OpenBSD 2.5

How to install

Following this are the instructions which you would have on a piece of paper if you had purchased a CDROM set instead of doing an alternate form of install. The instructions for doing an ftp (or other style of) install are very similar; the CDROM instructions are left intact so that you can see how much easier it would have been if you had purchased a CDROM instead.

Please refer to the following files on the two CDROMs for extensive details on how to install OpenBSD 2.5 on your machine:

Quick installer information for people familiar with OpenBSD, and the use of the new "disklabel -E" command. If you are at all confused when installing OpenBSD, read the relevant INSTALL.* file as listed above!

OpenBSD/i386:

Play with your BIOS options, and see if you can enable booting off a CD; try using CD1. If not, write CD1:2.5/i386/floppy25.fs to a floppy, then boot that. If you are mixing OpenBSD with another operating system, you will surely need to read the INSTALL.i386 document.

To make a floppy under MS-DOS, use /2.5/tools/rawrite.exe. Under Unix, use "dd if=<file> of=/dev/<device> bs=32k" (where device could be "floppy" or "rfd0c" or "rfd0a"). Use properly formatted perfect floppies with NO BAD BLOCKS or you will lose.

OpenBSD/sparc:

To boot off CD1, type "boot cdrom 2.5/sparc/bsd.rd", or "b sd(0,6,0)2.5/sparc/bsd.rd" depending on your ROM version. Alternatively, write CD1:2.5/sparc/floppy25.fs to a floppy and boot it using "boot fd()" or "boot floppy" depending on your ROM version. Finally, a third alternative is to write CD1:2.5/sparc/kc.fs and CD1:2.5/sparc/inst.fs to two separate floppies. Then insert "kc.fs", and boot as described above. As soon as the floppy drive ejects a floppy, insert "inst.fs". Answer a bunch of questions. Reboot from the "kc.fs" floppy. This time, when the floppy is ejected simply re-insert "kc.fs" again and answer a different set of questions.

OpenBSD/amiga:

Create BSD partitions according to INSTALL.amiga's preparation section. Mount the CD2 under AmigaOS as device CD0: Next, execute the following CLI command: "CD0:2.5/amiga/utils/loadbsd CD0:2.5/amiga/bsd.rd".

OpenBSD/hp300:

You can boot over the network by following the instructions in INSTALL.hp300.

OpenBSD/alpha:

Your alpha must use SRM firmware (not ARC). If you have a CDROM, you can try "boot -fi 2.5/alpha/bsd.rd dkaX" (use "show device" to find your CDROM drive identifier). Otherwise, write CD2:2.5/alpha/floppy.fs to a floppy and boot that by typing "boot dva0". If this fails, you can place bsd.rd on some other device and boot it, or use the provided simpleroot.

OpenBSD/mac68k:

Boot MacOS as normal and partition your disk with the appropriate A/UX configurations. Then, extract the Macside utilities from CD1:2.5/mac68k/utils onto your hard disk. Run Mkfs to create your filesystems on the A/UX partitions you just made. Then, use the BSD/Mac68k Installer to copy all the sets in CD1:2.5/mac68k/ onto your partitions. Finally, you will be ready to configure the BSD/Mac68k Booter with the location of your kernel and boot the system.

Notes about the source code

src.tar.gz contains a source archive starting at /usr/src. This file contains everything you need except for the kernel sources, which are in a separate archive. To extract:

# mkdir -p /usr/src
# cd /usr/src
# tar xvfz /tmp/src.tar.gz

sys.tar.gz contains a source archive starting at /usr/src/sys. This file contains all the kernel sources you need to rebuild kernels. To extract:

# mkdir -p /usr/src/sys
# cd /usr/src
# tar xvfz /tmp/srcsys.tar.gz

Both of these trees are a regular CVS checkout. Using these trees it is possible to get a head-start on using the anoncvs servers as described here. Using these files results in a much faster initial CVS update than you could expect from a fresh checkout of the full OpenBSD source tree.

Ports Tree

A ports tree archive is also provided. To extract:

# cd /usr
# tar xvfz /tmp/ports.tar.gz

The ports/ subdirectory is a checkout of the OpenBSD ports tree. Go read https://www.OpenBSD.org/faq/faq15.html if you know nothing about ports at this point. This text is not a manual of how to use ports. Rather, it is a set of notes meant to kickstart the user on the OpenBSD ports system.

Certainly, the OpenBSD ports system is not complete. This is because the full integration of ports into the OpenBSD environment is still a young project as of this release. We believe the ports that are provided here are stable, but it is most important to realize that ports will continue to grow a great deal in functionality in the future.

As we said, ports will be growing a lot in the future. The ports/ directory represents a CVS (see the manpage for cvs(1) if you aren't familiar with CVS) checkout of our ports. As with our complete source tree, our ports tree is available via anoncvs. So, in order to keep current with it, you must make the ports/ tree available on a read-write medium and update the tree with a command like:

# cd [portsdir]/; cvs -d anoncvs@server.openbsd.org:/cvs update -Pd

[Of course, you must replace the local directory and server name here with the location of your ports collection and a nearby anoncvs server.]

Again, it is important to see the webpage for specific instructions as this is a new service which hasn't yet been ironed out completely.

Finally, despite ports' youth, help is never far. If you're interested in seeing a port added, would like to help out, or just would like to know more, the mailing list ports@openbsd.org is a good place to know.