From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Sep 6 06:13:21 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5D3E110656BD for ; Mon, 6 Sep 2010 06:13:21 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from perryh@pluto.rain.com) Received: from agora.rdrop.com (agora.rdrop.com [IPv6:2607:f678:1010::34]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 39DDF8FC1D for ; Mon, 6 Sep 2010 06:13:21 +0000 (UTC) Received: from agora.rdrop.com (66@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by agora.rdrop.com (8.13.1/8.12.7) with ESMTP id o866DKEm057901 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT); Sun, 5 Sep 2010 23:13:20 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from perryh@pluto.rain.com) Received: (from uucp@localhost) by agora.rdrop.com (8.13.1/8.12.9/Submit) with UUCP id o866DJS1057900; Sun, 5 Sep 2010 23:13:20 -0700 (PDT) Received: from fbsd61 by pluto.rain.com (4.1/SMI-4.1-pluto-M2060407) id AA26533; Sun, 5 Sep 10 23:07:36 PDT Date: Sun, 05 Sep 2010 23:18:52 -0700 From: perryh@pluto.rain.com To: m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk Message-Id: <4c8487cc.Rh42YL91jTIv09e0%perryh@pluto.rain.com> References: <4c83190a.SG+LIhPWaGtmaaeL%perryh@pluto.rain.com> <4C835474.7060707@infracaninophile.co.uk> In-Reply-To: <4C835474.7060707@infracaninophile.co.uk> User-Agent: nail 11.25 7/29/05 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: "gmirror load" broken in 8.1 memstick X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 06 Sep 2010 06:13:21 -0000 Matthew Seaman wrote: > If you've been able to run 'gmirror label' then geom_mirror.ko is > almost certainly already loaded into your kernel, making 'gmirror > load' superfluous. Check using kldstat(8). Fixit# kldstat Id Refs Address Size Name 1 1 0xc0400000 bb5504 kernel It looks as if writing the metadata doesn't require geom_mirror.ko to be loaded -- which makes a certain amount of sense since the module, even if loaded, presumably shouldn't do anything to a partition that doesn't already have metadata in its last sector. The good news is that, now having an idea what to look for, I checked for geom_mirror.ko in /boot/kernel and found -- surprise! -- the /boot/kernel directory doesn't even exist in the Fixit FS (when booted from the USB stick, dunno about the CD or DVD) and this is apparently the cause of "gmirror load" reporting "Command 'load' not available." The fix is: Fixit# ln -s /dist/boot/kernel /boot after which "gmirror load" works, creating /dev/mirror/gm0{,a,b}.