Date: 01 Apr 2001 17:22:20 -0500 From: Kirk Strauser <kirk@strauser.com> To: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org Subject: My Vinum heart attack Message-ID: <87vgooi7kz.fsf@pooh.honeypot>
next in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Read on to find out how the world almost lost a loyal FreeBSD user to heart-attack and/or stroke: I use cvsup to track 4.x-STABLE, and use the following procedure (from /usr/src/UPDATING) to make world from time to time. ################ To update from 4.0-RELEASE or later to the most current 4.x-STABLE ---------- make buildworld make buildkernel KERNCONF=YOUR_KERNEL_HERE make installkernel KERNCONF=YOUR_KERNEL_HERE reboot (in single user) [1] make installworld mergemaster reboot ################ I had last done this on February 11, 2001. Yesterday (2001-03-31), I decided to make world again. During the reboot-into-single-user process, I watched in abject horror as vinum started, tried to read its configuration, didn't like what it found, and TOTALLY WIPED everything in /dev/vinum (including subdirectories). After regaining consciousness, I realized that I had a live tape backup online, so I restored /dev/vinum, restarted vinum, and nearly wept as it repeated the config-nuking process. Eventually, I discovered that renaming /modules.old to /modules and rebooting with kernel.old, coupled with that handy-dandy /dev/vinum backup, was sufficient to bring my system back to life. My assumption was that some low-level change to vinum was made sometime between 2001-02-11 and 2001-03-31, and that rebooting before 'make installworld' left my kernel and userland utilities out-of-sync. On a personal note, the next time someone makes a change that will break the recommended upgrade method, PLEASE document it in /usr/src/UPDATING. Some people still may get bit, but at least those of us who try to RTFM and Do The Right Thing may avoid a little emergency cardiac care. Thanks, -- Kirk Strauser To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-fs" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?87vgooi7kz.fsf>