1: # Updating an existing system from sources
2:
3: A common mechanism for upgrading a NetBSD system to a newer version is by
4: rebuilding the system from sources and installing the results. This works both
5: for stable releases such as [NetBSD 5.0](/releases/formal-5/) and for
6: NetBSD-current. In particular, if you are running a stable NetBSD release in a
7: production environment, you are encouraged to perform this procedure regularly
8: in order to incorporate any security fixes that have been applied to the branch
9: since its release.
10:
11: There are a variety of ways of achieving the goal of rebuilding NetBSD from
12: source, and this chapter will guide you through the variety of options that are
13: available. The chapter starts by showing first what the manual procedure looks
14: like, and proceeds to describe some of automation tools that simplify the
15: process.
16:
17: ### Note
18:
19: *Please remember to check
20: [src/UPDATING](http://cvsweb.NetBSD.org/bsdweb.cgi/src/UPDATING) for the latest
21: changes and special instructions that may be involved in upgrading the system.*
22:
23: ## Manual build and update procedure
24:
25: Most of the following steps can be done as ordinary user. Only the installation
26: of a new kernel and the userland will require root privileges. Although `/usr`
27: is choosen as the working directory in the following examples, the procedure
28: can also take place in a user's home directory. Ordinary users have normally
29: not the permissions to make changes in `/usr`, but this can be changed by root.
30:
31: Having up-to-date sources is a prerequisite for the following steps.
32: [[Fetching by CVS|guide/fetch#cvs] informs about the ways to retrieve or update
33: the sources for a release, stable or current branch (using CVS).
34:
35: Please always refer to the output of **build.sh -h** and the files `UPDATING`
36: and `BUILDING` for details - it's worth it, there are *many* options that can
37: be set on the command line or in `/etc/mk.conf`
38:
39: ### Building a new userland
40:
41: The first step is to build the userland:
42:
43: $ cd /usr/src
44: $ ./build.sh -O ../obj -T ../tools -U distribution
45:
46: ### Building a new kernel
47:
48: The next step will build the kernel:
49:
50: $ cd /usr/src
51: $ ./build.sh -O ../obj -T ../tools kernel=<KERNEL>
52:
53: ### Installing the kernel and userland
54:
55: Installing the new kernel, rebooting (to ensure that the new kernel works) and
56: installing the new userland are the final steps of the updating procedure:
57:
58: $ cd /usr/src
59: $ su
60: # mv /netbsd /netbsd.old
61: # mv /usr/obj/sys/arch/<ARCH>/compile/<KERNEL>/netbsd /
62: # shutdown -r now
63: ...
64: $ cd /usr/src
65: $ su
66: # ./build.sh -O ../obj -T ../tools -U install=/
67:
68: If the new kernel `netbsd` does not boot successfully, you can fall back on
69: booting the `netbsd.old` kernel.
70:
71: ### Updating the system configuration files
72:
73: Run the `etcupdate` script
74: ([etcupdate(8)](http://netbsd.gw.com/cgi-bin/man-cgi?etcupdate+8+NetBSD-5.0.1+i386))
75: and follow the instructions in the output for fixing obsolete files:
76:
77: # /usr/sbin/etcupdate -s /usr/src
78:
79: Optionally reboot to ensure all running services are using the new binaries:
80:
81: # shutdown -r now
82:
83: ### Summary
84:
85: 1. From the root of the source tree:
86:
87: $ cd /usr/src
88:
89: 2. Build the userland:
90:
91: $ ./build.sh -O ../obj -T ../tools -U -u distribution
92:
93: 3. Build the kernel:
94:
95: $ ./build.sh -O ../obj -T ../tools -U -u kernel=GENERIC
96:
97: 4. Install the kernel:
98:
99: $ cd ../obj/sys/arch/<ARCH>/compile/GENERIC
100: $ su
101: # mv /netbsd /netbsd.old
102: # cp netbsd /netbsd
103:
104: 5. Reboot into the new kernel:
105:
106: # shutdown -r now
107:
108: 6. Install the new userland:
109:
110: $ cd /usr/src
111: $ su
112: # ./build.sh -O ../obj -T ../tools -U install=/
113:
114: 7. Update the system and configuration files;:
115:
116: # /usr/sbin/etcupdate -s /usr/src
117:
118: ### Note
119:
120: In the procedure above, the `-u` option indicates an update process, and that a
121: `make clean` operation should not be run before starting the build. This is
122: useful when doing an update from a previous build and/or a fresh build. The
123: `-U` option allows the entire build by a non-root user followed with an install
124: by root.
