Unable to boot after update from within auto-admin

[linuxblood]

Hi, I'm very new to FreeBSD.

Everything was working fine on my (desktop) system for a few days when I received a popup notification from within Openbox that updates were ready. I was skeptical so I closed the popup box and it said I could run 'auto-admin' at any time. I tried running auto-admin after logging out of Openbox and user session, logged in as root, selected the update option from the menu, it ran it, I accepted the reboot option, and I cannot boot into my system.

I'm running FreeBSD 15, on an old laptop with old BIOS. (from 2010 or thereabouts) I'm not compiling software, just using snapshot packages as selected during the install. I used the guided disk installer option. My system was up-to-date as far as I know prior to this.

Up to this point I'd been updating my system with pkg update then pkg upgrade and it's been smooth, but this popup led me to an update process in auto-admin which hosed my system.

Here are the error messages at boot, after I enter my encryption pass:

---

Can't find /boot/zfsloader

Can't find /boot/loader

zio_read error: 5

zio_read error: 5

zfs: i/o error - all block copies unavailable

zfs: can't read object set for dataset 388

zfs: can't open root filesystem

can't find /boot/kernel/kernel

freebsd/x86 boot

default:zfs:zroot/ROOT/default:/boot/kernel/kernel

boot:

---

I searched the web for instructions, and came upon something which I tried:

• Boot from FreeBSD 15 LiveDVD
  

• Choose Single User and login as root
  

• gpart show
  

• gpart bootcode -b /boot/pmbr -p /boot/gptzfsboot -i 1 ada0
  

(after using gpart show -l and gpart -p to verify freebsd-boot location)

It displayed the text that it was written and I rebooted and the system still throws up the errors after entering my encryption password.

I don't know what else to do at this point other than a complete reinstall, which would be a hard lesson to learn as I haven't saved any backups of personal files. I didn't expect this would hose my system. Was I correct to run the update as suggested via auto-admin then reboot? Is this type of popup notification normal?

I'm quite the BSD newbie. I tried to research this and fix it myself but.. I failed.

Is there any way to salvage the installation at this point?

[linuxblood]

Have I chosen the right mailing list for this question?

[Daniel Lysfjord]

>> - Boot from FreeBSD 15 LiveDVD
>>
>> - Choose Single User and login as root
>>
>> - gpart show
>>
>> - gpart bootcode -b /boot/pmbr -p /boot/gptzfsboot -i 1 ada0

>>
>> (after using gpart show -l and gpart -p to verify freebsd-boot
>> location)
>>
>> It displayed the text that it was written and I rebooted and the
>> system still throws up the errors after entering my encryption
>> password.
>>
>> I don't know what else to do at this point other than a complete
>> reinstall, which would be a hard lesson to learn as I haven't saved
>> any backups of personal files. I didn't expect this would hose my
>> system. Was I correct to run the update as suggested via auto-admin
>> then reboot? Is this type of popup notification normal?
>>
>> I'm quite the BSD newbie. I tried to research this and fix it myself
>> but.. I failed.
>>
>> Is there any way to salvage the installation at this point?

Have you tried reading the pool from the live-system?

[linuxblood]

Hi Daniel, I am a newbie. I don't know what commands to issue here. I am in FreeBSD for the long run, but I am brand new! I didn't expect an update to nuke everything.

PS: Apologies for sending this to you twice, my first attempt didn't reply to the mailing list. <3 I appreciate your time & kindness.

[Daniel Lysfjord]

Since you managed to boot into the LiveDVD, and found your disk, you're
half way there:)

you can start by trying to import the zfs pool:

zpool import -a -N -o readonly=on
# "-a": Import all, "-N": no mount, "-o readonly=on": read-only

You mentioned encryption? Is it zfs encryption? If so, you also need the
argument "-l" when importing

It may or may not like that, but it usually tells you if it finds
something interesting.

Mind you, I have no machines without UEFI, so, I probably can't help all
that much, but.. this gives you an indication if something is very
wrong.

If you manage to import the pool, you can start mounting filesystems
from the pool (zfs mount ....), and have a look at the logs for what you
did.. I have no idea what auto-admin might've done, neither have I ever
used it.

[linuxblood]

Thanks, I will try your suggestion! It may be some hours before I get back to you here, but I will. Thank you.

[linuxblood]

I tried as you instructed.

zpool import -a -N -l -o readonly=on

it would output:

-l is incompatible with -N

I tried variations and eventually I got:

No pools available to import

I tried option after option...

Then I tried zfs mount

and it wouldn't output anything but the LiveDVD would load for a couple of seconds and go back to the prompt.

Regarding encryption, I chose whatever the default was using ZFS. I encrypted the install as well as the swap.

I don't know what I should do here. If it's too complex I'll just reinstall, but I'm hoping I won't have to.

Have you ever seen a popup about updates and it saying to run auto-admin? I'm still suspect about that popup, I don't know where it would've originated from.

Anyhow, any ideas? :)

[Mark G.]

