On 9 Feb 2013 at 21:11, Crookedmaze wrote: > On 02/09/2013 08:42 PM, System Administrator wrote: > > OpenBSD is all about KISS (simplicity) -- have you tried running the bi- > > annual release update procedure? have you read (carefully) the FAQ > > section on upgrading? Many users report it takes less than 15 minutes > > to perform a *remote* upgrade. Also you need to mind that OpenBSD does > > not support version rollbacks or offer binary updates to stable. So > > will an additional tool which requires ongoing maintenance and a > > configuration file setup, really add value (simplicity) ? > > > > On 9 Feb 2013 at 20:23, Crookedmaze wrote: > > > > > >> Dear OpenBSD Community, > >> > >> Hello I am wondering if there is a tool similar to FreeBSD-update on > >> OpenBSD? If not are there any reasons for why a tool like this > >> hasn't been developed? Also if there isn't a tool like this > >> (I am pretty sure there isn't one as I have checked) if I were to > >> develop one do you think it would be accepted into OpenBSD? Please > >> let me know what you think! > >> > >> Sincerely, > >> Crookedmaze > >> > >> > >> > Yes, System Administrator I have had a look at the FAQ the reason I am > asking about such a tool is because it seems as if the only way to > update OpenBSD (Errata update wise) is to download a patch from > the errata page and to manually patch the source code then follow the > instructions for applying the patch (Or you could follow stable using > CVS). I just thought it would be easier (and Simpler) if you were > able to patch the version of OpenBSD you are running by simply typing > openbsd-update which would then apply the security update by download > and installing a binary package. I also don't think that it would > require as much overhead as you might think because currently > (OpenBSD 5.2) there has only been one release errata patch and in > OpenBSD 5.1 there was also only one. So it would really only require > a few binary packages (or at most 18 depending on the number of > architectures affected) to be released I am not necessarily talking > about upgrading openbsd to a new release I am more so talking about > simply applying errata patch fixes through binary packages. So I > think this would actually help to simplify the updating process because > it would reduce the number of steps you would have to take to apply > security (and reliability) updates to OpenBSD. Please correct > me if I am wrong (or simply mistaken) but I think this > would definitely help to simply things. > > Sincerely, > Crookedmaze >
While it will probably (but not definitely, as the target audience for OpenBSD is the more technical users) simplify things for some users, it has been deemed to be undue burden for the developers -- the topic of binary updates has come up on the mailing lists a few times in the past and has always concluded the same... I recommend perusing the archives, for example at marc.info. BTW, the overhead mentioned in my original message is that of maintaining the tool itself (for the developers) and configuring it (for the end-users).
