Long standing problems with sysinstall

[Warren Block]

On Wed, 2 Nov 2011, Blake McBride wrote:

> On Wed, Nov 2, 2011 at 4:03 PM, Warren Block <wblock at wonkity.com> wrote:
>> On Wed, 2 Nov 2011, Blake McBride wrote:
>>
>>> 1.  In order to escape the virtual machine (VM) you hit the control key
>>> and the command key together.
>>
>> Which VM?  FreeBSD as a guest should not run any different than on real
>> hardware.  If the VM host's command key does not work right, that implies a
>> problem with the VM software.  And of course the "command" key could differ
>> depending on VM software.  Which keys, exactly?  Or is this a Mac with an
>> actual "command" key?
>>
>
> Linux (many versions), Solaris, OpenIndiana, Windows XP & 7, and DOS
> all work fine.  The command key doesn't interfere with any of them.
>
> I use VirtualBox and KVM elsewhere.  On the machine I am trying to use
> FreeBSD on I use VMWare.  It is quite inconvenient for me to switch on
> this box because of one OS.  (I'd have to load up and configure all
> the other OS's).  Additionally, VMWare is surely the most popular
> commercial VM software.  FreeBSD should work.

The VM guest should not be able to interfere with the host, that's the 
point of a VM.  Again, knowing exactly which keys are being pressed 
might explain the problem.  I used VMware with FreeBSD several years ago 
and don't recall any problems, but it may have changed since then.

>>> 3.  I now have the system installed and I am attempting to add packages.
>>>  I
>>> go into sysinstall.
>>
>> See the man page for pkg_add about the PACKAGESITE variable.  A value of
>> ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-9-current/Latest
>> would get the latest 9.0 packages for amd64.  (Untested, I generally don't
>> use packages.)
>>
>
> I don't understand this comment.  Yes, I know I can use pkg_add.  If
> sysinstall isn't going to work, get rid of the option.  If it's
> supposed to do something, make it work.

Sorry, I inadvertantly edited out a note about sysinstall itself going 
away.  bsdinstall, the new installer, doesn't replace all of 
sysinstall's functions, and at present there isn't anything else to use 
for post-install config except the standalone utilities like pkg_add.