Re: aarch64 or earmv7hf on RPi 3B+

[Greg Troxel <gdt%lexort.com@localhost>]

"Luis P. Mendes" <luislupe%gmx.com@localhost> writes:

> I'd like to install NetBSD instead of Linux on my Raspberry Pi 3B+ to
> be used as a SOHO router, firewall, dns server and something more.
> I use FreeBSD for my server needs in amd64 platform, and my experience
> with NetBSD is just for a couple of installs in the past, so please,
> I'd be great to have a bit more of explanation, please.
>
> For aarch64, I've read that I need to install -current.
> 1- My first question is regarding system updating.  Can the system be
> upgraded from within it, or do I need to dd a different image each
> time losing all configurations done meanwhile?

Yes.  There are various approaches sysupgrade (I think) and "etcmanage"
in pkgsrc (that I use and helped write).  For all, the normal upgrade
methods almost certainly lack support for putting new versions of kernel
and special boot files into the boot partition, but you can script that
or do it by hand.

I have a RPI3B that I have been updating along netbsd-8 with no issues.
I wrote a script to put the kernel into /boot/kernel7.img.  I have not
dealt with updating start.elf and other things.

> 2- If the former, what is the advised way to upgrade the system?

My advice is to install etcmanage from pkgsrc and read the BUILD- and
INSTALL-NetBSD scripts carefully and then the docs for the commands they
run.  I suggest reading INSTALL-NetBSD even if you don't want to use it.

Others will advise you to run sysupgrade, also in pkgsrc.

Basically these are similar at a high level, being:
1) putting a new kernel in place (manual so far)
2) unpacking the sets in place, except for etc and xetc.
3) doing something to merge etc and xetc changes to your system, without
overwriting your changes.  This is exactly why etcmanage was designed.

> 3- Is is any different for this platform to upgrade a current aarch64
> or a earmv7hf 8.1 system?

I don't think so.  The scary/hard part is the manual updating of kernel
and other files, and those are probably a bit different.

> 4- Regarding aarch64, that I'd prefer to get the maximum from the CPU,
> can I expect the same number of packages available as for earmv7hf?

I would say no, there will be fewer, because earmv7hf is normal now and
aarch64 is still a bit bleeding edge.

In general, for a machine that you want to reliably perform some task,
and that you don't want to deal with issues, I would recommend
1) run earv7hf, not aarch64 (for now)
2) get a second one, install the same os, and do upgrades on it first,
and then if ok, upgrade the one that matters.

I may already be off base about aarch64.  Surely I will be in 2 years.
The question is when it becomes as reliable and the package count is as
high.

> 5- Apart from http://wiki.netbsd.org/ports/evbarm/raspberry_pi/ that
> has a lot of \todo to be done, is there any guide to install NetBSD to
> RPi 3B+ that you'd recommend?

No, otherwise I would have put it there.

But seriously, there are message by ebijun periodically about RPI builds
that have packages, linked from the above, that you should also read.