On 5/8/26 14:15, linuxblood wrote:
> I tried as you instructed.
>
> zpool import -a -N -l -o readonly=on
>
> it would output:
>
> -l is incompatible with -N
>
> I tried variations and eventually I got:
>
> No pools available to import
>
> I tried option after option...
>
> Then I tried zfs mount
>
> and it wouldn't output anything but the LiveDVD would load for a couple of seconds and go back to the prompt.
>
> Regarding encryption, I chose whatever the default was using ZFS. I encrypted the install as well as the swap.
>
> I don't know what I should do here. If it's too complex I'll just reinstall, but I'm hoping I won't have to.
>
> Have you ever seen a popup about updates and it saying to run auto-admin? I'm still suspect about that popup, I don't know where it would've originated from.
>
> Anyhow, any ideas? :)
>

Hello and welcome to FreeBSD.

I thought I'd add some thoughts here. I don't think they'll
help with your current boot problem, but may help you move forward.

If you don't have any data to lose on your current failing to
boot system, a re-install from scratch might be best going
forward.

I had never heard of auto-admin, but if you want to learn
and understand FreeBSD, I would ditch it and just use the
tools FreebSD gives you for managing the system. Like
freebsd-update, pkg and so on, which are all very well
documented in the FreeBSD Handbook. You should read the
FreeBSD Handbook cover to cover if you haven't already.

Is auto-admin something that came with OpenBox? It is not
part of the FreeBSD base system and seems to originate
from the sysutils/auto-admin port.

Are you dedicated to Openbox as a desktop environment?
If not too attached, you could try the handbook's examples
on using XFCE as a light desktop environment. I know it
does not pull in auto-admin during installation.

Anyway, just some suggestions on how to get started that
might allow a better understanding of managing a freebsd
system. It's really quite easy once you get the hang of
it.

[Daniel Lysfjord]

On 2026-05-08 23:15, linuxblood wrote:
> I tried as you instructed.
>
> zpool import -a -N -l -o readonly=on
>
> it would output:
>
> -l is incompatible with -N
>
> I tried variations and eventually I got:
>
> No pools available to import
>
> I tried option after option...
>
> Then I tried zfs mount

No pools, no "filesystems" to mount

>
> and it wouldn't output anything but the LiveDVD would load for a couple
> of seconds and go back to the prompt.
>
> Regarding encryption, I chose whatever the default was using ZFS. I
> encrypted the install as well as the swap.
>
> I don't know what I should do here. If it's too complex I'll just
> reinstall, but I'm hoping I won't have to.
>
> Have you ever seen a popup about updates and it saying to run
> auto-admin? I'm still suspect about that popup, I don't know where it
> would've originated from.
>

I have no idea about this auto-admin.. The git-page tells me it's an
automation framework

If variations of zpool import -a fails, with no visible information
about "this pool needs to be imported by name" or something close to
that, I have no idea. To my untrained eye, it seems like the zpool
signature is unavailable.. That seems... unlikely, as zfs stores that in
multiple locations, and is pretty persistant in complaining if it finds
things that doesn't make sense.

> Regarding encryption, I chose whatever the default was using ZFS. I
> encrypted the install as well as the swap.

The default is no encryption, as it complicates setups by a whole lot.
If you chose the default, you did not choose encryption. If you chose to
encrypt the install and the swap, you did not choose the defaults,
and... tbh, I'm out of my confort zone:) I do use encrypted ZFS, both
native ZFS and ZFS on top of encrypted volumes, but that is so custom,
that trying to export that knowledge to whatever you have done, is of
little use..

If you can't get the live DVD to even find your zpool, I'm not much of
help to you, and, from my point of view, you might aswell do a
reinstall..

Pro-tip for the future: /home and everything else should be separated:)

[linuxblood]

On Friday, May 8th, 2026 at 10:57 PM, Mark G. <fbsd.qu...@palaceofretention.ca> wrote:
> Hello and welcome to FreeBSD.

Hi Mark, thank you :)

> If you don't have any data to lose on your current failing to
> boot system, a re-install from scratch might be best going
> forward.

Based upon what you and the other kind soul have recommended, I suppose it's the best way to go. I was hoping to recover some html bookmarks, text/dot files but it looks like that's not happening. :)

> I had never heard of auto-admin, but if you want to learn
> and understand FreeBSD, I would ditch it and just use the
> tools FreebSD gives you for managing the system. Like
> freebsd-update, pkg and so on, which are all very well
> documented in the FreeBSD Handbook.

I did a brief search on the web prior to running it as the popup was very strange. I had been updating my system using pkg prior to this and everything was fine.

My mistake, my big mistake, was installing FreeBSD so casually (as I would've installed a Linux distro I was familiar with), without backups, without installing a pretty small bare bones system and working with what I had until I was more confident in my abilities. I installed a *lot* of packages. Oh, and read more documentation, read, read, read.

> You should read the
> FreeBSD Handbook cover to cover if you haven't already.

Yes, that sounds like a good plan to me! :)

> Is auto-admin something that came with OpenBox? It is not
> part of the FreeBSD base system and seems to originate
> from the sysutils/auto-admin port.

No, but thanks for asking. I'm not sure what pulled it in I had so many packages installed. Shame on me, I should've known better!

