On Thu, Oct 05, 2023 at 12:45:56PM -0400, Ronald Dahlgren wrote: > Hello friends, > > I’ve been running -current for several months now. Recently I started using > “-D snap” when updating packages with pkg_add. > > I ask the list to help me understand what, if anything, I need to do with > my machines that run snapshots when 7.4 is released. Will I need to perform > the upgrade procedures differently? Is the release just a blessed snapshot > and everything will continue to work as-is?
The way OpenBSD versions is run is very confusing for lots of people. Specifically, OpenBSD decides whether it's running "bleeding edge" current (snapshot) or a release/stable based on what the kernel says. Most of the time, this is straightforward: you're running a snapshot and both sysupgrade/pkg_add get pointed to the snapshot directory. Or you're running stable, and both sysupgrade/pkg_add get pointed to the (corresponding release/stable update) directories. HOWEVER, a few weeks before a new release, the rules get a bit confusing: - since we're near "testing the release mode", the new kernel tells you "hey, I am 7.4, so go grab the 7.4 release stuff". This is intentional, so you're as close to "release mode" as possible. - however, because the release hasn't yet happened, all the stuff still drops in snapshots, with the user needing to point things up towards the right location. -> sysupgrade -s -> pkg_add -Dsnap in order to STILL grab stuff off the snapshots directory instead of the release (which hasn't yet happened) (I could probably add a helpful message to pkg_add according to the following rules: if we're grabbing stuff from a release directory, and the mirror used seems to contain stuff, like the previous release and snapshots, remind the user we might be near a new release, and to use -Dsnap to get to the snapshot)
