Moving from GhostBSD to FreeBSD

hansw

hansw

Hi all,

I want to switch to FreeBSD itself. Currently I have a 'working' system. The system itself runs on a zfs pool that is using nvme.2 storage ( 1 TB ) and I have an ssd drive of the same size (different zpool name) I use to rsync changes to.

Wondering if I can safe/reuse parts of the system or is it better to simply start over?
 
Hmm, that might be cool. My users like the graphical desktop. I am not so much into Plasma but this does give options
 
Note that none of the screenshots involved use of GhostBSD's Software Station and Software Update applications.

I didn't test, and I should not assume support (or approval) from the GhostBSD developer or community.

I don't have time to add detail right now (sorry), but it'll be interesting, at least for me, to put FreeBSD PkgBase in the mix.

Interesting because GhostBSD was so intelligently ahead of the PkgBase-like curve long before it became official here :)
 
The update software already got me into problems. There was an infinite loop in one of the latest installs and I am unable to use any software using qt now. They state it is impossible to reproduce/fix it.

Might just as well make a good backup and simply start over with FreeBSD
 
grahamperrin said:
I'll have some free time later, you probably need to get an installation of FreeBSD that matches releng/13.2.
Click to expand...
I found other Ghost related problems too so my plan is to install a bhyve vm with freebsd 14 soon. That will enable me to test it all and see if there are any problems I need to fix. I have enough memory and cpu to test it all. If I do like that I can simply use the nvme.2 drive to install it, including zfs, etc...
 
hansw said:
I want to switch to FreeBSD itself. Currently I have a 'working' system.
Click to expand...
Use this:

vermaden.wordpress.com

Other FreeBSD Version in ZFS Boot Environment

The first FreeBSD 12.3-PRERELEASE snapshots are finally available. This means we can try them in a new ZFS Boot Environment without touching out currently running 13.0-RELEASE system. We can not ta…
vermaden.wordpress.com vermaden.wordpress.com

Just create new BE with plain FreeBSD version in it - copy your configs - then set it as new BE and reboot.

If something is wrong or broken - You can still reboot into fully working GhostBSD system.
 
vermaden said:
Use this:

vermaden.wordpress.com

Other FreeBSD Version in ZFS Boot Environment

The first FreeBSD 12.3-PRERELEASE snapshots are finally available. This means we can try them in a new ZFS Boot Environment without touching out currently running 13.0-RELEASE system. We can not ta…
vermaden.wordpress.com vermaden.wordpress.com

Just create new BE with plain FreeBSD version in it - copy your configs - then set it as new BE and reboot.

If something is wrong or broken - You can still reboot into fully working GhostBSD system.
Click to expand...
Needed to check this out, per default beadm is not installed on Ghost it seems but it is available.
Will indeed see if this works out for me, very clear instructions, thanks
 
vermaden said:
Use this:

vermaden.wordpress.com

Other FreeBSD Version in ZFS Boot Environment

The first FreeBSD 12.3-PRERELEASE snapshots are finally available. This means we can try them in a new ZFS Boot Environment without touching out currently running 13.0-RELEASE system. We can not ta…
vermaden.wordpress.com vermaden.wordpress.com

Just create new BE with plain FreeBSD version in it - copy your configs - then set it as new BE and reboot.

If something is wrong or broken - You can still reboot into fully working GhostBSD system.
Click to expand...
I am halfway now. Point is that pkg.freebsd.org is not resolving. Might this be due to the release of 14.0 ? Servers are to busy? Also had some minor issues like exa not being present, needed to install it.

Anyway, will continue tomorrow, thanks this far.
 
B.t.w., already able to boot into freebsd but, as expected, there are hardly packages installed yet. I am sure I can continue tomorrow.
 
hansw said:
B.t.w., already able to boot into freebsd but, as expected, there are hardly packages installed yet. I am sure I can continue tomorrow.
Click to expand...
A base install of FreeBSD has "enough" but not everything a typical user would want. To me, this is good.
Now a next step would be "what DE do my users want?" XFCE, KDE, what? Then go and do "pkg search" for the packages.
Example:
pkg search xfce gives a lot of things, but there is a metaport "xfce" that pulls in a lot of other things.
So you do "pkg install xfce4", pay attention to the messages and follow them.

Then decide on what other packages: firefox, chromium, blah blah blah and install them.
 
mer said:
A base install of FreeBSD has "enough" but not everything a typical user would want. To me, this is good.
Now a next step would be "what DE do my users want?" XFCE, KDE, what? Then go and do "pkg search" for the packages.
Example:
pkg search xfce gives a lot of things, but there is a metaport "xfce" that pulls in a lot of other things.
So you do "pkg install xfce4", pay attention to the messages and follow them.

Then decide on what other packages: firefox, chromium, blah blah blah and install them.
Click to expand...

The guide that vermaden listed is simply, in my case, ok since I am moving from a different BSD to Free. I already generated a list of needed packages.
 
hansw said:
I am halfway now. Point is that pkg.freebsd.org is not resolving. Might this be due to the release of 14.0 ? Servers are to busy? Also had some minor issues like exa not being present, needed to install it.

Anyway, will continue tomorrow, thanks this far.
Click to expand...

Maybe /etc/resolv.conf in the new BE needs to be filled with - nameserver 1.1.1.1 - for example? Or was it something else?
 
