OpenBSD Upgrade Guide: 4.7 to 4.8

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Note: Upgrades are only supported from one release to the release immediately following it. Do not skip releases.

It is highly recommended that you read through and fully understand this process before attempting it. If you are doing it on a critical or physically remote machine, it is recommended that you test this process on an identical, local system to verify its success before attempting on a critical or remote computer.

Upgrading is a convenient way to bring your OpenBSD system up to the most recent version. However, the results are not intended to precisely match the results of a wipe-and-reload installation. Old library files in particular are not removed in the upgrade process, as they may be required by older applications that may or may not be upgraded at this time. If you REALLY wish to get rid of all these old files, you are probably better off reinstalling from scratch.

Table of Contents:

• Before upgrading
  • Softraid metadata change
  • ahci(4) no longer attaches to RAID mode disks
  • Modified kernel
• The upgrade process
• Final steps
  • New and changed Users and Groups
  • Upgrading /etc
  • Merging locally changed files via patch file
  • Merging locally changed files via sysmerge(8)
  • Files to delete
  • Checking the kernel
  • Upgrading packages

Before upgrading: things to think about and be aware of

• Softraid metadata change:
  The metadata format used by softraid(4) has changed since 4.7. We had initially warned that this would require a rebuild of softraid(4) volumes for the 4.7 to 4.8 upgrade, but this is no longer true. Later improvements enabled backwards compatibility, but at the cost of being unable to use some of the upcoming future features of softraid(4). Rebuilding your RAID sets is recommended, but not required.

• ahci(4) no longer attaches to RAID-mode disks:
  To avoid risk of corrupting metadata on certain Intel RAID devices, ahci(4) no longer attaches to the PCI device IDs used by these controllers when set to RAID mode. If your SATA disk is attached to a ahci(4) controller in RAID mode, it will "vanish" as part of the upgrade and require resetting the BIOS controller type to AHCI to get it back.

• Modified kernel:
  Check whether you have made any modifications to your kernel. For example, you might have modified your network device to use a non-default setting using config(8). Note your changes, so you can repeat them for the new 4.8 kernel.

The upgrade process

Upgrading by install kernel

Afterwards, complete the upgrade by following the final steps as detailed below.

One easy way to boot from the install kernel is to place the 4.8 version of bsd.rd in the root of your boot drive, then instruct the boot loader to boot using this new bsd.rd file. On amd64 and i386, you do this by entering "boot bsd.rd" at the initial boot> prompt.

Upgrading without install kernel

Sometimes, one needs to do an upgrade of a machine when one can't easily use the normal upgrade process. The most common case is when the machine is in a remote location and you don't have easy access to the system console. One can usually do this by carefully following this process:

• Place install files in a "good" location. Make sure you have sufficient space!

• Stop any appropriate applications: During this process, all the userland applications will be replaced but may not be runnable, and strange things may happen as a result. If this is a concern to you, shut down any applications that may be impacted. There may be other applications which you wish to keep from running immediately after the upgrade, stop and disable them as well.

• Check the kernel: Although most people can skip this step, if you had a modified kernel in 4.7, it is likely you will need to modify the stock kernel of 4.8. Especially when you are performing the upgrade process remotely, now is the time to make sure the new kernel will work upon rebooting the machine. If any changes must be made to the kernel, the safest thing to do is to make those changes on a local 4.8 system. This can be as simple as modifying a specific device using config(8), or it can involve a recompilation if the option you need is not included in the GENERIC kernel. Please consult FAQ 5 - Building the system from source before deciding to recompile your kernel.

• Install new kernel(s):
  • If using a single processor kernel:

    export RELEASEPATH=/usr/rel   # where you put the files
    cd ${RELEASEPATH}
    rm /obsd ; ln /bsd /obsd && cp bsd /nbsd && mv /nbsd /bsd
    cp bsd.rd bsd.mp /
    

    (note: you will get a harmless error message if your platform doesn't have a bsd.mp):

  • If you are using the multiprocessor kernel:

    export RELEASEPATH=/usr/rel   # where you put the files
    cd ${RELEASEPATH}
    rm /obsd ; ln /bsd /obsd && cp bsd.mp /nbsd && mv /nbsd /bsd
    cp bsd.rd /
    cp bsd /bsd.sp
    

  Note the extra steps for copying over the primary kernel: those are done to ensure that there is always a valid copy of the kernel on the disk that the system can boot from should there be a really badly timed power outage or system crash.

