RELEASE(8) System Manager's Manual RELEASE(8) NAME release -- building an OpenBSD release DESCRIPTION There are several steps necessary to build a release: 1. Update sources. 2. Build and install a new kernel. 3. Build a new base system. 4. Make and validate the base system release. 5. Build and install Xenocara. 6. Make and validate the Xenocara release. 7. Create boot and installation disk images. 8. Make the third party packages. This manual describes the steps for the release and stable branches. To build a current release, additional steps may be required. See https://www.openbsd.org/faq/current.html for any needed workarounds. Commands to be run as a user are preceded by a dollar sign `$'. Commands that must be run as the superuser are preceded by a hash mark `#'. Privi- leges will be de-escalated to the user build whenever possible. Most of the defaults can be overridden by setting the appropriate variables in mk.conf(5). 1. Update sources A release should use sources that were checked out using the same cvs(1) tag. There are two families of tags: OPENBSD_x_y_BASE The sources for the OpenBSD x.y release. OPENBSD_x_y The sources for the OpenBSD x.y stable branch. It con- tains the patches described in https://www.openbsd.org/stable.html. See https://www.openbsd.org/anoncvs.html for instructions on fetching the sources for the first time. To update existing sources to the versions identified by one of the above tags, use the commands: $ cd /usr/src && cvs up -r TAG -Pd $ cd /usr/xenocara && cvs up -r TAG -Pd $ cd /usr/ports && cvs up -r TAG -Pd Warning: cvs(1) tags are `sticky'. See cvs(1) for more information. 2. Build and install a new kernel Always build and install a new kernel and reboot before building the pro- grams that will use the kernel. This ensures that any new system calls, for example, will be present when needed. # cd /sys/arch/$(machine)/compile/GENERIC.MP Replace GENERIC.MP with a different kernel configuration if necessary. Create the build directory and configuration file, then compile and install the kernel: # make obj # make config # make && make install The current kernel is copied to /obsd and the new kernel to /bsd. Reboot. 3. Build a new base system The build process will place the object files in a tree under /usr/obj. This directory must be owned by build:wobj with mode 770. Create the tree of obj directories and begin the build: # cd /usr/src # make obj && make build After the build is completed, update /etc, /var, and /dev, using sys- merge(8) and MAKEDEV(8): # sysmerge # cd /dev && ./MAKEDEV all At this point, the base system is up to date with the code that will be made into a release. 4. Make and validate the base system release The base system release consists of at least one generic kernel, some in- stallation media, the release tarballs, installation instructions, and checksum files. On arm64, armv7 and riscv64 architectures, additional files are required. Install the following packages using pkg_add(1) or from ports(7): arm64 raspberrypi-firmware u-boot-rpi armv7 dtb u-boot-arm and install the following firmwares using fw_update(8): riscv64 riscv64-spacemit-dtb Create a RELEASEDIR directory to store the release files. This directory must be writable by build. To build a release, it is necessary to prepare a filesystem mounted with the noperm mount(8) option. Either standard FFS or mount_mfs(8) may be used. The root of this filesystem must have owner build and mode 700. On this filesystem, create a DESTDIR directory. This will be the root of a complete OpenBSD installation. Warning: DESTDIR and RELEASEDIR must not refer to any directory with /mnt in its path, as /mnt is used in the release generation process. The vnd(4) device vnd0 is also used and must not be configured. Make the release and check the contents of the release tarballs: # export DESTDIR=your-destdir RELEASEDIR=your-releasedir # cd /usr/src/etc && make release # cd /usr/src/distrib/sets && sh checkflist # unset RELEASEDIR DESTDIR 5. Build and install Xenocara Xenocara is based on the X.Org modular build system. Its sources are sup- posed to be in /usr/xenocara. The /usr/src tree is also needed while building Xenocara. The object directory /usr/xobj should be empty and owned by build:wobj with mode 770. The following steps will build and install Xenocara. # cd /usr/xenocara # make bootstrap # make obj # make build 6. Make and validate the Xenocara release Xenocara uses DESTDIR and RELEASEDIR as described above. Use a different DESTDIR for the Xenocara release than for the base release, as the contents of DESTDIR will be removed. The steps to build and validate the Xenocara release are: # export DESTDIR=your-destdir RELEASEDIR=your-releasedir # make release # make checkdist # unset RELEASEDIR DESTDIR At this point, OpenBSD base system and X Window System tarballs are in RELEASEDIR. 7. Create boot and installation disk images The disk images install${VERSION}.img and install${VERSION}.iso are suit- able for installs without network connectivity. They contain the tarballs built in the previous steps. # export RELDIR=your-releasedir RELXDIR=your-xenocara-releasedir # cd /usr/src/distrib/$(machine)/iso && make # make install The two installer images are now stored in the local release directory. 8. Make the third party packages The ports subsystem of contributed applications is capable of producing packages for installation, either individually or in bulk. This is de- scribed in ports(7). SEE ALSO cvs(1), pkg_add(1), mk.conf(5), ports(7), sysmerge(8) OpenBSD 7.9 April 18, 2026 RELEASE(8)
NAME | DESCRIPTION | SEE ALSO
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