> Are you dedicated to Openbox as a desktop environment?
> If not too attached, you could try the handbook's examples
> on using XFCE as a light desktop environment. I know it
> does not pull in auto-admin during installation.

Thank you. I installed XFCE first and was using that, but went to Openbox because it was really saving me on the RAM which I needed for Firefox. I'm going to keep it really bare bones this time with only Openbox, maaaaybe XFCE since I always seem to go back to it, it's so lovely. ;)

> Anyway, just some suggestions on how to get started that
> might allow a better understanding of managing a freebsd
> system. It's really quite easy once you get the hang of
> it.

Thanks! It sure seemed like it was smooth sailing, well up until auto-admin popup. I just have to approach it carefully and skillfully the next time around.

Thank you so much for your help and the welcome!

[linuxblood]

On Saturday, May 9th, 2026 at 1:14 AM, Daniel Lysfjord <lysfjor...@smokepit.net> wrote:

> On 2026-05-08 23:15, linuxblood wrote:
> > I tried as you instructed.
> >
> > zpool import -a -N -l -o readonly=on
> >
> > it would output:
> >
> > -l is incompatible with -N
> >
> > I tried variations and eventually I got:
> >
> > No pools available to import
> >
> > I tried option after option...
> >
> > Then I tried zfs mount
>
> No pools, no "filesystems" to mount

:(

>
> >
> > and it wouldn't output anything but the LiveDVD would load for a couple
> > of seconds and go back to the prompt.
> >
> > Regarding encryption, I chose whatever the default was using ZFS. I
> > encrypted the install as well as the swap.
> >
> > I don't know what I should do here. If it's too complex I'll just
> > reinstall, but I'm hoping I won't have to.
> >
> > Have you ever seen a popup about updates and it saying to run
> > auto-admin? I'm still suspect about that popup, I don't know where it
> > would've originated from.
> >
>
> I have no idea about this auto-admin.. The git-page tells me it's an
> automation framework

Thanks.

> If variations of zpool import -a fails, with no visible information
> about "this pool needs to be imported by name" or something close to
> that, I have no idea. To my untrained eye, it seems like the zpool
> signature is unavailable.. That seems... unlikely, as zfs stores that in
> multiple locations, and is pretty persistant in complaining if it finds
> things that doesn't make sense.

Thank you. Perhaps it had something to do with encryption? Ah, well...

> > Regarding encryption, I chose whatever the default was using ZFS. I
> > encrypted the install as well as the swap.
> The default is no encryption, as it complicates setups by a whole lot.
> If you chose the default, you did not choose encryption. If you chose to
> encrypt the install and the swap, you did not choose the defaults,
> and... tbh, I'm out of my confort zone:) I do use encrypted ZFS, both
> native ZFS and ZFS on top of encrypted volumes, but that is so custom,
> that trying to export that knowledge to whatever you have done, is of
> little use..

Thanks, I won't use encryption the next time around. Lesson learned!

> If you can't get the live DVD to even find your zpool, I'm not much of
> help to you, and, from my point of view, you might aswell do a
> reinstall..

That sounds good, I appreciate your help more than you know!

> Pro-tip for the future: /home and everything else should be separated:)

Gotcha, thanks. I appreciate the verbose details, honesty, humility and kindness from both you and Mark G. I am dedicated to using FreeBSD and I will enjoy the journey, and enjoy it ever so more with people so wonderful as yourselves here to help.

[linuxblood]

On Friday, May 8th, 2026 at 10:57 PM, Mark G. <fbsd.qu...@palaceofretention.ca> wrote:

> I had never heard of auto-admin, but if you want to learn
> and understand FreeBSD, I would ditch it and just use the
> tools FreebSD gives you for managing the system.

[...]

> Is auto-admin something that came with OpenBox? It is not
> part of the FreeBSD base system and seems to originate
> from the sysutils/auto-admin port.

I reinstalled and all is good. ^_^

It appears "auto-admin" is pulled in with or during the process of "desktop-installer."

After I completed using "desktop-installer" to install XFCE, I manually removed "auto-admin" and two other packages related to it, one with some type of notification program, which explains the stupid pop-up from/for "auto-admin."

Mystery solved.

I can't be the only one out there using "desktop-installer" and then receiving desktop notifications for updates being available via "auto-admin." I guess there's not enough people using "desktop-installer" noticing this and complaining to upstream about it.

I don't have anything else to say right now, except thanks again to you and the other kind fellow for the help.

AUTO-ADMIN MUST PERISH IN FLAMES!!!!!!!! :-)

[Dag-Erling Smørgrav]

linuxblood <linux...@proton.me> writes:
> I can't be the only one out there using "desktop-installer" and then
> receiving desktop notifications for updates being available via
> "auto-admin." I guess there's not enough people using
> "desktop-installer" noticing this and complaining to upstream about

> it. [...] AUTO-ADMIN MUST PERISH IN FLAMES!!!!!!!! :-)

I've never used auto-admin but I don't think this is fair. We don't
know exactly what it did to render your system unbootable. It is
possible that a manual upgrade would have had the same result. I
suggest you have a chat with Jason about it, I'm sure he'll be happy to
help figure out what went wrong.

