remote install of 6.2

[Philipp Wuensche]

Mark Messier wrote:
> I have a remote machine running 4.8-p21.  The system has two disks in
> it, but only one is used on a daily basis (the other is filled via dd
> every now and then).
> 
> I want to get this remote machine running 6.2, so I figured I'ld
> install the new OS on the second disk, then boot off the second disk,
> leaving the original first disk with all the user data on it (plus as
> a way to back out).
> 
> When I try to use /stand/sysinstall for this it seg-faults
> early in the installation, but after the "Commit" step.

You could try to mount a 6.2 iso-file and use the sysinstall from there,
if that does not work due to library dependencies you could partition
the disk by hand using fdisk and disklabel (or do that with the 4.8
sysinstall). After mounting the new disk to /mnt etc. you can extract
the kernel and userland using the install.sh script you will find at the
set directories in
ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/i386/6.2-RELEASE/. I think
you only need base and a kernel.

Only drawback is you will not be able to use UFS2 I guess, because the
4.8 newfs doesn't know about that. But maybe someone has a solution to that.

You could also use qemu to prepare a freebsd6 system and use dd to write
it onto the second disk.

greetings,
philipp