Re: Upgrade 8.4-STABLE to 14-STABLE

On Sat, Jan 27, 2024 at 12:59 PM Edward Sanford Sutton, III <
mirror176@hotmail.com> wrote:

> On 1/27/24 00:55, Odhiambo Washington wrote:
> > Is there a way to upgrade 8.4-STABLE to 14-STABLE, or even change it to
> > 14-RELEASE?
>
>    Hopefully others have better things to say or a more brief summary,
> but for now...
>    "Maybe" other ways work but from a build+install source approach I
> presume the intended way was to build then install the most up to date
> 8-STABLE, then 9-STABLE, etc. until you are on 14-STABLE. Where
> mergemaster used to be used for cvs & svn updates, etcupdate became a
> thing and I think required once you are on versions only available
> through git; you will need to run etcupdate starting with a source tree
> matching the currently installed version before updating the source tree
> as you start to use it. I do not recall what versions introduced or
> required it but it is required when working from a git source repository
> instead of cvs/svn.
>    Binary packages require you start and end with a more formal release
> such as 13.2-RELEASE (or whatever last 13 release was) => 14.0-RELEASE.
> If using ZFS, my understanding is that binary updates across major
> versions seem to be painfully slow. You would need to switch to and
> install the nearest -RELEASE version. If using a custom kernel then you
> would still be stuck building it from source but otherwise can use
> binary updates for it too.
>    Obviously as there would be many updates+reboots happening with a #
> of API revisions, I'd make sure 3rd party kernel modules that aren't
> necessary for the update are not being loaded until after the updates to
> FreeBSD + the modules are completed. For good measure, just shut down
> unneeded software from startup, cron, etc. as the won't likely be API
> compatible until reinstalled or compatibility libraries are installed.
>    Maybe it would be wise to consider 'replacing' the install instead of
> binary updating if not for speed of its multiple steps alone. I presume
> such drastic action is the only single step process but would be
> interested if others have suggestions otherwise.
>    If you have ZFS as root and are planning to upgrade to newer
> filesystem/pool versions (performed with zfs related commands, not with
> source installs or FreeBSD's update tool), you should make sure you take
> steps to upgrade the boot loader code before that operation is performed.
>    If you have backups, you always have a way to undo what has been done
> in case anything goes wrong or doesn't work. /usr/src/UPDATING is also
> wise to read/follow for any -STABLE user in addition to the -STABLE
> mailing list. Nothing comes to mind of what to be aware of from it
> despite that I probably have done that same upgrade path on the machine
> I am typing this reply on though I migrated when each -STABLE branch was
> new rather than old. I have not yet upgraded to 14 though.
>    'Maybe' pkg switched through pkgng within this timeframe; it has a
> database conversion process that you can go through though I think it
> leaves behind the old data layout for you to manually dispose of. Could
> also just uninstall 'all' packages then reinstall/replace with what is
> now available once upgraded. Handbook at least used to talk of this
> conversion which I 'think' was a thing around v9 or so. Tools can output
> a list of installed packages including pkgng's `pkg prime-list` command
> which can then help reinstall after a bulk removal and portmaster has a
> documented set of steps which can aid in that too.
>
> And for a brief command summary and/or comments I'd use for source
> upgrades (over and over and...modify as your system needs):
>
> cd /usr/src
> #if using etcupdate for the first time, you must use its preparation
> step before updating the source tree; see other documentation.
> #update the source tree using git, svn, or whatever tool...
> #git switch releng/14.0
> git switch stable/13
> #remove vendor branches; at least one of the updates has requires this
> git remote prune origin
> #update source tree with git
> git pull --ff-only
> #cleanup the build path; I had to perform this to even go from 13-STABLE
> to 14-STABLE and have the build not fail, possibly because I accelerate
> my updates by using things like 'WITH_META_MODE=yes'
> chflags -R noschg /usr/obj/usr;rm -rf /usr/obj/usr;cd /usr/src&&make
> cleandir&&make cleandir
> #slower but more reliable build with a kernel install if successful
> make buildworld&&make buildkernel&&make installkernel
> #faster build, run in background, provide less output. This will hang if
> PORTS_MODULES is used and a dialog comes up during any port build as
> jobs count is incompatible with PORTS_MODULES + `make comfig` dialog boxes.
> /usr/bin/nice -n 18 /usr/sbin/idprio 31 make -sj8 buildworld
> buildkernel&&make installkernel
> shutdown now
> fsck -p
> mount -u /
> mount -a
> sh /etc/rc.d/zfs start
> cd /usr/src
> #adjkerntz -i # if CMOS is not UTC
> #mergemaster -iUFp #disabled as I use etcupdate now
> etcupdate -p
> cd /usr/src&&make installworld&&make delete-old&&etcupdate
> shutdown -r now
>
> #These steps should only need to be done at the end.
> #update bootcode for ZFS on root; UEFI requires different steps. This
> must be done before zpool/zfs changes for bootable root pools. If the
> partition is too small, this will fail; I stole swap space with
> deletes+recreates to work past that. This should be repeated for every
> disk that could be asked upon to boot the system.
> gpart bootcode -b /boot/pmbr -p /boot/gptzfsboot -i 1 ada1
> #next up, upgrade/replace packages with up to date copies. I have used
> different ways of doing this over time such as manually uninstalling
> then running `make install clean` in a ports directory, simplified with
> portupgrade and I was never a big user of portmaster as I found failures
> of one sort or another too common and it aborts midtask on those, and
> now currently use pkg form a custom built repository using poudriere.
> #once packages are all updated one way or another
> cd /usr/src;make delete-old-libs
>

Thank you very much for the detailed procedure.
By the look of things, this is quite involving and I believe requires one
to have the machine right next to them.
I am not using ZFS at all.
I was hoping there is a way to switch from STABLE to RELEASE and then just
use freebsd-update.


-- 
Best regards,
Odhiambo WASHINGTON,
Nairobi,KE
+254 7 3200 0004/+254 7 2274 3223
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