:: increasing and lowering kernel securelevel in FreeBSD ::

1. to increase kernel securelevel just type:
sysctl kern.securelevel=1
OR
sysctl kern.securelevel=2
and so on

the results will be:
# sysctl kern.securelevel=1
kern.securelevel: -1 -> 1

# sysctl kern.securelevel=2
kern.securelevel: 1 -> 2

2. to lower the secure level you'll need to write the commands in /etc/rc.conf and have your machine rebooted

edit /etc/rc.conf and put these entries:
kern_securelevel_enable="YES"
kern_securelevel="-1"
# this is just an example to lower the securelevel to -1

and reboot

:: upgrade FreeBSD 6.2 system from RELEASE to STABLE ::

upgrade FreeBSD 6.2 OS from RELEASE branch to STABLE branch made easy by following the guides below:-

1. simple yet efficient guidance on upgrade process (use other browser than IE to open this site)


http://lofotenmoose.info/bsd/note/upgrading-from-release-to-stable/



-- the site describe upgrading FreeBSD through cvsup, which mean cvsup must
first be installed to the system

(you can install it through ports: /usr/ports/net/cvsup)



-- define FreeBSD release tag in stable-supfile configuration:

*default release=cvs tag=RELENG



-- replace RELENG with RELEASE Tags which you can refer from here:


http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/cvs-tags.html



2. official FreeBSD Handbook on buildworld/upgrading


http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/makeworld.html

::locate database error::

$ locate
locate: database too small: /var/db/locate.database

solution:

cd to /etc/periodic/weekly
and then:

$ ./310.locate

it should build up the database now

::freebsd - updating ports::

portsnap fetch
portsnap extract
portsnap fetch update