OpenBSD Following -current and using snapshots [FAQ Index]


Active OpenBSD development is known as the -current branch. These sources are frequently compiled into releases known as snapshots.

Aggressive changes are sometimes pushed in this branch, and complications can arise when building the latest code or upgrading from a previous point in time. Some of the steps for getting over these hurdles are explained on this page. Make sure you've read and understand how to build the system from source before using -current and the instructions below.

In general, it's far easier to use snapshots, as developers will have gone through much of the trouble for you already.

You should always use a snapshot as the starting point for running -current. This process typically consists of running sysupgrade(8) with the -s flag. Alternatively, download (and verify) the appropriate bsd.rd file from the /snapshots/ directory of your preferred mirror, boot from it, and choose (U)pgrade at the prompt. Any installed packages should then be upgraded after booting into the new system.

Upgrading to -current by compiling your own source code is discouraged for everyone except for experts, as difficult build-time crossing-points can occur often, and no assistance will be provided. In case of failure, use a snapshot to recover.

Most of these changes will have to be performed as root.

2023/10/17 - ncurses updated to 6.4-20230826

First build and install libraries, then build and install usr.bin/tic, finally make build as usual.
cd /usr/src && make obj
cd /usr/src && make includes
cd /usr/src/lib && make && make install
cd /usr/src/usr.bin/tic && make && make install
cd /usr/src && make build

2023/11/28 - [packages] PostgreSQL major update

There was a major update to PostgreSQL 16.1. Use pg_upgrade as described in the postgresql-server pkg-readme or do a dump/restore.

2024/01/26 - libcxx update

libcxx has some headers moved around so a cleanup is required before make build.
rm -rf /usr/include/c++/v1
cd /usr/src && make build

$OpenBSD: current.html,v 1.1117 2024/01/26 12:04:55 robert Exp $