Upgrading to OpenBSD-current

This entry is based on a blog post by Michael Lucas, with a variation supplied as a comment to the post by Peter Hansteen.

This technique uses snapshots to move to current. Snapshosts are described in the OpenBSD FAQ.

• Identify the best/closest mirror site (from the OpenBSD mirror list. For me this is www.mirrorservice.org. Create a directory to hold the downloaded files and make in the current directory. Invoke ftp to connect to the mirror and download the snapshot files:

        $ ftp ftp.mirrorservice.org
        [login details]
        ftp> cd pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/i386
        ftp> prompt
        ftp> mget bsd*
        ftp> mget *.tgz
        ftp> quit
        $ 
      

  Verify the checksum of the downloaded files:

        cksum -a sha256 *
      

• In the dowload directory:

        $ sudo cp bsd.rd /  # copy snapshot version of ramdisk image to root
        $ sudo sysmerge -s etc51.tgz -x xetc51.tgz
      

• Reboot the machine and at the boot prompt, type:

        boot> boot bsd.rd
      

  This will get you to the installer prompt.

• The install dialog will look a bit like this:

        (I) Install, (U) Upgrade or (S) Shell?  U
        Choose your keyboard layout ('?' or 'l' for list) [default] uk
        Available disks are: wd0 wd1 wd2 wd3.
        Which is the root disk? (or 'done') [wd0] wd2
        Root filesystem? [wd2a] wd2a
        [Checks root file system and mounts ...]
        Do you want to do any manual network configuration? [no] no
        Force checking on clean non-root filesystems? [no] no
        [fsck and mounting takes place ...]
        Let's upgrade the sets!
        Location of sets? (cd disk ftp http or 'done') [cd] disk
        Is the disk partition already mounted? [no] yes
        Pathname to the sets? (or 'done') [5.1/i386] /mnt/home/mark/openbsd51
        INSTALL.i386 not found.  Use sets found here anyway? [no] yes
        [Lists selected sets; all but bsd.mp selected ...]
        Set names? (or 'abort' or 'done') [done] done
        [Sets installed...]
        Location of sets? (cd disk ftp http or 'done') [done] done
        [Makes device nodes ...]
        Please run sysmerge(8) after rebooting to repair your /etc configuration.
        # reboot
      

• The next step to to ensure your packages are upgraded to the same version of the OS:

        # export PKG_PATH=http://www.mirrorservice.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/packages/i386
        # pkg_add -ui
      

And that's it.