🟠 High   ⏱ 5–30 min  Last verified: 19 May 2026
Affected versions: FreeBSD 13

📖 ~1 min read

Table of contents
  1. Symptom & Impact
  2. Environment & Reproduction
  3. Root Cause Analysis
  4. Quick Triage
  5. Step-by-Step Diagnosis
  6. Solution – Primary Fix
  7. Solution – Alternative Approaches
  8. Verification & Acceptance Criteria
  9. Rollback Plan
  10. Prevention & Hardening
  11. Related Errors & Cross-Refs
  12. References & Further Reading

Symptom & Impact

Base system updates halt, leaving hosts in mixed state and increasing security exposure.

Environment & Reproduction

Typically follows local edits in files that freebsd-update must patch.

freebsd-version -kru
freebsd-update fetch
freebsd-update install

Root Cause Analysis

Conflicts occur when local configuration changes diverge from update patch expectations.

Quick Triage

Capture pending conflict files and backup current system configs.

freebsd-update IDS
find /etc -name '*.merge' -o -name '*.orig'
cp -a /etc /root/etc-pre-update

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Inspect every conflicted file and determine authoritative content.

grep -R '<<<<<</dev/null || true
freebsd-update install
Illustrative mockup for freebsd-13 — terminal_or_shell
freebsd-update conflict diagnostics — Illustrative mockup — Progressive Robot

Solution – Primary Fix

Resolve merge markers, re-run update install, and restart impacted services.

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vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config
freebsd-update install
service sshd restart
Illustrative mockup for freebsd-13 — logs_or_journal
post-merge validation and service checks — Illustrative mockup — Progressive Robot

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Use etcupdate workflow for cleaner config merges on long-lived systems.

etcupdate extract
etcupdate resolve
etcupdate install

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

Kernel and userland versions align and no unresolved merge files remain.

freebsd-version -kru
find /etc -name '*.merge'
service -e

Rollback Plan

Restore backed-up configs and re-attempt updates in controlled maintenance.

cp -a /root/etc-pre-update/* /etc/
freebsd-update install

Prevention & Hardening

Track local changes under version control and review deltas before upgrades.

git -C /etc status 2>/dev/null || true
freebsd-update cron

Can coincide with loader.conf syntax errors and kernel module mismatch after patching.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for FreeBSD 13.

View all FreeBSD 13 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

FreeBSD Handbook sections on freebsd-update, etcupdate, and update lifecycle.

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