1: # Upgrading NetBSD
2:
3: This chapter describes the binary upgrade of a NetBSD system. There are a
4: variety of alternatives to perform this procedure, and the following sections
5: will guide you through them.
6:
7: ## Using sysinst
8:
9: ### Overview
10:
11: To do the upgrade, you must have some form of bootable media (CD-ROM, USB
12: drive, network, etc.) available and at least the base and kern distribution
13: sets. Since files already installed on the system are overwritten in place,
14: you only need additional free space for files which weren't previously
15: installed or to account for growth of the sets between releases. Usually this
16: is not more than a few megabytes.
17:
18: ### Note
19:
20: Since upgrading involves replacing the kernel, boot blocks, and most of the
21: system binaries, it has the potential to cause data loss. Before beginning,
22: you are strongly advised to back up any important data on the NetBSD partition
23: or on any other partitions on your disk, most importantly `/etc`.
24:
25: The upgrade procedure is similar to an installation, but without the hard disk
26: partitioning. sysinst will attempt to merge the settings stored in your `/etc`
27: directory with the new version of NetBSD. Also, file systems are checked
28: before unpacking the sets. Fetching the binary sets is done in the same manner
29: as in the installation procedure.
30:
31: ### The INSTALL document
32:
33: Before doing an upgrade it is essential to read the release information and
34: upgrading notes in one of the `INSTALL` files: this is the official
35: description of the upgrade procedure, with platform specific information and
36: important details. It can be found in the root directory of the NetBSD release
37: (on the install CD or on the FTP server).
38:
39: It is advisable to print the INSTALL document out. It is available in four
40: formats: `.txt`, `.ps`, `.more`, and `.html`.
41:
42: ### Performing the upgrade
43:
44: The following section provides an overview of the binary upgrade process. Most
45: of the following sysinst dialogs are similar to those of the installation
46: process. More verbose descriptions and explanations of the dialogs are
47: available in [[Example installation|guide/exinst]].
48:
49: After selecting the installation language and the keyboard type, the main menu
50: appears. Choosing option `b: Upgrade NetBSD on a hard disk` will start the the
51: upgrade process.
52:
53: 
54:
55: This dialog will request permission to continue with the upgrade. At this point
56: nothing has been changed yet and the upgrade can still be cancelled. This is a
57: good time to ask yourself whether you have made a backup, and if you know for
58: certain that you will be able to restore from it.
59:
60: 
61:
62: After choosing to continue with `Yes`, the next dialog will ask you to specify
63: the hard disk with the NetBSD system that shall be upgraded. If more than one
64: disk is available a list of the disks will be displayed.
65:
66: 
67:
68: The system used for the example has only one hard disk available: `wd0`.
69:
70: The following dialog provides a menu to choose the installation type. The
71: choices are `Full installation`, `Minimal installation`, or `Custom
72: installation`.
73:
74: 
75:
76: At this point, sysinst will perform a check of the file system to ensure its
77: integrity.
78:
79: 
80:
81: The next step is to choose which type of bootblocks to install.
82:
83: 
84:
85: The next dialog will ask how much information should be displayed during the
86: extraction of the distribution sets.
87:
88: 
89:
90: The following dialog asks for the install method of choice and provides a list
91: of possible options. The install medium contains the new NetBSD distribution
92: sets. You will be prompted for different information depending on which option
93: you choose. For example, a CD-ROM or DVD install requires you to specify which
94: device to use and which directory the sets are in, while an FTP install
95: requires you to configure your network and specify the hostname of an FTP
96: server. More details can be found in
97: [[Choosing the installation media|guide/exinst#choosing_the_installation_media]].
98:
99: 
100:
101: sysinst will now unpack the distribution sets, replacing your old binaries.
102: After unpacking these sets, it runs the postinstall script to clean up various
103: things. If no problems occur, you are done. If postinstall produces errors, you
104: will have to manually resolve the issues it brings up. See postinstall's man
105: page for more information. You should also read the remarks in `INSTALL` about
106: upgrading, as specific compatibility issues are documented there.
107:
108: 
109:
110: When you are back at the main menu, remove the boot medium (if applicable) and
111: reboot. Have fun with your new version of NetBSD!
112:
113: ## Using sysupgrade
114:
115: The sysupgrade utility (currently found in `pkgsrc/sysutils/sysupgrade`) allows
116: you to upgrade a running system to a newer binary release.
117:
118: ### Note
119:
120: Please be aware that, as of August 2012, sysupgrade is a farily new tool and is
121: still undergoing field testing. Use with care. In particular, upgrades across
122: major binary releases might not work properly yet because of the lack of a
123: reboot between the kernel installation and the unpacking of the sets. That said,
124: you may find this tool very convenient to track NetBSD-current or stable NetBSD
125: branches.
126:
127: One of the benefits of sysupgrade is that it is an integrated and
128: almost-unattended solution: the tool fetches the new kernel and distribution
129: sets from remote sites if you desire and performs the upgrade without user
130: intervention until new changes to the configuration files need to be merged.
131:
132: Let's assume you are running NetBSD/amd64 6.0 and you wish to upgrade to NetBSD
133: 6.1. The procedure to do so would be to run the following command:
134:
135: # sysupgrade auto ftp://ftp.NetBSD.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-6.1/amd64
136:
137:
138: And that's all that it takes. This will proceed to download the kernel and
139: sets appropriate for your machine, unpack them and assist you in merging new
140: configuration changes. Do not forget to reboot afterwards.
141:
142: For more details, please see the included sysupgrade(8) manual page and the
143: `/usr/pkg/etc/sysupgrade.conf` configuration file.
144:
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