DES
--
Dag-Erling Smørgrav - d...@FreeBSD.org

[linuxblood]

On Sunday, May 10th, 2026 at 8:15 PM, Dag-Erling Smørgrav <d...@FreeBSD.org> wrote:

> I've never used auto-admin but I don't think this is fair. We don't
> know exactly what it did to render your system unbootable. It is
> possible that a manual upgrade would have had the same result. I
> suggest you have a chat with Jason about it, I'm sure he'll be happy to
> help figure out what went wrong.

I sincerely apologize. I didn't mean to be rude. I was just so frustrated over the ordeal and my comment was going overboard, I'm sorry.

I'm sure the program is useful, but the way I discovered it with an out of place popup and how badly it borked my system was unusual to say the least.

I'm happy to discuss anything with the developer(s) but I'm not all that experienced with FreeBSD yet to be able to have a useful dialogue, beyond how my install was setup, what occurred, etc.

Everyone in the world of FreeBSD has been so kind to me, I don't mean to ruffle any feathers.

[Jason Bacon]

I did not see the original message, so I have no idea what the
circumstances even were, but if the update was in response to a popup
message, that would mean routine package, ports, and base updates,
performed by auto-update-system via freebsd-update-notify. It's highly
unlikely that auto-update-system would lead to any issues, since all it
ultimately does is run "pkg upgrade", "git pull", and "freebsd-update
fetch install" (if not using pkgbase). Beyond that, it mostly just
performs a lot of checks, to inform the user if a reboot is needed, etc.

The auto-upgrade-base script (which does not yet do anything with
pkgbase), would pose a slightly higher risk, but also merely automates
the same commands the user would run by hand (freebsd-update upgrade,
freebsd-update install, reboot, freebsd-update install).

I've been using both these tools for many years (auto-upgrade-base
probably 100 times, auto-update-system thousands of times) and never
experienced an unbootable system following their use. In fact, I can't
actually recall a FreeBSD system ever becoming unbootable following an
upgrade, even before I created these tools.

Only freebsd-update and pkg upgrade with pkgbase have the potential to
lead to an unbootable system, and that's highly unlikely if the
pre-update system was clean.

I would look for a hardware issue, or some sort of pre-existing system
corruption caused by other activities before the update.


--
Life is a game. Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.

[linuxblood]

On Monday, May 11th, 2026 at 12:35 AM, Jason Bacon <baco...@gmail.com> wrote:

[...]

> The auto-upgrade-base script (which does not yet do anything with
> pkgbase), would pose a slightly higher risk, but also merely automates
> the same commands the user would run by hand (freebsd-update upgrade,
> freebsd-update install, reboot, freebsd-update install).
>
> I've been using both these tools for many years (auto-upgrade-base
> probably 100 times, auto-update-system thousands of times) and never
> experienced an unbootable system following their use. In fact, I can't
> actually recall a FreeBSD system ever becoming unbootable following an
> upgrade, even before I created these tools.
>
> Only freebsd-update and pkg upgrade with pkgbase have the potential to
> lead to an unbootable system, and that's highly unlikely if the
> pre-update system was clean.
>
> I would look for a hardware issue, or some sort of pre-existing system
> corruption caused by other activities before the update.

Hi Jason. I appreciate your kind, highly detailed and informative post, thank you. :) And thank you for making auto-update. When I saw the menu prior to updating with it, it looked like a very feature rich program, I just had a bad experience with it. I'm a newbie after all.

I chose to install 'packages' vs. 'distribution' on my FreeBSD 15 install, and had been updating my system using 'pkg update' followed by 'pkg upgrade' without issues. The freebsd-update fetch & install options are not available to me, as they say on the command line output when I try and use them.

When I ran the update option (#1?) from the list in auto-update, the screen flew by with operations which included some removal of some packages. I didn't have the chance to read because it went by so quickly. I still have the drive in it's non functional state if anyone wants to try and help me resurrect it. I have little interest in doing so at this point however, since I installed fresh to another drive.

Perhaps if I had installed distribution instead of packages it would've made a difference, I don't know.

The hardware is fine, though I was admittedly using a USB flash drive for the install, which I've used tons of times for Linux without issue.

As for "other activities before the update" I was simply in Openbox with Firefox -current version- loaded and the popup came as a small box with a question mark inside and a message about updates. Rather than confirm as the popup was strange, I closed it and performed the update after exiting everything for the user and logging in again as root. Again, the install was encrypted and encrypted swap, if that makes a difference, using the guided disk partitioning option.

What concerns me is, many new users are using the 'desktop-installer' package to install their new desktop for the first time, and it pulls in 'auto-update' along with two other packages, one being some kind of notification program. A new user such as myself when greeted with this information may succumb to the same problem I experienced so I wanted to warn others about this since the popup was quite jarring as well as unusual and confusing. I never knew about the 'auto-update' program and a quick search on the net prior to executing it seemed to check out alright.

I wouldn't know what further to add unless someone is interested enough in the logs and wants to help me revive the drive to a working state; enough to fetch the logs.

I'm loving FreeBSD and the community, thank you.

