/usr/sbin/freebsd-update: cannot open files/.gz: No such file or directory

[Joe Malcolm]

I have a VM that has gotten into a strange state.

> root at cal:~ # freebsd-update -r 11.1-RELEASE upgrade 
> src component not installed, skipped
> Looking up update.FreeBSD.org mirrors... 3 mirrors found.
> Fetching metadata signature for 11.0-RELEASE from update5.freebsd.org... done.
> Fetching metadata index... done.
> Inspecting system... done.
> 
> The following components of FreeBSD seem to be installed:
> kernel/generic world/base world/lib32
> 
> The following components of FreeBSD do not seem to be installed:
> kernel/generic-dbg world/base-dbg world/doc world/lib32-dbg
> 
> 
> Fetching metadata signature for 11.1-RELEASE from update5.freebsd.org... done.
> Fetching metadata index... done.
> Fetching 1 metadata patches. done.
> Applying metadata patches... done.
> Fetching 1 metadata files... done.
> Inspecting system... done.
> Fetching files from 11.0-RELEASE for merging... done.
> Preparing to download files... done.
> Attempting to automatically merge changes in files... done.
> 
> […]
> /usr/sbin/freebsd-update: cannot open files/.gz: No such file or directory
> Attempting to automatically merge changes in files... done.
> 
> The following file will be removed, as it no longer exists in
> FreeBSD 11.1-RELEASE: /boot/device.hints
> Does this look reasonable (y/n)? n

What is a safe way to reset the state of freebsd-update?

Joe