Re: A backwards approach to upgrading.
compared to the regular approach, this is certainly backwards. -- Henning Brauer, [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] BS Web Services, http://bsws.de Full-Service ISP - Secure Hosting, Mail and DNS Services Dedicated Servers, Rootservers, Application Hosting - Hamburg Amsterdam
Re: A backwards approach to upgrading.
At 02:22 PM 4/4/07, Peter Fraser wrote: I use an approach to upgrading that I have not seen written anywhere. It does need additional space in the root partition but with disks these days that is not normally a problem. First copy away the important parts of the root partition onto another partition. What is the important parts is up to you, but should include any changes that you have made to the root partition. I use the ROOTBACKUP code in /etc/daily which copies the root partition to another partition on a separate disk, so that is done automatically. If you've got the space to waste on a large root partition; wouldn't it make more sense to simply leave the original root partition as a small slice and create a partition used exclusively for installing new releases; then merge from this 'install' partition to your live partitions.
A backwards approach to upgrading.
I use an approach to upgrading that I have not seen written anywhere. It does need additional space in the root partition but with disks these days that is not normally a problem. First copy away the important parts of the root partition onto another partition. What is the important parts is up to you, but should include any changes that you have made to the root partition. I use the ROOTBACKUP code in /etc/daily which copies the root partition to another partition on a separate disk, so that is done automatically. Now do an install of OpenBSD, but using only one partition (plus the swap partition). Do not change your disk partitioning in any manner, Do not use the install to mount any other partitions. All of OpenBSD will now reside in one partition. Which is why you need more disk space in the root partition. Note that all the other partitions will be untouched by the install. Once the new system comes up, you can now mount the partition that you saved away your important parts, If you saved them previous under say /home mount what was /home under a different name. Merge your changes to /etc and others into the new root partition. Mount each of the old partitions that would have contained information set by an install (such as /usr) under a different name. Merge the new files from what is now in the root partition just installed into the correct place in the old partition. Merging what was in the old /etc into the new /etc, will of course update /etc/fstab which when the system is booted will end up mounting the old partitions into their correct places. Boot the system. The updated /etc/fstab will now mount the partitions in their correct places. The /usr and /home and other from the install are now inaccessible and have been replaced by ones defined in /etc/fstab. Packages can be installed at any time during this process, you just have to make sure that if you add packages while you are operation in the one partition that files added by the packages are also copied to the right place in the old partitions.
Re: A backwards approach to upgrading.
What problem with the existing upgrade procedures is solved with your new approach? On 4/4/07, Peter Fraser [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I use an approach to upgrading that I have not seen written anywhere. It does need additional space in the root partition but with disks these days that is not normally a problem. First copy away the important parts of the root partition onto another partition. What is the important parts is up to you, but should include any changes that you have made to the root partition. I use the ROOTBACKUP code in /etc/daily which copies the root partition to another partition on a separate disk, so that is done automatically. Now do an install of OpenBSD, but using only one partition (plus the swap partition). Do not change your disk partitioning in any manner, Do not use the install to mount any other partitions. All of OpenBSD will now reside in one partition. Which is why you need more disk space in the root partition. Note that all the other partitions will be untouched by the install. Once the new system comes up, you can now mount the partition that you saved away your important parts, If you saved them previous under say /home mount what was /home under a different name. Merge your changes to /etc and others into the new root partition. Mount each of the old partitions that would have contained information set by an install (such as /usr) under a different name. Merge the new files from what is now in the root partition just installed into the correct place in the old partition. Merging what was in the old /etc into the new /etc, will of course update /etc/fstab which when the system is booted will end up mounting the old partitions into their correct places. Boot the system. The updated /etc/fstab will now mount the partitions in their correct places. The /usr and /home and other from the install are now inaccessible and have been replaced by ones defined in /etc/fstab. Packages can be installed at any time during this process, you just have to make sure that if you add packages while you are operation in the one partition that files added by the packages are also copied to the right place in the old partitions.
Re: A backwards approach to upgrading.
On Wed, 4 Apr 2007, Peter Fraser wrote: I use an approach to upgrading that I have not seen written anywhere. It does need additional space in the root partition but with disks these days that is not normally a problem. First copy away the important parts of the root partition onto another partition. What is the important parts is up to you, but should include any changes that you have made to the root partition. I use the ROOTBACKUP code in /etc/daily which copies the root partition to another partition on a separate disk, so that is done automatically. Now do an install of OpenBSD, but using only one partition (plus the swap partition). Do not change your disk partitioning in any manner, Do not use the install to mount any other partitions. All of OpenBSD will now reside in one partition. Which is why you need more disk space in the root partition. Note that all the other partitions will be untouched by the install. Once the new system comes up, you can now mount the partition that you saved away your important parts, If you saved them previous under say /home mount what was /home under a different name. Merge your changes to /etc and others into the new root partition. Mount each of the old partitions that would have contained information set by an install (such as /usr) under a different name. Merge the new files from what is now in the root partition just installed into the correct place in the old partition. Merging what was in the old /etc into the new /etc, will of course update /etc/fstab which when the system is booted will end up mounting the old partitions into their correct places. Boot the system. The updated /etc/fstab will now mount the partitions in their correct places. The /usr and /home and other from the install are now inaccessible and have been replaced by ones defined in /etc/fstab. Packages can be installed at any time during this process, you just have to make sure that if you add packages while you are operation in the one partition that files added by the packages are also copied to the right place in the old partitions. Can you describe what advantages your complex mechanism which has a lot of room for errors has, as compared to a regular upgrade? -Otto
Re: A backwards approach to upgrading.
