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Date:      Tue, 24 Jan 2006 10:16:58 -0800
From:      "Dan O'Connor" <dan@ferrarishields.com>
To:        <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
Subject:   Re: FreeBSD 6.0 - install critiques - install issues
Message-ID:  <037b01c62112$5d46b240$0599460a@dan>
References:  <43D5E671.1060801@elitists.org>

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> But now I've installed 6.0 for the first time on a machine that I plan 
> on making a production box, and I've still noticed some of the 
> installation "oddities."

I've noticed zero oddities, if you're prepared as recommended in the 
Handbook 
(http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/install-pre.html)...

Installation of 6.0 was dirt simple. Here's how i did it: 
http://www.mostgraveconcern.com/freebsd/sheet.cgi?install


> One big "nuisance" is that you cannot safely cancel out of many/some 
> of the sysinstall options during install.  During install of fxp1 (the 
> first and only NIC I chose), I chose to let it grab a DHCP address, 
> then cancelled out of the NIC config.  Instead of dropping me back to 
> choose another NIC, or the same NIC, the install just proceeded on, as 
> if I'd completed my network config (I did revisit it at the end of the 
> install, but still...esp. for a newbie, that's an unnecessary 
> stumbling block).

When setup asks if you want to go back and change anything (before it 
installs the system), if you say yes, you get sysintall's menu--where 
you can configure/reconfigure your network interfaces, as well as all 
the other options that you were asked about.

Or, you can finish the install and edit /etc/rc.conf manually...it's one 
line to configure a network card:

    ifconfig_xl0="inet 123.45.67.89 netmask 255.255.255.0"


> The one that really hit me though was the mail config.  There were 
> more mail config options than I'm used to from previous 4.x and 5.x 
> installs, I cancelled out of it without choosing.  Post-install, 
> sendmail was running.  I figured...fine...it installed a default.  No 
> big deal.

Sendmail is *always* installed as part of the base system, since so many 
programs rely on it being there.


> So...I fired up sysinstall, navigated to: Configure > Networking > 
> Mail
> > Postfix (using FTP server as the source...didn't feel like putting 
> > in
> the CD).
>
> Well...it installed Postfix and it's dependencies, message popped up 
> that it was the "default" MTA....but sendmail is still there, and 
> postfix is not running (I don't see an RC script either to start it 
> and /etc/mailer.conf is unchanged).  So...I went through, and picked 
> "No MTA" in sysinstall.  Well...sendmail is still running, and postfix 
> is still installed (can't say I expected removal....but the behavior 
> for defaulting to sendmail and then going back and picking postfix 
> later doesn't make sense).

You should install Postfix via the ports once your base system is up and 
running.

If you do that, it will prompt you if you want Postfix to edit 
/etc/mailer.conf. At the end of the install, it gives you the exact 
lines you need to put in /etc/rc.conf to disable sendmail and use 
Postfix.

Here's how I do it: 
http://www.mostgraveconcern.com/freebsd/sheet.cgi?mail


 > I'd like to figure out how to correct this in the "base OS" structure
> without going back and re-installing (really shouldn't have to) OR 
> going to ports (does the postfix port still have the "make replace" 
> target...that was great).  Any hints?

Don't be afraid of the ports collection. Ports are your friend!


> Any help would be appreciated (granted, I haven't gotten that far to 
> where I absolutely cannot re-install...but I really shouldn't have to. 
> If sendmail was in some kind of a pkg_db or something, I could simply 
> remove sendmail and hopefully picking postfix as the MTA from 
> sysinstall would install it instead....but it doesn't appear to be 
> like that).

There's no need to go back and reinstall.

You should consider the installation procedure as nothing more than a 
means of getting all the files off the CD and onto your hard drive. From 
that point forward, FreeBSD is easily configured without using 
sysinstall. All you need to know how to do is use a keyboard. :-)

Again, sendmail is part of the base system and is always installed. No 
need to remove it--you can easily run Postfix without having to remove 
sendmail.

I invite you to check out my FreeBSD Cheat Sheets; you'll find FreeBSD 
isn't nearly that hard to setup and use.

~Dan

--
FreeBSD Cheat Sheets
   http://www.mostgraveconcern.com/freebsd/ 





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