[protomyth]

I'm going to reinstall a couple of servers this weekend with 5.4. It generally is just a matter of printing out /etc/fstab, doing the install (I skip the upgrade on these), install some packages, and laying back down the configs and keys from source code control. It takes about 20 - 30 minutes to put these servers up (gateway, dns).

[edit] I should point out I've had a box running it before release to make sure that any changes are accounted for.

[ams6110]

Upgrades generally work well for me, but DO always check the release notes and the upgrade guide for the new version. Sometimes you need to do a few extra steps, but in my experience it will always be clearly documented. And just a heads-up for the NEXT version:

OpenBSD 5.5 will be year 2038 ready, but this requires a change to a 64 bit time type. This results in a "flag day" event, where old binaries will not run on the new kernel, and the new binaries won't run on the old kernel, and some file formats will be changing. A remote, no-console process will be provided, but it will be a more touchy update process than usual.

[aflott]

I used to do fresh installs (due to a general fear of incremental upgrades failing) until I tried using their upgrade guides. I've never looked back. http://www.openbsd.org/faq/upgrade54.html

[protomyth]

I do upgrades on some machines, but for some servers (firewall, dns, print server), it just takes a lot less time to do a fresh install. I keep the configs, keys, etc. under source control and can put it all back faster than doing the upgrade.

It is also pretty good practice for anytime those servers go bad. It helps to be able to put temporary replacements in service from whatever I have lying around. I can save the hot spares for machines that have user data on them (e-mail, file servers).

[ghshephard]

I seem to recall someone (Theo, I believe) say that in order for an OpenBSD to maintain library compatibility with existing applications, you had to do an "Upgrade in Place" - and not do a fresh install.

I.E. The default approach, incremental upgrade, is the only way to ensure your OpenBSD system doesn't fail.

[protomyth]

For the servers I'm talking about, blowing the whole thing away and installing any packages from the new disc is just fine and keeps away the clutter.

I look at it this way, if all I'm really doing is adding some flags or configuration files, I would rather just blow it away and do the reinstall. Last couple of times I did that with my firewall, it was a 20 minute install.

[ghshephard]

Completely agree with you - and it's what I've done in almost every case. The Library thing is an OpenBSD issue that people who are upgrading need to take note of though.