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Date:      Fri, 03 Dec 1999 11:13:49 -0600
From:      Pete Mckenna <pmckenna@uswest.net>
To:        "M. L. Dodson" <bdodson@scms.utmb.EDU>
Cc:        small@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   PICOBSD as an FTP unattended installer
Message-ID:  <3847FA4D.D9281EAA@uswest.net>
References:  <XFMail.19991203103254.trisa@clara.net> <3847E509.1C9EEEE4@uswest.net> <199912031557.JAA05402@histidine.utmb.edu>

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OK

In response to Bud's request here's a rough take on our auto installer.

I basically used the dial build and tore lots out of it to make it the
equivalent of custom, no reason for this it's just what I did.

In pico/build/build (v 1.12.2.1 1999/02/22 21:25:15 abial)
I changed DIAL_DFLT_SIZE=to 4567 to get more space in the MFS and not
have to change it manually each time. I also set INIT=to sysinstall here
for similar reasons.

Next I added a few lines to the populate script to get some boot files
and my config files into the MFS image.

(populate,v 1.8.2.4 1999/05/07 10:02:30 abial)
otto:diff populate populate.orig
44,49d43
< #I added this
<         cp /pico/build/INSTALL_cfg/*.cfg /mnt/stand/
<       cp /boot/boot0 /mnt/boot/
<       cp /boot/boot1 /mnt/boot/
<       cp /boot/boot2 /mnt/boot/
< #Down to here       

Then I mucked with the pico/dial/crunch1/crunch.conf to make room and
have sysinstall available.

(crunch.conf,v 1.5.2.2 1999/05/21 15:39:08 roger)
otto:diff crunch.conf crunch.conf.orig
27d26
< srcdirs /usr/src/release
33,34c32
< #removed ppp telnet
< progs ftp ed gzip more
---
> progs ppp ftp telnet ee gzip more
39,42c37,39
< #removed mount_cd9660 and mount_mfdos mount_ext2fs
< progs sh kget echo pwd msg stty test
< progs hostname cat kill sps vm ns dd
< progs chmod chown help sysinstall newfs find cpio
---
> progs sh test kget echo pwd msg stty
> progs hostname cat kill sps vm ns
> progs chmod chown help
45c42
< progs ls mkdir mount 
---
> progs ls mkdir mount mount_msdos mount_cd9660 mount_ext2fs
53,55c50,52
< #ln mount_msdos msdos
< #ln mount_cd9660 cd9660
< #ln mount_ext2fs ext2fs
---
> ln mount_msdos msdos
> ln mount_cd9660 cd9660
> ln mount_ext2fs ext2fs
59c56
< libs -ldialog -lncurses -lmytinfo -lipx -lz
---
> libs -lncurses -lmytinfo -lipx -lz
61d57
< libs -ldisk 

In pico/dial/mfs.tree I added boot to the mfs.mtree and changed the
devices to SCSI.

(mfs.mtree,v 1.3 1998/09/07 19:00:25 abial)
otto:diff mfs.mtree mfs.mtree.orig
6,7d5
<     boot
<     ..

(Makefile,v 1.5.2.1 1999/05/09 22:03:54 abial)
otto:diff Makefile Makefile.orig
68c68
<       ./MAKEDEV da0 da1 da2 da3 da4 da0s1a da1s1a da2s1a da3s1a da4s1a
;\
---
>       ./MAKEDEV wd0s1h wd0s2 wd0s3 wd0s4 wd1s1h wd1s2 wd1s3 wd1s4 ;\


In pico/dial/conf I made a new kernel conf file to use the SCSI devices
etc.

< controller      scbus0
< controller    ahc0
< device          da0
< device          pass0 


< options       MFS_ROOT
< options       MFS_ROOT_SIZE=4567

And I think that is about it. As a disclaimer this evolved over a year
or more and I am by no means an expert or even cluefull about how
everything in the pico build works, when I got stuck I asked, give it
try if something like this seems usefull.

Oh, the config files for sysinstall live in /pico/build/INSTALL_cfg/ on
my box (/pico = 
/usr/src/release/picobsd/) my hack to populate copies any .cfg file from
this dir to the MFS image (in stand).  If the file is named install.cfg
sysinstall will run it automatically and just ask you if you want to
commit before doing the newfs. If you wish to be able to choose your
script don't name any of them install.cfg.
When you get the sysinstall menu, choose Load Config:
In the window put the path ../stand/your_file.cfg

It will then run the script of your choice. The scripts are quite small
I have about ten on my floppies and still have a lot of room in the MFS.

There is an example install.cfg in /usr/src/release/sysinstall. It has
one error you need to add another line under the ftp= line in the form
_ftpPath=ftp://x.x.x.x the address or name is the same as in the ftp
line. I'll try to write this all up better and have more on the
install.cfg scripts at a later date. Send me any comments, corrections,
or questions. If the question is why the hell did you do x this way it's
probably because I don't know any better. Feel free to enlighten me.

Pete



"M. L. Dodson" wrote:
> 
> Pete Mckenna writes:
>  > I'm using an older version of pico I've hacked to be a single floppy nfs
>  > auto install.
>  > I put a number of install.cfg files into the MFS during pico's build and
>  > can then build any of several predetermined configs at boot. The idea
>  > was fast builds of a several types of servers with little to no human
>  > intervention. I've been meaning to write up how it works, if anyone is
>  > interested I can do so.
>  >
>  > Pete
>  >
> 
> YES!  Please do so!  I want to set up a compute cluster and use
> this method for installs and reinstalls, so any experience along
> these lines is of great interest to me.  Someone else posted a
> solution (here?) several days ago, but the more experience and
> code we have exposed on the lists or at published urls, the
> better off we will be, IMHO.
> 
> Bud Dodson
> 
> [elided]
> 
> --
> M. L. Dodson                                bdodson@scms.utmb.edu
> 409-772-2178                                FAX: 409-772-1790


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