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Date:      Sun, 13 Jan 2002 16:54:20 -0600
From:      David Syphers <dsyphers@uchicago.edu>
To:        Chris Fedde <chris@fedde.littleton.co.us>
Cc:        freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: can't mount / properly, fstab woes
Message-ID:  <200201132254.g0DMsGt02191@midway.uchicago.edu>
In-Reply-To: <200201130140.g0D1eu801800@fedde.littleton.co.us>
References:  <200201130140.g0D1eu801800@fedde.littleton.co.us>

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On Saturday 12 January 2002 07:40 pm, Chris Fedde wrote:
> On Sat, 12 Jan 2002 19:00:02 -0600  David Syphers wrote:
>  +------------------
>
>  | booted to single-user mode, and managed to run fsck on /, but only by
>  | specifying the device name, since /etc/fstab is apparently FUBAR.  But
>  | it won't let me mount / read-write, so I can't change fstab.  It keeps
>  | complaining 'inappropriate file type or format', and I don't understand
>  | what that means.  It doesn't make it easier that I have to direct
>  | someone how do this over the phone, since I can't ssh into the box 
>  | Help!!
>
>  +------------------
>
> You need to update the mount to read-write.  do that by using the
> -u option.   

I can't.  That's what I meant when I said that "it won't let me mount / 
read-write."  I tried

# mount -u -w /
# mount -u -w /dev/ad0s1a
# mount -u -w -f /dev/ad0s1a

and none of them work.  They all give the error "fstab /etc/fstab :3: 
inappropriate file type or format".  Why is it looking at fstab anyway, if 
I've specified the device name?  And how did I kill fstab by changing 'rw' to 
'r' for / ?

> Another approach is to ship out a new drive properly
> installed so that the remote hands only have to switch drives and
> free you from the drudgery of using their eyes and hands.

An option only if I had some sort of budget - I mean, my web/mail server is a 
486  :)

>  +------------------
>
>  | And for the record, I think making / read-only is something that should
>  | _never_ be done.  The system does _not_ work properly in this mode, and
>  | everything gives me errors.  To every FreeBSD security how-to out there
>  | - stop recommending this!  If that kind of security is desired, then
>  | running the whole computer from a CDROM is probably the best idea.
>
>  +------------------
>
> Read only / disk is safe if you are careful and understand what you
> are doing.  Remember that security is inversely proportional to
> convenience.

What did I do that was wrong, then?  All I changed was / to read-only.  This, 
and this alone, caused my web server to stop functioning.  I could achieve 
the same level of convenience and even better security by pulling out the 
power plug.

-David

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