Re: sysinstall and bsdlabel/boot
On Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:57:49 -0800 Nerius Landys [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I was trying to install 7.0RC1 (hope it's OK to post this here, because I believe that older versions of FreeBSD have this same limitation) and came across a gotcha. I had an MBR on disk that I wanted to keep. It was Lilo and all it did was boot a selected slice, it was configured to function the same as FreeBSD's `boot0'. So, the install of FreeBSD came to the area where it asks what to do with the MBR. There are three choices: 1) boot manager, 2) simple MBR, and 3) do nothing. I chose to do nothing because I wanted to keep Lilo in the MBR. But, by choosing this option, I expected sysinstall to install the /boot/boot code to the beginning of the FreeBSD slice. Well, no such boot code was installed, apparently, unless I totally missed something. Basically, after the install, when I delegated Lilo to boot the chosen [FreeBSD] slice, it did not find any boot code on that slice. Have you configured lilo properly? In the past, I used to use something like this: other=/dev/hda2 table=/dev/hda loader=/boot/chain.b label=FreeBSD (Actually, you can delete loader=/boot/chain.b since FreeBSD and Linux share the same disk in your case -- and I assume you use lilo to dual-boot Linux and FreeBSD.) My workaround for this was to choose option 1) boot manager. I ended up using boot0 (the boot manager) which I feel is superior to Lilo because it is more modular, simpler. However, some users may not want this. I didn't find any option in sysinstall to install just the /boot/boot code to the beginning of the FreeBSD slice. Am I missing something? You don't have to go through sysinstall. Just for the case, reinstall bootstrap code of your FreeBSD slice (say, ad0s1): # bsdlabel -B /dev/ad0s1 (the code will come from /boot/boot by default), and then reinstall lilo from Linux, with the aforementioned configuration. Best regards. -- Nikola Lečić :: Никола Лечић ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: sysinstall and bsdlabel/boot
I was trying to install 7.0RC1 (hope it's OK to post this here, because I believe that older versions of FreeBSD have this same limitation) and came across a gotcha. I had an MBR on disk that I wanted to keep. It was Lilo and all it did was boot a selected slice, it was configured to function the same as FreeBSD's `boot0'. So, the install of FreeBSD came to the area where it asks what to do with the MBR. There are three choices: 1) boot manager, 2) simple MBR, and 3) do nothing. I chose to do nothing because I wanted to keep Lilo in the MBR. But, by choosing this option, I expected sysinstall to install the /boot/boot code to the beginning of the FreeBSD slice. Well, no such boot code was installed, apparently, unless I totally missed something. Basically, after the install, when I delegated Lilo to boot the chosen [FreeBSD] slice, it did not find any boot code on that slice. Have you configured lilo properly? In the past, I used to use something like this: other=/dev/hda2 table=/dev/hda loader=/boot/chain.b label=FreeBSD My complete lilo.conf was this: = boot=/dev/hda prompt timeout=50 other=/dev/hda1 table=/dev/hda label=Ubuntu other=/dev/hda2 table=/dev/hda label=FreeBSD = I have Grub installed at the beginning of /dev/hda1, and Lilo [when I had it installed before changing it to `boot0'] passed control to Grub just fine when booting ``Ubuntu''. You can see that the logic for ``FreeBSD'' is identical except for the slice it uses. When choosing ``FreeBSD'' from the boot menu, nothing happened. This led me to conclude that /boot/boot as not installed at the beginning of /dev/hda2. (Actually, you can delete loader=/boot/chain.b since FreeBSD and Linux share the same disk in your case -- and I assume you use lilo to dual-boot Linux and FreeBSD.) My workaround for this was to choose option 1) boot manager. I ended up using boot0 (the boot manager) which I feel is superior to Lilo because it is more modular, simpler. However, some users may not want this. I didn't find any option in sysinstall to install just the /boot/boot code to the beginning of the FreeBSD slice. Am I missing something? You don't have to go through sysinstall. Just for the case, reinstall bootstrap code of your FreeBSD slice (say, ad0s1): # bsdlabel -B /dev/ad0s1 (the code will come from /boot/boot by default), and then reinstall lilo from Linux, with the aforementioned configuration. Yes, I figured using `bsdlabel' would install /boot/boot to the beginning of the slice. However, I cannot [easily] run `bsdlabel' without being booted into the FreeBSD OS. I can't run the OS without /boot/boot being installed to the beginning of the FreeBSD slice. Chicken and egg problem. Actually, I could probably run `bsdlabel' from the live disc, but a newbie [like myself] would probably have a hard time figuring this out. P.S. I hope I'm doing the quoting thing ``properly'', not incorrectly. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: sysinstall and bsdlabel/boot