[linuxblood]

Re: resurrecting the broken system

Sorry, I nuked my encryption password for the hosed install, so there's no reviving the logs.

I'm happy with the new install, though. ^_^

[Jason Bacon]

Did you by chance run "pkg remove -a" at any time?

I coincidentally discovered a problem while working with a pkgbased VM,
where "pkg remove -a" removed my kernels. This is a bug in the
packages, which should be marked "vital" so they cannot be removed.

[linuxblood]

On Tuesday, May 12th, 2026 at 11:12 AM, Jason Bacon <baco...@gmail.com> wrote:
[...]

> Did you by chance run "pkg remove -a" at any time?
>
> I coincidentally discovered a problem while working with a pkgbased VM,
> where "pkg remove -a" removed my kernels. This is a bug in the
> packages, which should be marked "vital" so they cannot be removed.

[...]

Thanks for asking. No, I didn't, but auto-admin did remove a *few* packages when it ran, the text went by so fast I couldn't read it. The only part I remember was near the end, where it cleaned the pkg cache and gave a choice on restarting services and/or rebooting. Also, I was not running a VM, if that makes a difference. :)

[Tomek CEDRO]

On Tue, May 12, 2026, 13:12 Jason Bacon wrote:

Did you by chance run "pkg remove -a" at any time?

I coincidentally discovered a problem while working with a pkgbased VM,
where "pkg remove -a" removed my kernels.  This is a bug in the
packages, which should be marked "vital" so they cannot be removed.

--
Life is a game.  Play hard.  Play fair.  Have fun.

are you sure it was not `pkg delete -af` with force option? the issue was reported last year o_O

https://lists.freebsd.org/archives/freebsd-pkgbase/2025-July/000590.html

[Dag-Erling Smørgrav]

Jason Bacon <baco...@gmail.com> writes:
> I coincidentally discovered a problem while working with a pkgbased
> VM, where "pkg remove -a" removed my kernels. This is a bug in the
> packages, which should be marked "vital" so they cannot be removed.

That's not a bug. If you accidentally uninstall your kernel you can
just reinstall it. If you accidentally uninstall pkg or your shell you
can't do anything without rebooting from external media.

[Jason Bacon]

> <https://lists.freebsd.org/archives/freebsd-pkgbase/2025-July/000590.html>

No, it was "ay". I added the "y" to skip all the "remove vital package
from delete list" messages. Besides, as you can see, it only removed
the kernels and the pkg package, not everything.

[Jason Bacon]

Yeah, it's a bug. The kernels should be considered vital like other
critical pkgbase packages, so the user cannot remove them without
forcing the issue. If you run "pkg remove -a" without the "y", it will
warn you that many packages are marked "vital" and cannot be removed.
The user is prompted to remove vital packages from the remove request
(i.e. not remove the package). Adding "-y" answers all these prompts
with in the affirmative, so that no vital packages are removed. The bug
is the fact that the kernels are not treated as "vital", while
"FreeBSD-set-optional" is.

pkg: Cannot remove FreeBSD-nvme-tools: required by vital package
FreeBSD-set-optional
pkg: Cannot remove FreeBSD-bsdconfig: required by vital package
FreeBSD-set-optional
pkg: Cannot remove FreeBSD-tcpd-dev: required by vital package
FreeBSD-set-devel
pkg: Cannot remove FreeBSD-libbegemot: required by vital package
FreeBSD-set-optional
pkg: Cannot remove FreeBSD-libsqlite3: required by vital package
FreeBSD-set-optional
pkg: Cannot remove FreeBSD-natd-dev: required by vital package
FreeBSD-set-devel
pkg: Cannot remove FreeBSD-bsnmp-lib32: required by vital package
FreeBSD-set-lib32
pkg: Cannot remove FreeBSD-bzip2-lib32: required by vital package
FreeBSD-set-lib32
pkg: Cannot remove FreeBSD-devmatch-dev: required by vital package
FreeBSD-set-devel
pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver
cannot remove package FreeBSD-lib9p, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

[Jason Bacon]

auto-update-system does a "pkg autoremove" to clean up orphaned
dependencies, i.e. packages installed automatically as dependencies of
something you actually requested, which has since been removed, or
installed using the "pkg -A" flag.

It doesn't matter whether using a VM or bare metal.

[Dag-Erling Smørgrav]

Jason Bacon <baco...@gmail.com> writes:

> Dag-Erling Smørgrav <d...@FreeBSD.org> writes:
> > That's not a bug. If you accidentally uninstall your kernel you can
> > just reinstall it. If you accidentally uninstall pkg or your shell you
> > can't do anything without rebooting from external media.

> Yeah, it's a bug.

It's a deliberate choice and works exactly as intended. Just because you
disagree with that choice does not make it a bug.

> If you run "pkg remove -a" without the "y", it will warn you that many
> packages are marked "vital" and cannot be removed. The user is
> prompted to remove vital packages from the remove request (i.e. not
> remove the package).

No, pkg will not prompt the user about vital packages. It will prompt
the user about packages that are not themselves vital but are required
by a vital package.

> Adding "-y" answers all these prompts with in the affirmative, so that
> no vital packages are removed.