125:
126: ## Using sysinst
127:
128: It is also possible to use `sysinst` to install a freshly built system. The
129: steps are as follows:
130:
131: 1. Build a complete release:
132:
133: $ ./build.sh -O ../obj -T ../tools -U -u -x release
134:
135: 2. The resulting install sets will be in the `/usr/obj/releasedir/` directory.
136: 3. Copy the install kernel to the root directory of your NetBSD system, reboot
137: from it, and upgrade with `sysinst` (see
138: [[Upgrading NetBSD|guide/upgrading]]).
139:
140:
141: ## Using sysbuild and sysupgrade
142:
143: The sysbuild and sysupgrade tools (currently available in
144: `pkgsrc/sysutils/sysbuild` and `pkgsrc/sysutils/sysupgrade` respectively)
145: automate the full process of rebuilding NetBSD from sources (*including the
146: retrieval of the sources from a CVS repository*) and installing the results
147: with minimal effort.
148:
149: Both of these tools have configuration files to determine how to build a
150: release and how to install it. Among other things, these specify the CVS
151: repository to use, what architecture to build for, where to place the build
152: files and what steps to perform during an upgrade. The files can be found in
153: `/usr/pkg/etc/sysbuild/default.conf` and `/usr/pkg/etc/sysupgrade.conf`. The
154: default configuration of both tools should let you get started with minimal
155: effort.
156:
157: In their simplest form, you can do a full NetBSD build and upgrade your system
158: to it by running these commands:
159:
160: # sysbuild build
161: # sysupgrade auto ~/sysbuild/release/$(uname -m)
162:
163: And that's all that it takes. These invocations will do the following:
164:
165: 1. Download the source trees from CVS into `/usr/src` and `/usr/xsrc`. The
166: latter is only fetched if your system has X11. And, if you already have
167: the sources in your system, this will only update them to the newest
168: version.
169: 2. Build a new release into `~/sysbuild/<machine>/`. This per-machine
170: directory will include subdirectories like `obj`, `destdir`, etc. The
171: build results will be left in `~/sysbuild/release/<machine>/`.
172: 3. Install a new kernel and unpack the new sets using the just-built release
173: files.
174: 4. Run both etcupdate and postinstall to aid you in merging new configuration
175: changes into your system.
176:
177: For more details, please see the included `sysbuild(1)` and `sysupgrade(8)`
178: manual pages, as well as the comments in the referenced configuration files.
179:
180: ### Tweak: Building as non-root
181:
182: The commands above depict the most basic and simple invocation of the tools
183: using the *default configuration files*. One drawback is that you require root
184: access during the build of the source tree so that sysbuild can upgrade the
185: source trees under `/usr/src` and `/usr/xsrc`. It is recommended that you avoid
186: building as root once you are familiar with the procedure, and this section
187: show what is needed to do so with sysbuild.
188:
189: In order to build as non-root, you can either choose to store your source trees
190: out of `/usr` (easiest) or give permissions to your user to modify the trees
191: under `/usr` (good if you want to share the source tree with more than one
192: user).
