From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Apr 7 12:41:51 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A7B061065677 for ; Wed, 7 Apr 2010 12:41:51 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from the.real.david.allen@gmail.com) Received: from mail-pw0-f54.google.com (mail-pw0-f54.google.com [209.85.160.54]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 752148FC18 for ; Wed, 7 Apr 2010 12:41:51 +0000 (UTC) Received: by pwi9 with SMTP id 9so928888pwi.13 for ; Wed, 07 Apr 2010 05:41:51 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:received:in-reply-to:references :date:received:message-id:subject:from:to:cc:content-type; bh=2NrXL6ywmRzs2MI8P6U9F04Gfcq0LzETd+SqCIcflrU=; b=O5AOvT95K2H0GNVPqKnId0R8bu9kZEGRcE7qyzmoFtKgc1LCL62iEnShrdf4retqlB JuL9xc1RVMa5I7fDpfGK2QRYPvMGpjQgQ8WvpP7Vc7KPAsOHTmizm8Sh5ExvoaYDzG33 Xa1hiyC9W7RP2/04BOpnvjPcepexhioUKmdS0= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :cc:content-type; b=ZDdjv2hovhoH5WQ93pVAb4oisRaYHGnib55W77IannOyGS7J2gcKy3Cre9LeSEVK9v mcVuGf9op5RdXRj+OX+QjaTnRtDanWxb4yYNF0Lg8PNJ00awnl7NoeTtozXkWNqr+D1i IUws5tZAc8AyLv5FL+c7n/dR9j7tIh3qpEkWg= MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.231.195.20 with HTTP; Wed, 7 Apr 2010 05:41:49 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <4BBC32A4.1080906@infracaninophile.co.uk> References: <7B9397B189EB6E46A5EE7B4C8A4BB7CB3B6F7D05@MBX03.exg5.exghost.com> <7B9397B189EB6E46A5EE7B4C8A4BB7CB3B6F7FAD@MBX03.exg5.exghost.com> <7B9397B189EB6E46A5EE7B4C8A4BB7CB3B6F7FDD@MBX03.exg5.exghost.com> <7B9397B189EB6E46A5EE7B4C8A4BB7CB3B6F8066@MBX03.exg5.exghost.com> <7B9397B189EB6E46A5EE7B4C8A4BB7CB3B6F84AD@MBX03.exg5.exghost.com> <4BBC32A4.1080906@infracaninophile.co.uk> Date: Wed, 7 Apr 2010 04:41:49 -0800 Received: by 10.140.55.4 with SMTP id d4mr6791275rva.243.1270644110704; Wed, 07 Apr 2010 05:41:50 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: From: David Allen To: Matthew Seaman Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Cc: "Tim Judd \(tajudd@gmail.com\)" , Peter Steele , "freebsd-questions@freebsd.org" Subject: Re: How customized can an mfsroot be? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 07 Apr 2010 12:41:51 -0000 On 4/6/10, Matthew Seaman wrote: > On 07/04/2010 06:28:40, Peter Steele wrote: >> I found something else that's missing--/var/db/pkg is empty. It looks >> like what the auto-var process does is a construct basic directory >> structure but no data. Is there a solution to this? Can I get /var to >> be populated with the full contents of the real /var? > > Can you write a few shell scripts? You'ld need to create a tarball of > the /var contents you need on the box, and explode it onto /var at boot > time -- if you're using auto-var on MFS all the time, you'll need to set > that up to happen on every reboot. I'm probably missing something here, but I'm not sure that's correct. If the OP wants his own /var, then diskless(8) describes how /var can be automagically populated (see also /etc/rc.initdiskless). The nanobsd.sh script (designed with flash drives in mind) uses this method. I looked into adopting something similar some time back but decided on an alternative solution so I can't provide anything more than a general comment. As a side comment, I'd add I hope the OP publishes the results of his efforts to benefit others who may want to do the same. HTH