Adding `-y` also skips the final confirmation. You got what you asked
for. Wishing that you'd asked for something else does not mean there is
a bug, it just means you made a mistake, which you can easily fix by
reinstalling a kernel.

[Jason Bacon]

On 5/12/26 07:45, Dag-Erling Smørgrav wrote:
> Jason Bacon <baco...@gmail.com> writes:
>> Dag-Erling Smørgrav <d...@FreeBSD.org> writes:
>>> That's not a bug. If you accidentally uninstall your kernel you can
>>> just reinstall it. If you accidentally uninstall pkg or your shell you
>>> can't do anything without rebooting from external media.
>> Yeah, it's a bug.
>
> It's a deliberate choice and works exactly as intended. Just because you
> disagree with that choice does not make it a bug.

So what was the basis of the deliberate choice to warn the user about
accidental removal of every vital package except the kernel?

>
>> If you run "pkg remove -a" without the "y", it will warn you that many
>> packages are marked "vital" and cannot be removed. The user is
>> prompted to remove vital packages from the remove request (i.e. not
>> remove the package).
>
> No, pkg will not prompt the user about vital packages. It will prompt
> the user about packages that are not themselves vital but are required
> by a vital package.

I believe this is incorrect. That's all you see in the previous
screenshot, but running without -y:

Tail of the dialog, showing that vital packages are protected, but not
the kernel:

The following package(s) are locked or vital and may not be removed:

FreeBSD-clibs (vital)
FreeBSD-runtime (vital)
FreeBSD-set-base (vital)
FreeBSD-set-devel (vital)
FreeBSD-set-lib32 (vital)
FreeBSD-set-minimal (vital)
FreeBSD-set-optional (vital)

Deinstallation has been requested for the following 4 packages (of 0
packages in the universe):

Installed packages to be REMOVED:
FreeBSD-kernel-generic: 15.0p8
FreeBSD-kernel-generic-dbg: 15.0p8
auto-admin: 0.8.4.24
pkg: 2.6.2_1

Number of packages to be removed: 4

The operation will free 751 MiB.

Proceed with deinstalling packages? [y/N]:

The entire dialog:

# pkg remove -a
Cannot solve problem using SAT solver, trying another plan
Cannot solve problem using SAT solver, trying another plan
Cannot solve problem using SAT solver, trying another plan
Cannot solve problem using SAT solver, trying another plan
Cannot solve problem using SAT solver, trying another plan
Cannot solve problem using SAT solver, trying another plan
Cannot solve problem using SAT solver, trying another plan
Cannot solve problem using SAT solver, trying another plan
Cannot solve problem using SAT solver, trying another plan

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-tcpd-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-atf-lib, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-netmap, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-lldb, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-librss-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-openssl, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-sound, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-librpcsec_gss-dev-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-rip, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-utilities-dev-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ee, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libipt, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-openssl-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libbegemot, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libvmmapi-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libsqlite3, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-natd-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-atf, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-audit-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-bsnmp-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libldns, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-smbutils, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-bzip2-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-devmatch-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-pmc-dev-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver
cannot remove package FreeBSD-lib9p, remove it from request? [Y/n]:
pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libexecinfo-dev-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libbsdstat-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ssh-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-mlx-tools, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-audit, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-toolchain-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-fetch-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-mandoc, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-devmatch, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-zoneinfo, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

vital rule: The following packages are vital: FreeBSD-set-minimal-15.0
cannot remove package FreeBSD-set-minimal, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-librss, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ncurses-lib, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-natd, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libcuse-dev-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-examples, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-librss-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libmilter-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-diff3, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-hostapd, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-openssl-dev-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-tcpd-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-inetd, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-firmware-iwm, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ncurses-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-resolvconf, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libbsdstat-dev, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-zlib-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libcuse-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-librpcsec_gss-dev, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-xz-lib, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-zfs-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-lld, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-bootloader, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-dtrace-dev-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-blocklist-dev-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libldns-dev-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-utilities-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-iscsi, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-zlib-dev-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-bootloader-dev, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-blocklist-lib32, remove it from request?

[Y/n]:
pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-lib9p-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libucl-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-natd-dev-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libsqlite3-dev-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libucl, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-rescue, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-telnet, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libvgl, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ufs-dev-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-zfs, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libcuse, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-netmap-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-kyua, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libdwarf-dev-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-geom, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-kerberos-kdc, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-zfs-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libmagic-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libmagic, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-nfs, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ufs-lib, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-fetch, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ufs-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-xz-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-rc, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-local-unbound-dev, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-bluetooth-dev-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-natd-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-xz-dev-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-clang, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-cron, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-dtrace-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-pmc-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-clibs-dev-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-jail, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libsqlite3-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-audit-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-geom-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-audit-lib, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libevent1-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-pf, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

vital rule: The following packages are vital: FreeBSD-set-base-15.0
cannot remove package FreeBSD-set-base, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libcasper-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-zlib, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-fetch-dev-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-syscons-data, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-local-unbound, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ctf-lib, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libcompat-dev-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-librss-dev-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libarchive-dev, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

