From owner-freebsd-hackers Wed May 31 01:07:11 1995 Return-Path: hackers-owner Received: (from majordom@localhost) by freefall.cdrom.com (8.6.10/8.6.6) id BAA01403 for hackers-outgoing; Wed, 31 May 1995 01:07:11 -0700 Received: from localhost.cdrom.com (localhost.cdrom.com [127.0.0.1]) by freefall.cdrom.com (8.6.10/8.6.6) with SMTP id BAA01370 ; Wed, 31 May 1995 01:07:07 -0700 X-Authentication-Warning: freefall.cdrom.com: Host localhost.cdrom.com didn't use HELO protocol To: Warner Losh cc: "House of Debuggin'" , hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Boot disks insane? In-reply-to: Your message of "Wed, 31 May 95 00:30:43 MDT." <199505310630.AAA00237@rover.village.org> Date: Wed, 31 May 1995 01:07:05 -0700 Message-ID: <1365.801907625@freefall.cdrom.com> From: "Jordan K. Hubbard" Sender: hackers-owner@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk > Yes. But in the past there have been two disks, one much larger than > the other.... and usually you booted the smaller one (gzipped) and > the larger one had all the useful files you needed. I'll doc this better for 2.0.5R - I promise.. :-) > Anyway, I encountered a large number of problems with installing this > release. I tried to do the FTP release thing (from a local host) and > found that I got an unspecified error -1 no matter what host I pointed > it at. Maybe I did something wrong, but it sure was frustrating to > discover this. I don't think that ncftp is on boot.flp. I couldn't > find it when I used that useful shell on the forth screen. Strange! I have done numerous ftp installs, over everything from PCMCIA ethernet cards to PPP to SLIP! Are you sure your DNS stuff is set up properly? Netmask? Did you try a URL by IP address? (e.g. ftp://192.222.333.444/pub/FreeBSD/2.0.5-ALPHA/). I'd like to debug this, if you'd be so kind.. I'm relying on this kind of feedback to make 2.0.5R work! > Also, there should be some way to mount old file systems so that you > can just ftp the files from ftp.freebsd.org to your local hard disk > (say overnight when you know the load is low) and thenn do the > install. As it was, I had to unpack them by hand to get a somewhat > bootable system. UFS installation should do the job.. > Then I tried to continue with things like configure and the like, but > they didn't have any effect, so I've been cranking things by hand. Feh? I'd be interested in details. Again, I certainly have tested most of that to destruction and am surprised to hear that it's giving you so much trouble! > It would be nice if there was some way to say "There's my 2.0R disks, > figure out all these silly questions from that system, do the right > thing with the new system, and be about your business," but I > understand that is a 2.1R project. I'm glad you understand that.. :-) :-) > The new install is cool and fairly nice, but the disk disk partition > and disk label tools need some feedback as to what happens when you > hit . It would be nice if it remembered mount points accross > reboots, but that is minor... I can't remember the mountpoints since they're not stored anywhere! :-( I could parse fstab if I found it, but after the slice changes it would almost certainly be wrong. anyway. > Oh, is it "safe" to use old, unconverted file systems with the > 2.0.5-ALPHA *AND* the 2.0R kernel at the same time (meaning that > sometimes the 2.0R kernel is reading/writing them, and at other times > the 2.0.5-ALPHA kernel is reading/writing them). Should be no problem, modulo the slice code bitching at you. > All in all, this is a much improved install system, despite my > complaints about it. It will likely need some polish around the edges > before it is ready for 2.0.5R (Sorry Jordan). No offense taken - that's why I'm doing this ALPHA! I'm totally open to any specific suggestions you or anyone else might have and, as Poul will tell you, am generally quick to implement anything I think is a good idea. This install is by no means frozen in stone yet! If you (and I mean the generic "you", not just Warner) have suggestions for changes to the code or the docs (or, even better, patches for any of the above :-) I'm _very_ interested in hearing from you! I may have come on a little strong with Julian, and I really don't mean to be snappy about feedback. I am tired and there's a vertebra twisted in my neck that is causing me considerable pain (%@&%*!! chiropractor is closed on Tuesdays! :-( ) so I may be a little on edge, but I'm still very interested in feedback. Some of it may be utterly impractical, and when it is I'll simply say so, but I still want to hear it! Jordan