release: Improve error handling and option logic
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Authored by ivy on Jan 6 2026, 1:46 AM.

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releng

Summary

Based on the user-provided options, define three internal variables,
_USE_PKG, _USE_PKGBASE and _USE_PORTS, to avoid having to repeat the
hard-to-read "!defined(X) || empty(X)" conditional in many places.

Add some early errors for things we know don't work, like using pkg
on non-FreeBSD platforms.

Stop ignoring errors when installing packages onto the media; if this
fails and the user is okay with that, they should set NOPKG to avoid
trying it in the first place. This avoids silently building media
which is missing expected components.

Diff Detail

Repository

rG FreeBSD src repository

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Build Status

Buildable 73274
Build 70157: arc lint + arc unit

Event Timeline

ivy created this revision.Jan 6 2026, 1:46 AM

Herald added subscribers: jrtc27, imp. · View Herald TranscriptJan 6 2026, 1:46 AM

ivy requested review of this revision.Jan 6 2026, 1:46 AM

Harbormaster completed remote builds in B69643: Diff 169146.Jan 6 2026, 1:46 AM

ivy added a parent revision: D54546: release: Keep the pkg build in OBJDIR.Jan 6 2026, 1:46 AM

ivy added a child revision: D54282: packages: Always install kernel as /boot/kernel.NAME.Jan 6 2026, 11:09 PM

This seems like a good idea to me; will take a detailed look soon. Patch needs to be rebased.

In D54548#1286203, @emaste wrote:

This seems like a good idea to me; will take a detailed look soon. Patch needs to be rebased.

this entire stack is stalled until we can get some consensus on D54282. i'm working on other pkgbase things in the mean time.

rebase

Harbormaster completed remote builds in B72923: Diff 177445.May 8 2026, 9:29 AM

emaste added inline comments.May 8 2026, 3:25 PM

release/Makefile
103–104	probably worth being explicit about `_USE_PKG` referring to pkg(8), since it seems `_USE_PKG` and `NOPKG` ought to be related.
224	I think it was originally intentional to have only the dependencies in the conditional, but I guess this will be clearer for when distset support is eventually removed.
272–276	Maybe a # # Base system packages # comment to mirror `Legacy distribution tarballs` above?
384	This is not necessarily true is it? Can the user set both `NODISTSETS` and `NOPKGBASE` (to produce a mostly useless installer)? Or, is this just intended to explain why we're copying the MANIFEST even if building pkgbase installer? The comment a few lines below (`Copy MANIFEST to provide legacy dist checksums in both modes`) was intended to indicate that, but is admittedly terse. Maybe just `Even if we're building pkgbase media...` and then remove the terse comment below.
390–391	This precludes us producing an installer with both pkgbase packages and dist sets that allows the user to choose either from the media. We'll likely get there (and remove dist set logic altogether) but we might not want to do it yet?

Harbormaster completed remote builds in B73274: Diff 178187.May 20 2026, 11:40 AM

ivy added inline comments.May 20 2026, 11:40 AM

release/Makefile
224	i don't think there's any point defining the target if it's not going to be used; this prevents something depending on it by accident.
384	i don't think this comment was really explaining anything, so i've just removed it. setting both NODISTSETS and NOPKGBASE would probably fail to build, since these targets assume we're building at least one of them.
390–391	This precludes us producing an installer with both pkgbase packages and dist sets that allows the user to choose either from the media. yes, but it already worked like this. i don't think we even have room for both on disc1, do we? that's why the dist sets are only on dvd1.