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Date:      Tue, 20 Feb 2001 23:27:08 -0800 (PST)
From:      Luigi Rizzo <rizzo@aciri.org>
To:        eugen@iname.com
Cc:        freebsd-small@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: PicoBSD 0.5
Message-ID:  <200102210727.f1L7R8D73854@iguana.aciri.org>
In-Reply-To: <20010221140316.A26140@svzserv.kemerovo.su> from Eugene Grosbein at "Feb 21, 2001  2: 3:16 pm"

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> Hi!
> 
> When I mount floppy built with PicoBSD 0.5 there is the only file 'kernel'.
> With 0.45 I could see /etc and it was easy to modify configuration
> (I always include ee) and update floppy, no need to rebuild it.
> Is there an option that switches to old style?

there is one variable in the picobsd script, INCLUDE_FLOPPY_TREE_IN_MFS,
which controls this behaviour.

but before you change it, consider that the new system works as follows:

  1. all files that used to be in the floppy are initially in the
     MFS filesystem in the directory /fd ;

  2. at boot time, the initial /etc/rc script first copies the files
     from the mfs copy, then tries to mount the floppy onto /fd
     and retries to copy the files.
     If the mount fails (e.g. because there is no floppy, see #4)
     you still have the initial configuration

  3. the update script still saves the files that you specify to the
     floppy, so at the next boot the updated versions will override
     the old ones.
     This reminds me that there is probably a minor problem in the
     picobsd script, as it does not create empty directories such as
     /etc and /root on the floppy. I wonder if there is (or we can
     implement) some "cp" option which creates all the traversed
     subdirectories if necessary...

  4. A case in which you do not have a floppy is when you download
     the kernel using etherboot or some other diskless booting options.

I believe the above method is more convenient than the old one (as
it supports network-loading of the kernel) and it saves some space
because each file on the floppy consumes a minimum of 512 bytes,
whereas the corresponding version in MFS can be smaller as the
padding compresses quite well.

	cheers
	luigi
----------------------------------+-----------------------------------------
 Luigi RIZZO, luigi@iet.unipi.it  . ACIRI/ICSI (on leave from Univ. di Pisa)
 http://www.iet.unipi.it/~luigi/  . 1947 Center St, Berkeley CA 94704
 Phone: (510) 666 2927
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