On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 b311b-netbsd@theotherbell.com wrote:

> I've been browsing the web site for information on how to upgrade my
> 1.5.2 install to 1.6.2 but can't find anything.  Do I need to start from
> scratch and reconfigure everything?  Do I need to download source and
> patch everything?  What's the easiest way to proceed?

Check the installation notes, at the top level of the distribution,
for your platform. E.g:

   ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-1.6.2/i386/INSTALL.html

On most platforms, you boot the installer from either floppy disk or
CD-ROM, then you choose the "upgrade" option and install the sets from
either the internet or CD-ROM.

The "upgrade" option takes care of some mundane duties such as
upgrading the boot blocks and removing obsolete files. It also still
does the annoying thing of moving your "/etc" directory to "/etc.old"
and building a new "/etc". There's a utility, etcupdate(8), to help
merge "/etc", but it isn't integrated with the installer, yet. I would
therefore, move "/etc.old" back to "/etc", unpack "etc.tgz" to a temp
directory, and feed that to "etcupdate -b" (after the installer has
done its thing). Also be warned that the upgrade option overwrites
root's ".profile" and crontab, so mind the direction to back up.

> P.S.  I installed it about 3 years ago on some unused hardware, got it
> configured and it's been running ever since -- I think I've rebooted it
> twice.  I don't know of any other software that's earned the
> install-configure-forget designation.  Someone deserves a lot of credit.

Wow, that's a tough act to follow. Hope you like 1.6.2 even better.

Frederick