Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Wed, 03 Jun 1998 22:28:27 -0700
From:      Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>
To:        Luigi Rizzo <luigi@labinfo.iet.unipi.it>
Cc:        Nicolas.Souchu@prism.uvsq.fr (Nicolas Souchu), freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG, mbouget@club-internet.fr
Subject:   Re: tftp in bootp process 
Message-ID:  <199806040528.WAA00537@antipodes.cdrom.com>
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 04 Jun 1998 04:40:27 %2B0200." <199806040240.EAA08571@labinfo.iet.unipi.it> 

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> > Hi there,
> > 
> > Is /tftpboot/cfg.X.X.X file really usefull in the bootp process?
> > 
> > /etc/bootptab already contains rootfs, swapfs and so on...
> > 
> > A identification/security issue?
> 
> tftp is not used anymore in the diskless boot process. Unfortunately the
> documentation (especially, the handbook) has not been updated. The
> best source of documentation is the netboot(8) manpage.

Ah, last time I looked at the netboot sources, it still fetched and 
read the configuration file.  The netboot(8) manpage was stolen from 
NetBSD and never updated.  It doesn't describe the (primitive, Sun
-inspired) NetBSD diskless environment very well, and its applicability 
to FreeBSD is even less.  I quote from netboot(8) just for perspective:

     In phase 2, the boot program loads a kernel.  Operation in this phase de-
     pends on the design of the boot program.  (The design described here is
     the one used by Sun and NetBSD/hp300.)  The boot program:

I can't imagine what this manpage is doing apart from confusing people.

I wouldn't want to recommend the FTL AppNotes collection just yet (with 
a grand total of two notes), but they *do* both apply, reasonably 
accurately, to booting diskless FreeBSD systems, and they do cover the 
use of both pure BOOTP and mixed BOOTP/TFTP configuration.

 http://www.freebsd.org/~msmith/FTL/appnotes
-- 
\\  Sometimes you're ahead,       \\  Mike Smith
\\  sometimes you're behind.      \\  mike@smith.net.au
\\  The race is long, and in the  \\  msmith@freebsd.org
\\  end it's only with yourself.  \\  msmith@cdrom.com



To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?199806040528.WAA00537>