>>> I would suggest installing a snapshot of 4.0_BETA2.  See
>>> http://www.netbsd.org/docs/current/ for where to get them.
>>>
>>> Today, look in
>>>
>>> ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD-daily/netbsd-4/200708040002Z/iso/
>>>
>>> This is the contents of the netbsd-4 branch from two days ago.  Since
>>> you are intending to learn rather than set up a production server, there
>>> aren't really any good reasons to stay on the stable branch.
>>
>> And if I keep updating this as usual, then when 4.0 gets released
>> there won't be anything extra to do, right?
>
> I'm not sure what you mean 'as usual'.  4.0 release will likely be quite
> close to the current beta.  So doing a full build/install from sources
> won't be a big deal - updating along stable branches in NetBSD has been
> very safe and reliable in my experience.  Upgrades across branches are
> amazingly good, but along branches I do a rebuild/reinstall/reboot
> remotely sometimes.

I meant keeping NetBSD up-to-date as usual. I'd assume through cvsup etc, 
following this NetBSD-4 branch. (I'm not sure how exactly one would keep 
up-to-date, hence this vague description).

So what I understand is that if I install one of the daily ISOs from the 
NetBSD-4 branch and then keep updating it through cvsup or whatever, when 
NetBSD-4 final is released I won't have to do anything extra. Right?

Possibly a naive/ uninformed question: One updates NetBSD by downloading 
the source code changes and then compiling the whole system, right? Would 
that mean a lot of compiling daily since there would be updates every day 
...?

Thanks,
Rakhesh