Initial FSBD Installation

[Boris Samorodov]

On Sat, 24 Jun 2006 13:15:36 -0400 Gerard Seibert wrote:

> This is probably a dumb question, but I never let that stop me before.

> If I were to to download the 6.1-RELEASE-i386-bootonly.iso from 
> ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/i386/ISO-IMAGES/6.1/ would that 
> installation include the Sendmail fix as well as the one 
> regarding "emulators/linux_base-*", etc. or would IO have to deal with that 
> issue after installing FSBD.

I never used bootonly CD but I'd say from it's name that it may be
useful only to boot the system and, say, repare something if a system
can't boot itself.

All RELEASE CDs are made when a RELEASE occures. They never got
re-rolled.
You may consider installing the system from full RELEASE CD

> 20060616:
>   AFFECTS users of emulation/linux_base-*
>   AUTHOR: netchild at FreeBSD.org

>   We now use Fedora Core 4 as the linux base port, and the corresponding
>   xorg libs for the linux X11 libs port.

>   To upgrade you have to run
>         portupgrade -f -o emulators/linux_base-fc4 linux_base\*
>         portupgrade -f -o x11/linux-xorg-libs linux-XFree86-libs

This change is not related to FreeBSD base system. It's a ports one.
You should upgrade (cvsup or like) ports to get the current ports
tree (use ports-supfile).

> Would running the stock /usr/src/share/examples/cvsup/stable-supfile be the 
> best way to update the system after installing the OS or should I use the 
> standard-supfile instead.

This file is useful to track FreeBSD-STABLE version. But you should
understand how to define the tag option. I'd recommend you using
RELENG_6_1. It's a RELEASE + SECURITY patches branch. When you have
some more skills to determine if you need a STABLE branch, you'll use
RELENG_6 tag.

> I am going to be installing this on a friends computer who has never run FSBD 
> before, and I want to be certain that I get it right.

If it's a new installation and you want to use -release base system
and security patches (so called -security branch). The process I may
recommend for this:

- fetch RELEASE-6 CD;
- install the system (minimal);
- boot from the hard disk;
- use sysinstall to get the sources and ports;
- install cvsup from packages;
- use cvsup-stable with RELENG_6_1 tag to update the sources;
- build and install world and kernel + use mergemaster;
- reboot;
- use cvsup-ports to update the ports tree;
- compile and install needed ports.

Some notes:

o  consider reading the Handbook:
   http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/index.html
   It's not a short one but helps a lot.

o  there are _many_ other ways to do almost everything (i.e. install
   ports from pre-build packages but not compile it yourself and
   much more);

o  read /usr/src/UPDATING and /usr/ports/UPDATING;

o  do not install default linux_base port by hand but install the
   needed port (i.e. acrobat reader), in most cases the port itself
   should choose other ports it depends on;

o  try not to do everything blindly as for the docs but try to
   understand what are you doing, try to imagine the result before
   acting and after the work is done, compare what you get to that you
   expected and then consider redoing what you've done if don't
   achieve the goal;

o  you will need much spare time and much to learn, we will give
   you advices, reference to TFM and our knowledge...


Hope, that may help you.


WBR
-- 
Boris B. Samorodov, Research Engineer
InPharmTech Co,     http://www.ipt.ru
Telephone & Internet Service Provider