Re: system updates

[Will Senn <will.senn%gmail.com@localhost>]

On 7/24/24 10:45 AM, Louis Guillaume wrote:

> On
>       7/24/24 12:17 AM, Will Senn wrote:
>       
> > Hi,
> >         
> >         
> >         NetBSD newb here. I know FreeBSD well, a bit about OpenBSD, and
> >         lots about Linux. My question is after installing, how do I
> >         check for updates to the system itself and get them installed
> >         (security updates, kernel updates, etc)... or is this not a
> >         thing with NetBSD? I figure packages are updatable via the pkg
> >         management tools (pkg_add/pkgsrc) doing my research on this as
> >         we speak.
> >         
> >         
> >         Help appreciated and if there's a common set of procedures folks
> >         follow, that'd be good to know, too... in freebsd:
> >         freebsd_update fetch install for system updates, pkg update
> >         && pkg upgrade for packages and mint: apt update
> >         && apt upgrade for the same sorts of updates... that
> >         kind of thing.
> >         
> >         
> >         Thanks,
> >         
> >         
> >         Will
> >         
> >       
>       
>       Hi Will,
>       
>       
>       Here is my procedure for upgrading NetBSD from the "stable"
>       branches' nightly builds.
>       
>       
>       1. Make a backup
>       
>       
>       2. Update the kernel
>       
>       
>          # cd /
>       
>          # mv netbsd netbsd-10
>       
>          # ftp -V -o "|pax -zrvpe"
> http://nyftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD-daily/netbsd-10/latest/amd64/binary/sets/kern-GENERIC.tar.xz
>       
>          You'll have to make sure the right version, architecture and
>       kernel
>       
>          are part of the path. There is also a "kernel" directory
>       alongside
>       
>          "sets" with zipped kernels if you need something other than
>       GENERIC.
>       
>       
>       3. Reboot (to single user mode may be best, but that's not
>       strictly
>       
>          necessary. Maybe for production servers to keep the services
>       off).
>       
>          Also when upgrading from say netbsd-9 to netbsd-10 - it might
>       be a
>       
>          good idea to update from single user.
>       
>       
>          From single user mode you'll have to at least start the network
>       so
>       
>          we can get to the NetBSD distribution.
>       
>       
>          # mount -uw /
>       
>          # /etc/rc.d/network start
>       
>       
>         (this may or may not be enough, depending on the machine)
>       
>       
>       4. Assuming the system came back up and is on the network, update
>       the
>       
>          sets. Look in /etc/mtree to see which sets were installed on
>       this
>       
>          machine:
>       
>       
>          # ls /etc/mtree
>       
>          NetBSD.dist set.base    set.etc     set.man     set.misc
>       
>          set.modules set.rescue  set.text    special
>       
>       
>          Excluding the "etc" set, retrieve and unpack all sets...
>       
>       
>          # cd /
>       
>          # for i in base man misc modules rescue text ;do
>       
>          > ftp -V -o "|pax -zrvpe"
> http://nyftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD-daily/netbsd-10/latest/amd64/binary/sets/{i}.tar.xz
>          > done
>       
>       
>       5. Now retrieve (but don't unpack) the etc set and run "etcupdate"
>       
>       
>          # cd /tmp
>       
>          # ftp
> http://nyftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD-daily/netbsd-10/latest/amd64/binary/sets/etc.tar.xz
>       
>          # etcupdate -s etc.tar.xz
>       
>       
>          "etcupdate" will walk you through all updated/modified/new
>       
>          configurations and will give you an opportunity to merge your
>       
>          changes in. It also runs "postinstall", which will remove
>       obsolete
>       
>          files from the system.
>       
>       
>       6. Update device nodes:
>       
>       
>          # cd /dev
>       
>          # sh MAKEDEV all
>       
>       
>       7. Reboot the system. If it comes up, you're all done!
>       
>       
>       For pkgsrc upgrades, look at "pkgin" (for binary updates, fairly
>       similar to apt-get) and "pkg_rolling-replace" for updating
>       packages from source.
>       
>       
>       
>       --
>       
>       Louis
>       
>     
    
      Louis,
      
      Very nice detail. Backup... hmmm. I'm used to using zfs... where
      backing up is zfs  send and restore is zfs receive - no bits lost
      in a decade or more. Any recommendations for netbsd?
      
      Will