Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2025 11:24:16 -0800 From: James Gritton <jamie@freebsd.org> To: questions@freebsd.org Cc: Graham Menhennitt <graham@menhennitt.com.au> Subject: Re: error creating thin jail on 15.0 Message-ID: <f46885031aa3c74d2f9c03dc08879ecc@freebsd.org> In-Reply-To: <8b0ab9ee-29ef-413f-9b42-c837ca8d29f0@menhennitt.com.au> References: <e0af9569-47a8-482f-bafc-783f69935ac3@menhennitt.com.au> <4f56394c9bc2dd4aef5f426eda9679f0@freebsd.org> <de4b209c-53d4-4af1-8c7f-328b74c4674a@menhennitt.com.au> <3fcb1ac3913e14eee2c805f2cb796355@gritton.org> <8b0ab9ee-29ef-413f-9b42-c837ca8d29f0@menhennitt.com.au>
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OK, I see where we've been going differnt directions. I was using the ZFS section of the instructions, and you were using the NullFS section (I just took a closer look at your command history). That way of doing thing is a lot messier, but it seems things should still work out. The essential part that seems to not be working is the fstab file, whnere /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-base (which has all the files you've been missing) is mounted onto /usr/local/jails/vaultwarden-nullfs-base/. With that, you should be able to see all the regular files (including the dev directory that was the first sign of something wrong). So perhaps something is going wrong with that mount. - Jamie On 2025-12-28 18:50, Graham Menhennitt wrote: > Thanks again for replying. > > The command that I used is copied directly from section 17.5.2 of the > handbook (at > https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/jails/#creating-thin-jail-nullfs). > Perhaps the handbook is wrong. > > Anyway I tried your suggested command (without the "-base" in that tar > command and lots of subsequent commands), but it fails in the same way. > > Thanks, > > Graham > > On 26/12/2025 7:09 am, James Gritton wrote: >> I suspect a copy/paste problem: one of the commands is: >> # tar -xf /usr/local/jails/media/15.0-RELEASE-base.txz -C >> /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE --unlink >> >> and it wouldn't be hard to turn it into >> # tar -xf /usr/local/jails/media/15.0-RELEASE-base.txz -C >> /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE0-base --unlink >> >> since that's the name of the tar file without its extension. So you >> might be almost there - just rename the directory, and proceed from >> there. >> >> I don't know if ezjail does that thin jail setup, but something like >> that is certainly worth a try. >> >> - Jamie >> >> >> On 2025-12-24 16:51, Graham Menhennitt wrote: >>> Thanks very much for replying, Jamie. >>> >>> I suspect that you're correct in saying that "files weren't extracted >>> into the master directory". There is no >>> directory /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE as you said in your >>> suggestions. There is >>> only /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-base >>> (and /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-skeleton which is >>> created by the later mkdir command in the instructions). >>> >>> I checked my command history and I'm fairly certain that I followed >>> the instructions correctly. >>> >>> See below for the results of the "ll" commands, and the relevant >>> extract from the history. >>> >>> I see that there is the "ezjail" utility. I may try using that. >>> >>> Thanks again, >>> >>> Graham >>> >>> >>> >>> # ll /usr/local/jails/templates/ >>> total 8 >>> drwxr-xr-x 15 root wheel 512 23 Dec 15:30 15.0-RELEASE-base >>> drwxr-xr-x 8 root wheel 512 23 Dec 15:28 15.0-RELEASE-skeleton >>> >>> # ll /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-base/ >>> total 60 >>> drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 1024 23 Dec 15:26 bin >>> drwxr-xr-x 15 root wheel 1536 23 Dec 15:26 boot >>> -r--r--r-- 1 root wheel 6070 28 Nov 14:51 COPYRIGHT >>> dr-xr-xr-x 2 root wheel 512 28 Nov 14:42 dev >>> lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 12 23 Dec 15:29 etc -> skeleton/etc >>> lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 13 23 Dec 15:29 home -> skeleton/home >>> drwxr-xr-x 4 root wheel 2048 28 Nov 14:46 lib >>> drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 512 28 Nov 14:43 libexec >>> drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 512 28 Nov 14:42 media >>> drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 512 28 Nov 14:42 mnt >>> drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 512 28 Nov 14:42 net >>> dr-xr-xr-x 2 root wheel 512 28 Nov 14:42 proc >>> drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 2560 23 Dec 15:26 rescue >>> lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 13 23 Dec 15:29 root -> skeleton/root >>> drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 3072 23 Dec 15:26 sbin >>> drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 512 23 Dec 15:29 skeleton >>> lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 11 28 Nov 14:42 sys -> usr/src/sys >>> lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 12 23 Dec 15:30 tmp -> skeleton/tmp >>> drwxr-xr-x 13 root wheel 512 23 Dec 15:29 usr >>> lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 12 23 Dec 15:30 var -> skeleton/var >>> >>> # ll /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-skeleton/ >>> total 24 >>> drwxr-xr-x 30 root wheel 2560 23 Dec 15:27 etc >>> drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 512 23 Dec 15:27 home >>> drwxr-x--- 2 root wheel 512 23 Dec 15:28 root >>> drwxrwxrwt 2 root wheel 512 23 Dec 15:28 tmp >>> drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 512 23 Dec 15:27 usr >>> drwxr-xr-x 24 root wheel 512 23 Dec 15:28 var >>> >>> # ll /usr/local/jails/containers/vaultwarden >>> total 24 >>> drwxr-xr-x 30 root wheel 2048 23 Dec 15:31 etc >>> drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 512 23 Dec 15:31 home >>> drwxr-x--- 2 root wheel 512 23 Dec 15:31 root >>> drwxr-xr-t 2 root wheel 512 23 Dec 15:31 tmp >>> drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 512 23 Dec 15:31 usr >>> drwxr-xr-x 24 root wheel 512 23 Dec 15:31 var >>> >>> # history >>> ... >>> 441 mkdir /usr/local/jails/ >>> 442 mkdir /usr/local/jails/{media,templates,containers} >>> 443 ll /usr/local/jails/ >>> 444 vi /etc/jail.conf >>> 445 # mkdir /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-base >>> 446 mkdir /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-base >>> 447 fetch >>> https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/releases/amd64/amd64/15.0-RELEASE/base.txz >>> -o /usr/local/jails/media/15.0-RELEASE-base.txz >>> 448 tar -xf /usr/local/jails/media/15.0-RELEASE-base.txz -C >>> /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-base --unlink >>> 449 cp /etc/resolv.conf >>> /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-base/etc/resolv.conf >>> 450 cp /etc/localtime >>> /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-base/etc/localtime >>> 451 freebsd-update -b >>> /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-base/ fetch install >>> 452 mkdir /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-skeleton >>> 453 mkdir -p /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-skeleton/home >>> 454 mkdir -p /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-skeleton/usr >>> 455 mv /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-base/etc >>> /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-skeleton/etc >>> 456 mv /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-base/usr/local >>> /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-skeleton/usr/local >>> 457 mv /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-base/tmp >>> /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-skeleton/tmp >>> 458 mv /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-base/var >>> /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-skeleton/var >>> 459 mv /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-base/root >>> /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-skeleton/root >>> 460 cd /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-base/ >>> 461 mkdir skeleton >>> 462 ln -s skeleton/etc etc >>> 463 ln -s skeleton/home home >>> 464 ln -s skeleton/root root >>> 465 ln -s ../skeleton/usr/local usr/local >>> 466 ln -s skeleton/tmp tmp >>> 467 ln -s skeleton/var var >>> 468 cp -R /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE-skeleton >>> /usr/local/jails/containers/vaultwarden >>> 469 mkdir -p /usr/local/jails/vaultwarden-nullfs-base >>> 470 vi /usr/local/jails/vaultwarden-nullfs-base.fstab >>> 471 service jail start vaultwarden >>> ... >>> # >>> >>> On 24/12/2025 5:52 am, James Gritton wrote: >>>> On 2025-12-22 21:40, Graham Menhennitt wrote: >>>>> Hello, >>>>> >>>>> I've recently upgraded my server from 14.3 to 15.0. Everything >>>>> appeared to work successfully in the upgrade. >>>>> >>>>> I now want to create a thin jail using UFS. I've followed the >>>>> handbook section 17.5 exactly except that my jail is named >>>>> "vaultwarden" instead of "thinjail". Accordingly, I've replaced >>>>> "thinjail" by "vaultwarden" everywhere. >>>>> >>>>> When I try to start the jail, I get an error: >>>>> >>>>> # service jail start vaultwarden >>>>> Starting jails: cannot start jail "vaultwarden": >>>>> jail: vaultwarden: mount.devfs: >>>>> /usr/local/jails/containers/vaultwarden/dev: No such file or >>>>> directory >>>>> . >>>>> # >>>>> >>>>> I tried creating >>>>> directory /usr/local/jails/containers/vaultwarden/dev. Then I get a >>>>> different error: >>>>> >>>>> # service jail start vaultwarden >>>>> Starting jails: cannot start jail "vaultwarden": >>>>> 1 >>>>> jail: vaultwarden: /bin/sh /etc/rc: failed >>>>> . >>>>> # >>>>> >>>>> I'm completely new to jails. Can somebody please give me a clue on >>>>> how to diagnose then problem. >>>> >>>> Considering /dev didn't exist in the jail directory, I'm guessing >>>> that nothing exist there. That leaves two possibilities: the files >>>> weren't extracted into the master directory, or they weren't >>>> reflected into the thin jail directory. What it look like when you >>>> run: >>>> >>>> ls -l /usr/local/jails/templates/15.0-RELEASE >>>> ls -l /usr/local/jails/containers/vaultwarden >>>> >>>> Both of those directories should show a root directory listing. If >>>> the first one isn't there, something went wrong in downloading and >>>> unpacking the base file set. I would imagine there'd be some kind >>>> of error message if that were the case. If the second one isn't >>>> there, the clone didn't work. Again, I'd expect an error message. >>>> If both of them *do* show files, there's probably something wrong in >>>> the jail.conf. >>>> >>>> Another command with potentially useful output is "zfs list -t >>>> all". I would expect to see a line showing the dataset named >>>> zroot/jails/containers/vaultwarden at the mount point >>>> /usr/local/jails/containers/vaultwarden. >>>> >>>> - Jamie >>>> >>help
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