Custom USB layout & sysinstall (Starting FIXIT)

[Ken Smith]

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On 5/15/10 8:01 AM, none none wrote:
> On Sat, May 15, 2010 at 12:14 AM, Ken Smith <kensmith at buffalo.edu> wrote:
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>> On 5/14/10 1:16 PM, none none wrote:
>>> I've read it, all.
>>> What he is proposing, is about building our own image flavor. (make-memstick.sh)
>>> Exactly, that act, is an issue here, as it confuses sysinstall's USB detection.
>>
>> This part of what you say confuses me.  I use make-memstick.sh to build
>> the .img files people are downloading and using to do installs with.
>> So if you are using it correctly any machine that can use the .img
>> files I build and we distribute should be able to use what you
>> produce.
> 
> Ah, I was unclear. When I've put "make-memstick.sh", in bracket, I was
> referring to similarity of steps.
> Not to the usage, of actual make-memstick.sh script.
> 
> There are 2 types of customizations:
> A) Content (All in UFS)
> B) Layout (MBR, slices, boot code, bsdlabel,...)
> 
> make-memstick.sh script is limited only to customization of A), so I
> am not using it.
> And shell command which I utilize are far more complex.
> 
> I do A) and B) customizations, where B) is a culprit, that confuses sysinstall.
> 
> Focus on this:
> Official FreeBSD memstick.img once 'dd'-ed appears as da0a
> My edition appears as da0s2a ( because of me doing B) )
> 
> Once I turn on my machine, at boot time I select USB as a boot device.
> Then: BIOS -> MBR of da0 -> slice 2 -> boot loader -> sysinstall
> 
> Now, while in sysinstall, I decide to go in Fixit mode.
> When I select a USB device, I get an error msg:
> "No USB devices found!"
> 
> Other parts of sysinstall, DO list ad4 (my HDD) and da0 (my USB stick)
> correctly.

With respect to your "Still no answer" message I'm not sure what
you're expecting for an answer.  You answer yourself above.  The
customizations you're doing that you refer to as "B" do indeed
confuse sysinstall's disk recognition semantics.  As part of
your customizations you'll need to adjust sysinstall's disk
recognition semantics to understand the layout you are setting
up.  I'm not quite sure what else you are expecting.  I can't
think of some easy fix that would get you past the problem you
are experiencing without some hacking done to sysinstall.  I'm
also not sure if that sort of hacking would be suitable for
the general case (what works now).

- -- 
						Ken Smith
- - From there to here, from here to      |       kensmith at buffalo.edu
  there, funny things are everywhere.   |
                      - Theodore Geisel |
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