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Date:      Thu, 20 Dec 2012 10:10:23 -0800
From:      Devin Teske <devin.teske@fisglobal.com>
To:        Egoitz Aurrekoetxea Aurre <egoitz@ramattack.net>
Cc:        Devin Teske <dteske@freebsd.org>, FreeBSD Mailing List <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
Subject:   Re: about unattended installation
Message-ID:  <D4B16C92-B7CD-46BF-9065-11CE74101D1E@fisglobal.com>
In-Reply-To: <01CDE828-3BA6-48E5-8FA2-F06082A0B582@ramattack.net>
References:  <40FD5C3B-CF8B-4376-BA6B-9F90747CFFAF@ramattack.net> <7FFE45C4-2001-46CF-AAE3-D1DF7B6EC9DE@fisglobal.com> <01CDE828-3BA6-48E5-8FA2-F06082A0B582@ramattack.net>

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On Dec 20, 2012, at 3:34 AM, Egoitz Aurrekoetxea Aurre wrote:

> Good morning,
>=20
>=20
> El 19/12/2012, a las 19:59, Devin Teske <devin.teske@fisglobal.com> escri=
bi=F3:
>=20
>>=20
>> On Dec 19, 2012, at 10:06 AM, Egoitz Aurrekoetxea Aurre wrote:
>>=20
>>> Good afternoon,
>>>=20
>>> One little question=85 I'm trying to have ready our new unattended Free=
BSD installation system. Until now, I have been using Sysinstall scripting =
file but now with 9.1 out I think it's moment to start using BSDInstaller i=
n the unattended installation process.
>>=20
>> Hold on a moment. You might want to wait until 9.2. (read more below)
>>=20
>=20
>=20
> Well in the ftp can be seen :=20
>=20
> FreeBSD-9.1-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso downloadable file=85. so I assume it'=
s a release???
>=20

Of course it's a release=85 it just may not be the release that solves your=
 problem w/respect to scripting bsdinstall like sysinstall. That will come =
in a future release (like 9.2).


>=20
>=20
>=20
>>=20
>>=20
>>> I have seen the new installer, works basically like an script=85. my re=
al question is=85 before I did in install.cfg something like :=20
>>>=20
>>> ################################
>>> disk=3Dda0
>>> partition=3Dall
>>> bootManager=3Dstandard
>>> diskPartitionEditor
>>>=20
>>> ################################
>>>=20
>>> da0s1-1=3Dufs 3072000 /
>>> da0s1-2=3Dswap 8096000 none
>>> da0s1-3=3Dufs 20485760 /var 1
>>> da0s1-4=3Dufs 30720760 /usr 1
>>> da0s1-5=3Dufs 0 /expert 1
>>> diskLabelEditor
>>>=20
>>> ################################
>>>=20
>>> Now I assume there's no way of getting this same through any command li=
ke=85 'bsdinstall partedit _______________________' am I wrong??.
>>=20
>> You're correct. In 9.0 and 9.1, it's just not feasible to man-handle the=
 user interface (partedit) as one could sysinstall. (read below about 9.2)
>>=20
>>=20
>=20
> So I suppose that till the new installer is able to handle this in a simi=
lar way to sysinstall (although the syntax to be different or whatever)=85.=
 or partitioning can be achieved in some non interactive way, to maintain t=
he possibility of rebuilding one's own release in order to be able to use s=
ysinstall and to be able to maintain working unattended installation system=
s=85. because this is essential for some of us=85.. and of course sysinstal=
l to still continue working :)=85
>=20

You got it.

This is a sign to the releng team and everybody else that 10.0 should most-=
likely not see the light of day until bsdinstall can pass the sniff-test fo=
r those of us (like you and I) which rely on the ability to script the inst=
allation process fully.



