I installed OpenBSD 2.8 fine and was trying to upgrade to 3.5 but the FAQs are really not good at describing how to do this. They basically say that one should upgrade to the latest snapshot before doing anything else. I tried to upgrade but the only package in the package list options was "bsd" for whatever ftp server, if I tried "list", clearly the other packages were there: xbase35.tgz, etc., but if I typed in the name I was told the file "did not exist" when it clearly did. Eventually I gave up, thinking that maybe if I downloaded just the "bsd" package, the rest would appear later or something. I did this and it gave me bad magic when I tried to boot. Now I'm trying to install from scratch, not doing the upgrade option and once again, the only package that appears is "bsd". I'm totally stumped. Is it not possible to install over the network? I wish to HELL I'd just stuck with the off the CD OpenBSD 2.8 and not tried to be clever and get the latest version. Until someone advises me, my computer will be sitting on:

"The following sets are available for extraction."
"Enter filename, 'list', 'all', or 'done'."
"You may de-select a set by prepending a '-' to its name."

" [x] bsd"
"File name? []"

The most likely possibility is that the file "bsd" doesn't have "28" in it but apparently you can't ftp install anything but OpenBSD2.8 with a 2.8 CD.... but I refuse to admit this is the case since that would be really silly.

Which bsd.rd are you booting from? It sounds like you're booting from the bsd.rd from 2.8, which is of course why you won't see any of the sets for 3.5 because each bsd.rd will only display during the install process the sets that match it's version number.

To do an FTP install, you must first download the bsd.rd from the snapshot you're attempting to install, then reboot with that bsd.rd (you must specifically choose it from the boot> prompt). Now when you check the FTP server you'll see the other sets. Remember, if you're installing a snapshot you probably need to change the directory path that the installer is looking in for the sets. The installer will probably default to pub/OpenBSD/i386/3.5, while the snapshot should be found in pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/i386.

By the way, before you feel too bad about your (u)pgrade not working and the fact that you have to (i)nstall from scratch, realize that there was a binary format change from 3.3 to 3.4 for i386, so even if the (u)pgrade would have worked, you would have been left with a nearly useless system (since most of the binaries would have been in the wrong format).

Thank you, and now I see what all that stuff about the bsd.rd-a.out file was about. I skimmed the FAQ section on bsd.rd hidden down at the bottom thinking that this was unnecessary since I had a CD to boot off. I was unaware that the install program was linked to the version. This should be mentioned in the FAQ really. Anyway, I have it setup now, thanks.