Upgrading OpenBSD From 6.5 To 6.6

Summary

A happy news gotten.
OpenBSD has released 6.6 (What's New), the new one 😊

It's become by far simpler thanks to also new sysupgrade!
Almost all what is necessary for upgrading is to run several commands.

Here is a set of the commands to run:

# syspatch
# # Here, sysupgrade will come.
# sysupgrade
# # Here, your remote connection will be closed and you will have to wait minutes.
# sysmerge
# # Confirmation will appear in case you have some configuration in such as `login.conf` and `smtpd.conf`.
# pkg_add -u
# # Finished without "Files to remove".
# # Be careful about the output which sometimes includes important information.

Be careful about the packages you have added or configured; Make sure all of the changes are compatible with yours.

References

• Special packages
  • You had better check them before running pkg_add -u.
• Files to remove

Description

1. syspatch

sysupgrade comes via syspatch:

# syspatch
...
Get/Verify syspatch65-012_sysupgr... 100% |**************************************| 11482       00:00    
Installing patch 012_sysupgrade
...

2. sysupgrade

Remember your connection will be closed soon after running sysupgrade if you use SSH:

# sysupgrade
...
Connection to xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx closed by remote host.
Connection to xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx closed.

In this case, you may not either connect again via SSH. Don't panic. It's because the installation is in progress. Use VNC or something else to check it. Wait minutes, so you will be able to connet perfectly again.

Well, the whole output was:

# sysupgrade
SHA256.sig   100% |**************************************************************|  2141       00:00    
Signature Verified
INSTALL.amd64 100% |*************************************************************| 43550       00:00    
base66.tgz   100% |**************************************************************|   236 MB    00:10    
bsd          100% |**************************************************************| 18250 KB    00:01    
bsd.mp       100% |**************************************************************| 18336 KB    00:02    
bsd.rd       100% |**************************************************************| 10058 KB    00:01    
comp66.tgz   100% |**************************************************************| 72109 KB    00:05    
game66.tgz   100% |**************************************************************|  2745 KB    00:00    
man66.tgz    100% |**************************************************************|  7418 KB    00:01    
xbase66.tgz  100% |**************************************************************| 22092 KB    00:02    
xfont66.tgz  100% |**************************************************************| 39342 KB    00:03    
xserv66.tgz  100% |**************************************************************| 15757 KB    00:01    
xshare66.tgz 100% |**************************************************************|  4482 KB    00:00    
Verifying sets.
Upgrading.
Connection to xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx closed by remote host.
Connection to xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx closed.

Connect to the server if necessary after the installation is completed and the system reboots.

3. sysmerge

The output was nothing this time:

# sysmerge

Confirmation with the diff−like results will appear in case you have some configuration in such as login.conf and smtpd.conf.
At the confirmation:

• "d" means to keep the existing file; The older version's wins.
• "i" means the existing file will be overwritten; The newer version's wins.
• "m" means to merge them.

4. pkg_add -u

You had better check "Special packages" beforehand.

So many packages were updated/upgraded as usual.
Be careful about the output which sometimes includes important information.
You will sometimes see such a message:

You should also check /etc/php-7.3.ini (which was modified)

You can find examples for the latest version in the directories such as /usr/local/share/examples, /etc/examples/ and /var/www/roundcubemail/config.