Re: this /rescue thing

C. Kukulies wrote:
> /rescue is always causing trouble with me here. make world falls over 
> with:
> 
> ===> rescue/rescue
> install -s -o root -g wheel -m 555   rescue /rescue
> install -o root  -g wheel -m 555  nextboot_FIXED  /rescue/nextboot.sh
> install: /rescue/nextboot.sh: Not a directory
> *** Error code 71
> 
> Stop in /u/src/rescue/rescue.
> *** Error code 1
> 
> Looking into / I see that /rescue is a file.
> 
> Why is this /rescue being created in /? It used to blow up and 
> overflow the / filesystem (there were times when a 40 MB root FS was
> sufficient).
> 
> What is the safe method to put /rescue elsewhere (in an area with enough
> space). It also seems that it is being deleted by make world, at least I
> seem to remember that putting a soft link into /rescue into / didn't
> help either.

Symlinking /rescue -> / will cause exactly the problem you're
seeing.  (Because there is a file called /rescue/rescue, which
will then get installed on top of the symlink.  Boom!)  Don't do that.
You could probably symlink /rescue -> /usr/rescue, but that
sort of defeats the purpose.

/rescue is part of a plan to reduce the size of the / partition,
though it's a somewhat involved process.  There are two key pieces:

1) Building /bin and /sbin dynamically.  This is a big space
    savings, but comes at a cost.  Namely, it's a lot easier
    to trash a dynamic /bin than the old static one.

2) /rescue contains a compact set of statically-linked executables
    (about 3MB total) that are provided to help in system recovery
    if /bin or /sbin gets damaged.

The catch, of course, is that step #2 needs to be finished first,
temporarily increasing the / partition size until #1 is done.

You have several options:

  * Disable /rescue.   Define NO_RESCUE to suppress it from
    being built and installed, e.g.,
      make -DNO_RESCUE buildworld
      make -DNO_RESCUE installworld
    Or add it to /etc/make.conf

  * Take the plunge and compile /bin dynamically.
    Define WITH_DYNAMICROOT in /etc/make.conf.

  * Get a bigger hard disk.  ;-)

Hope this helps,

Tim Kientzle