On 10/21/25 07:19, Robert B. Carleton wrote:
On 10/20/25 20:20, Scott Vargovich wrote:
I'm currently running Manjaro and have many years of Linux experience
behind me. For a number of reasons, I would like to try OpenBSD. I
know I will have to unlearn a number of Linux things over time. I've
only ever installed OpenBSD in a virtual environment and have accepted
almost all of the defaults during the installation process. I would
like to know if the default partitioning scheme puts /home on its own
partition so I don't lose what I have in /home if the system crashes
and I need to reinstall. Would that even be an issue I need to be
concerned about?
[...]
Some places to familiarize with sooner is service management (rcctl) and
package management (pkg_info, pkg_add, and pkg_delete). It's going to be
a bit different from systemd and Pacman.
Using the OpenBSD filesystem needs some adjustment too. You have to
consider that fsck will run if there has been a power interruption or
crash, so using giant file systems can cause extended filesystem
repairs. Specialized, smaller file systems will be more resilient. It
also gives you some additional options for using mount options to tailor
security (nodev, noexec, nosuid, etc.)
Look at the disklabel -A argument in the man page. It gives you a run
down on how the automatic disk allocation works.
It's really helpful to read package readme's when they are available.
A lot of shells are available, so whatever you're using on Manjaro is
probably available. That can make your command environment more
familiar. On the other hand, I like ksh just fine.
Some other thoughts, once you get past the install.
Another reference regarding finding packages:
https://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq15.html#PkgFind
Sometimes I use these sites for finding packages:
https://openbsd.app/
https://openports.pl/
Some other notes on OpenBSD wrinkles:
Rather than sudo and screen, use doas and tmux. You can install sudo and
screen from ports if you need them.
Once you have a good install, make sure to read the initial emails the
system sends you. They are worthwhile.
