This is a generic question that I cannot find any answers to by reading the documentation.

Let's say I have FreeBSD-12.4-RELEASE with the latest iRedMail installed. Now, 12.4 reaches EOL and I have to upgrade my FreeBSD to 13.2-RELEASE. According to this guide https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handb … ting-edge/ after major/minor upgrades I have to either use pkg (for binary installs) or portmaster/portupgrade (for ports installs) to install/rebuild all packages against the base system.

Now, I know for a fact that iRedMail uses the ports system. But, when I run the same installer from iRedMail it fails (I know also it's recommended to run the installer on a fresh install the first time). For example, it says package, xyz already installed. Or, the original install, installs PostgreSQL 12 but when I run the installer on the upgraded OS it tries to install PostgreSQL 15 (the FreeBSD default has been bumped). So, basically, the install script is useless in such a scenario.

And, also for packages as well. Some packages in FreeBSD face security vulnerabilities while still there's no new version of iRedMail. Is it safe to use portmaster/portupgrade to keep those packages updated?

I've also seen the iRedMail upgrade guide https://docs.iredmail.org/iredmail.releases.html and it's mostly about config files and keeps iRedMail components updated. So, it would be insightful to know how can we keep the OS and packages updated with iRedMail installed.