>=20
>>=20
>>> So I assume all should be done by hand like this example of the Handboo=
k :=20
>>>=20
>>> # dd if=3D/dev/zero of=3D/dev/da1 bs=3D1k count=3D1
>>> # fdisk -BI da1 #Initialize your new disk
>>> # bsdlabel -B -w da1s1 auto #Label it.
>>> # bsdlabel -e da1s1 # Edit the bsdlabel just created and add any partit=
ions.
>>> # mkdir -p /1
>>> # newfs /dev/da1s1e # Repeat this for every partition you created.
>>> # mount /dev/da1s1e /1 # Mount the partition(s)
>>> # vi /etc/fstab # Add the appropriate entry/entries to your /etc/fstab.
>>>=20
>>> In the auto script=85.
>>>=20
>>> am I wrong?.  If the answer is yes=85 could you point me to some docume=
ntation in order to be able to complete all this doc.
>>=20
>> The answer is (unfortunately) yes=85 that is until (hopefully) 9.2.
>>=20
>> It's an on-going significant amount of work to make add backward compati=
bility (so bsdinstall can load sysinstall "install.cfg" files). I'm not goi=
ng to discuss the specifics here or yet, but I'm actively working on it.
>>=20
>> No docs on how to mangle the auto script to do what you want (that I kno=
w of).
>=20
> Ok then  :)
>=20
>=20
>>=20
>>=20
>>=20
>>> Apart from all this=85 is Sysinstall going to be maintained in parallel=
?.
>>>=20
>>=20
>> Sysinstall is dead.
>=20
> Devin, sysinstall should not be died till the new installer allows or exi=
sts a way of doing same thing than before we did in some manner or other on=
e=85..


And, you're absolutely right.

Some facts/history:

a. I'm not the one that killed it (on the contrary, like yourself, I was ve=
hemently arguing against its death -- like you say, UNTIL whatever replacem=
ent could offer the same features).

ASIDE: You can see my arguing the same points your making now at the below =
link to the mailing-list archives:
http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-sysinstall/2011-February/000369.=
html

ASIDE: There's a lot of arguments for keeping sysinstall in the above-linke=
d mailing-list, but at the end of the day, we have to realize that sysinsta=
ll was not being worked on to provide the features that the angry mob of us=
ers was demanding (GPT, ZFS, Geli, etc.) so the 15-year inertia that sysins=
tall enjoyed had to be ended. There will be people like yourself and me tha=
t disagree with the timeline of events that led to the demise of sysinstall=
 in the 10.0-CURRENT line, but all I can say is that there is Ron McDowell =
(may he rest in peace) vehemently recognized the short-coming and dedicated=
 our lives to filling it (and for Ron, actually the final year of his life =
was spent working on this project -- a truly selfless act if there ever was=
 one).

b. It's officially dead in the 10.0-CURRENT line (read: not released yet). =
So you don't have anything to worry about *until* 10.0-RELEASE (whenever th=
at is; I'm advocating within the community that -- because of this very sit=
uation with the installer -- that 10.0 not be released until late 2013 at t=
he *minimum*, but 2014-or-later would be better for me and my timeline).


> because else=85 don't know... can this commands be translated to gpart fo=
r example??=85 and to act in a non interactive way??. But apart from the ow=
n gpart the are later other parts of the installation which should be done =
too=85 like selecting which distributions to install in a non interactive w=
ay for example=85.. if that is not possible to be done=85 in a non interact=
ive way=85. sysinstall should not disappear=85.
>=20
>=20
>> The bsdinstall you know can be considered the "first generation" and acc=
ordingly is a bit spartan. I'm working hard on the next generation. My plan=
 is to have 10.0 with bsdinstall able to run sysinstall scripts (for backwa=
rd compatibility; can't yet say what 9.x release will be MFC'd to, but that=
 could be 9.2).
>>=20
>> I'm planning one helluva BSDCan-2013 presentation.
>> --=20
>> Devin
>>=20
>=20
>=20
> Thanks a lot for all !!
>=20

No problem. You hit home with a lot of this stuff. I have the same feelings=
 as you w/resect to sysinstall versus bsdinstall. I'm doing my best to get =
us across the finish line.

For now, people that prefer sysinstall can use my FreeBSD Druid pre-built i=
nstall media:

For 9.0:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/druidbsd/files/FreeBSD-9.0_Druid-1.0b60.iso=
/download

For 8.3:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/druidbsd/files/FreeBSD-8.3_Druid-1.0b60.iso=
/download

As for 10.0 (when it comes out), expect bsdinstall to surpass sysinstall (i=
n many many great ways) in every way (unlike the current status in 9.x).
--=20
Devin

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