Re: [CFT] bsdinstall and zfsboot enhancements

On 11/11/13 14:18, Teske, Devin wrote:
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> On Nov 11, 2013, at 11:46 AM, Michael Dexter wrote:
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>
> Hello all,
>
> I have been experimenting with various BSD and GNU/Linux boot media
> under bhyve and noticed that we may want to accommodate the "LiveCD"
> mode of the installer, which in turn requires the correct console.
>
> Currently, one is prompted for VT100 for installation but this does not
> appear to work/stick for LiveCD mode.
>
> Can anyone verify this?
>
>
> While I developed this patch...
> http://druidbsd.cvs.sf.net/viewvc/druidbsd/bsdinstall_zfs/usr.sbin%3A%3Absdinstall%3A%3Ascripts%3A%3Aconfig.patch?revision=1.10&view=markup
>
> Reasons exist to search for a better solution, see here:
> http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-current/2013-November/046148.html
> (and messages that follow it)
>
> Is modifying init(8) still the way to go? What modification do we want to make?
> I'll do the work if we can come to consensus.
>
> Or should we touch up the patch in some way to address the original concerns?
>

I think modifying init is the way to go -- it keeps the install system 
from interfering with the installed one, as well as fixing this kind of 
issue with moved hard drives or PXE booting or what have you. If we can 
provide a guarantee that any system that displays text has a working 
console (unless explicitly configured not to), useability is improved.

I would propose one of the following (and volunteer to write the code):

Option A
------------

1. init checks if there is an entry in /etc/ttys for the terminal[s] 
corresponding to the value[s] in kern.console
2. If an entry for each console terminal exists in /etc/ttys, enable it
3. If not, invent one with a terminal type of "ansi"

The one issue here is that someone may want to force a particular entry 
to off and still have it be the kernel console. This is tricky. We could 
invent a new "status" field that is not "on" or "off" ("auto", maybe, or 
"ifconsole"?). Which brings us to:

Option B
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Very similar to Option A, except only provide an automatic console using 
(2) and (3) if the "console" terminal is marked "on". This would 
increase the magic attached to "console" in /etc/ttys, but fix the 
problem with (A).

It's possible another approach would work as well. Does anyone have 
thoughts on this?
-Nathan