Re: init not loading? why?

On Fri, 28 Mar 2003, Sean Chittenden wrote:

> > > Ah!  Figured it out after reading through init's src: /dev didn't
> > > exist therefore the machine wouldn't start.  No good.  I may find
> > > a place to stick this got'cha in the docs or add an mkdir() call
> > > to init.
> > 
> > mkdir(2) on / is not going to work if / is readonly.  The kernel
> > actually tries to do a vop_mkdir() already, I think.  The eventual
> > solution is probably a rootfs (blaim mux).
> 
> Well, I haven't tested this, but I think you're right that it's nmount()
> that's failing and the lack of a check on it's return value.  I haven't
> tested this beyond compiling it, but I suspect it'll work and fix this
> corner case.  -sc

Per our out-of-band conversation, it looks like this won't work because
of a lack of /dev.  It seems like the most reasonable solution is to
generate a kernel warning message if the kernel-side devfs mount attempt
fails.  If we cause init to fail, the kernel will panic, and I can't quite
decide if (a) the system hanging, or (b) the kernel panicking is a better
answer.  :-)

Robert N M Watson             FreeBSD Core Team, TrustedBSD Projects
robert_at_fledge.watson.org      Network Associates Laboratories