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Date:      Sun, 23 Mar 2014 14:42:35 -0400
From:      Adam McDougall <mcdouga9@egr.msu.edu>
To:        freebsd-stable@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: ZFS cautions (pool flag additions committed)
Message-ID:  <532F2B1B.5090702@egr.msu.edu>
In-Reply-To: <532F1ED8.8010004@denninger.net>
References:  <532F1ED8.8010004@denninger.net>

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On 03/23/2014 13:50, Karl Denninger wrote:
> When ZFS code imports are brought forward that add feature flags there
> is a potential time bomb for existing users in that creation of a new
> pool becomes non-revertible (except read-only!) with regard to mounting
> on older revisions of the code.
> 
> The same thing happens if you do a "zpool upgrade" of course, but at
> least that's an explicit act.  You might not realize that you're at risk
> on a pool create, however, unless you **carefully** scrutinize the flags
> that were on the last version compared against the current one.
> 
> The primary "gotcha" here occurs if you don't upgrade your emergency
> boot media and for some reason you need to boot from a CD or USB key --
> you can be left SEVERELY screwed, and since -RELEASE is typically not
> rebuilt when this happens if you don't have a second machine laying
> around on which you can build a RELEASE image....
> 
> I've caught this twice now since 10.0-RELEASE shipped and, while I
> haven't been bit by it, it serves as a caution because eventually
> someone tracking -STABLE is going to get badly hurt and be left with an
> unrepairable system.  IMHO there should be some sort of notice on the
> list when new zpool feature flags show up so you're fairly warned that
> building a new emergency boot media copy is required if you intend to
> track -STABLE on a continuing basis.
> 

I understand your point, but you can also get snapshot isos built pretty
regulary, so there should be no need to build your own in an emergency:

ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/snapshots/ISO-IMAGES/

If weekly is not good enough, you can get daily:

https://pub.allbsd.org/FreeBSD-snapshots/



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