OpenBSD 7.5 Sysupgrade Guide

This is a quick upgrade guide for OpenBSD 7.5 using sysupgrade.

NOTE: This guide is no substitute for reading the OpenBSD FAQ. In particular, you should read the Upgrade Guide.

First, check to see if you need to upgrade your OS. To find our your operating system version, type: uname -r. If it says 7.4 or earlier, you need to upgrade. If it says 7.5, or 7.5-beta you are on the most recent OS version.

Before you begin, make sure to back up any files. Use dump and restore or rsync.

Performing the Upgrade

$ doas sysupgrade

Running sysupgrade above will automatically download the base sets and reboot the system for installation. The upgrade will begin automatically. You can view it in the serial console ? for VMM or in VNC for BuyVM.

# sysupgrade                                                  
Fetching from https://cdn.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/7.5/amd64/
SHA256.sig     0% |                                     |     0       --
SHA256.sig   100% |*************************************|  2324       00
:00    
Signature Verified
INSTALL.amd64   0% |                                    |     0       --
INSTALL.amd64 100% |************************************| 44889       00
:00    
base75.tgz     0% |                                     |     0       --

Once installation begins, you will need serial console access to view progress. If you're on OpenBSD's VMM, login to the host and use vmctl console:

host$ vmctl console username
syncing disks... done
vmmci0: powerdown
rebooting...
Using drive 0, partition 3.
Loading......
probing: pc0 com0 mem[638K 2046M a20=on]
disk: hd0+ hd1+
>> OpenBSD/amd64 BOOT 3.65
upgrade detected: switching to /bsd.upgrade

Once complete, it will automatically reboot:

Installing xserv75.tgz  100% |**************************| 15472 KB    00:01
Location of sets? (cd0 disk http nfs or 'done') [done] done
Making all device nodes... done.
fw_update: add none; update none; keep intel
Relinking to create unique kernel... done.

CONGRATULATIONS! Your OpenBSD upgrade has been successfully completed!

syncing disks... done
vmmci0: powerdown
rebooting...

After installation completes, you should be able to login using ssh:

Last login: Tue Apr  9 00:43:14 on tty00
OpenBSD 7.5 (GENERIC) #79: Wed Mar 20 15:33:49 MDT 2024

Welcome to OpenBSD: The proactively secure Unix-like operating system.
...

To check if installation succeeded:

$ uname -a
OpenBSD username.host.example.org 7.5 GENERIC#79 amd64

To check if you have the proper amount of RAM and number of cores, run top ?.

load averages:  0.61,  0.48,  0.41        01:49:33
217 processes: 216 idle, 1 on processorup 137 days,  3:21
CPU0:  6.4% user,  0.0% nice, 19.5% sys,  6.9% spin,  1.0% intr, 66.3% idle
CPU1:  6.5% user,  0.0% nice, 18.9% sys,  7.1% spin,  0.0% intr, 67.5% idle
Memory: Real: 1023M/1775M act/tot Free: 189M Cache: 392M Swap: 993M/2288M

You will want to patch the system:

$ doas syspatch

Then, you'll want to run sysmerge to merge any configuration files:

$ doas sysmerge

Then, make sure to upgrade your packages:

$ doas pkg_add -u

Read and fix any error messages that you may see.