193:
194: If you want to store the source trees under your home directory, which is
195: convenient for development purposes, simply edit `/usr/pkg/etc/sysbuild.conf`
196: and add these settings:
197:
198: SRCDIR="${HOME}/sysbuild/src"
199: [ ! -f /etc/mtree/set.xbase ] || XSRCDIR="${HOME}/sysbuild/xsrc"
200:
201: Once this is done, the `sysbuild build` invocation show above should just work
202: under your unprivileged user. The upgrade procedure then becomes:
203:
204: $ sysbuild build
205: ... become root ...
206: # sysupgrade auto ~/sysbuild/release/$(uname -m)
207:
208: The other alternative, in case you want to maintain your source trees in the
209: locations described by
210: [hier(7)](http://netbsd.gw.com/cgi-bin/man-cgi?hier+7+NetBSD-5.0.1+i386), is
211: to do the following as root:
212:
213: # mkdir -p /usr/src /usr/xsrc
214: # chown -R <your-user>:wsrc /usr/src /usr/xsrc
215: ... and optionally add <your-user> to wsrc in /etc/group ...
216:
217: After this, the default configuration file of sysbuild will let you place the
218: files in these locations and let you do unprivileged builds.
219:
220: *Note*: If you have an an encrypted home partition, or another "special"
221: filesystem you store your sources on, you should backup them! In case of a
222: failed build you might want to have access to them.
223:
224: ### Tweak: Setting up nightly builds
225:
226: The `pkgsrc/sysutils/sysbuild-user` package can be used to configure and
227: maintain an unprivileged system user to perform periodic (e.g. nightly) builds
228: from source. This can come in very handy to closely track NetBSD-current.
229:
230: The installed user is appropriately named sysbuild, and is configured by
231: default to run a full system build overnight. The results are left in
232: `/home/sysbuild/release/<machine>/`, which is the convenient default of
233: sysupgrade's release directory. Any build failures will be reported to you by
234: email.
235:
236: The behavior of sysbuild for this unprivileged user is configured in
237: `/home/sysbuild/default.conf`.
238:
239: You can interact with sysbuild under this unprivileged user by running
240: commands of the form:
241:
242: # su - sysbuild /usr/pkg/bin/sysbuild ...
243:
244: ## More details about the updating of configuration and startup files
245:
246: [etcupdate(8)](http://netbsd.gw.com/cgi-bin/man-cgi?etcupdate+8+NetBSD-current)
247: is a script to help users compare, merge and install new configuration and
248: startup files (files found in the `etc.tgz` distribution set) in `/dev`, `/etc`
249: and `/root` after performing an operating system upgrade. The upgrade of the
250: operating system could have been performed either by compiling sources or by
251: extracting the distribution binaries.
252:
253: ### Using etcupdate with source files
254:
255: In case where the sources are in `/usr/src` the following command should be enough:
256:
257: # etcupdate
258:
259: But what if your NetBSD sources are in an alternative location, such as in
260: `/home/jdoe/netbsd/src`? Don't worry, tell etcupdate the location of your
261: source tree with `-s srcdir` and it will work just fine:
262:
263: # etcupdate -s /home/jdoe/netbsd/src
264:
265: ### Using etcupdate with binary distribution sets
266:
267: Sometimes it's not convenient to have the sources around but you still want to
268: update the configuration and startup files. The solution is to feed `etc.tgz`
269: (or `xetc.tgz`) to etcupdate via the `-s tgzfile` switch:
270:
271: # etcupdate -s /some/where/etc.tgz
272:
273: ### Using `etcmanage` instead of `etcupdate`
274:
275: The `etcmanage` perl script (available from
276: [pkgsrc/sysutils/etcmanage](http://pkgsrc.se/sysutils/etcmanage) or as binary
277: package) is an alternative to etcupdate(8). It should be used in the following
278: way, in combination with
279: [postinstall(8)](http://netbsd.gw.com/cgi-bin/man-cgi?postinstall+8+NetBSD-5.0.1+i386):
280:
281: # /usr/pkg/bin/etcmanage
282: # /usr/sbin/postinstall
283:
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