freebsd-update: to a specific patch level - help please? [PATCH]

[Derek (freebsd lists)]

On 18-03-21 05:24 PM, Rainer Duffner wrote:
>> Am 21.03.2018 um 22:12 schrieb Derek (freebsd lists) <482254ac at razorfever.net>:
>>
>> Hi!
>>
>> I was surprised when using freebsd-update, that there was no way to specify a patch level.
> 
> AFAIK, the usual answer to these kinds of requests is: „Run your own freebsd-update server“.
> 
> Mirroring one of the existing ones is AFAIK neither guaranteed to work nor desired by the current „administration“.
> 

Thanks for your thoughts.

To be clear, *I've included a link to a patch to freebsd-update 
in my initial post, and the help I'm looking for: is to get this 
functionality added as a feature so others can benefit.*  It 
works for me already, and I've already benefited.

(I'm happy to flesh it out, and document it properly, but I'm 
very hesitant to spend the time doing it in detail and submitting 
a PR if I'm doing this in isolation, and nobody wants it. 
Perhaps the silence on the thread is already a good indicator of 
the appetite, although I fear it's my ability to sell it or 
myself properly.)

Structurally, "run your own freebsd-update server" is a wasteful 
solution for a single (or much larger set of) default install(s). 
  It makes a lot of sense for custom installations.  For what 
should be the default approach: repeatable - version controlled - 
installations with the support of the FreeBSD project, it would 
seem that having freebsd-update support patch levels would be a 
far more efficient net use of people's time than the alternatives.

(I was debating both running an update server, or running 
"behind" a hacked up mirror as well, and in fact, I feel patching 
freebsd-update was a great investment, for n=1.)

> It’s also a somewhat transient problem now because - AFAIK - FreeBSD will see packaged base and you can probably mirror those packages and snapshot the directory at any point in time.
> And/Or it’s just easier to create these base-packages yourselves vs. running your own freebsd-update server.
> 

This is a good point, and perhaps why it's not worth putting more 
time into this.

I appreciate your feedback.

Thanks!
Derek