Re: Trying to install current from a memory stick and then a DVD and got a new and strange installer.

From: Adrian Chadd <adrian_at_freebsd.org>
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2011 09:02:39 +0800
Something tells me that's a disaster waiting to happen. Eg, if
something happens, and the installer disk gets corrupted, people may
blame freebsd for being unstable, email questions to freebsd-* mailing
lists asking why X doesn't work (only for it to work when the image is
written out again), etc, etc.

If it's going to double as a live image versus an installer than maybe
have a boot option that mounts the root filesystem read-write
(complete with some fingerprint that says that the image has been
booted read-write at least once?)



Adrian

On 25 July 2011 08:57, Nathan Whitehorn <nwhitehorn_at_freebsd.org> wrote:
> It does not. I had tried to match the behavior of the 8.x memsticks. It's an
> easy change in /usr/src/release/ARCH/make-memstick.sh to change it, however.
> -Nathan
>
> On 07/24/11 19:54, Adrian Chadd wrote:
>>
>> .. wait, the install-off-USB doesn't default to a read-only boot?
>>
>>
>>
>> Adrian
>>
>> On 25 July 2011 08:11, Claude Buisson<clbuisson_at_orange.fr>  wrote:
>>>
>>> On 07/24/2011 23:33, Nathan Whitehorn wrote:
>>>>
>>>> On 07/24/11 16:29, eculp wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> I have been hearing about a new installer but I obviously have not
>>>>> payed enough attention, I am afraid. I started running freebsd at 2.0
>>>>> and never really had a problem with understanding the installation
>>>>> program.  There is always a first time, I guess.
>>>>>
>>>>> ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/snapshots/201105/
>>>>>
>>>>> When booting I seem to get a screen that makes me remember installer
>>>>> screens of the 1980s.  (They were not exactly intuitive.)
>>>>>
>>>>> I somehow got the idea that the new installer was graphic.  Maybe
>>>>> something like PCBsd that is not bad at all.  I use it on all our
>>>>> employees computers.  Actually, after seeing this, I would love to
>>>>> have the old installer back.  Is their an option for that?
>>>>>
>>>>> Does this new ASCII installer have a "how to" with a bit of
>>>>> information on the flow of the installation.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>
>>>> Can you please describe what you didn't like about it, and what you
>>>> would prefer be changed? "Reminiscent of the 1980s" is not really
>>>> helpful, especially given that the new installer in fact looks very much
>>>> like sysinstall, which you seemed to like.
>>>> -Nathan
>>>
>>> Recently I installed a system from the "official" memory stick May
>>> snapshot
>>> (FreeBSD-9.0-CURRENT-201105-amd64-memstick.img). here are a few remarks:
>>>
>>> - the 1st thing I need to do is to configure the keyboard, as I am not in
>>> the
>>> US. This is needed for an install, but also for using it as a live
>>> system.
>>> And
>>> the keyboard configuration dialog is only a part of the installation
>>> procedure.
>>>
>>> - the partition tool is too simple/rudimentary, compared to the old
>>> sysinstall
>>> dialog. I always want to have a total control of the partitions e.g. to
>>> have
>>> a
>>> proper alignement. So one must use the shell escape or the live system,
>>> which is
>>> a regression.
>>>
>>> - extracting the tarballs lead to (cryptic) errors: I discovered the hard
>>> way
>>> that I needed to execute a newfs.
>>>
>>> - I followed a succession of screens asking me to do the usual
>>> configuration
>>> steps (hostname, clock, network - IPv4 only ?? -, users) and at the end I
>>> get
>>> back a screen asking me if a wanted to do the steps I had done just
>>> before...
>>>
>>> - booting the installed system, I found that the hostname disappeared,
>>> the
>>> keyboard was not configured, nor the network, and so on
>>>
>>> - during the whole process the screen was scrambled by the occurence of a
>>> number
>>> of LORs displayed on top of the dialogs/messages of the installer.
>>>
>>> - the file system of the installer/live system seems to be too small,
>>> leading to
>>> a number of "system full" messages as soon a few files are written to it.
>>>
>>> So the sole value added of the installer was the extraction of the
>>> tarballs..
>>>
>>> It seems that (on a memory stick which is writable) that every aborted
>>> attempt
>>> to do a configuration step leaves a "trace" in some files used by the
>>> installer,
>>> which is able to show it (e.g. the hostname) at the following attempts,
>>> but
>>> without garantee that it will effectively be used.
>>>
>>> (On the other hand, the advantage of the memory stick is that the system
>>> on
>>> it
>>> can be configured at will)
>>>
>>> Referring to a thread I found recently a propos the documentation on the
>>> install
>>> media, I also want to say that a proper installer must be able to do its
>>> work
>>> without any Internet connectivity. There exist systems which are not
>>> connected,
>>> and networks without any communication with the Internet.
>>>
>>> Claude Buisson
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>>>
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>
Received on Sun Jul 24 2011 - 23:02:44 UTC

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