From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Nov 18 21:44:00 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CA44916A4CE for ; Tue, 18 Nov 2003 21:44:00 -0800 (PST) Received: from Shenton.org (23.ebbed1.client.atlantech.net [209.190.235.35]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 3F42F43FE0 for ; Tue, 18 Nov 2003 21:43:59 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from chris@Shenton.Org) Received: (qmail 20759 invoked by uid 1001); 19 Nov 2003 05:44:31 -0000 To: Barney Wolff References: <86islhoc35.fsf@Palimpsest.saic.hq.nasa.gov> <20031118174729.GA29137@pit.databus.com> From: Chris Shenton Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 00:44:31 -0500 In-Reply-To: <20031118174729.GA29137@pit.databus.com> (Barney Wolff's message of "Tue, 18 Nov 2003 12:47:29 -0500") Message-ID: <867k1wsyio.fsf@PECTOPAH.shenton.org> User-Agent: Gnus/5.1002 (Gnus v5.10.2) Emacs/21.3 (berkeley-unix) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii cc: Chris Shenton cc: current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Recovery? recent "make world" rendered system unusable (64 bit change) X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 05:44:00 -0000 Barney Wolff writes: > Re-install/upgrade from a cd. Upgrade should leave your files alone. Thanks, Barney -- that's what I did and it saved my butt. A few folks suggested either LiveCD images or "fixit" functionality. I was kinda dead in the water and didn't think I could download a LiveCD and burn it from another system. I played with the floppy "fixit" functionality a bit but didn't see a way to preserve /etc and such. So I used a 5.1-RELEASE CD I had and used the UPGRADE option which promised to save my /etc stuff. I specified my old mount points (fortunately, I was able to read /etc/fstab from the boot "OK" prompt and make paper notes!). I then tried -- twice -- to install the "minimal" system from the CD and both times it kernel panic'd with a page fault (in process bufdaemon, last time). For grins, I again specified my mounts (only /, /var, /tmp, /usr; I didn't bother with /home and /usr/local), and told it to install via FTP. Surprisingly, this worked -- no panic. It appears to have installed a working kernel, /bin, /usr/bin, and friends and now I'm running again. I'm now doing a "make build world" and then will do a "make kernel KERNCONF=MyKernelDefinitionFileName", then finally a "make installworld" per the UPGRADING guide. I've never used the Upgrade option to FreeBSD and I've been using it heavily since 2.2.x. It's a good thing. Many thanks to everyone who replied. I promise I'll scan UPGRADING before doing a "make *world" next time!