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.

2024/04/24 - bgpd removal of 'announce capabilities'

The announce capabilities [yes|no] neighbor config option needs to be removed from configuration files. To replace announce capabilities no one can use:
announce as-4byte no
announce refresh no
announce restart no
announce policy no

2024/05/07 - smtpd table protocol change

The smtpd(8) table protocol was changed to smtpd-tables(7). The old packages opensmtpd-extras should be removed and the appropriate tables installed from the opensmtpd-table-* packages. For example, the passwd table is in the opensmtpd-table-passwd package. Once the new tables are installed, no changes to the configuration are needed.
$OpenBSD: current.html,v 1.1120 2024/05/07 09:20:30 op Exp $