Re: howto sidestep sysinstall during installation
On Mon, 11 May 2009, Vincent Hoffman wrote: Is there a way to sidestep the sysinstall during the installation process, beyond selecting the 'location' ? Since you are using the snapshot DVD you should have the live/fixit environment which is very handy for this. I would suggest a combination of LOTS of reading and understanding of the pages at http://typo.submonkey.net/articles/2006/04/13/installing-freebsd-on-usb-stick-episode-2 (which goes though the steps for partitoning and installing using fdisk and bsdlabel, adjust paths to your dvd-rom) Thanks Vince for the link that was a nice starting point. Thanks to everybody who chipped in with pointers and help with learning the various concepts. Using the Fixit# console (LiveDVD) i could install FreeBSD 200905 snapshot (bypassed the sysinstall). i plan to write an article on the experience shortly. Since then, i've installed the following software: . xorg X 7.4 meta port (complete) . postgresql 8.3.7 . apache 2.2.11 . diablo-jdk 1.6.0 . opera 9.64 . dwm + many others. There were two errors/quirks that i noticed. http://www.flickr.com/photos/saifi/sets/72157618010835543/ 1. crash encountered while running sysinstall from the booted up system. 2. same crash encountered while running 'make fetch' for many of the ports. (rather random in occurence). Anybody encountered this issue ? thanks Saifi. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: howto sidestep sysinstall during installation
On Mon, 11 May 2009, Saifi Khan wrote: Is there a way to sidestep the sysinstall during the installation process, beyond selecting the 'location' ? i'm using FreeBSD 8.0 200905 i386 snapshot DVD and looking for an approach to drive the entire installation from the Fixit# command line console. i'm a experienced Gentoo Linux user. Any suggestions, pointers or observations ? You won't be able to partition the disk from the command line because the install MFS doesn't have any of the requisite tools to do so. You could do it from a livefs disk however. As for observations.. I think you're wasting your time :) -- Daniel O'Connor software and network engineer for Genesis Software - http://www.gsoft.com.au The nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them to choose from. -- Andrew Tanenbaum GPG Fingerprint - 5596 B766 97C0 0E94 4347 295E E593 DC20 7B3F CE8C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: howto sidestep sysinstall during installation
On 11/5/09 11:48, Saifi Khan wrote: Hi all: Is there a way to sidestep the sysinstall during the installation process, beyond selecting the 'location' ? i'm using FreeBSD 8.0 200905 i386 snapshot DVD and looking for an approach to drive the entire installation from the Fixit# command line console. i'm a experienced Gentoo Linux user. Any suggestions, pointers or observations ? Since you are using the snapshot DVD you should have the live/fixit environment which is very handy for this. I would suggest a combination of LOTS of reading and understanding of the pages at http://typo.submonkey.net/articles/2006/04/13/installing-freebsd-on-usb-stick-episode-2 (which goes though the steps for partitoning and installing using fdisk and bsdlabel, adjust paths to your dvd-rom) and if you want zfs http://lulf.geeknest.org/blog/freebsd/Setting_up_a_zfs-only_system/ (goes though using gpart instead of fdisk and bsdlabel if you want to use zfs on root) should be enough to get you started. I assume you dont need too much hand holding since you want to install -CURRENT. Vince thanks Saifi. ___ freebsd-curr...@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-current To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-current-unsubscr...@freebsd.org ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: howto sidestep sysinstall during installation
On Mon, 11 May 2009, Vincent Hoffman wrote: On 11/5/09 11:48, Saifi Khan wrote: Hi all: Is there a way to sidestep the sysinstall during the installation process, beyond selecting the 'location' ? i'm using FreeBSD 8.0 200905 i386 snapshot DVD and looking for an approach to drive the entire installation from the Fixit# command line console. i'm a experienced Gentoo Linux user. Any suggestions, pointers or observations ? Since you are using the snapshot DVD you should have the live/fixit environment which is very handy for this. I would suggest a combination of LOTS of reading and understanding of the pages at http://typo.submonkey.net/articles/2006/04/13/installing-freebsd-on-usb-stick-episode-2 (which goes though the steps for partitoning and installing using fdisk and bsdlabel, adjust paths to your dvd-rom) and if you want zfs http://lulf.geeknest.org/blog/freebsd/Setting_up_a_zfs-only_system/ (goes though using gpart instead of fdisk and bsdlabel if you want to use zfs on root) should be enough to get you started. I assume you dont need too much hand holding since you want to install -CURRENT. Vince Vince, thanks for the freebsd-on-usb link. i really appreciate your help. Unknown giant i still wonder why a snapshot should have a dysfunctional installer ? stable slice and partition support is key to trying or helping or contributing towards testing/coding for an evolving unknown giant. Oh well :) Check this out http://www.twincling.org/node/237 If you scan this page for a minute, you will appreciate the overall flow of installation of Gentoo Linux. Even if you haven't tried the weekly Gentoo build, you may be encouraged to try this out ! Putting out a monthly snapshot is nice and if the people are going to not find info about 'Fixit#' and commands in the legendary handbook, that is not very helpful. thanks Saifi. the time has come ... 1227. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: howto sidestep sysinstall during installation
