Problematic upgrade from 7.2 to 8.0 with ZFS file system

[chris scott]

2009/7/20 Aristedes Maniatis <ari at ish.com.au>

> On 21/07/09 8:01 AM, Kip Macy wrote:
>
>> The other solution is to install userland BEFORE you reboot into the new
>>> >  kernel, although that may cause its own set of problems. Whatever the
>>> final
>>> >  solution, this needs to be clearly documented and ideally
>>> freebsd-update
>>> >  needs to detect the problem and advise the user about what to do.
>>>
>>
>>
>> Do to the large version jump (v6 ->  v13) the kernel interfaces aren't
>> backward compatible with the tools. How do you think it could be most
>> gracefully handled?
>>
>
> I honestly don't know how the right way to solve the problem, but here are
> some ideas:
>
> * the kernel ABI *should* be compatible with userland tools at least one
> major version backward. I understand that this might now be impossible, but
> it is possible to bring back enough of the old ABI to allow for zfs to
> mount?
>
> * freebsd-update could automatically detect this situation and install the
> new zfs userland at the same time as the new kernel
>
> * lots of of clear documentation about what course of action a user should
> follow if they are performing a source update. Should the recommendation be
> changed to install userland *before* rebooting, and then immediately reboot
> before some of that userland explodes against the old kernel in memory?
>
> The existing recommendation is based on the fact that the new kernel will
> continue to work after reboot with the old userland. If that assumption is
> not always true then the whole FreeBSD installation process needs
> rethinking.
>
>
>
> Ari Maniatis
>
>
>
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>

how about doing things the opensolaris way. I have a pure zfs system with
the root fs stored on system/root. This could cloned, to system/root-8, the
new world and kernel installed, then the relevant bits tweaked in the
loader.conf and zpool. If all goes wrong you switch the variables back and
switch to system/root.

It would also be nice to have some option in beastie to select your root fs
for completeness