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Date:      Tue, 26 Jul 2011 16:28:14 +0200
From:      Jerome Herman <jherman@dichotomia.fr>
To:        freebsd-stable@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Making world but no kernel
Message-ID:  <4E2ECEFE.5030302@dichotomia.fr>
In-Reply-To: <1311681539.1799.54.camel@xenon>
References:  <4E2E9F24.1040108@dichotomia.fr> <1311681539.1799.54.camel@xenon>

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On 26/07/2011 13:58, Michal Varga wrote:
> On Tue, 2011-07-26 at 13:04 +0200, Jerome Herman wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I would like to know if it is possible to rebuild world, but without
>> upgrading or even compiling the kernel.
>>
>> The problem is such : I am presently working on a FreeBSD station that
>> seems to have quite a lot of problem, notably with fsck. I am starting
>> to wonder whether this BSD station was properly installed, or if some of
>> the system tools were pasted from older FreeBSD setup.
>> Since the machine is in a remote location, I would prefer to avoid full
>> reinstall if possible. Among other things, single user mode is not
>> available.
>>
>> So I was wondering, if I get the full sources with sysinstall, can I
>> make buildworld and then installworld without going through the kernel
>> phase or would this be a bad idea ?
>>
>> Thanks for your help
>>
>> Jerome Herman
> `make buildworld installworld` won't build and install new kernel at
> all, so that basically answers your first question. You'd need to use
> `make buildworld installworld kernel` for that effect.
>
> To answer your other concern - reinstalling FreeBSD "on the fly" should
> be without any issues as long as you use the right src revisions
> corresponding to your current system (and kernel). Mixing worlds and
> kernels of different revisions should *mostly* work if there were no ABI
> changes during that time period, but you probably don't want trying this
> blindly without any means of recovery. Basically - it's doable, but I
> wouldn't do it with just a single shot on my disposal.
>
> Note that you don't necessarily need to install a new kernel in single
> user mode. While this is generally a good practice and a "safer way to
> do things", I haven't even done this for half a decade, and I'm
> re/installing FreeBSD builds practically on a daily basis.
>
> My advice:
> Personally, I'd consider it much safer to roll a new build of kernel
> along with the world, but again, that's just me. As you're already fully
> rebuilding a possibly broken installation (which you didn't do and thus
> don't know everything that might be rotting inside), chances of some
> magical failure are already pretty decent. Rolling an up-to-date kernel
> with the rest of the world shouldn't make them any lower, on the
> opposite, might even raise your chances of a successfull reboot.
>
> m.
>
> PS: Whatever that means, please don't get your sources through
> "sysinstall", that monster shouldn't even be present in a seriously
> maintained FreeBSD installation. Get your sources "the proper way" with
> csup:
>
> http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/cvsup.html
>
> (note - "csup", not "cvsup", it's explained on the page in detail)

Well since I am not upgrading, but just making sure things are where 
they should be I figured that sysinstall was OK for the job.
Any problems with sysinstall ? I have been quite happy with it in the 
10+ years I have been using FreeBSD.

>
>




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