OpenBSD's install process changed for the first time in a very long time with the release of 4.6.

For the most part, I feel like the changes are for the better. The install script asks fewer questions, and one can almost accept all the default options without worrying about much of anything. I've already installed it on a few of my systems, but in preparation for my upcoming article on getting OpenBSD, Apache, MySQL and PHP playing together nicely in a chroot environment, I decided to install it in VirtualBox.

At the bottom of this screen shot you can see the partitioning setup. This is similar to the old manual disk partitioning from pre-4.6 installs. It's worth reading up on the OpenBSD installation FAQ, which has a detailed section on setting up disks.


After that, you get the disklabel, which now as an "auto" option for setting up the slices.


The installation set selection changed aesthetically, but it's the same as before.


When I test things out, I like the ability to use snapshots in a virtual machine environment. This isn't a unique feature to VirtualBox. I made a pristine snapshot right after installation, then I logged in, got some things configured the way I want (sudo, bash, and PKG_PATH) and made another snapshot.


I'm preparing another OAMP article. Snapshots are nice, because as I try to get OAMP working, I usually run into snags. It's nice to be able to go back to a previous state and start over without doing a fresh installation.

Once I think I have the installation procedure down solid, I can revert one more time, back to a base install, and make sure my instructions work. Obviously, virtual machine snapshots have many great uses for both desktop and server instances alike. This is a look into one way I utilize them.

One of our readers has already tried the instructions for OpenBSD 4.5 with some problems. I'll see if I can reproduce the issue and come up with instructions to work through them. Look for an OAMP Chroot article for OpenBSD 4.6 coming soon!