From owner-freebsd-questions Sat Jan 12 17:41: 1 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from fedde.littleton.co.us (cfedde.dsl.frii.net [216.17.139.141]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9409937B417 for ; Sat, 12 Jan 2002 17:40:59 -0800 (PST) Received: from fedde.littleton.co.us (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by fedde.littleton.co.us (8.11.6/8.11.4) with ESMTP id g0D1eu801800; Sat, 12 Jan 2002 18:40:56 -0700 (MST) Message-Id: <200201130140.g0D1eu801800@fedde.littleton.co.us> To: charon@seektruth.org Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: can't mount / properly, fstab woes In-Reply-To: <200201130059.g0D0xw304790@midway.uchicago.edu> From: Chris Fedde Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2002 18:40:56 -0700 Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On Sat, 12 Jan 2002 19:00:02 -0600 David Syphers wrote: +------------------ | booted to single-user mode, and managed to run fsck on /, but only by | specifying the device name, since /etc/fstab is apparently FUBAR. But it | won't let me mount / read-write, so I can't change fstab. It keeps | complaining 'inappropriate file type or format', and I don't understand what | that means. It doesn't make it easier that I have to direct someone how do | this over the phone, since I can't ssh into the box Help!! +------------------ You need to update the mount to read-write. do that by using the -u option. Another approach is to ship out a new drive properly installed so that the remote hands only have to switch drives and free you from the drudgery of using their eyes and hands. +------------------ | And for the record, I think making / read-only is something that should | _never_ be done. The system does _not_ work properly in this mode, and | everything gives me errors. To every FreeBSD security how-to out there - | stop recommending this! If that kind of security is desired, then running | the whole computer from a CDROM is probably the best idea. +------------------ Read only / disk is safe if you are careful and understand what you are doing. Remember that security is inversely proportional to convenience. Good Luck -- Chris Fedde To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message