make installworld fails

[Kris Kennaway]

On Sat, Mar 11, 2006 at 01:04:33PM +0100, lars at gmx.at wrote:
> Erik Trulsson wrote:
> >>Is /usr/src/UPDATING synonymous to 'the correct updating procedure'?
> >
> >Yes, /usr/src/UPDATING does describe the correct updating procedure.
> >If you follow that procedure you should not have any problems with missing
> >groups.
> >Look under COMMON ITEMS at the end of /usr/src/UPDATING.
> Right, thanks.
> 
> >>And finally, is it really necessary to reboot after 'mergemaster -p'?
> >>Lately I've skipped that step with no adverse side-effects, saves me one 
> >>reboot :-)
> >
> >It is sometimes necessary to reboot with the new kernel to have 
> >'make installworld' work correctly (and the recommended procedure is to
> >reboot into single user mode *before* running 'mergemaster -p' (which in
> >turn is to be done before 'make installworld').
> Correct, I forgot since I hadn't been doing it in a while
> (so much for reading the handbook...).
> 
> But how do I know when it's necessary?
> Or should I just reboot twice no matter what?

*Every* *single* *step* in that list is needed in some situations.
Some steps are not needed in *every* situation, so the temptation is
to skip them to save your fingers some typing.  But you'll regret this
when you unexpectedly hit a situation in which the step should not
have been omitted.  In the worst case scenario this can damage or
destroy your FreeBSD installation, or at least require some
head-scratching and possible hand-holding from the community to help
you recover.

Here's an example of a worst case scenario: one reason for rebooting
into single-user mode is to test whether your new kernel works.  If
your new kernel doesn't work (e.g. panics during boot), you can back
it out at that point and all is well.  If you blindly charge on
without testing it, and proceed with the installworld, you may then
find that your new world cannot be used with your old kernel
(e.g. every FreeBSD command crashes when run with the old kernel,
because they all now depend on an extra syscall or something).  Oops.

Since there is no way to back out an installworld, your only recourses
at this point are: to fiddle around with /rescue and try to
reconstruct a working system by hand (needs expert knowledge); or to
remember where you put your install CD and pray that your last backup
was up-to-date;

This is a very rare situation, and it mostly occurs when updating to a
new major version of FreeBSD, or at certain times during the
development of -CURRENT.  However, it's a real situation that you may
encounter depending on how you use FreeBSD.  There are other
situations that are both more common and less severe.  However, with a
little discipline in following the instructions you'll never notice
them.

Kris
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-questions/attachments/20060311/f969bb96/attachment.bin