Re: system updates

[Louis Guillaume <louis%zabrico.com@localhost>]

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