Installing Software on FreeBSD

FreeBSD is not unlike other Unix-like operating systems in how software can be installed https://t.co/fn6mboy3Tc #FreeBSD #Software #Packages pic.twitter.com/uQ76Tl4dPg

— SCM Guru (@TheSCMGuru) January 6, 2021

The command to install a package is pkg. As root, install a package by doing pkg install package where package is the name of the package that you would like to install.

Adding a User to a Group on OpenBSD

A common task that a system administrator preforms on an OpenBSD system is adding a user to a group https://t.co/wkDvz5lUoj #OpenBSD #Users #Group pic.twitter.com/EaeeXh0eoV

— SCM Guru (@TheSCMGuru) January 5, 2021

The command to perform tasks on a users account is user. As a super user, add a user to a group by doing user mod -G group user where group is the group that you would like to add a user to and user is the user that you would like to add to this group.

Open Firmware Autoboot for OpenBSD

After installing the OpenBSD PowerPC port on an aluminum Apple PowerBook G4, I had to configure its Open Firmware to autoboot the kernel. This is how I did it https://t.co/XTDjomXpSo #OpenBSD #OpenFirmware #Autoboot #Kernel pic.twitter.com/elMHQKDD37

— SCM Guru (@TheSCMGuru) January 5, 2021

1. Enter Open Firmware by booting the computer while pressing the Option, Command, O, and F keys together.
2. Set the boot device and kernel setenv boot-device hd:,ofwboot /bsd
3. Set automatic booting setenv auto-boot? true
4. Write changes to NVRAM and reboot reset-all

Upgrading OpenBSD to Stable

There are some cases where it makes sense to upgrade to OpenBSD stable from release https://t.co/AzENEjBvpd #OpenBSD #Release #Stable pic.twitter.com/Hec890jqBz

— SCM Guru (@TheSCMGuru) January 5, 2021

Prepare The Environment

As root, do these steps.

1. Add a user to the wsrc group. user mod -G wsrc user where user is the user that you would like to add to the wsrc group.
2. Change to the user directory cd /usr
3. Change the group on the source directory to wsrc chgrp wsrc src
4. Change the mode on the source directory to 0775 chmod 0775 src
5. Make the ports directory mkdir ports
6. Change the ports directory group to wsrc chgrp wsrc ports
7. Change the mode on the ports directory to 0775 chmod 0775 ports
8. Make the xenocara directory mkdir xenocara
9. Change the xenocara directory group to wsrc chgrp wsrc xenocara
10. Change the mode on the xenocara directory to 0775 chmod 0775 xenocara

Download the Source

As the user that was added to the wsrc group (not root), download the base system, xenocara and ports. Where host is the closest host to you e.g. anoncvs4.usa.openbsd.org and the release_number is the version of the OpenBSD that you have installed e.g. 6_8.

1. Change the directory to usercd /usr
2. Download a copy of the base system source cvs -q -d anoncvs@host:/cvs checkout -r OPENBSD_release_number -P src
3. Download a copy of xenocara source cvs -q -d anoncvs@host:/cvs checkout -r OPENBSD_release_number -P xenocara
4. Download a copy of the ports source cvs -q -d anoncvs@host:/cvs checkout -r OPENBSD_release_number -P ports

Build the Generic Kernel

1. Change to the system architecture directory where the generic kernel configuration file is cd /sys/arch/$(machine)/compile/GENERIC.MP
2. make obj
3. make config
4. make
5. make install
6. make clean

Build the Base System

1. cd /usr/src
2. make obj
3. make build

Merge Changes and Make Devices

1. sysmerge
2. cd /dev
3. ./MAKEDEV all

Updating a Stable Build of OpenBSD

If you're following the stable branch of OpenBSD, it's good to know how to keep it up-to-date https://t.co/x0lZ1Na0xI #OpenBSD #Stable #Update pic.twitter.com/aASei8rqrO

— SCM Guru (@TheSCMGuru) January 5, 2021

As a user that is part of the wsrc group (not root), do these steps.

1. Change the directory to user source cd /usr/src
2. Download a copy of the base system source cvs -q up -P -d -r OPENBSD_version_number
3. Change the directory to user xenocara cd /usr/xenocara
4. Download a copy of the xenocara source cvs -q up -P -d -r OPENBSD_version_number
5. Change the directory to user ports cd /usr/ports
6. Download a copy of the ports source cvs -q up -P -d -r OPENBSD_version_number
7. Rebuild from downloaded source