[OmniOS-discuss] FINALLY - OmniOS bloody is now updated. (long, please read)

[Dan McDonald]

There is no TL;DR for this.  Please read all of this before you upgrade.

This is a big one.  I've updated install media AND the repo servers. Users who use "pkg update" will be getting a big wad (I'm not taking chances with missed packages or components).  I'm sorry it took longer than I expected, but there was an illumos-gate ZFS bug (5531) I wanted fixed before I released the next bloody update.

This is r151013-20150203:

- omnios-build master branch, revision 0c38601

- NEW UPDATE to pkg(5).  This carries a LOT with it, and gets its own section below.

- OpenSSL is now at 1.0.2.

- One bugfix to illumos-kvm-cmd that needed to be cherrypicked (because we can't catch up until VND is upstreamed from SmartOS).

- Longstanding bug with GCC 4.4.4's "cc1" not being properly linked. (Thanks Richard Yao of ZFS-on-Linux for catching this.)

- Curl is now at 7.40.0.

- NTP dependency fix, from the community. (Thanks to "takashiary".)

- Git is now at 2.2.1.

- ncurses have their auxiliary libs now in /usr/gnu/lib.  (Thanks to Lauri "lotheac" Tirkkonen.)

- illumos-omnios master branch, revision aef6850 (last illumos-gate merge 6309835)

- Several ZFS enhancements, and sometimes followup fixes for them (one, 5531, was what made this release take longer than it should have).

- dis(1) supports cross-target disassembly  (Illumos 3317)

- NFS improvements in the authentication cache (Illumos 5509)

- Several ELF safety improvements from Rich Lowe.

- kmem_reap() performance improvements

- preadv() and pwritev()
 NOTE: KVM's poor handling of these (assuming all the world's Linux) is why we have a cherrypick above.

- illumos-side hwdata (PCI & USB) updates.  (NOTE: OmniOS keeps a copy in omnios-userland, that will be updated closer to 014's release).

- Developer prototypes updated to 2015

- Introducing the linked-ipkg ("lipkg") zone brand.  See below about how this relates to the new pkg(5) changes.

- Reducing RAM used in managing ZFS cache devices

- Many new, corrected, and updated man pages.

- Longstanding mailx(1) overflow fixes now in place.


NEW FOR 2015 -- updated pkg(5)

You may have known this from previous bloody releases, but we've been using the same oldish version of pkg(5) since at least r151006 in OmniOS.  Bloody releases have had a half-finished pkg(5) that breaks things like "zoneadm -z <zone> attach -u".  When a release came, we reverted to the old r151006 version of pkg(5).  That changes now.

If you're interested in source, our new repo for pkg(5) is http://github.com/omniti-labs/pkg5 or src.omniti.com:~omnios/core/pkg5.  It's a downstream of OI Hipster's for now.

The OpenIndiana Hipster folks have done some work to bring pkg(5) more up to date with its upstream. The new pkg(5) contains many under-the-hood improvements. It also includes two user-visible improvements:

	- A bit more visible status information during pkg(1) operations.

	- The ability to link images.

Linked images is the big one.  Way upstream, linked images are the new default for ipkg-branded zones (i.e. the zones all OmniOS folks use). In OI Hipster, linked-images are currently disabled.  We decided to take a middle ground:


THE LINKED IPS BRAND (lipkg)

Currently deployed ipkg-branded zones stay the same as they have in previous OmniOS releases.  You update them how you're used to updating them:  Either the documented OmniOS way, or "Dan's way", where you mount the newly upgraded BE and then update each zone prior to reboot.

If you detach a zone:  (zoneadm -z <zone> halt ; zoneadm -z <zone> detach) you may change its brand the the new linked-ipkg (lipkg) brand.  The default for a new zone is still "ipkg", so if you want lipkg, you must explicitly "set brand=lipkg" in the zonecfg interaction or script.

How to convert an existing "ipkg" zone to an "lipkg" zone:

1.) Install the "lipkg" brand:  "pkg install lipkg".

2.) Halt and detach the zone.  "zoneadm -z <zone> halt ; zoneadm -z <zone> detach"

3.) Change the zone's brand:  "zonecfg -z <zone> set brand=lipkg".

4.) Attach the zone with the -u flag. pkg(5) needs to run its update check regardless:  "zoneadm -z <zone> attach -u".

5.) Boot the zone: "zoneadm -z <zone> boot".

The zone <zone>'s image will be linked to the global zone's image.

Once you are running with lipkg zones, new things happen upon subsequent "pkg update"s.  Any packages in the global zone that get updated will also be updated in the lipkg zones at the same time.  This includes more than just the "omnios" publisher as well, which is why lipkg zones aren't for everyone.  If, like me, you tend to currently use the "Dan's way" of upgrading, lipkg zones will save you time.  "pkg update" where all zones are lipkg is the equivalent of an automatic "Dan's way" upgrade.  The new BE is created, and all of the zones in the new BE are already updated.  Furthermore, if you want to have the semantics of not losing log data during the upgrade, you now merely need to halt the zones, then "pkg update", and reboot.  If your zones are autoboot (which they should be) everything's up and running with shiny new bits.

Attached as a .txt file is a sample transcript of a linked-image upgrade with a global zone and a non-global zone.

Please give this one a try, and we'd really appreciate results from:

	* lipkg-branded zones.

	* Kayak images.

	* The ISO installation experience.

	* ZFS stressing (there may be some residual issues here from upstream, so be warned).

We will really appreciate the feedback.

Thanks,
Dan

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