From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Sat Nov 14 19:33:04 2020 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.nyi.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2610:1c1:1:606c::19:1]) by mailman.nyi.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 75DB2463F1F for ; Sat, 14 Nov 2020 19:33:04 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from weaver@riseup.net) Received: from mx1.riseup.net (mx1.riseup.net [198.252.153.129]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (Client CN "*.riseup.net", Issuer "Sectigo RSA Domain Validation Secure Server CA" (verified OK)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 4CYQV73mVzz3rgP for ; Sat, 14 Nov 2020 19:33:03 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from weaver@riseup.net) Received: from capuchin.riseup.net (capuchin-pn.riseup.net [10.0.1.176]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (Client CN "*.riseup.net", Issuer "Sectigo RSA Domain Validation Secure Server CA" (not verified)) by mx1.riseup.net (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 4CYQTy4nYdzFp1B for ; Sat, 14 Nov 2020 11:32:54 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/simple; d=riseup.net; s=squak; t=1605382374; bh=VvBAWCTmrD6lOguy5D1vuMQF/biR4AFkjVm4TYnjM3k=; h=Date:From:To:Subject:In-Reply-To:References:From; b=XB3CFM/wzA/Khi4ZejD3R1MrCaHL7rImyuNvZuewEnMjKM9cW+NhI5eCpxfpX6LWs LocEcNSsI0fXMsn7+eBvmfqCqwUE+lCMv+rCrZxPS7SfDfOEPRs2qqGVJkxpvt9Qew 0qH+Kw7tZoQOyrAGSskbiu3VEsMBPdveOQj4xtmo= X-Riseup-User-ID: 9DF71A50DDFE4B037201C3D95D1B83738EFAC7568FDB523626D418970111319E Received: from [127.0.0.1] (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by capuchin.riseup.net (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 4CYQTy3TBPz8tp4 for ; Sat, 14 Nov 2020 11:32:54 -0800 (PST) MIME-Version: 1.0 Date: Sat, 14 Nov 2020 11:32:54 -0800 From: Weaver To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Booting multiple BSDs. In-Reply-To: <20201114113026.5e093b5f.freebsd@edvax.de> References: <3e235e4f8da5018abbd1d05a1976c7a9@riseup.net> <20201114113026.5e093b5f.freebsd@edvax.de> Message-ID: <0b9db732acb3c77674566a189cc387b4@riseup.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Rspamd-Queue-Id: 4CYQV73mVzz3rgP X-Spamd-Bar: ----- Authentication-Results: mx1.freebsd.org; dkim=pass header.d=riseup.net header.s=squak header.b=XB3CFM/w; dmarc=pass (policy=none) header.from=riseup.net; spf=pass (mx1.freebsd.org: domain of weaver@riseup.net designates 198.252.153.129 as permitted sender) smtp.mailfrom=weaver@riseup.net X-Spamd-Result: default: False [-5.10 / 15.00]; RCVD_VIA_SMTP_AUTH(0.00)[]; RWL_MAILSPIKE_GOOD(0.00)[198.252.153.129:from]; R_SPF_ALLOW(-0.20)[+mx]; TO_DN_NONE(0.00)[]; RCVD_COUNT_THREE(0.00)[3]; DKIM_TRACE(0.00)[riseup.net:+]; DMARC_POLICY_ALLOW(-0.50)[riseup.net,none]; NEURAL_HAM_SHORT(-1.00)[-1.000]; FROM_EQ_ENVFROM(0.00)[]; MIME_TRACE(0.00)[0:+]; RBL_DBL_DONT_QUERY_IPS(0.00)[198.252.153.129:from]; ASN(0.00)[asn:16652, ipnet:198.252.153.0/24, country:US]; MID_RHS_MATCH_FROM(0.00)[]; RCVD_IN_DNSWL_LOW(-0.10)[198.252.153.129:from]; ARC_NA(0.00)[]; NEURAL_HAM_MEDIUM(-1.00)[-1.000]; R_DKIM_ALLOW(-0.20)[riseup.net:s=squak]; FROM_HAS_DN(0.00)[]; TO_MATCH_ENVRCPT_ALL(0.00)[]; NEURAL_HAM_LONG(-1.00)[-1.000]; MIME_GOOD(-0.10)[text/plain]; PREVIOUSLY_DELIVERED(0.00)[freebsd-questions@freebsd.org]; RCPT_COUNT_ONE(0.00)[1]; SPAMHAUS_ZRD(0.00)[198.252.153.129:from:127.0.2.255]; DWL_DNSWL_LOW(-1.00)[riseup.net:dkim]; RCVD_TLS_ALL(0.00)[]; MAILMAN_DEST(0.00)[freebsd-questions] X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.34 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 14 Nov 2020 19:33:04 -0000 On 14-11-2020 20:30, Polytropon wrote: > On Fri, 13 Nov 2020 19:02:29 -0800, David Christensen wrote: >> I am confident that there are several boot managers, likely one for each >> of those four OS's, that can find multiple bootable OS drives/ slices/ >> partitions and allow you to boot the OS of your choice. > > First of all, it's important to understand the different stages > of OS booting, as well as the previous stage, likely involving > UEFI. In order to select (!) from multiple operating systems, > certain things must be neatly prepared or nothing will work > as intended. > > There is a nice write-up by Manish Jain that deals with multi- > booting FreeBSD, Linux, and "Windows", but in case you do not > want a "Windows", leave out the corresponding parts - it will > work in a similar way with multiple BSDs or Linusi, Linuxens, > or Linuxera. ;-) > > Document here: > > https://github.com/bourne-again/TripleBoot-UEFI/blob/master/00-TripleBoot-UEFI.pdf > > In case you do _not_ have UEFI (i. e., you're using BIOS-based > systems), tools like Grub2 can be really helpful as boot manager. > It's easy to configure. > > > >> But, my >> experience is that keeping them all running is an exercise in "infinite >> bug propagation" > > "Get the worst out of all worlds!" :-) > > It doesn't matter if you have a multi-OS setting based on > bare metal or in VMs - each OS you run will require a certain > amount of attention if you want to actually _use_ it for a > specific purpose instead of just "booting it". > > > >> I would remove three of those drives and run one OS at a time. > > In ye olden times, when BIOS was the thing in PC world, some > BIOS vendors had a drive management option integrated: You > could simply logically switch off drives, so they were still > powered on, but not detected anymore, so the only drive (and > maybe the data exchange drive) active were recognized, and > the OS was thinking it was the only one available. Go to BIOS, > switch off disk 1, switch on disk 2, and reboot - a totally > different OS boots, with no possibility to interfere (!) or > to "repair" (!!!) other system's disk content. > > Today, you have PF12 boot selection. :-) Great! Thanks for that. Harry Weaver. -- ⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀ ⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ Debian - The universal operating system ⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀ https://www.debian.org ⠈⠳⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