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.

2022/04/23 - switchd(8) removed

# userdel _switchd
# groupdel _switchd
# rm /etc/rc.d/switchd /usr/sbin/switchctl /usr/sbin/switchd \
  /usr/share/man/man4/switch.4 /usr/share/man/man5/switchd.conf.5 \
  /usr/share/man/man8/switchctl.8 /usr/share/man/man8/switchd.8

2022/05/14 - [packages] OpenLDAP update

• OpenLDAP no longer supports the BDB/HDB legacy database formats based on Berkeley DB.
If you are using BDB/HDB, you will need to prepare in advance so that you can move to MDB.

Before updating, stop slapd and use slapcat to dump your database(s) to ldif files. (Saving ldif files is recommended as part of your regular maintenance anyway, but particularly important at this time).

Adjust the backend database in your configuration to use mdb instead of bdb/hdb. If you are using the old-style /etc/openldap/slapd.conf config file this is relatively straightforward. If you are using upstream's recommended on-line configuration ("cn=config") this is normally edited "in-band" via LDAP, but you might find it difficult to make this type of change in the usual way. Instead you can export to ldif with slapcat -n 0, edit the exported file, then reload with slapadd -n 0. Do not edit the ldif files in /etc/openldap/slapd.d directly.

Regarding the actual changes you need to make: in the simplest case you just need to change "bdb" to "mdb". slapd-bdb(5) has various tuning options which are not used by slapd-mdb(5) (for example, cachesize) - these will need to be removed. For more information, consult the upstream documentation.

After restarting with the updated configuration, you will need to reload your database from the ldif file using slapadd (or if you are updating a read-only replica you could let syncrepl pick it up).

• The openldap-server package has changed to a modular build.
The most important backend and overlay (mdb and syncprov) are still compiled-in as before, but if you use the less common ones (including backends like back_perl) you will need to adjust your configuration to load them. If you use online configuration, see "olcModuleLoad". If you use slapd.conf, see "moduleload".

2022/05/21 - deprecation of ${rcexec} in rc.d scripts

# sed -i 's/\${rcexec}/rc_exec/' /etc/rc.d/myscript

2022/05/28 - [packages] Vim colour scheme changes

If you find the changes unwelcome, the OpenBSD package includes a copy of the old colour schemes under the legacy subdirectory to make it easier to revert if desired. You can use the subdirectory directly in colorscheme in your configuration, but as these are not included as standard in upstream Vim, if you share config files between various machines you may like to copy the relevant files from /usr/local/share/vim/vim82/colors/legacy to ~/.vim/colors which take priority.

2022/06/03 - [packages] Fcitx update requires manual reconfigure

• Fcitx no longer bundles PinYin, you will need to install fcitx-chinese-addons to use PinYin.
• Methods previously provided by the fcitx-table package are split into two packages:

For CangJie / ShuangPin / WuBi / ErBi / ZiRanMa, install fcitx-chinese-addons.

For ZhengMa / Boshiamy / Quick and other WuBi / CangJie tables, install fcitx-table-extra.

• If you are starting fcitx from .xsession, update it with the following:

export XMODIFIERS=@im=fcitx
export GTK_IM_MODULE=fcitx
export QT_IM_MODULE=fcitx
/usr/local/bin/fcitx5 &

• You might need to re-run fcitx5-configtool to reconfigure your input method
To setup an input engine, run fcitx5-configtool after starting fcitx5, then select and add your preferred input method from the Available Input Method panel. You might need to uncheck 'Only Show Current Language' to find your preferred input method. After restarting with the updated configuration, fcitx should be usable, refers to /usr/local/share/doc/pkg-readmes/fcitx in case something doesn't work or you need to troubleshoot.

2022/06/27 - pluart(4) baud rate correction

2022/06/30 - snmpd(8) filter-pf-addresses deprecated