Quoting from http://www.openbsd.org/faq/upgrade41.html Upgrading is a convenient way to bring your OpenBSD system up to the most recent version. However, the results are not intended to precisely match the results of a wipe-and-reload installation. Old library files in particular are not removed in the upgrade process, as they may be required by older applications that may or may not be upgraded at this time. If you REALLY wish to get rid of all these old files, you are probably better off reinstalling from scratch. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Walter Goulet Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2007 2:33 PM To: misc@openbsd.org Subject: Re: A backwards approach to upgrading. What problem with the existing upgrade procedures is solved with your new approach?
Re: A backwards approach to upgrading.
On Wed, Apr 04, 2007 at 02:22:46PM -0400, Peter Fraser wrote: I use an approach to upgrading that I have not seen written anywhere. It does need additional space in the root partition but with disks these days that is not normally a problem. [...] I really don't see any benefit compared to the normal procedure (i.e. boot from one of the install media, enter u as in Upgrade, and proceed). And for /etc, just follow the upgrade FAQ or extract etcXX.tgz and xetcXX.tgz to some temporary place and use mergemaster(8) (available as package or from the ports tree) to merge them in. Ciao, Kili -- How do I read this file? - You uudecode it. - I I I decode it?
Re: A backwards approach to upgrading.
On 4/4/07, Walter Goulet [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On 4/4/07, Peter Fraser [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Quoting from http://www.openbsd.org/faq/upgrade41.html Upgrading is a convenient way to bring your OpenBSD system up to the most recent version. However, the results are not intended to precisely match the results of a wipe-and-reload installation. Old library files in particular are not removed in the upgrade process, as they may be required by older applications that may or may not be upgraded at this time. If you REALLY wish to get rid of all these old files, you are probably better off reinstalling from scratch. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Walter Goulet Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2007 2:33 PM To: misc@openbsd.org Subject: Re: A backwards approach to upgrading. What problem with the existing upgrade procedures is solved with your new approach? I guess I have to ask again, what is the *problem* you are trying to solve? Why is having older library files around that are needed for compatibility with older applications (as mentioned in the FAQ), a problem? You stated at the beginning of your procedure that disk space is cheap these days, so the problem cannot be the disk space occupied by the older libraries. I'm just worried that some newbie is going to see your procedure and attempt to run in (inevitably mucking something up in the process) and run back to the list complaining about a broken upgrade. Suggest this privately to the maintainer of the upgrade FAQ and get their inputs first. Walter Forwarding to misc
Re: A backwards approach to upgrading.
Matthias Kilian wrote: On Wed, Apr 04, 2007 at 02:22:46PM -0400, Peter Fraser wrote: I use an approach to upgrading that I have not seen written anywhere. It does need additional space in the root partition but with disks these days that is not normally a problem. [...] I really don't see any benefit compared to the normal procedure (i.e. boot from one of the install media, enter u as in Upgrade, and proceed). And for /etc, just follow the upgrade FAQ or extract etcXX.tgz and xetcXX.tgz to some temporary place and use mergemaster(8) (available as package or from the ports tree) to merge them in. exactly. the only reason i can see for doing this that you cited, peter, is that you don't have extra libraries, etc, hanging around from earlier versions. this will save some negligible amount of space, taking exception to some architectures where disk space doesn't come so easy. then again that's what NFS is for, no? if one were using this as a space saving mechanism it is self-defeating because of the need for a large / partition. this makes a bit of sense if done using NFS for the / partition but adds a fair deal of complexity for little gain. most ppl who have these older machines that have been upgraded since the nineties know openbsd-fu well enough to pick out the libraries,etc, they don't need. cheers, jake Ciao, Kili
Re: A backwards approach to upgrading.
On Wed, Apr 04, 2007 at 03:01:11PM -0400, Peter Fraser wrote: [...] If you REALLY wish to get rid of all these old files, you are probably better off reinstalling from scratch. Well, that's of course correct, but there are ways to identify (and remove) obsolete files and libraries after an upgrade. I'm using the checkflist scripts (and some local scripts to reduce the output) to get a rough idea about what *may* be candidates for removal. Ciao, Kili -- Anti-Stau Massnahmen sind vergleichbar mit dem Versuch, die Wespen vom Kuchen abzuhalten indem man einen zweiten Kuchen daneben stellt. -- Markus Sander in drf
