From owner-freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Jan 4 21:25:45 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0DD1D106566B; Tue, 4 Jan 2011 21:25:45 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jhixson@gmail.com) Received: from mail-iy0-f182.google.com (mail-iy0-f182.google.com [209.85.210.182]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 97A088FC12; Tue, 4 Jan 2011 21:25:44 +0000 (UTC) Received: by iyb26 with SMTP id 26so13934662iyb.13 for ; Tue, 04 Jan 2011 13:25:43 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:received:received:in-reply-to :references:date:message-id:subject:from:to:cc:content-type; bh=gOjOScYKLx7ceuzqAX+yeCd4rAyBLrblvSTEMEkMgwM=; b=JQYMQV2wYD/zbIyQLsVjqgJkiuJFl0D2+HfFQp7kQHPne61N7jTyiOHXkTl6kMKm36 6QI0gvu+S0gl1W56pl7n/XHyHxHK9FfxoZH+n+RTDuShq7k2CRmBukLXfuHgg91Ub0wa mddmSiEZpmUa4Xt/1KR4kJOZKojcrxOEj+F8w= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :cc:content-type; b=aTCjAIvgO7+CO6ON0zypoGdUMo92jC50lBcTtkSuAlCrOM0y/Gf305amKUknojWuLz 4bgbPLzkSuXYoJZkEfsv9sk6qVB9DSBpIMg1r3lrMYV87dMT2K24+/sqaAw+Cwg4qgxg UtDnnA3KWdwOF29wd5D4+VmBkIkIsObXNShRM= MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.42.166.200 with SMTP id p8mr21422061icy.87.1294176343784; Tue, 04 Jan 2011 13:25:43 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.42.58.72 with HTTP; Tue, 4 Jan 2011 13:25:43 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: <4D22D30A.2050606@executive-computing.de> References: <4D20C8BF.701@freebsd.org> <29AA82C4-6301-4DCD-BC9D-423AD162998E@gmail.com> <4D20DDE4.8080306@freebsd.org> <4D22D30A.2050606@executive-computing.de> Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2011 13:25:43 -0800 Message-ID: From: John Hixson To: Marco Steinbach Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Cc: Garrett Cooper , Bruce Cran , john@ixsystems.com, Nathan Whitehorn , freebsd-arch@freebsd.org, matt@ixsystems.com, freebsd-sysinstall@freebsd.org Subject: Re: BSDInstall: I want the bikeshed painted plaid X-BeenThere: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussion related to FreeBSD architecture List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 04 Jan 2011 21:25:45 -0000 On Mon, Jan 3, 2011 at 11:58 PM, Marco Steinbach < coco@executive-computing.de> wrote: > John Hixson wrote on 02.01.2011 22:51: > > On Sun, Jan 2, 2011 at 12:19 PM, Nathan Whitehorn > >wrote: >> >> I spent a bunch of time looking at pc-sysinstall before starting to work >>> on >>> this. The major problem for non-x86 systems is that it heavily assumes >>> that >>> your disks are either MBR+bsdlabel or GPT. If you have anything different >>> (APM, VTOC8, or even a raw bsdlabel or MBR installation on x86), it >>> breaks >>> in strange and fascinating ways due to a random mixture of if (scheme == >>> MBR) else and if (scheme == GPT) else in the backend. Some of these are >>> easily fixed, but it looked quite difficult to root out all of the places >>> this assumption is made, not to mention teaching it about various styles >>> of >>> boot code, that the same partitioning scheme may need to be set up >>> different >>> ways on different architectures, etc. txt-sysinstall also segfaults when >>> you >>> try to run it on powerpc at the moment, though that is likely a simple >>> bug >>> and I didn't look into it in detail. >>> >>> What I intended with bsdinstall is to have something simple, flexible, >>> and >>> easily maintained that works immediately on all platforms and will be >>> ready >>> for 9.0 for sure. If pc-sysinstall materializes before then, or after >>> then, >>> and people like it better, I'm more than happy to get out of the way; >>> this >>> is the reason the wiki page is titled "Stopgap Installer". In the >>> interim, I >>> hoped to at least start laying out the hammer and nails next to >>> sysinstall's >>> coffin. >>> -Nathan >>> >>> >>> I would be more than happy to help out with making pc-sysinstall work on >> non-x86 systems, however I don't have access to any. Do any of you have >> hardware that could possibly be used by interested parties? I'm sure all >> the >> work that's gone into bsdinstall could be used in pc-sysinstall or vice >> versa. >> > > I have PowerMacs (G3/G4) and Netras/Ultras (T1 105, U10, U5) at my > discretion. I've never installed FreeBSD on any of them, but would be > willing to give it a shot. > > I can provide serial console access to the Sparcs, but the PowerMacs > supposedly need "hands on", which I can also provide. > > If there's interest, I humbly suggest discussing further details on the > course of action at sysinstall@, to which I just subscribed. > > I just subscribed to sysinstall@. I'd be happy to help starting out on the sparcs. I have no experience whatsoever on powermac, but it sounds fun ;-). - John