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Loaders-update(8) System Manager's Manual Loaders-update(8) NAME loaders-update -- This utility helps to update the FreeBSD loaders. SYNOPSIS loaders-update mode [-befgqry] [-m Efi_mount_dir] [-s loaders_source_dir] DESCRIPTION This command searches for all the FreeBSD loaders, EFI and BIOS ones. It checks if they are in sync with the ones inside /boot or inside the argu- ment of the -s option. For each one which isn't, it proposes either the commands to type to update it or executes these very commands, depending on the mode. MODE shoot-me This mode may update the loader(s), but ask for confirmation before each one. You need to be root. show-me This mode just shows the commands to type, it changes nothing. OPTIONS These options are available: -b Scan only BIOS loaders (excludes EFI loaders). -e Scan only EFI loaders (excludes BIOS loaders). -f Won't check the content of the freebsd-boot partitions. That means it won't verify the coherence between the current root file system and each BIOS loader. It will update the partitions ac- cording to the detected root file system. This option cannot be chosen at the same time than -r. -g Use 'gpart show' instead of 'sysctl kern.disks' in order to list the available disks. In some circumstances, the output of kern.disks doesn't match the geoms that 'gpart' knows. So, in case of bad or no detection of your disk(s), you can try this op- tion. -q Quiet mode. No output to the console. -m Efi_mount_dir If an efi partition isn't already mounted, try to mount it in Efi_mount_dir. The default is /mnt. -r Won't check the root file system. As -f, it won't verify the co- herence between the current root file system and each BIOS loader. It will just check the content of each freebsd-boot par- tition and verify/update according to that. Can be of some use in case you rescue a system with a USB key, for example. This option cannot be chosen at the same time than -f. -s loaders_source_dir Seek for the source loaders in loaders_source_dir instead of the default /boot. -y Answer yes for shoot-me mode. Use with caution! Return codes: 0: no error. 1: an error occured. 2: at least one loader isn't up-to-date. 3: = 1 + 2. CAPABILITIES A, Check all disks reported by the system. A, Able to work on both BIOS and UEFI loaders. A, Work on mounted or unmounted EFI partitions. A, Recognize FreeBSD EFI loaders and examine only them. A, Check each freebsd-boot partition, compare its bootcode with the root file system. If not coherent, don't examine its content (unless -r or -f option is specified). A, If a loader is already up-to-date, neither suggest nor attempt an up- date. LIMITATIONS A, Work only on AMD64 and ARM64 architectures. A, Can only examine disks with GUID Partition Table (GPT). A, Check only the first freebsd-boot and efi partition per disk. SEE ALSO uefi(8), gpart(8), gptboot(8), gptzfsboot(8) COMMENTS This utility comes to fill a void in the FreeBSD upgrading. Many people don't even know about the importance to update the loaders and got bitten by different problems along the system upgrades. This mainly concerns zfs on root systems, but not only. It features to update all the loaders but also tries to stay stable in different environments and FreeBSD deriva- tives. As such, it can be used in GhostBSD, TrueNas, Hardened BSD and maybe others I didn't test. In some words, it costs nothing to run it in show-me mode and see what happens. You can report the result here: https://github.com/Emrion/uploaders or there: https://fo- rums.freebsd.org/threads/utility-that-tries-to-figure-how-to-update-the- freebsd-loaders.94237/ FreeBSD ports 15.quarterly June 1, 2026 Loaders-update(8)
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | MODE | OPTIONS | Return codes: | CAPABILITIES | LIMITATIONS | SEE ALSO | COMMENTS
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