Install packages from a FreeBSD installer DVD – with neither a DVD nor a network connection

Related: Write to a USB drive from the URL of a compressed disc image.

The example below assumes that your USB drive is at /dev/da0.

Run commands as the superuser.

1. mkdir /media/aninstaller
2. mount_cd9660 /dev/da0 /media/aninstaller
3. mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos
4. ee /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/aninstaller.conf
5. pkg bootstrap --yes -r aninstaller
6. pkg update --repository aninstaller
7. pkg rquery -r aninstaller "%o%n" | sort | less

You'll get a list of available packages. Key q to quit the pager.

Then use pkg as you normally would, but limited to the aninstaller repo. For example:

• pkg install -r aninstaller firefox

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Content for the aninstaller.conf file:

aninstaller: {
  url: "file:////media/aninstaller/packages/FreeBSD:14:amd64",
  REPO_AUTOUPDATE: "false",
  mirror_type: "none",
  enabled: yes
}

Important: switch from yes, to no, after temporarily using the USB drive as a source for the repo.

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Some manual pages:

• ee(1)
• less(1)
• mount_cd9660(8)