vital rule: The following packages are vital: FreeBSD-set-devel-15.0
cannot remove package FreeBSD-set-devel, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libarchive-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libyaml-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-periodic, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-xz, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-syslogd, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libevent1-dev-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ncurses, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-utilities-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-at, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-autofs, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libcasper-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ggate, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-pmc-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-local-unbound-dev-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-xz-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-zfs-dev-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-kerberos-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ssh-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

vital rule: The following packages are vital: FreeBSD-set-lib32-15.0
cannot remove package FreeBSD-set-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libvgl-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-bluetooth-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libexecinfo-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-smbutils-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-apm, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libpathconv-dev, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libdwarf, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-acpi, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-hast, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-bluetooth, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-flua, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-dwatch, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-bsnmp-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-bzip2-lib, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

vital rule: The following packages are vital: FreeBSD-runtime-15.0p8
cannot remove package FreeBSD-runtime, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libarchive, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-caroot, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-tcpd-dev-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-bhyve, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libblocksruntime, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-wpa, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libyaml-dev-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libcuse-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-bzip2-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-bmake, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-bsnmp-dev-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-nuageinit, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libmagic-dev-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-sound-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ssh-dev-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-blocklist, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ufs, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-openssl-lib, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-bsnmp, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-flua-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-certctl, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-vi, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-toolchain, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-toolchain-dev-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-sound-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-games, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-mtree, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libdwarf-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-fwget, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-dtrace-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libexecinfo-dev, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-devmatch-dev-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ssh, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-pf-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-csh, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-dtrace, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-rcmds, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libexecinfo, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-fd, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ipf, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-audit-dev-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-efi-tools-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-local-unbound-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libmilter-dev-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libvgl-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libucl-dev-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libthread_db-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-hyperv-tools, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libyaml, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-powerd, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-newsyslog, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-bzip2-dev-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libbegemot-dev-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-clang-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libmagic-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-locales, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-kerberos-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ctf, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libblocksruntime-dev, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-efi-tools, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-kerberos-lib, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ftp, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libbegemot-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-netmap-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-atf-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-openssl-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-utilities, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-runtime-dev-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ncurses-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libpathconv-dev-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-lldb-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libthread_db-dev, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libblocksruntime-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-blocklist-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libldns-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-cxgbe-tools, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libthread_db, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-acct, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-gssd, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libbsdstat, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libcompiler_rt-dev-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-librpcsec_gss, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libevent1-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-bluetooth-lib, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libpathconv-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libyaml-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-bzip2, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-quotacheck, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ncurses-dev-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-sound-dev-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libblocksruntime-dev-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ppp, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-rdma, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libucl-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-dma, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libcasper-dev-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-runtime-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-lp, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libcompiler_rt-dev, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-kernel-man, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-bluetooth-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-fetch-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ctl, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libthread_db-dev-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-kerberos, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libvmmapi, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libdwarf-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libarchive-dev-lib32, remove it from

request? [Y/n]:
pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-lib9p-dev-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libbsdstat-dev-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-bsdinstall, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-zfs-lib, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-vt-data, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-pmc, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-pkg-bootstrap, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-yp, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-clibs-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-sendmail, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ctf-dev-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ccdconfig, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-librpcsec_gss-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libmilter, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-devd, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-devmatch-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-zlib-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-dhclient, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libpathconv, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libbegemot-dev, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libcasper, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libevent1, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-console-tools, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ctf-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ipfw, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libvgl-dev-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ufs-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

vital rule: The following packages are vital: FreeBSD-set-optional-15.0
cannot remove package FreeBSD-set-optional, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-lib9p-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-runtime-lib32, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-kerberos-dev-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-netmap-dev-lib32, remove it from request?
[Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-libcompat-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-clibs-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-smbutils-dev-lib32, remove it from
request? [Y/n]:

pkg: Cannot solve problem using SAT solver

cannot remove package FreeBSD-ctf-dev, remove it from request? [Y/n]:
Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting)
The following package(s) are locked or vital and may not be removed:

FreeBSD-clibs (vital)
FreeBSD-runtime (vital)
FreeBSD-set-base (vital)
FreeBSD-set-devel (vital)
FreeBSD-set-lib32 (vital)
FreeBSD-set-minimal (vital)
FreeBSD-set-optional (vital)

Deinstallation has been requested for the following 4 packages (of 0
packages in the universe):

Installed packages to be REMOVED:
FreeBSD-kernel-generic: 15.0p8
FreeBSD-kernel-generic-dbg: 15.0p8
auto-admin: 0.8.4.24
pkg: 2.6.2_1

Number of packages to be removed: 4

The operation will free 751 MiB.

Proceed with deinstalling packages? [y/N]:

>
>> Adding "-y" answers all these prompts with in the affirmative, so that
>> no vital packages are removed.
>
> Adding `-y` also skips the final confirmation. You got what you asked
> for. Wishing that you'd asked for something else does not mean there is
> a bug, it just means you made a mistake, which you can easily fix by
> reinstalling a kernel.