On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 08:52:26 -0800 Nerius Landys [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have Grub installed at the beginning of /dev/hda1, and Lilo [when I had it installed before changing it to `boot0'] passed control to Grub just fine when booting ``Ubuntu''. You can see that the logic for ``FreeBSD'' is identical except for the slice it uses. When choosing ``FreeBSD'' from the boot menu, nothing happened. This led me to conclude that /boot/boot as not installed at the beginning of /dev/hda2. I'd try adding loader=/boot/chain.b as well, just for the case... Yes, I figured using `bsdlabel' would install /boot/boot to the beginning of the slice. However, I cannot [easily] run `bsdlabel' without being booted into the FreeBSD OS. I can't run the OS without /boot/boot being installed to the beginning of the FreeBSD slice. Chicken and egg problem. Actually, I could probably run `bsdlabel' from the live disc, but a newbie [like myself] would probably have a hard time figuring this out. Yes, you can run in from live CD... P.S. I hope I'm doing the quoting thing ``properly'', not incorrectly. IMHO there is neither FreeBSD- nor Linux-specific mails, and there shouldn't be such thing. These mails are written in English, so it seems that neither of us is right: quotes should be “like this”, not like this or ``like this''. Best regards. -- Nikola Lečić :: Никола Лечић ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: sysinstall and bsdlabel/boot
On Jan 15, 2008, at 10:08 AM, Nikola Lečić wrote:
P.S. I hope I'm doing the quoting thing ``properly'', not
incorrectly.
IMHO there is neither FreeBSD- nor Linux-specific mails, and there
shouldn't be such thing. These mails are written in English, so it
seems that neither of us is right: quotes should be “like this”,
not
like this or ``like this''.
While I would agree with the above, Unix shells make a distinction
between different types of quote characters, and if you are talking
about command-line programming or scripts, there is an advantage to
quoting things in a fashion that the shell will be happy with.
Double-quotes () permit variable, history, and alias expansion of the
quoted terms, whereas single forward quotes (') give you a string
literal and disable expansion. Backquotes (`) are used to perform
command substitution and are a synonym for $(command) syntax;
something like echo `ls` would be a simple example.
Regards,
--
-Chuck
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Re: sysinstall and bsdlabel/boot
Yes, I figured using `bsdlabel' would install /boot/boot to the beginning of the slice. However, I cannot [easily] run `bsdlabel' without being booted into the FreeBSD OS. I can't run the OS without /boot/boot being installed to the beginning of the FreeBSD slice. Chicken and egg problem. Actually, I could probably run `bsdlabel' from the live disc, but a newbie [like myself] would probably have a hard time figuring this out. Yes, you can run in from live CD... Let's assume that my theory is correct (I could verify this by installing again, but I don't want to clobber over again). Theory: When I install 7.0 FreeBSD, and I choose to leave the MBR alone (when I am presented with the three choices about what to do with the MBR). then no boot code is installed to any FreeBSD slice (much of the time there will be just one FreeBSD slice). Now, imagine I'm a new user who doesn't have a clue. If I choose not to install MBR code, then there will be no obvious way to boot into FreeBSD. The installation will be unusable to the inexperienced user. I suggest adding some menu option or something during install to allow a user installing FreeBSD to write boot code to the beginning of the FreeBSD slice that has the kernel. Or maybe even do this automatically under certain circumstances. I would be able to verify my theory only after I get my test computer set up, which won't be in a few days. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
sysinstall and bsdlabel/boot
I was trying to install 7.0RC1 (hope it's OK to post this here, because I believe that older versions of FreeBSD have this same limitation) and came across a gotcha. I had an MBR on disk that I wanted to keep. It was Lilo and all it did was boot a selected slice, it was configured to function the same as FreeBSD's `boot0'. So, the install of FreeBSD came to the area where it asks what to do with the MBR. There are three choices: 1) boot manager, 2) simple MBR, and 3) do nothing. I chose to do nothing because I wanted to keep Lilo in the MBR. But, by choosing this option, I expected sysinstall to install the /boot/boot code to the beginning of the FreeBSD slice. Well, no such boot code was installed, apparently, unless I totally missed something. Basically, after the install, when I delegated Lilo to boot the chosen [FreeBSD] slice, it did not find any boot code on that slice. My workaround for this was to choose option 1) boot manager. I ended up using boot0 (the boot manager) which I feel is superior to Lilo because it is more modular, simpler. However, some users may not want this. I didn't find any option in sysinstall to install just the /boot/boot code to the beginning of the FreeBSD slice. Am I missing something? ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
