Contributed by rueda on from the here's-a-nickel-kid dept.
Several recent commits have improved
sysupgrade(8)
handling of low free disk space in /usr:
Firstly, Stuart Henderson (sthen@)
modified
the installer to increase free space prior to installing:
CVSROOT: /cvs Module name: src Changes by: sthen@cvs.openbsd.org 2025/11/01 06:54:17 Modified files: distrib/miniroot: install.sub Log message: Before extracting on an upgrade, remove share/relink/*, not just share/relink/usr/lib/*. The old files aren't useful post-upgrade and this increases the chance of successfully extracting base*.tgz files, so that people low on space in /usr have a better chance of getting into the system after a reboot. "install.sub can delete the entire relink space" deraadt@
Theo de Raadt (deraadt@)
modified
sysupgrade(8) so that, if space is too tight,
it will fail gracefully rather than risk leaving
the administrator with a broken system:
CVSROOT: /cvs Module name: src Changes by: deraadt@cvs.openbsd.org 2025/11/11 08:14:17 Modified files: usr.sbin/sysupgrade: sysupgrade.sh Log message: If "df /usr" says the filesystem is over 90% full, rather than potentially completely breaking the system, fail the sysupgrade. This comes with a message pointing people to read a new Sub-Section PRUNING in the manual page which will softly lead them to understand all the nuances involved and that their best choice is to reinstall with a bigger /usr. script diff from florian
Theo added a "PRUNING" subsection to the sysupgrade(8) manual, with explanation and advice:
CVSROOT: /cvs Module name: src Changes by: deraadt@cvs.openbsd.org 2025/11/11 08:18:30 Modified files: usr.sbin/sysupgrade: sysupgrade.8 Log message: First draft of a PRUNING subsection in the manual page which people will read when sysupgrade prevents a dangerously-failing upgrade because /usr is too full. This explains some of the history and reasons why /usr is too full, and also explains that sysupgrade / installer cannot delete any detritus because it cannot identify it. More imporatntly, users also will have a hard time identifying the detritus -- most of it is older lib*.so.* libraries but there's no reasonable mechanism to traverse all possible filesystems and ensure no binaries remain which use those libraries. rather than telling people hacky choices that might get them through this sysupgrade, and fail next time, we choose to provide no hacky advice. A bigger /usr is their best choice, which implies that it is time for a reinstall. ok florian, sthen
By Hip Today (hiptoday) on
Man, I could've used this a few releases ago! After many years of sysupgrades I got complacent and stopped bothering to check free space in /usr and eventually borked my system. I have since moved to new hardware with a bigger drive, but it was not a fun recovery. Hopefully these changes save somebody else the same fate.
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By Chris Bennett (chrisbennett) on
This is superb. It gives RTFM as a perfect response on the mailing lists, rather than repeatedly explaining what is going on.
I also like that this will fail gracefully. That's a nice touch.
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By Florida Gray Man (FLGrayMan) undeadly.tech@c.wearegross.com on
This is good. For 7.7 I had to switch /usr and /tmp on my secondary router to do provide enough space for the upgrade. Then for 7.8 I had to do the same on the primary.
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