• Save yourself a copy of the old reboot(1) command: You are still running the old kernel, it is possible the new reboot command will not run on the old kernel.

  cp /sbin/reboot /sbin/oreboot
  

• Install new userland applications. Do NOT install etc48.tgz and xetc48.tgz now, because that will overwrite your current configuration files! Note that we are installing base48.tgz LAST, because it will include a new tar(1) utility, which may or may not run on the old kernel. We reboot immediately, as the system is probably barely runnable now.

  tar -C / -xzphf xserv48.tgz
  tar -C / -xzphf xfont48.tgz
  tar -C / -xzphf xshare48.tgz
  tar -C / -xzphf xbase48.tgz
  tar -C / -xzphf game48.tgz
  tar -C / -xzphf misc48.tgz
  tar -C / -xzphf comp48.tgz
  tar -C / -xzphf man48.tgz
  tar -C / -xzphf base48.tgz # Install last!
  /sbin/oreboot
  

  Not all file sets will need to be installed for all applications, however if you installed a file set originally, you should certainly upgrade it with the new file set now.

  Again, the files in /etc are handled separately below, so etc48.tgz and xetc48.tgz are NOT unpacked here.

• After reboot completes, upgrade /dev. The new MAKEDEV file was copied to /dev by the installation of base48.tgz, so you simply need to do the following:

  cd /dev
  ./MAKEDEV all
  

Final steps

1. New Users and Groups

useradd -u 99 -g =uid -c "sndio privsep" -d /var/empty -s /sbin/nologin _sndio
useradd -u 100 -g =uid -c "LDAP Daemon" -d /var/empty -s /sbin/nologin _ldapd
useradd -u 101 -g =uid -c "IKEv2 Daemon" -d /var/empty -s /sbin/nologin _iked

2. Upgrading /etc

You will want to extract the etc48.tgz files to a temporary location:

export RELEASEPATH=/usr/rel
tar -C /tmp -xzphf ${RELEASEPATH}/etc48.tgz

etc/daily
etc/disktab
etc/iked.conf
etc/ksh.kshrc
etc/ldapd.conf
etc/netstart
etc/rc
etc/rc.conf
etc/ldap/*
etc/systrace/usr_sbin_named
var/named/etc/root.hint

cd /tmp/etc 
mkdir -p /etc/ldap/certs
cp daily disktab iked.conf ksh.kshrc ldapd.conf netstart rc rc.conf /etc
cp systrace/usr_sbin_named /etc/systrace
cp ldap/* /etc/ldap
cp ../var/named/etc/root.hint /var/named/etc

3a. Merging locally changed files via a patch file

These files likely have local changes, but should be updated for 4.8. IF you have not altered these files, you can copy over the new version, otherwise the changes should be merged with your files:

etc/changelist
etc/ftpusers
etc/mail/aliases
etc/man.conf
etc/newsyslog.conf
etc/remote
etc/services
etc/ssl/x509v3.cnf
etc/sysctl.conf

cd /
patch -C -p0 < upgrade48.patch

The following files have had changes which should be looked at, but it is unlikely they should be directly copied or merged (i.e., if you are using pf.conf, look at the suggested change of strategy, and decide if it is appropriate for your use).

etc/ldpd.conf

Finally, use newaliases(8) to update the aliases database, mtree(8) create any new directories:

newaliases
mtree -qdef /etc/mtree/4.4BSD.dist -p / -u

3b. Merging locally changed files via sysmerge(8)

The sysmerge(8) utility will compare the files that are actually on your system with those that would be installed to a fresh install, and assist you in merging the changes into your system. Note that unlike the patch file, there are no assumptions made about what is actually on your system, so you can use sysmerge(8) to move between more arbitrary points in the development process, such as from an earlier -current to 4.8-release or from one -current to a later one. Sysmerge(8) compares the current files on your system with the files that would have been installed with a new install, and gives you the option of keeping the old file, installing the new file, or assisting you in the manual merging of the old and new files, using sdiff. You may opt to use sysmerge to make the changes, or you may wish to use the patch file first, and then follow up with a sysmerge session to clean up any loose ends.

Who should use sysmerge(8):
People running highly modified systems or systems that didn't start out at the previous release (for example, a snapshot partway between releases), who are upgrading to a snapshot or who have not carefully upgraded their system in the past will find sysmerge vastly superior to using the patches, as it works with what is actually on your system, instead of what we expected was on your system. It will also give you much greater control over your upgrade process, and will involve you in it more closely.

Who may wish to NOT use sysmerge(8):
With recent improvements in sysmerge, we hope that relatively few people have reason not to use sysmerge(8)!

Please read the sysmerge(8) manual page before using it on your system. You are also advised to read the diff(1), sdiff(1) and even review more(1) manual pages before continuing.

