Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 02:47:08 +0200 From: Andries.Brouwer@cwi.nl To: Andries.Brouwer@cwi.nl, bde@zeta.org.au, j@uriah.heep.sax.de, jkh@time.cdrom.com Cc: freebsd-bugs@freebsd.org, questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: installation fails Message-ID: <9607230047.AA11383=aeb@zeus-184.cwi.nl>
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From j@uriah.heep.sax.de Sat Jul 20 20:39:16 1996
As Andries.Brouwer@cwi.nl wrote:
> I am searching for the way to communicate to a FreeBSD kernel
> what device contains the root file system.
There are basically two opportunities.
You can configure a custom kernel, and tell it
config kernel root on sd1
But then, the bootstrap defaults to override this statement, ...
The second version is to create a `generic' kernel (alas, the GENERIC
kernel is not a `generic' one), and use the -a option to the boot
loader, ...
Both options are not very satisfactory to you. ...
As far as I can see, they are not satisfactory for a more basic reason:
1) The install floppy does not seem to react to the -a or -r flags.
2) This `configure' activity you refer to sounds suspiciously like
compiling a kernel. I don't know how to do this.
[A feeble attempt using the fixit floppy and
mount /dev/sd1a /mnt; mount /mnt/dev/sd1f /mnt/usr
PATH=/mnt/bin:/mnt/sbin:/mnt/usr/bin:$PATH
cd sys
make
fails on "make: no ld.so", and at first sight I couldn't find ld.so
either. Every other program not on the floppy fails in the same way.]
In other words, this sounds like a solution that requires an
already functioning FreeBSD system.
> Wat is the naming scheme for
> disks and partitions and slices?
<good explanation deleted - many thanks!>
sd0s2a partition `a' (presumably bootable) of second
slice on third SCSI disk, slice has a BSD label
You don't mean first SCSI disk?
... have a BSD label (i.e., can be a MS-Dog slice)
I never understood why people cannot be sufficiently open-minded
to spell the names of their opponents correctly. Maybe this is a GNUism?
From: Bruce Evans <bde@zeta.org.au>
0:sd(2,a)/kernel would work to boot from BIOS hard drive 0 to FreeBSD
SCSI drive 2. Unfortunately, `0:' means hard drive 0 - there is no way
to boot from floppy drive 0 to another drive even when you have loaded
the boot program from floppy drive 0. Perhaps the BIOS drive number
should be the full number - 0 for floppy drive 0 and 0x80 for hard drive
0.
So no luck today.
From jkh@time.cdrom.com Mon Jul 22 20:14:40 1996
> As I understand, FreeBSD does not yet support installing over
> a SLIP link (and moreover, it would be too slow).
Not true, it does indeed support that.
Very good. Then the handbook should be updated, since it explicitly
mentions the opposite.
> I made it by tarring a directory with contents
>
> HARDWARE.TXT RELNOTES.TXT dict/ info/ src/
> INSTALL.TXT bin/ doc/ manpages/ xperimnt/
> KNOWNBUG.TXT commerce/ floppies/ ports/
> README.TXT compat21/ games/ proflibs/
I don't see compat20 or compat1x here, for example.
Yes, that is what I said. The install procedure wanted 4 things
that it couldn't find, while 2 were in fact there, and I took the
full 2.1.5-RELEASE from some mirror site. So, both the fact that
it wanted absent things and the fact that it complained about
present things seem to be flaws in the installation procedure.
But if I am not mistaken the upshot of this experiment is that I
can delete FreeBSD again from my fifth disk. Nobody has
so far suggested an approach that might get it to boot.
[I can compile Linux on non-Linux machines, like a SUN Sparc
with SunOS or an SGI with IRIX. Does the FreeBSD kernel source
allow cross compilation? Do I need a special make?]
All the best - Andries
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