From owner-freebsd-sysinstall@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Oct 25 14:02:55 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-sysinstall@FreeBSD.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2CD251065670 for ; Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:02:55 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from nwhitehorn@freebsd.org) Received: from mail.icecube.wisc.edu (trout.icecube.wisc.edu [128.104.255.119]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E4FD18FC14 for ; Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:02:54 +0000 (UTC) Received: from localhost (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by mail.icecube.wisc.edu (Postfix) with ESMTP id 88319582DC; Tue, 25 Oct 2011 08:45:17 -0500 (CDT) X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at icecube.wisc.edu Received: from mail.icecube.wisc.edu ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (trout.icecube.wisc.edu [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10030) with ESMTP id 5c37xvsbf-ik; Tue, 25 Oct 2011 08:45:17 -0500 (CDT) Received: from elpis.tachypleus.net (adsl-76-208-68-41.dsl.mdsnwi.sbcglobal.net [76.208.68.41]) by mail.icecube.wisc.edu (Postfix) with ESMTP id 069A7582D2; Tue, 25 Oct 2011 08:45:16 -0500 (CDT) Message-ID: <4EA6BD66.3020505@freebsd.org> Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2011 08:45:10 -0500 From: Nathan Whitehorn User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD powerpc; en-US; rv:1.9.2.13) Gecko/20110202 Thunderbird/3.1.7 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Fbsd8 References: <4EA61B2E.1060201@a1poweruser.com> In-Reply-To: <4EA61B2E.1060201@a1poweruser.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-sysinstall@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: FW: bin/161931: bsdinstall(8): (add sysinstall partition config as option) X-BeenThere: freebsd-sysinstall@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Sysinstall Work List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:02:55 -0000 On 10/24/11 21:13, Fbsd8 wrote: >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Nathan Whitehorn [mailto:nwhitehorn@freebsd.org] >> Sent: Monday, October 24, 2011 9:32 PM >> To: joeb1 >> Cc: freebsd-sysinstall@FreeBSD.org >> Subject: Re: bin/161931: bsdinstall(8): (add sysinstall partition >> config as >> option) >> >> On 10/23/11 20:30, joeb1 wrote: >>> The following reply was made to PR bin/161931; it has been noted by >>> GNATS. >>> >>> From: "fbsd8" >>> To:, >>> >>> Cc: >>> Subject: Re: bin/161931: bsdinstall(8): (add sysinstall partition >>> config >> as option) >>> Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2011 09:28:42 +0800 >>> >>> Yes I mean the mbr+bsdlabel method as there is no other method >> available in >>> sysinstall. And along with this, help info needs to be added >>> explaining >>> under what conditions one method or the other is used. Help saying >> something >>> along the lines of older PC bios./hard drives use the mbr+bsdlabel >>> sysinstall method and newer PC bios./hard drives (manufactured 2010+) >> need >>> to use the bsdinstall method because pc manufactures and Microsoft >>> have >>> changed the boot process. Or what ever is the true reason for this >>> difference. Installers need to have the correct info so they can make >> the >>> correct decision about what method to select. >> >> That's fully supported, if you want to do it, and is even the default if >> the drive is already MBR partitioned. The difference between the two is >> that GPT is a lot more flexible than MBR (no 4-partition limit, for >> instance), and allows nice things like labels. There's no old/new >> machine difference -- 386s can boot GPT just as well as Core i7s. But >> it's really a matter of personal preference. The only real difference is >> that you can't dual-boot Windows with a GPT disk (this is why only the >> "Entire Disk for FreeBSD" option in the installer sets up GPT). We can >> extend the online help to this effect. >> -Nathan >> >> >> > > Nathan > > I do not understand how you can say > "That's fully supported, if you want to do it, and is even the default > if the drive is already MBR partitioned." > > I installed rc1 on a ata hard drive containing ms/xp and a second time > on same HD containing FBSD 8.2 and I was not shown any dialog boxes > offering mbr/bsdlabel config method. A detailed review of bsdinstall > resulted in NO options every being shown to point to a dialog driven > mbr/bsdlabel HD config method. So if its there you really need massive > corrections to allow the user to fall into it. From the installers > view point, if there are no dialog boxes leading the user through the > process then that function does not exist. Even in the autopartitioner, if the disk is MBR already, it uses MBR by default in the autopartitioner. If it's a fresh disk, when you press the "Create" button it asks you what partition scheme you want and you choose MBR. If it's an already formatted disk (with GPT, say), and you press "Edit", then you choose MBR. You can also do other things like straight BSD label ("dangerously dedicated") by the same mechanism. It's not that complicated and is well documented in the handbook. > Your description of the differences between the two HD config methods > is a great example of the type of help info that should be displayed > in a help dialog box. It's already in the handbook, and documented very well there. An online help file could probably well be extracted from the handbook. I have no time at the moment -- if you or someone else could prepare it, that would be move things along much more quickly. > If I use bsdinstall and then want to return to 8.x I get error msg > because the secondary GPT table from the end of the HD still exists. This kind of problem is why we got rid of sysinstall -- it bypasses all the normal OS partitioning tools and breaks in strange ways with no error handling on disks preformatted in any way it doesn't expect. -Nathan