Hi, I'm installing install55.iso with Serva. Serva is an automated PXE server that let us install many OSs (including OpenBSD) from a menu. It is interesting to know that even when there are some rough edges OpenBSD is today the only BSD distro capable of being installed by an automated PXE server. I'd like to share with you guys those "rough edges" and see if they can probably be addressed in future releases.
The idea behind Serva is that the distro's ISO "directly" becomes part of Serva's repository when its content is directly copied under a certain directory controlled by the PXE server. Problems: 1) The PXE install process asks for the file .\5.5\amd64\index.txt but the distro names it .\5.5\amd64\TRANS.TBL; probably just renaming this file or adding .\5.5\amd64\index.txt to the distro will solve the issue. 2) The PXE install process looks after .\5.5\amd64\SHA256.sig but the distro includes .\5.5\amd64\SHA256 ; I think the distro should include SHA256.sig or both. 3) The PXE install process needs .\5.5\amd64\etc\boot.conf but the distro has not .\etc\boot.conf ; probably it would be a good idea adding a default .\5.5\amd64\etc\boot.conf in the distro's ISO containing i.e. a single line like "boot bsd.rd" 4) OpenBSD automated installs look after /install.conf; this is an "absolute" path and that is a deal breaker when it comes to multi OS PXE servers like Serva; then why not alternative look for that file in ./5.5/amd64/etc/install.conf in the same way the install now looks for ./5.5/amd64/etc/boot.conf ? 5) Automated PXE servers usually use configuration files that deal with the distro ISO directory structure. It is never a good idea adopting a differentiated structure based in i.e. architecture. That forces automated tools to deal with a different script for every architecture. .\5.5\amd64\ .\5.5\i386\ etc. It is always a better idea to have a constant directory structure like .\5.5\bin\ with an empty file at root with its name indicating the corresponding architecture 6) OpenBSD automated installs require the repository url or IP; on a PXE environment that IP is very often the parameter "next-server" gathered from the initial PXE DHCP transaction. It would be very handy having a wildcard like %next-server% that can be interpreted when parsing install.conf. This way we do not have to manually add a different repository IP for every different PXE scenario I think if some of these issues can be addressed OpenBSD PXE install capabilities will be greatly improved not just only for Serva but for every PXE server out there. You guys can see here the ServaAsset.inf required to PXE boot OpenBSD and other non-windows assets. http://vercot.com/~serva/an/NonWindowsPXE3.html Thanks
