messed up upgrade 7.0 & 7.1 to 7.2

Wed Jul 29 19:08:44 UTC 2009

Roland Smith wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 01:33:50PM -0400, PJ wrote:
>   
>> I have been struggling for about 4 days trying to prepare 2 computers to
>> update to 7.2 with no success whatsoever.
>> The more I read the instructions, the less I understand.
>> And almost nothing works as it should
>> Some background:
>> I have been using FreeBSD as a LAN server (for files storage & web
>> development/backup etc. and part desktop for more than 10 years. I have
>> never had great success when it comes to installation but have managed
>> to get it running and have even kept on v. 4.10 for archiving older
>> sites I have had.
>> The older methods of upgrading worked well enough even though they were
>> somewhat lengthy.
>> Last week I finally managed to set up an Acer Travelmate 4400 amd64 with
>> FreeBSD 7.2 and even got everything right. For the first time I was able
>> to get Flash & Shockwave to work on a FreeBSD installation.
>> With a bit of help from this list. Thanks, guys.
>> However, I have not been able to figure out how a custom kernel could be
>> set up nor how the new modular system works. Haven't found any coherent
>> explanations.
>>
>> But now I have the following problems:
>> PROBLEM 1. I freebsd-update fetch did not get the security patches or
>> whatever else it should - all I got was error: configuration file not found
>>     
>
> Does /etc/freebsd-update.conf exist?
>  
>   
>> PROBLEM 2. There seems to be some confusion about how to update and keep
>> current the ports - portsnap seems to work in concert with portversion;
>> there are some problems when one uses portsnap as there are with cvsup.
>> The two seem necessary since some errors inn installing cannot be
>> handled by both...
>> If, for example, it is necessary to delete the port completely and
>> reinstall it, portsnap just does not do it. I does not see that the port
>> direcotry is empty; cvsup does and fills it in so the error can be
>> correcte and the port properly installed.
>>     
>
> Portsnap only updates the ports tree (the directories under /usr/ports),
> not the installed ports themselves. You'll need either
> /usr/ports/ports-mgmt/portupgrade or /usr/ports/ports-mgmt/portmaster to
> keep installed ports up to date. I prefer portmaster since it doesn't
> depend on a separate database as portupgrade does. Depending on how long
> it has been since you've updated your ports and the speed of your
> machine, updates can indeed take a long time. You could choose to use
> pre-built packages instead of compiling from source, to speed things up.
>
>   
>> PROBLEM 3. I always have been running with a custom kernel. So, to
>> upgrade I am supposed to provide the GENERIC kernel in /boot. Ok, I went
>> through that process as per manual instructions. 
>>     
>
> Did you check that the GENERIC kernel that you built was installed as
> /boot/kernel/kernel?
>
>   
>> Had to reboot as I needed to transfer some downloaded files from the
>> 7.1 box to the 7.0 box for port upgrading.
>>     
>
> It is unclear to me why you should have to reboot to transfer
> files... If you want to e.g. connect two machines with an ethernet
> cable, are you aware that you can use the scripts in /etc/rc.d to stop
> and restart networking?
>
> And why not just transfer files with a USB thumbdrive?
>
>   
>> That was a mistake. Nothing indicated that I could
>> not reboot without screwing things up... of course, I should have known
>> better; but I'm prone to that kind of error. But I'm pretty sure that
>> the automatic upgrade would not have worked anyway as it doesn't work on
>> the machine with 7.0 installed.
>>     
>
> Without a more thorough description of the steps that you followed,
> there is not really a lot others can do to help you. From your
> description it is totally unclear what has gone wrong.
>
>   
>> Booting on this 7.1 machine is now impossible. I tried to boot from the
>> install CD but that only made it worse. As I understood the instruction
>> it would upgrade the machine, but I understand now that it just doesn't
>> work that way... it has to be upgraded from a 7.2 CD. That I don't have
>> at the moment.
>> So the boot now just says:
>> Invalid format
>> FreeBSD/i386 boot
>> Default: 0:ad(0,a)/boot/kernel/kernel
>> boot:
>> -
>>     
>
> Type ? at the boot prompt to see a list of files in the root directory
> of the default boot device. Read the boot(8) manual page.
>
> It could be that something went wrong with your disk. Mabye the slices
> or partitions were deleted.
>
>   
>> PROBLEM 4. The machine with 7.1 - after a complete ports upgrade, I tried
>> # freebsd-update -r 7.2-RELEASE upgrade
>> and I get the famous no configuration file found.
>>     
>
> Does this configuration file (see above) exist? 
>
>   
>> Somehow, I don't recall that being indicated anywhere in the manual. Oh,
>> I did read it... several times... and the more I read it, the more I
>> didn't understand anything - from mergemaster to the configuration file
>> to the modular kernels ...
>> Maybe someone could explain to me just exaclty how is one supposed to
>> deal with the upgrading and customizing the kernel. Should one (I) be
>> simply using the GENERIC kernel and then expect the upgrading to be as
>> simple as it seems to sound?
>>     
>
> If you want a custom kernel, I find it more convenient to upgrade from
> source. 
>
>   
>> And just what advantage (speed wise I suppose) is there to use the
>> custom kernel?
>>     
>
> A custom kernel will save some boot time because it doesn't probe for
> devices that aren't built-in or loaded as modules.
>
> There are some things (options) in the kernel that you cannot load as modules,
> they need to be compiled in. E.g. the scheduler, or if you want to use
> device polling instead of interrupts. See e.g. /sys/i386/conf/NOTES for
> options and devices that are not part of the GENERIC kernel.
>
>   
>> Maybe the easiest is to just install the 7.2 fresh; but that would take
>> the fun out of beating my head against an already cracked wall for
>> upgrading and would take probably as long to reinstall all the 644 or so
>> programs.
>>     
>
> I don't think you have to reinstall all programs. Just restore
> /usr/local and /var/db/pkg from backup. You did make a full backup
> before trying to upgrade, I hope? If not, I trust you remember to do so
> in the future...
>
> Contrary to what the handbook says, you do not always have to reinstall
> all ports when updating the system. It is definitely necessary when
> updating to another major version (6.x -> 7.x), but when updating to
> another minor version (7.1 -> 7.2) it is usually not necessary (unless
> /usr/src/UPDATING says differently). 
>
>   
>> On the 7.1 machine, I don't really want to lose all the files I have on
>> there... most have been saved and none are really that important... but
>> "just in case".
>>     
>
> Not to put too fine a point on it, but that is why you should make
> regular backups of all your important data. 
>
> Roland
>   
Thanks for the response, Rolland,
I think I have unraveled this stuff a bit.
I haven't checked for the config file yet as I am using the MS portion
of this machine.
I think I can fix the 7.1 machine with a boot disk for 7.2.
That is what is not very clear in the manual. I now see that before you
do the upgrade (that is, BEFORE) you have to cvsup the 7.2 release ports
and sources. I tried to upgrade the 7.1 from a 7.1 disk... so now, I'll
try with the 7.2. I generally lilke to do my updates over the net and
not from the disk and I assume (falsely, I see now) that the idea of
upgrade is not programmed into the manual or the files to mean from a
lower branch to a higher one... :'(
Anyway, I think I'll be allright...
Will repost if I solve this thing.
PJ

-- 
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