> On 19/06/2017 01:04, Thomas Mueller wrote:
> > Looking through the man page for pkg, I see there is still an entry for 
> > convert ("pkg help convert" or "man pkg-convert").

> DESCRIPTION
> >      pkg convert is used to convert from/to pkg(8) local database to legacy
> >      pkg_install tools format.

> OPTIONS
> >      The following options are supported by pkg convert:

> >      -d pkg_dbdir, --pkg-dbdir pkg_dbdir
> >              The location of the pkg_add(1) dbdir.  Defaults to /var/db/pkg.

> >      -n, --dry-run
> >              Dry-run mode.  Do not actually convert anything.  Just show 
> > what
> >              would be done.

> > What is this?  Looks obsolete to me, I thought the legacy pkg_install tools 
> > format was long gone with no going back.

> > I tried this with -n (dry-run) just for curiosity, and naturally it didn't 
> > work:

> > I got

> > pkg: Unable to open plist file: 
> > /var/db/pkg/texlive-texmf-20150523_3/+CONTENTS
> > Skipping invalid package: /var/db/pkg/texlive-texmf-20150523_3

> > and many more like that.

> > If this legacy functionality is long gone, why is it still in the man page 
> > or "pkg help convert"?

> > I saw it as recently as 11.1-PRERELEASE.

> I believe the documentation is somewhat inaccurate: pkg-convert(8) will
> convert the old pkg_tools format to pkg(8), but not the reverse.

> Yes, this is pretty much of legacy interest only nowadays, but I suspect
> there are still 8.x machines needing upgrade here and there.

>         Cheers,

>         Matthew

Actually, I have an old FreeBSD 8.2 installation on a 40 GB IDE hard drive, MBR 
with legacy FreeBSD bsdlabel on MBR slice 4, not enough maneuvering space for 
any upgrading.

I had the later thought, pkg is also in NetBSD pkgsrc, maybe pkg convert in 
NetBSD, but I would be inclined to try only on a system already messed up 
sufficiently that there is nothing further to lose.

Or one can use pkgsrc (ouch!) with FreeBSD with old pkg_* tools and decide to 
switch to FreeBSD pkgng format.  

Tom

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