Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2026 16:06:27 -0700 From: Mark Millard <marklmi@yahoo.com> To: Alexander Ziaee <ziaee@FreeBSD.org>, dev-commits-src-all <dev-commits-src-all@FreeBSD.org>, dev-commits-src-main <dev-commits-src-main@FreeBSD.org> Cc: mckusick <mckusick@FreeBSD.org> Subject: Re: git: 5ed26c21e4ff - main - bsdinstall: Improve auto-partition message Message-ID: <13e05438-16ed-4049-b595-cfb6929aee79@yahoo.com> In-Reply-To: <E1wHpRM-0004Ld-AB@rmmprod06.runbox> References: <18c071e0-e882-400b-97ca-2c7f54a9c5ef@yahoo.com> <E1wHpRM-0004Ld-AB@rmmprod06.runbox>
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On 4/28/26 13:53, Alexander Ziaee wrote: > > > On 2026-04-28 16:16 -04:00 EDT, "Mark Millard" <marklmi@yahoo.com> wrote: >> On 4/28/26 10:02, Alexander Ziaee wrote: >>> The branch main has been updated by ziaee: >>> >>> URL: https://cgit.FreeBSD.org/src/commit/?id=5ed26c21e4ff1d478d4611abbf3dc14cc1b77244 >>> >>> commit 5ed26c21e4ff1d478d4611abbf3dc14cc1b77244 >>> Author: Alexander Ziaee <ziaee@FreeBSD.org> >>> AuthorDate: 2026-04-28 16:59:19 +0000 >>> Commit: Alexander Ziaee <ziaee@FreeBSD.org> >>> CommitDate: 2026-04-28 16:59:34 +0000 >>> >>> bsdinstall: Improve auto-partition message >>> >>> Manually tuning ZFS for systems with <8GB ram hasn't been necessary at >>> least since the switch to OpenZFS. We have users reporting using 1GB RAM >>> with no manual tuning/issues. >> >> It is my understanding that FreeBSD 15.1-RELEASE intends on have armv7 >> fully supported with normal style distributions, unlike for 15.0 and >> before. (This came up during the 15.0 effort.) That sets some context >> for the below. >> >> Back when I experimented with such contexts for building ports on armv7, >> there were definite memory tradeoffs vs. using UFS and what parallel >> jobs / MAKE_JOBS_NUMBER_LIMIT combinations did. This was in the OpenZFS >> time frame for sure. (I tested both ZFS and UFS types of context doing >> the same builds.) These tests were "headless" (serial console and ssh) >> that avoided also having any other notable competition for RAM+SWAP, >> something that does not necessarily generally apply. >> >> I will note that armv7 no longer gets updating official port-package >> builds via FreeBSD distributions. Some folks do not have/use aarch64 >> that is also armv7 user space capable or just do not use aarch64 systems >> to build the port-packages that they want to use. >> >> Compared to 64-bit contexts, 32-bit environments (such as armv7) also >> have smaller multipliers for SWAP=MULTIPLIER*RAM before FreeBSD warns of >> potential mis-tuning. armv7 is tier 2. >> >> In other words, it seems that more needs to be specified about the >> workload context to make a solid claim. > > Yes, that's why I removed the stale claim and the link to stale doc. I was talking about your new claim: QUOTE Manually tuning ZFS for systems with <8GB ram hasn't been necessary at least since the switch to OpenZFS. We have users reporting using 1GB RAM with no manual tuning/issues. END QUOTE not necessarily applying well to armv7 for its likely common context of building port-packages for armv7 on armv7. > > Thanks for the interest and the additional context! > > Best, > Alex > >> A common case of needing to >> personally build port-packages on such systems at least likely does have >> differing tradeoffs involved from differing RAM usage. (Time to build is >> also part of the tradeoff structure.) >> >> (I'm not claiming that https://wiki.freebsd.org/ZFSTuningGuide should be >> referenced.) >> >> I do not know of Kirk McKusic would fully retract the paragraph that is >> on pages 49 and 549 of the Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD >> Operating System book as a summary of the issues. (Page 547 and 548 >> indicate more about what contributes.) >> >> Further, the page this links to is a stale >>> wiki page, which is causing complaints. Remove this misleading note and >>> replace it with a similar message for UFS. While here, reword that note >>> to be a bit clearer. >>> >>> PR: 287719 >>> MFC after: 3 days >>> Differential Revision: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D50971 >>> --- >>> usr.sbin/bsdinstall/scripts/auto | 4 ++-- >>> 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) >>> >>> diff --git a/usr.sbin/bsdinstall/scripts/auto b/usr.sbin/bsdinstall/scripts/auto >>> index e9d6da149a85..ca0561daac1a 100755 >>> --- a/usr.sbin/bsdinstall/scripts/auto >>> +++ b/usr.sbin/bsdinstall/scripts/auto >>> @@ -50,10 +50,10 @@ msg_abort="Abort" >>> msg_an_installation_step_has_been_aborted="An installation step has been aborted. Would you like\nto restart the installation or exit the installer?" >>> msg_auto_ufs="Auto (UFS)" >>> msg_auto_ufs_desc="Guided UFS Disk Setup" >>> -msg_auto_ufs_help="Menu options help choose which disk to setup using UFS and standard partitions" >>> +msg_auto_ufs_help="Choose which disk to setup using UFS and standard partition layout" >>> msg_auto_zfs="Auto (ZFS)" >>> msg_auto_zfs_desc="Guided Root-on-ZFS" >>> -msg_auto_zfs_help="To use ZFS with less than 8GB RAM, see https://wiki.freebsd.org/ZFSTuningGuide" >>> +msg_auto_zfs_help="Choose which disk to setup using ZFS and standard partition layout" >>> msg_exit="Exit" >>> msg_freebsd_installer="$OSNAME Installer" >>> msg_gpt_active_fix="Your hardware is known to have issues booting in CSM/Legacy/BIOS mode from GPT partitions that are not set active. Would you like the installer to apply this workaround for you?" >>> >>> >> >> >> -- >> === >> Mark Millard >> marklmi at yahoo.com >> > -- === Mark Millard marklmi at yahoo.comhome | help
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