Re: system updates

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

On 7/24/24 11:12 AM, Louis Guillaume wrote:

> On
>       7/24/24 11:54 AM, Will Senn wrote:
>       
> > 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
> >         
> >       
>       
>       I'm not familiar with zfs but apparently netbsd-10 supports a zfs
>       root filesystem?? I'm not sure.
>       
>       
>       I use good ol' dump/restore for backups, and Raidframe for
>       redundancy.
>       
>       
>       If you have your filesystems in raid-1 you can always break the
>       mirror for easy restore if your upgrade goes sideways. But that's
>       more like redundancy/failure protection, not backup!
>       
>       
>       --
>       
>       Louis
>       
>       
>     
    ZFS on root is good. I
      have been exploring too many bsd's lately - I was thinking netbsd
      didn't do zfs, but it does, yay. that's awesome. Putting it on
      root's tricky though... if this is up-to-date -
      https://wiki.netbsd.org/root_on_zfs/. 
      
      Will