On Mon, May 11, 2009 at 03:45:03PM +0930, Daniel O'Connor wrote: On Mon, 11 May 2009, Saifi Khan wrote: Is there a way to sidestep the sysinstall during the installation process, beyond selecting the 'location' ? i'm using FreeBSD 8.0 200905 i386 snapshot DVD and looking for an approach to drive the entire installation from the Fixit# command line console. i'm a experienced Gentoo Linux user. Any suggestions, pointers or observations ? You won't be able to partition the disk from the command line because the install MFS doesn't have any of the requisite tools to do so. ??? I don't understand this comment. Recreating a disk - slice/parttion/newfs - is one of the main things to do under a fixit. You should have fdisk, bsdlabel and newfs there as well as restore for sucking dumps back in. The only thing to remember is that the running writable root file system under fixit is in memory. You have to make sure that what you do is to the disk and that the fstab you create is on the disk. It is easy to lose track and make an /etc/fstab modification or a mount point in the MFS and then find it is no longer there when you reboot. But, you just have to pay attention to where you are doing things. jerry You could do it from a livefs disk however. As for observations.. I think you're wasting your time :) -- Daniel O'Connor software and network engineer for Genesis Software - http://www.gsoft.com.au The nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them to choose from. -- Andrew Tanenbaum GPG Fingerprint - 5596 B766 97C0 0E94 4347 295E E593 DC20 7B3F CE8C ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: howto sidestep sysinstall during installation
On Mon, 11 May 2009, Jerry McAllister wrote: On Mon, May 11, 2009 at 03:45:03PM +0930, Daniel O'Connor wrote: On Mon, 11 May 2009, Saifi Khan wrote: Is there a way to sidestep the sysinstall during the installation process, beyond selecting the 'location' ? i'm using FreeBSD 8.0 200905 i386 snapshot DVD and looking for an approach to drive the entire installation from the Fixit# command line console. i'm a experienced Gentoo Linux user. Any suggestions, pointers or observations ? You won't be able to partition the disk from the command line because the install MFS doesn't have any of the requisite tools to do so. ??? I don't understand this comment. Recreating a disk - slice/parttion/newfs - is one of the main things to do under a fixit. You should have fdisk, bsdlabel and newfs there as well as restore for sucking dumps back in. Depends what sort of fixit you have. A holographic shell won't have it, but the others will. It's pretty easy to do a minimal install on your new disk and then go into the fixit shell, then you will have the full suite of tools (although if you're doing a full restore you should use the /rescue version or odd things will happen when you overwrite the binary you're using). -- Daniel O'Connor software and network engineer for Genesis Software - http://www.gsoft.com.au The nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them to choose from. -- Andrew Tanenbaum GPG Fingerprint - 5596 B766 97C0 0E94 4347 295E E593 DC20 7B3F CE8C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: howto sidestep sysinstall during installation
On Tue, 12 May 2009, Saifi Khan wrote: Unknown giant i still wonder why a snapshot should have a dysfunctional installer ? stable slice and partition support is key to trying or helping or contributing towards testing/coding for an evolving unknown giant. Oh well :) I think you're missing the point of a -current snapshot. It is _not_ designed for someone to come along and go hey I'd like to get into developing FreeBSD, I'll install it. It is there as a system test (ie make sure make release works) and to provide a handy ISO for gurus if they need to bootstrap something. The fact the installer is broken should be reported as a bug though (ie send-pr). Check this out http://www.twincling.org/node/237 If you scan this page for a minute, you will appreciate the overall flow of installation of Gentoo Linux. Even if you haven't tried the weekly Gentoo build, you may be encouraged to try this out ! Putting out a monthly snapshot is nice and if the people are going to not find info about 'Fixit#' and commands in the legendary handbook, that is not very helpful. FreeBSD doesn't work this way, you are trying to fit FreeBSD into your Gentoo way of thinking. Obviously this causes pain, please stop. If you want to try FreeBSD, start with a release, if that works then you can update to HEAD and install that way. -- Daniel O'Connor software and network engineer for Genesis Software - http://www.gsoft.com.au The nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them to choose from. -- Andrew Tanenbaum GPG Fingerprint - 5596 B766 97C0 0E94 4347 295E E593 DC20 7B3F CE8C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: howto sidestep sysinstall during installation
On Mon, 11 May 2009, Daniel O'Connor wrote: Putting out a monthly snapshot is nice and if the people are going to not find info about 'Fixit#' and commands in the legendary handbook, that is not very helpful. FreeBSD doesn't work this way, you are trying to fit FreeBSD into your Gentoo way of thinking. Obviously this causes pain, please stop. i'll be highly obliged, if you could share some nuggets of wisdom on 'the FreeBSD way' ! Please. thanks Saifi. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: howto sidestep sysinstall during installation
