Re: Upgrading from 10.0 to 10.1

[Liam Proven <lproven%gmail.com@localhost>]

On 13/10/2025 1:28 am, RVP wrote:
> I would also add,
>
> 4) Copy the new EFI bootloader files to the NetBSD EFI ESP partition (if
>     running EFI). (sysinst(8) updates the BIOS bootloader when you run it
>     from an installation medium, but, doesn't for EFI boots.):

No UEFI here. I avoid it if possible and my test machine is from 2008. 
It's too old to have it.

> I think this is where it all started to fall apart. This should _not_ take
> hours. This, usually, is a sign that IPv6 isn't working correctly: either
> the ISP doesn't do this right, or their dinky router is mis-configured.

I'm not using a router from my ISP, but an old one I got for free: it's 
a Technicolor DGA0122 with firmware 19.4.

I do not think my ISP uses IPv6 and I do not have it active as far as I 
know.

Nothing in what minimal documentation I could find mentions any need for 
IPv6, as far as I recall.

> FWIW, I did an upgrade, just now, of 10.0-RELEASE to the latest 10.1-STABLE
> using the installation media (.iso image in QEMU) and it all went 
> smoothly. 

How does one do that on bare metal? Can you point me at any 
documentation? I did not know that was an option.

The docs on this in general are... deeply inadequate.



> The
> only manual step was running `etcupdate' after upgrade. But, this is a 
> manual
> step in any case.

It is?  Is that discussed anywhere?


> I use this procedure to upgrade my NetBSD (I have a script for this, of 
> course):
>
> https://www.unitedbsd.com/d/820-updating-netbsd-too-embaressed-to-ask/4

Ye gods! That is _shockingly_ complex.

I think as far as curious readers who are thinking of exploring NetBSD 
go, then I am probably at the stage of telling people:

"Currently NetBSD is at a comparable level of sophistication to 9front: 
upgrading means manually rebuilding your system, and you'll need a 
considerable level of proficiency to even try. Until you acquire this, 
then for now, the only easy way to upgrade to a new version of NetBSD is 
to reinstall it."

I am, TBH, a bit taken aback that such measures are needed in the 2020s. 
I have done manual file-by-file OS upgrades in the past, and written 
scripts to automate it, but that was in the early 1990s.


> Note that this is for moving along the same branch, 10.0 -> 10.1, etc. 
> If you
> go from 10.x to 11.x, then you'll have to: install the kernel, modules, 
> gpufw,
> bootloader (ideally); reboot into this; then upgrade the rest of the 
> sets when
> running the new kernel. (Of course, you don't need to worry about any of 
> this
> if you upgrade using one of the installation media.)

Gosh.

I think that at my current level of skill in NetBSD, this is beyond me.

I have been building, installing and maintaining production Unix boxes 
since my first job in 1988, but I was not expecting to have to 
re-acquire such skills today.

I am a bit shocked, TBH.

A few years ago I wrote an article that did quite well about the most 
complex manual upgrade I've read about in decades: of maybe the oldest 
running Debian system.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/25/ancient_linux_install_upgraded/


It was based on  Ian Jackson's own blog post:

https://diziet.dreamwidth.org/11840.html

I just added a lot of explanation of what he was talking about.

I am taken aback that a manual upgrade from a clean unused install of 
NetBSD 10 to 10.1 requires anything in the same ballpark. I was 
expecting a single command, TBH.


--
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