Updating all OpenBSD packages with pkg_add

Using pkg_add

Keeping your systems stable and secure

Every system needs to stay up-to-date with its packages, including OpenBSD. Most OpenBSD users already use pkg_add for the installation of packages. This utility can also be used for package upgrades.

Option 1: Use /etc/installurl

Newer OpenBSD versions use the file /etc/installurl to select the mirror for pkg_add.

Option 2: PKG_PATH

The first thing to do is defining your PKG_PATH. This will usually be the address of a FTP or HTTP server, which has the latest packages available. To have this variable set every time you log in, use the file .profile in your home directory (e.g. /root/.profile). Add the full export line below:

export PKG_PATH=“http://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/$(uname -r)/packages/$(arch -s)/”

Since it won’t be active the first time you added it, execute the command, so the variable PKG_PATH will be set.

Tip: use a mirror to improve your performance and reduce load on the main systems.

pkg_add

Next step is the actual execution of pkg_add. To upgrade us the -u, use the -i for interactive and -v for verbose output.

# pkg_add -uvi
Update candidates: quirks-2.9 -> quirks-2.9 (ok)
quirks-2.9 signed on 2014-07-31T22:37:55Z
Update candidates: gettext-0.19.1p0 -> gettext-0.19.1p0 (ok)
Update candidates: libiconv-1.14p1 -> libiconv-1.14p1 (ok)
Update candidates: libidn-1.28p0 -> libidn-1.28p0 (ok)
Update candidates: p5-Clone-0.36p0 -> p5-Clone-0.36p0 (ok)
Update candidates: p5-Curses-1.28p3 -> p5-Curses-1.28p3 (ok)
Update candidates: p5-Curses-UI-0.9609 -> p5-Curses-UI-0.9609 (ok)
Update candidates: p5-DBD-SQLite-1.35p3v0 -> p5-DBD-SQLite-1.35p3v0 (ok)
Update candidates: p5-DBI-1.631p0 -> p5-DBI-1.631p0 (ok)
Update candidates: p5-FreezeThaw-0.5001 -> p5-FreezeThaw-0.5001 (ok)
Update candidates: p5-MLDBM-2.05 -> p5-MLDBM-2.05 (ok)
Update candidates: p5-Net-Daemon-0.48 -> p5-Net-Daemon-0.48 (ok)
Update candidates: p5-Params-Util-1.07p0 -> p5-Params-Util-1.07p0 (ok)
Update candidates: p5-PlRPC-0.2018p1 -> p5-PlRPC-0.2018p1 (ok)
Update candidates: p5-SQL-Statement-1.405 -> p5-SQL-Statement-1.405 (ok)
Update candidates: p5-Term-ReadKey-2.30p6 -> p5-Term-ReadKey-2.30p6 (ok)
Update candidates: pcre-8.35 -> pcre-8.35 (ok)
Update candidates: pkg_mgr-0.2.1p2 -> pkg_mgr-0.2.1p2 (ok)
Update candidates: sqlports-compact-4.1 -> sqlports-compact-4.1 (ok)
Update candidates: wget-1.15 -> wget-1.15 (ok)

When updates are available you will be prompted to install it. In this case, our system was up-to-date, which results in the “(ok)” behind each package.