Nix Bits

I’ve recently done several remote upgrades of FreeBSD and wanted to note the
procedure since it differs a bit from the
handbook procedure for doing so. Still, you must review and understand
the details of the procedure here

I use cvsup to get my copy of the stable source. Used /etc/standard-supfile provided with
cvsup to get it going to to update sources to 4.7-STABLE.
Here’s the procedure:
  get updated src (cvsup, cvs, ftp)
  read /usr/src/UPDATING. follow instructions up to (but not after) the
    release you’re going to.
  cd /usr/obj; rm -r *
  cd /usr/src
  mergemaster -p
  make -j4 buildworld
  make buildkernel KERNCONF=MYKERNEL (the KERNCONF is not necessary if you didn’t
    customize the kernel)
  make installworld
  make installkernel KERNCONF=MYKERNEL
  mergemaster (this gets the rest of the config and MAKEDEV as well)
  reboot

The latter steps are what differ from the handbook procedures. You’ve got
to really be careful doing this sort of thing remotely. Especially depending
on how physically remote you are and especially with a firewall!

After completing the upgrade, I applied the necessary errata to
correct any post 4.7-STABLE security and stability fixes.