Handbook update section for custom kernel

[Lowell Gilbert]

Marko Turk <markoml at markoturk.info> writes:

Marko Turk <markoml at markoturk.info> writes:

> On Wed, Nov 19, 2014 at 07:42:30PM +0100, Marko Turk wrote:
>> Hi,
>> 
>> in handbook, section 24.2.3.1. Custom Kernels with FreeBSD 9.X and Later
>> says:
>> "Before using freebsd-update, ensure that a copy of the GENERIC kernel
>> exists in /boot/GENERIC. If a custom kernel has only been built once,
>> the kernel in /boot/kernel.old is the GENERIC kernel. Simply rename this
>> directory to /boot/kernel."
>> 
>> Should the last sentence be
>> "Simply rename this directory to /boot/GENERIC."
>> 
>> or am I missing something?
>
> Update:
> I tried again and freebsd-update always updates my custom kernl in /boot/kernel/
> although I copied generic kernel to /boot/GENERIC/.

Those things have nothing to do with each other.

> This happens both when applying security patches (e.g. 10.0 to 10.0-p12)
> and when I upgrade from 10.0-RELEASE to 10.1-RELASE.
>
> Is this a problem with freebsd-update?

By default, freebsd-update installs a new GENERIC kernel to match
the userland. If you don't want it to do this, you configure it not
to [by leaving out the "kernel" part of the "Components" in
freebsd-update.conf(5)]. In most cases, many would consider it safer
to let freebsd-update give you a new GENERIC kernel and only update
to a customized kernel later, after you know the upgrade is working
properly. If your system won't be able to boot and build more
kernels under a GENERIC kernel, that would be different, but that
situation has become exceedingly rare in recent years.