bsdinstall

[balanga]

I have just extracted FreeBSD-13.2-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso to a newly created partition, and whilst FreeBSD boots up OK, it automatically starts up bsdinstall. How is that invoked?

 

[bsdcode]

/etc/rc.local

 

[sko]

I have just extracted FreeBSD-13.2-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso to a newly created partition

why? what are you trying to achieve here?

 

[balanga]

why? what are you trying to achieve here?

I have a working FreeBSD installation, so don't want to start bsdinstall on bootup.

 

[balanga]

/etc/rc.local

Does this file get deleted after installation?

 

[SirDice]

Does this file get deleted after installation?

No. Why would it delete it from the installation media?

 

[YYY__]

You have a working FreeBSD system.
You have extracted .iso to another partition.
Does your FreeBSD system's bootloader detect bsdinstall from that partition and run it on startup?
I'm totally lost.

 

[sko]

I have a working FreeBSD installation, so don't want to start bsdinstall on bootup.

if you have a working installation, why would you want to boot an install medium, let alone from a hard drive partition?

 

[balanga]

You have a working FreeBSD system.
You have extracted .iso to another partition.
Does your FreeBSD system's bootloader detect bsdinstall from that partition and run it on startup?
I'm totally lost.

I boot using mfsbsd, and in the process create an additional partition where I extract the FreeBSD ISO. When I subsequently boot FreeBSD from the new partition, it immediately starts bsdinstall, which I don't need.

 

[SirDice]

You didn't install anything, you just made a copy of the installation media and booted it. What where you expecting?

 

[balanga]

I normally just extract base.txz and kernel.txz onto a new partition and boot from that without any problem apart from entering the correct boot location at the mount root prompt.

Since I have a working version of FreeBSD, I'm not sure how it differs from an 'installed' version.

 

[T-Aoki]

If you want to upgrade running FreeBSD installation other than src updating (means binary upgrading), you should prefer freebsd-update, not installation media.
And if you want to install FreeBSD into any partition on the same physical drive which running (older) FreeBSD is installed, beware! Vanilla boot codes (including UEFI ones) doesn't support such a configuration.
You would need any of...

• Any of third party boot codes which support FreeBSD
• If you are using UEFI boot, use patched boot1.efi with Bug 207940

If I recall correctly, imp@ is planning to implement something alike the latter to loader.efi, but it doesn't yet happened.

 

[mer]

No. Why would it delete it from the installation media?

I've got 2 systems that were installed from 12.x upgraded through 13.x and they do not have rc.local on them.
But I did actually INSTALL them, not simply extract filesets.

The key in SirDice response is "from the installation media". What normally happens is I download the install image, burn it to a USB device or CD-ROM, boot the USB or CD-ROM and then install to a different device.
I believe that the install process does not actually copy over/install an /etc/rc.local file.

So yes there is a difference between extracting filesets and "installing". It may not be a huge difference but there is a difference. bsdinstall goes through asking the questions about timezones and other local configuration, yes? In theory extracting filesets and making local modifications will give you the same as installing.

 

[smithi]

I have just extracted FreeBSD-13.2-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso to a newly created partition, and whilst FreeBSD boots up OK, it automatically starts up bsdinstall. How is that invoked?

That's weird. Normally if you boot from disc1 or dvd1.iso dd'd to a memstick, it boots up to a menu offering to Install or run LiveCD mode or drop to a shell.

Why exactly are you doing this?

 

[T-Aoki]

That's weird. Normally if you boot from disc1 or dvd1.iso dd'd to a memstick, it boots up to a menu offering to Install or run LiveCD mode or drop to a shell.

Why exactly are you doing this?

This means that bsdinstall is running. So what's happening is quite normal.

 

[balanga]

That's weird. Normally if you boot from disc1 or dvd1.iso dd'd to a memstick, it boots up to a menu offering to Install or run LiveCD mode or drop to a shell.

Why exactly are you doing this?

I just extracted disc1.iso straight into a new partition just to see what happened. It looks like I have a usable installation which just needs minor amendments.

 

[smithi]

I just extracted disc1.iso straight into a new partition just to see what happened. It looks like I have a usable installation which just needs minor amendments.

Can you please show the exact command you used to extract (what, exactly?) from that .iso?

I have a 12.4 disc1.iso here, but it's a hybrid (burn to DVD or dd to memstick) and only p1 (efi) and p2 (freebsd-boot) are visible to gpart, so I'm confused.

Re mer's post #13 above, I gather the system booted into has in its /etc/rc.local the script offering to Install, run LiveCD mode or drop to a shell, but the installed system begins with no rc.local, is that correct?

 

[mer]

Can you please show the exact command you used to extract (what, exactly?) from that .iso?

I don't recall the exact commands but in general I think you create a memory disk using the mdconfig command that has the iso file as the backing store and then mount it. It's a neat trick that comes in handy sometimes.

man mdconfig gives this as an example:
mount -t cd9660 /dev/`mdconfig -f cdimage.iso` /mnt

 

[smithi]

I don't recall the exact commands but in general I think you create a memory disk using the mdconfig command that has the iso file as the backing store and then mount it. It's a neat trick that comes in handy sometimes.

It does. I'd already done
# mdconfig FreeBSD-12.4-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso

and gpart show -p md0 - which only shows md0p1 (efi) and md0p2 (freebsd-boot) partitions - and shows the remaining 959MB as '- free -'.

man mdconfig gives this as an example:
mount -t cd9660 /dev/`mdconfig -f cdimage.iso` /mnt

I'd forgotten these 'hybrid' iso images were still type cd9660, thanks for the reminder.

Et voilà! 993MiB all there. And yes, /mnt/etc/rc.local has the startup install, Live CD or shell dialog of the install disk, and rc.local is run at the end of booting.

However, it's not bsdinstall but a script that might run it, or a shell, or just "exit 0" for Live CD.

So why balanga, when booting from that .iso extracted to a partition, doesn't get offered that dialog but gets straight into the installer, I've still no idea.

Perhaps perusing that rc.local might explain, it may be different on 13.2 vs 12.4? It might just need a small tweak to get into "Live CD" mode, which skips running bsdinstall on 12.x

 

[smithi]

I just extracted disc1.iso straight into a new partition just to see what happened. It looks like I have a usable installation which just needs minor amendments.

Given you'll have the sources with the distribution, you'll have /usr/src/release/rc.local - where you can see exactly what runs at the end of booting disc1, re choosing installation rather than 'Live CD' mode.

Still seems to me that you'd be better off running the proper installation to your new partition, so it's all setup ready to go?