Updating PcBSD

[Micros]

I've been reading the handbook a lot but still have a couple of questions

1: I updated ports tree in SystemManager, do I need to update System Source? I'm a little confused what that tree is for.

2: To keep PCBSD up to date command line wise I've installed "portmaster" pbi, because "pkg_add -r portmaster" didn't do anything. Some error couldn't connect ftp....? But anyway from LXterminal I type "portmaster -a" it will update flash, libdvdcss, and a bunch others I'd like to update.
Is this the proper way to update? I want to press "y" but wanted to get the a ok from you experts before I do.
(Is this the equivalent to aptitude update && safe-upgrade to a debian sys which is how I updated that whole/packages OS?)

3: The Firefox pbi is slightly out of date. Should I uninstall it and install as pkg _add -r firefox or a port and then have it update with portmaster, or do I have to update pkgs manually?

4: Does portmaster interfere with the built-in update-manager and PBIs?

5: How come Update-Manager doesn't see these updates?

Thanks in advance.

[thnewguy]

1. No, you don't need to update the src (source) tree.
2. You can keep software up to date using portmaster, but you should probably keep your ports packages and PBI packages separate. For example, if you install Firefox as a PBI from AppCafe, don't install it from ports too. That'll just get confusing.
3. Yes, you can remove the Firefox PBI and perform updates on the browser directly from the ports collection. You might find it easier to use the pkg-ng program to manage FreeBSD packages instead of portmaster. pkg-ng has a much nicer syntax and doesn't require has much work on the user's part.
4. Ports and PBIs will be kept in separate places, I believe, but your desktop short-cuts might get mixed up. I wouldn't recommend installing two different versions of packages from different repositories.
5. A port needs to be built into a PBI file for the update manager to see it. This means the update manager always lags a bit behind the ports in the FreeBSD collection. The update will appear eventually (and automatically) given a little time.

[Micros]

Great, Thanks for the quick response Newguy!I'm give it a go on the laptop first.

I'll look into pkg-ng as well. Ya I didn't want to double install and have any conflicts.

Just to clarify, the update-manager only updates PBIs and maybe some PCBSD only stuff, not the ports/pkgs.?

Thanks again.

Edit: It aborted. Not sure what went wrong. Last thing it says is

===>>>You can restart from point of failure with this command line:
portmaster <flags> then it lists the apps

any ideas? Do I need to cd into /usr/ports first?

Edit 2: I think I need to add freebsd repo. Unable to fetch packages by url... can't connect to ftp.freebsd.org