Assuming the etc48.tgz and xetc48.tgz files exists in your $RELEASEPATH, run it with:

sysmerge -s $RELEASEPATH/etc48.tgz -x $RELEASEPATH/xetc48.tgz

  Use 'd' to delete the temporary ./var/www/htdocs/index.html
  Use 'i' to install the temporary ./var/www/htdocs/index.html
  Use 'm' to merge the temporary and installed versions
  Use 'v' to view the diff results again

  Default is to leave the temporary file to deal with by hand

If you wish to retain your existing file, delete the temporary file, if you wish to replace your existing file with the new version, install the temporary file. If you wish to merge the two together, choosing 'm' will put you into sdiff(1), where you can manually merge the file. The default is to come back and deal with the file later, manually.

Sysmerge(8) saves all your replaced files into a temporary directory, similar to /var/tmp/sysmerge.24959/backups, so if you accidentally clobber something that was probably not such a good idea, you have a chance to recover it. Note that daily(8) cleans old files from this directory.

4. Files to delete

rm /usr/include/evdns.h
rm /usr/libdata/perl5/site_perl/*-openbsd/evdns.ph
rm -f /usr/bin/f77 /usr/bin/g77 /usr/include/f2c.h /usr/include/g2c.h \
  /usr/lib/gcc-lib/*-unknown-openbsd*/3.3.5/f771 /usr/lib/libfrtbegin.a \
  /usr/lib/libfrtbegin_p.a /usr/lib/libfrtbegin_pic.a /usr/lib/libg2c.a \
  /usr/lib/libg2c_p.a /usr/lib/libg2c_pic.a /usr/share/info/g77.info \
  /usr/share/man/cat1/f77.0 /usr/share/man/cat1/g77.0
cd /usr/X11R6/include/X11
rm Xaw/Print.h Xaw/PrintSP.h
rm -r XprintAppUtil XprintUtil
cd extensions
rm Print.h Printstr.h XEVIstr.h Xagstr.h Xcupstr.h Xdbeproto.h Xevie.h \
   Xeviestr.h dpmsstr.h lbxdeltastr.h lbxopts.h lbxstr.h lbxzlib.h \
   mitmiscstr.h multibufst.h securstr.h shapestr.h shmstr.h syncstr.h \
   xteststr.h xtrapbits.h xtrapddmi.h xtrapdi.h xtrapemacros.h \
   xtraplib.h xtraplibp.h xtrapproto.h
cd /usr/X11R6/lib/pkgconfig
rm evieproto.pc lbxutil.pc printproto.pc trapproto.pc xaw8.pc \
   xevie.pc xp.pc xprintapputil.pc xprintutil.pc xtrap.pc
rm /usr/X11R6/share/aclocal/xaw.m4

5. Checking the kernel

If you followed the instructions for the upgrade process without install kernel, you have already completed this step. However, if you used the install kernel, and if you had a modified kernel in 4.7, it is likely you will need to modify the stock kernel of 4.8. This can be as simple as modifying a specific device using config(8), or it can involve a recompilation if the option you need is not included in the GENERIC kernel. Please consult FAQ 5 - Building the system from source before considering to recompile your kernel.

6. Upgrading packages

The following packages are known to have significant upgrade issues that will impact a large number of users. The fact that a package is not on this list doesn't mean it will have a trivial upgrade. You must do some homework on the applications YOU use.

• kqemu: Must be kept in sync with the kernel. pkg_delete prior to the upgrade, then pkg_add the new package once the upgrade has been completed.
• Dovecot: Dovecot has been updated from 1.1.20 to 1.2.11. The configuration file changed and the old cmusieve plugin has been removed in favor of the new Dovecot sieve implementation. The commit log entry has more details.
• Samba: The default user database backend for the Samba port has changed. If you currently use smbpasswd, you must either adjust your configuration, or convert your database. See README.OpenBSD for more information.
• Firefox: The main mozilla-firefox package was updated from 3.0 to 3.6. Although most people will have no problem with the update, some have seen problems with Firefox not functioning correctly. In this case it may be necessary to create a new profile: see /usr/local/mozilla-firefox/README.OpenBSD for more details. Also note that the Java plugins do not yet support Firefox 3.6; in this case you should instead use the 3.5 package: pkg_add firefox35. Both versions of Firefox may be installed in parallel.

The package tools support in-place updating using pkg_add -u. For instance, to update all your packages, make sure PKG_PATH is pointing to the 4.8 packages directory on your CD or nearest FTP mirror, and use something like

pkg_add -ui

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