Re: I deleted /stand/, but I need it again for diskless boot...

Tim Kientzle wrote:
> I suggest patching /etc/rc.d/initdiskless instead:
> 
> _at__at_ -299,13 +299,13 _at__at_
>             cp -Rp $j/* /$subdir
>         fi
>      done
> -    for j in /conf/$i/*.cpio.gz ; do
> +    for j in /conf/$i/*.cpio ; do
>         subdir=${j%*.cpio.gz}
>         subdir=${subdir##*/}
>         if [ -f $j ]; then
>             create_md $subdir
>             echo "Loading /$subdir from cpio archive $j"
> -           (cd / ; /stand/gzip -d < $j | /stand/cpio --extract -d )
> +           (cd / ; /bin/cat < $j | /bin/pax -r )
>         fi
>      done
>      for j in /conf/$i/*.remove ; do
> 
> For some reason, people keep forgetting
> that /bin/pax can read cpio archives.
> This patch also eliminates the use of gzip
> (at the cost of requiring an uncompressed archive,
> which should not be a problem in practice).
> If you prefer, you could use /rescue/gzip
> instead.

The old initdiskless script worked fine for me.
So I replaced only the line with /stand/ by following:

     (cd / ; /rescue/gzip -d < $j | /bin/pax -r )


and then my diskless boot stops working !?!?!

The kernel seems to load fine.
Unfortunately the boot process is not at all verbose.
In both cases I see the long array of dots while loading
the kernel with the 'done' at the end. After that nothing
but "dark silence" until the PC is up and running with
the login prompt.

That loging prompt never appears when using the /rescue/ line
above (yes, I've waiting a really long time :).

When I change it back to the old line with /stand/,
everything is fine again.

Just for double checking that these commands are there:
# ls -als /rescue/gzip /bin/pax
   82 -r-xr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    82852 Oct 15 20:17 /bin/pax
3616 -r-xr-xr-x  135 root  wheel  3680076 Oct 15 20:19 /rescue/gzip

So, any idea what's the misterious logic here?
Does 'pax' depend on something that has not been mounted yet
on the diskless PC?

I don't know how to investigate this, because there's no output
to the screen during bootup.

Regards,
Rob.