Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:23:40 -0500 From: "J. Porter Clark" <jpc@porterclark.com> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Booting multiple choice, and pause to read bootup info Message-ID: <20100629162340.GA12263@auricle.charter.net> In-Reply-To: <201006290900.o5T90LeU002882@mail.r-bonomi.com> References: <201006290900.o5T90LeU002882@mail.r-bonomi.com>
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On Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 04:00:21AM -0500, Robert Bonomi wrote: > > > > 1. I'd like to be able to expand the list of choices in the > > boot menu (the menu with single user mode, safe mode, etc.) to > > include booting in any of several different environments, e.g., > > home wired, home wireless, work wired, work wireless. Hacking > > the FORTH code isn't entirely out of the question, but before > > I even try it, I need to know how I could tell the system to > > switch among different rc.conf files (if that's even possible) > > from the loader. Offhand, I don't see a mechanism for doing so. > > Cleverer ideas welcome. > > There's no 'built in' mechanism. > > There's no "easy" way. > > Closest thing -to- an 'easy way' is to set an environment variable > _very_early_ in the boot process, and then use it to 'conditionalize' > (how -that- for an ugly word? :) the setting of various stuff in rc.conf > e.g.: > case $USER_ENV in > home) USE_LDAP="no" > ;; > work) USE_LDAP="yes" > ;; > esac I wasn't aware that setting an environment variable inside the loader would propagate into the rc.conf environment. Is this so? > > 2. Usually, when the system boots, there are several lines > > showing the kernel and various modules loading, possibly with > > diagnostics. Is there a way to pause after that stage, so that > > those lines can be read? Or is there any way to retrieve them > > after the system has booted? > > I havven't tried it on FBSD, in a long time, but most PC "BSDs" will pause > the boot screen if you hit [CTL-S], or the PAUSE key. > > Alternatively, does dmesg(8), used 'reasonably soon' after booting, give > you what you want? > > Note: a typical installation will have syslogd putting _most_ of those > messsages in the system log file, too. Y'all are way off base here: it's not the lines from the kernel itself booting, it's the lines *before* that, where the loader is loading the kernel and various modules. Occasionally, I see error messages here, but they vanish pretty quickly on my machines, too fast to be caught reliably with CTL-S, SCROLL LOCK, etc. I could set up a serial console, but it seems like a lot of work just to see these messages. -- J. Porter Clark <jpc@porterclark.com>
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