2019 New revision: 345801 URL: https://svnweb.freebsd.org/changeset/base/345801 Log: MFC r344280: freebsd-update: Clarify help text Improve help text to include example release numbers for reference and clarify the -F option. PR: 231185, 214619 Submitted by: Gerald Aryeetey <aryeeteygerald_rogers.com> Reviewed by: delphij, rgrimes Sponsored by: The FreeBSD Foundation Changes: _U stable/12/ stable/12/usr.sbin/freebsd-update/freebsd-update.8 stable/12/usr.sbin/freebsd-update/freebsd-update.sh
A commit references this bug: Author: emaste Date: Tue Apr 2 13:58:32 UTC 2019 New revision: 345802 URL: https://svnweb.freebsd.org/changeset/base/345802 Log: MFC r344280: freebsd-update: Clarify help text Improve help text to include example release numbers for reference and clarify the -F option. PR: 231185, 214619 Submitted by: Gerald Aryeetey <aryeeteygerald_rogers.com> Reviewed by: delphij, rgrimes Sponsored by: The FreeBSD Foundation Changes: _U stable/11/ stable/11/usr.sbin/freebsd-update/freebsd-update.8 stable/11/usr.sbin/freebsd-update/freebsd-update.sh