🟠 High   ⏱ 5–30 min  Last verified: 20 May 2026
Affected versions: FreeBSD 14

📖 ~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

Security patch rollout pauses at merge stage, leaving host in partially updated state.

Environment & Reproduction

Occurs when local customizations in /etc overlap with upstream base changes.

freebsd-update fetch
freebsd-update install
ls -la /var/db/freebsd-update

Root Cause Analysis

etcupdate cannot automatically merge conflicting edits across key config files.

Quick Triage

List unresolved conflicts and classify by service criticality.

etcupdate status
find /etc -name '*.merged' -o -name '*.orig'

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Review conflict hunks and compare against approved baseline configs.

etcupdate resolve
diff -u /etc/ssh/sshd_config /etc/ssh/sshd_config.merged || true
Illustrative mockup for freebsd-14 — terminal_or_console
Diagnosis commands for post 173 — Illustrative mockup — Progressive Robot

Solution – Primary Fix

Resolve merges explicitly, complete install step, and restart impacted daemons.

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etcupdate resolve
freebsd-update install
service -e | xargs -n1 service status >/dev/null
Illustrative mockup for freebsd-14 — log_or_dashboard
Fix validation evidence for post 173 — Illustrative mockup — Progressive Robot

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Use config management source-of-truth to regenerate /etc after base update.

ansible-playbook site.yml --limit  || true

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

Update reports complete and all critical services start with expected settings.

freebsd-version -kru
freebsd-update IDS
service sshd status

Rollback Plan

Boot previous BE or restore /etc backup if merged configs introduce outages.

bectl activate 
shutdown -r now

Prevention & Hardening

Minimize direct manual edits in /etc and keep changes declarative.

Commonly linked to stale local include files and legacy rc.conf customizations.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for FreeBSD 14.

View all FreeBSD 14 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

freebsd-update and etcupdate manuals with Handbook upgrade procedures.

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