And it is running now. Do need to fix small things like a mouse and the xconfig but I can test now. Thanks
 
And maybe this is due to setting up 13.2 but I do need to fix the usb mouse and keyboard. I'll get there ;-) One other thing, I simply used adduser without params, somehow the user directories lacked. Again, tiny issues
 
This was a good practice. I did however bump into some X issues. On Ghost that works find but somehow it will not start on FreeBSD. Can it be that a displayport (not using hdmi) is part of my problems? I doubt it since Ghost is based on Free.
Anyway. Downloaded the 14.0 version and dd'd it to a stick. I think I will go for a new install on Friday
 
hansw said:
… some X issues. On Ghost that works …
Click to expand...

github.com

GitHub - ghostbsd/xconfig: xconfig is an automation tool to set up X11 for GhostBSD

xconfig is an automation tool to set up X11 for GhostBSD - ghostbsd/xconfig
github.com github.com

hansw said:
… 13.2 but I do need to fix the usb mouse and keyboard. …
Click to expand...

That's extraordinary.

Clean installation?

If you're trying to configure manually: don't (for basics such as USB mice and keyboards, configuration should be automated (but not as well automated as with GhostBSD)).

hansw said:
… adduser without params, somehow the user directories lacked. …
Click to expand...

Lacked in what way?

At a glance, no problem here (with FreeBSD 15.0-CURRENT):

Code: 
root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:~ # adduser
Username: blah
Full name: blah
Uid (Leave empty for default):
Login group [blah]:
Login group is blah. Invite blah into other groups? []:
Login class [default]:
Shell (sh csh tcsh ksh git-shell bash rbash zsh rzsh nologin) [sh]:
Home directory [/home/blah]:
Home directory permissions (Leave empty for default):
Use password-based authentication? [yes]:
Use an empty password? (yes/no) [no]: yes
Lock out the account after creation? [no]:
Username   : blah
Password   : <blank>
Full Name  : blah
Uid        : 1004
Class      :
Groups     : blah
Home       : /home/blah
Home Mode  :
Shell      : /bin/sh
Locked     : no
OK? (yes/no) [yes]:
adduser: INFO: Successfully added (blah) to the user database.
Add another user? (yes/no) [no]:
Goodbye!
root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:~ # ls -hln /home/blah
total 28
-rw-r--r--  1 1004 1005  950B Nov 17 01:29 .cshrc
-rw-r--r--  1 1004 1005  311B Nov 17 01:29 .login
-rw-r--r--  1 1004 1005   79B Nov 17 01:29 .login_conf
-rw-------  1 1004 1005  289B Nov 17 01:29 .mail_aliases
-rw-r--r--  1 1004 1005  255B Nov 17 01:29 .mailrc
-rw-r--r--  1 1004 1005  966B Nov 17 01:29 .profile
-rw-r--r--  1 1004 1005  1.0K Nov 17 01:29 .shrc
root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:~ # uname -KU
1500003 1500003
root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:~ # rmuser -v blah
Matching password entry:

blah::1004:1005::0:0:blah:/home/blah:/bin/sh

Is this the entry you wish to remove? y
Remove user's home directory (/home/blah)? y
Removing crontab for (blah):.
Removing at(1) jobs owned by (blah): 0 removed.
Removing IPC mechanisms.
Terminating all processes owned by (blah): -KILL signal sent to 0 processes.
Removing files owned by (blah) in /tmp: 0 removed.
Removing files owned by (blah) in /var/tmp: 0 removed.
Removing mail spool(s) for (blah): /var/mail/blah.
Removing user (blah) (including home directory) from the system: Done.
root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:~ # file /home/blah
/home/blah: cannot open `/home/blah' (No such file or directory)
root@mowa219-gjp4-8570p-freebsd:~ #

Looking ahead:

github.com

adduser(8): support creation of ZFS dataset by jgrafton · Pull Request #881 · freebsd/freebsd-src

On systems utilizing ZFS, default to creating a ZFS dataset for a new user's home directory if the parent directory resides on a ZFS dataset. Add a flag that disables this behavior if the admin...
github.com github.com

beadm(8), bectl(8), libbe(3)​


vermaden said:
You can use beadm(8) and You can use bectl(8). Its up to You. …
Click to expand...

Heads-up, if you haven't already seen it:
  • "The -r flag to bectl needs to go away, and we need to just do the right thing. …".
github.com

freebsd-update: create deep BEs by default · freebsd/freebsd-src@989c5f6

The -r flag to bectl needs to go away, and we need to just do the right thing. In the meantime, we can apply an -r in freebsd-update as a minimal fix to stop creating partial backups in these (non...
github.com github.com

bectl(8) manual pages for RELEASE, STABLE and CURRENT (not all the same, at the time of writing):
In additional to visible differences: two of the three online views are broken (invisible content). If it helps: the edition in CURRENT is visibly dated 15th October 2023.

The beadm(8) manual page in the ports tree:

Looking ahead:

github.com

libbe(3), bectl(8): corrections, changes by grahamperrin · Pull Request #857 · freebsd/freebsd-src

Add AUTHORS to libbe(3), and make its HISTORY section consistent with bectl(8). beadm(1) no longer exists. Improve the HISTORY and AUTHORS sections of bectl(8), including consistency with the manua...
github.com github.com
 
I will get into details soon, just out of bed :-)
I used the guide Vermaden linked. It worked but somehow X was not working.

* adduser did not create a home dir, when I used only adduser it did
* mouse and keyboard did not work in 13.2, in 14.0 it worked out of the box

I did notice some other weird things, might have been me doing it for the first time. Or maybe the zfs versions did not match. Had other problems with Ghost too like QT errors when starting telegram-desktop or nheko. That seems to be fixed in 14.0
 
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