RE: Custom FreeBSD 14.3-RELEASE ISO fails to boot to OS

Maku Bex <zagazaw2004_at_gmail.com>wrote on
Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2025 01:44:00 UTC :

> I've exhausted myself trying to fix this problem for the past 4 days. x_x
> 
> I'm following the the FreeBSD docs/manpages (+docs from FreeBSD based 
> flavors) related to building a 14.3-RELEASE ISO, which I succeeded but 
> it fails at boot time.
> The kernel boots fine as far as I can tell, but 'init.sh' fails at 
> replicating the system image (system.img) to swap.
> 
> I'm using VirtualBox VM to test the ISO and gave it the following specs:
> 
> --Disk: 45GB
> --RAM: 16GB
> --CPU: 12C
> 
> The error shows up when this command finishes "dd 
> if=/cdrom/data/system.img status=progress bs=1M | zfs recv -F livecd".

As you are not getting help over the holiday weekend, I'll
take a partial stab at explaining error message and its
context.

QUOTE from "man zfs-recv" output:
Creates a snapshot whose contents are as specified in the stream
       provided on standard input.  . . .
 Streams are created using the zfs send
       subcommand, which by default creates a full stream.
END QUOTE

Unless /cdrom/data/system.img is the saved output from a
"zfs send" command, the byte sequence being processed by
the "zfs recv" would not be of the appropriate structure
by content as far as I can tell.

> This error sounds like it's a corrupt file,

Well, a corrupt "zfs send" output instead, from the zfs tool
point of view.

> but I verified the hash,

"zfs send" output is not a simple copy of the byte sequence
in any arbitrary file.

> plus I didn't download it from the wild web for it to be tempered with.
> 
> ERROR: cannot receive new filesystem stream: incomplete stream

"filesystem stream" here is "zfs send" output specifically.

> Enter full pathname of shell or RETURN for /rescue/sh:
> 
> When I hit [ENTER], I get "Cannot read termcap database; using dumb 
> terminal settings." Then drops to '#' which is limited and some commands 
> don't work due to "/tmp" not found.
> 
> Please let me know if I get provide any other info that can help fix 
> this issue.

===
Mark Millard
marklmi at yahoo.com