Installed OpenBSD for the first time ..... Some questions

[bsd007]

Hi,

I have installed OpenBSD under a VirtualBox VM. Since my mainboard has an onboard

Nvidia GPU I can't install OpenBSD directly.

By default OpenBSD didn't detect my screen resolution under VirtualBox so I had to do

some tweaking. http://www.h-i-r.net/2009/11/virtual...ution-for.html

Issue 1

To save a default repo.

I added the following to the .profile file both on my user

folder and the root folder but still every time try I to install a package I get "Not found"

PKG_PATH=ftp://mymirror
export PKG_PATH

When I add the same ftp mirror manually I am able to download and install packages.

Is there anything else I need to do ?

Issue 2

As you know VirtualBox has no guest additions for OpenBSD so the vbox shared folder

doesn't work. What will be best way to share files between the guest and host ?

I wish there was a Live OpenBSD environment available. So that I can test my hardware.

[J65nko]

Re: issue 1 : PKG_PATH

You can check whether the PKG_PATH has been set with the following:

$  env | grep PKG_PATH

In some X Window environments, or desktop systems, the file .profile is not being sourced or read when you open an xterm window.
In those cases you need to add the following to the .Xdefaults

XTerm*loginShell:true

[bsd007]

I found that the line

XTerm*loginShell:true

was already there and infact xterm is able to pull packages from the ftp source but

xfce4-terminal can't. So I added I following then logged out and back in but xfce4-terminal

still doesn't read the ftp repo.

# pwd
/root
# cat .Xdefaults                                                               
xfce4-terminal*loginShell:true
XTerm*loginShell:true
# cd /home/net/                                                                
# cat .Xdefaults                                                               
xfce4-terminal*loginShell:true
XTerm*loginShell:true
# env | grep PKG_PATH

[bsd007]

Please also tell about how to keep the system up to date.

I mean not only the packages that I have installed but also

the base. Under PC-BSD I get updates for both the installed

packages and base. When a base update is installed a new

entry is added to the Grub menu.

I found info only about upgrades from one release to the next.

http://www.openbsd.org/faq/upgrade55.html

[jggimi]

Originally Posted by bsd007

..Since my mainboard has an onboard Nvidia GPU I can't install OpenBSD directly.

You may install, but you may not be pleased with graphical performance. X.Org's nv(4) driver provides 2D acceleration for some Nvidia cards. The vesa(4) driver may also be usable.

To save a default repo....Is there anything else I need to do ?

You can use /etc/pkg.conf - see pkg.conf(5) for details. The /etc/pkg.conf file will be created for you at install time, but only if your installation media is via network. If you install locally, it won't be created ... but you can create it manually. This can be used to point to a nearby mirror, without $PKG_PATH.

What will be best way to share files between the guest and host ?

Use a network for file sharing. Use NFS, or you can use scp(1)/sftp(1). OpenBSD will be an NFS client whenever you issue a mount(8) command with rhost : path in it. To configure as an an NFS server, see FAQ 6.7.

I wish there was a Live OpenBSD environment available. So that I can test my hardware.

I have one I published, but it is well out-of-date now, as it was last updated with 5.0-release. However, you can test your hardware by installing to removable, bootable disks - such as a USB stick, or an SD card. It's not really "live" in that the media is read/write, but it certainly can be used to test hardware.

My old, out of date live media can be found here, still. Instructions for installing onto a USB stick can be found in FAQ 14.17.3.

Originally Posted by bsd007

Please also tell about how to keep the system up to date.

OpenBSD gets a new release twice per year. The next release will be on November 1. Only the most recent two releases are supported and maintained, so users should upgrade at least once per year. Upgrades are only supported from release to release, so if you've missed one (or more) you must still upgrade in sequence. Each release is published with an Upgrade Guide, which provides step by step instructions for local or remote upgrades. While the upgrade process is mechanically the same each time, architectural differences from release to release sometimes require additional steps.

After upgrading the system, 3rd party packages are easily updated by revising $PKG_PATH if the environment variable is used, and then issuing:

# pkg_add -u

Between releases, the Project publishes errata on its website, which are in the form of source code patches plus instructions. In addition, the -stable flavor of the OS includes all published errata patches as well as any other patches which do not warrant publication as errata.

[bsd007]

My specs :

AMD Athlon 64 X 2 5600 +
RAM : 2 GB
Nvidia 6150 SE

I tried searching LXDE in OpenBSD repos but didn't find it so I had to

install XFCE. Since there is no guest additions available, therefore no

acceleration the VM was very unstable making PCBSD (host) to hang.

I had allocated some 800 MB of ram to the VM.

I was also facing a very strange issue.

I was getting wrong username/password when trying to fetch mail

with Claws-Mail. I was using the exact same configuration which I

use under PCBSD.

Also, there is this problem of very old packages which makes using

the browsers namely Firefox and Chromium quite problematic.

Each time I visited the Chromium extensions site I got "Something

went wrong" error. People complaining about this issue in the

Google forums are advised to upgrade their browser.

The only problem that I faced with Firefox is that the latest

version of the LastPass plugin doesn't display any saved

passwords but this is not an OpenBSD specific issue.

That plugin doesn't work on any *BSD.

I guess I will wait until I upgrade my hardware. This time

I will go for an all Intel configuration but frankly even then

I will have to dual boot OpenBSD and PCBSD.

[jggimi]

Originally Posted by bsd007

I tried searching LXDE in OpenBSD repos...

The term used by the Project is mirrors, rather than repos/repositories.

LXDE has not been ported to OpenBSD. Two of lxde.org's applications have been ported and are available: gpicview and wmconfig. There may be others but I just did a quick search.

...Since there is no guest additions available...

"Support" depends on the virtual machine software or hyperviser. OpenBSD has specific drivers for VMWare facilities through vic(4), vmmouse(4), vmt(4), vmware(4), vmvwpvs(4), and vmx(4). In addition, there are more generalized guest support in vio(4), vioblk(4), viomb(4), viornd(4), and vioscsi(4).

...I was getting wrong username/password when trying to fetch mail with Claws-Mail...

More information is needed.

Also, there is this problem of very old packages which makes using
the browsers namely Firefox and Chromium quite problematic.

The OS and its 3rd party packages must be maintained synchronously. This means that -release/-stable users will not have the most recent version numbers of some software. This is most noticeable with Firefox, who now have a set upgrade schedule ... but they also have versions with extended support, and these esr versions of Firefox are available.

If there are significant security/stability problems with 3rd party products, -stable ports may be developed, but the Project does not build -stable packages in these cases ... it does not have the resources to do so. Users who run -stable (or who run -release, or -release+errata) can build packages from these ports, if they have the skills to do so. A third party commercial company, mtier.org, builds -stable systems and -stable packages, as a free service.

If you must always have applications with the largest version numbers, you can run -current, which is the development branch of the OS. Port upgrads are part of the development cycle. The Project does build "snapshot packages" from time to time for the popular architectures, but these are not built at the same time or with the same level of -current found in snapshots of the OS. The snapshots are built by different teams than the package builders, on different hardware. So, from time to time, -current users must build ports themselves, in order to ensure synchronicity.

For more on the development cycle and the flavors of OpenBSD, see FAQ 5.1