I don't wish I'd asked for something else. I believe the pkg remove
command should warn users about removing their kernel, as it does for
every other critical pkgbase component. Instead of hostility, you might
consider simply providing a rational explanation of why the kernel is
not considered a vital package when so many other things are. If you
could to that, I would gladly concede that this is not a bug.

[Michael Sierchio]

It is abundantly clear that you have an opinion about how things should work, and that opinion is at variance with how things actually work.  Perhaps if you devoted as much time to learning how things work as you do to complaining that they're counter to your own personal intuition, we'd all be happier – you included. 

[Dag-Erling Smørgrav]

Jason Bacon <baco...@gmail.com> writes:
> Dag-Erling Smørgrav <d...@FreeBSD.org> writes:
> > It's a deliberate choice and works exactly as intended. Just because
> > you disagree with that choice does not make it a bug.
> So what was the basis of the deliberate choice to warn the user about
> accidental removal of every vital package except the kernel?

Kernel packages are not marked vital.

> > No, pkg will not prompt the user about vital packages. It will
> > prompt the user about packages that are not themselves vital but are
> > required by a vital package.
> I believe this is incorrect.

Believe what you like, your own evidence confirms my statement.

> Instead of hostility, you might consider simply providing a rational
> explanation of why the kernel is not considered a vital package when
> so many other things are.

I've already explained this twice. The kernel is not a vital package
because it can easily be reinstalled if accidentally removed.

[Jason Bacon]

Yes, I have the opinion that kernel packages should be marked vital, so
that users (especially new users) won't accidentally end up with an
unbootable system. I'm not unhappy, nor have I personally attacked
anyone here. I've merely suggested a change that could improve the user
experience in a rational and respectful way.

On 5/12/26 08:43, Michael Sierchio wrote:
> It is abundantly clear that you have an opinion about how things should
> work, and that opinion is at variance with how things actually work.
> Perhaps if you devoted as much time to learning how things work as you
> do to complaining that they're counter to your own personal intuition,
> we'd all be happier – you included.
>
>
> On Tue, May 12, 2026 at 9:37 AM Jason Bacon <baco...@gmail.com
> <mailto:baco...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> On 5/12/26 07:45, Dag-Erling Smørgrav wrote:

> > Jason Bacon <baco...@gmail.com <mailto:baco...@gmail.com>>

[linuxblood]

Anyhow, my main concern with this is that newbies like myself will pull down this program with 'desktop-installer', receive a notification popup, run auto-admin and may hose their system.

I don't know why desktop-installer pulls it in along with a popup generating package, but shouldn't there be a warning at least because we have a lot of newbies installing with desktop-installer for the first time and I'd hate for them to run into what I did unknowingly.

[...]

[linuxblood]

On Wednesday, May 13th, 2026 at 12:58 PM, Jason Bacon <baco...@gmail.com> wrote:
[...]

> Again, I'm certain that auto-update-system did not hose the system,
> since it only runs the standard existing tools pkg autoremove/upgrade,
> git pull, and maybe freebsd-update. There must have been some unusual
> circumstance in your case that would have resulted in this problem
> whether or not you used auto-update-system.
>
> Using auto-update-system is actually much safer than running the tools
> manually, because it ensures that everything remains in sync. Many
> newbies have run into serious problems in the past because their ports
> tree and installed packages were out of sync, causing incompatibilities.
> The same could happen with an antiquated base, though that's less
> likely, unless it's actually beyond EOL.

It's nice to feel certain, but if this could happen to me, it could happen to someone else.

The user should clearly be informed about what is going on, prior to executing this program they've probably never heard of, the mysterious popup notification could just as easily be misintepreted as malware.

Do we want more newbies using FreeBSD and can we take a few moments to inform/warn them or do we want to push them away?

If I had less patience and if I didn't care so much about FreeBSD, I would've been maybe one, or maybe one of many to come across this, have my system be hosed and just given up. No discussion, no questions, nothing. Just given up on FreeBSD.

New users deserve to know more about why their system is issuing popups in a poorly executed manner, and what auto-admin is.

In my opinion, auto-admin and the notification package(s) should not be pulled in by desktop-installer.

My system was fine until I ran auto-admin and chose to update with it as the popup suggested.

I'm now under a new install and the first thing I did after running desktop-installer to install XFCE was to remove auto-admin and the two other related packages, one being a notification package.

My system is purring along just fine without it!

[John Gaskill]

As another newbie attempting to get FreeBSD up and running, I agree somewhat with linuxblood over his concern that other newbies may hose their systems unknowingly.

I felt his initial complaint about auto-sdmin was unnecessarily flaming, but only out of line in its passion.

I know people make their own choices with FreeBSD, and that is part of its allure.

But I also understand that FreeBSD's gaining even wider acceptance requires looking beyond how well a contributed app or port is documented. And that documentation is clearly written so readers come away understanding what is going to happen, or can happen after selecting an installation option.

In order to familiarize myself completely with the installation process before installing FreeBSD, I have read through the handbook and appropriate manual pages. After I get the installation completed, I will probably join the documentation writers group and submit some revised pages for the installation handbook to make the process smoother and faster for anyone who wants to get started and learn FreeBSD.

I can see it's going to be a great experience given the support available and the levels of participation by users. Thanks to all.