On Mon 2009-05-11 23:17:09 UTC+0930, Daniel O'Connor (docon...@gsoft.com.au) wrote: Recreating a disk - slice/parttion/newfs - is one of the main things to do under a fixit. You should have fdisk, bsdlabel and newfs there as well as restore for sucking dumps back in. Depends what sort of fixit you have. A holographic shell won't have it, but the others will. That reminds me... Can someone explain to me why it's called a holographic shell? ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: howto sidestep sysinstall during installation
andrew clarke wrote: On Mon 2009-05-11 23:17:09 UTC+0930, Daniel O'Connor (docon...@gsoft.com.au) wrote: A holographic shell won't have it, but the others will. That reminds me... Can someone explain to me why it's called a holographic shell? It's an 'emergency holographic shell' actually. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_(Star_Trek) Cheers, Matthew -- Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 7 Priory Courtyard Flat 3 PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey Ramsgate Kent, CT11 9PW signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature
Re: howto sidestep sysinstall during installation
Saifi Khan wrote: On Mon, 11 May 2009, Daniel O'Connor wrote: Putting out a monthly snapshot is nice and if the people are going to not find info about 'Fixit#' and commands in the legendary handbook, that is not very helpful. FreeBSD doesn't work this way, you are trying to fit FreeBSD into your Gentoo way of thinking. Obviously this causes pain, please stop. i'll be highly obliged, if you could share some nuggets of wisdom on 'the FreeBSD way' ! Please. Don't know about 'wisdom', per se, from me... But consider this: FreeBSD software development is a tree with 3 main branches from the trunk. They are -Release, -Stable, and -Current (aka HEAD). -Release is what a newcomer should use, or if used in a production environment. The -Release branch does receive ongoing maintenance in the form of security updates. -Stable is where newer software from -Current (HEAD) is merged backwards. An example would be a driver bug that was fixed in 8.0-Current would be made available in 7.2-Stable. The main purpose for using -Stable is for when some specific problem you are having in 7.2-Release has been fixed, and updating from -Release to -Stable is how you go about obtaining the fix. -Current (aka HEAD) is the place where active development on the next version takes place. For example, the code that is in -Current today will eventually be FreeBSD-8. You would run this if you were an active developer knowing full well that it could have deficiencies at any given time. The work is fluid and is known to break, with the idea that only programmers who can assist in fixing what breaks should be using it. A Snapshot is a frozen in time snapshot of -Current. Therefore, it is not what a newcomer or regular user should be using. The -Release install can always be updated to -Stable or -Current at a later time should it be necessary. -Mike ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: howto sidestep sysinstall during installation
On Mon, 11 May 2009 16:11:08 -0400 Michael Powell nightre...@verizon.net wrote: -Stable is where newer software from -Current (HEAD) is merged backwards. An example would be a driver bug that was fixed in 8.0-Current would be made available in 7.2-Stable. The main purpose for using -Stable is for when some specific problem you are having in 7.2-Release has been fixed, and updating from -Release to -Stable is how you go about obtaining the fix. Also bear in mind that only the base system is branched, not the ports tree. And most user-visible change takes place in ports. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: howto sidestep sysinstall during installation
On Tue, 12 May 2009, Saifi Khan wrote: On Mon, 11 May 2009, Daniel O'Connor wrote: Putting out a monthly snapshot is nice and if the people are going to not find info about 'Fixit#' and commands in the legendary handbook, that is not very helpful. FreeBSD doesn't work this way, you are trying to fit FreeBSD into your Gentoo way of thinking. Obviously this causes pain, please stop. i'll be highly obliged, if you could share some nuggets of wisdom on 'the FreeBSD way' ! Please. Like I said, install a release and upgrade that. You could try finding a -current snap that does work, but it's probably going to be quicker to just get the latest 7 release, install and then cvsup/csup to HEAD then build install. -- Daniel O'Connor software and network engineer for Genesis Software - http://www.gsoft.com.au The nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them to choose from. -- Andrew Tanenbaum GPG Fingerprint - 5596 B766 97C0 0E94 4347 295E E593 DC20 7B3F CE8C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
howto sidestep sysinstall during installation
Hi all: Is there a way to sidestep the sysinstall during the installation process, beyond selecting the 'location' ? i'm using FreeBSD 8.0 200905 i386 snapshot DVD and looking for an approach to drive the entire installation from the Fixit# command line console. i'm a experienced Gentoo Linux user. Any suggestions, pointers or observations ? thanks Saifi. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
