howto upgrade 4.8 to 4.9 without cdrom or floppy?

[paul van den bergen]

Hi...

on freebsd-hackers, Alfred Perlstein posted a method that allows 
boot-disk-less installation... but it requires mdconfig, a 5.1 utility...

is there a method to do this under 4.8?

it seems to me that the job performed by md0 could be done with vn0
e.g.

do 
# ls /dev/vn*
if empty do
# cd /dev
# ./MAKEDEV vn0
# ./MAKEDEV vn1
# vnconfig vn0 /path/to/freebsd/4.9.iso
# mount_cd9660 /dev/vn0c /path/to/freebsd4.9

or however you access the freebsd install iso disk
the point being to get access to the /floppies/boot.flp image on the cdrom

# vnconfig vn1 /path/to/freebsd4.9/floppies/boot.flp
# mkdir /bootfloppy
# mount_mfs /dev/vn1c /bootfloppy/
# cp /bootfloppy/kernel.gz /ikernel.gz
# cp /bootfloppy/mfsroot.gz /mfsroot.gz

then reboot as described...

I am about to try this out... wish me luck!


On Mon, 1 Dec 2003 07:18 pm, Alfred Perlstein wrote:
> I have a mini-HOWTO here that possibly be automated.
>
> Basically we're going to install FreeBSD over FreeBSD without
> a floppy, cdrom or pxe.
>
> This depends on a loader that's compatible with your kernel
> so if really weird lockups happen, you might not be compatible.
>
>
> Anyhow, here we go:
>
>
> Download the boot.flp from the release you want to install.
>
> Mount it like so:
> mdconfig -a -t vnode -f boot.flp
> # should output something like 'md0'
> mkdir -p /mnt
> mount /dev/md0 /mnt
>
> Copy the yummy bits from the install image to your root:
> cp /mnt/kernel.gz /ikernel.gz
> cp /mnt/mfsroot.gz /mfsroot.gz
>
> Now reboot and interrupt the loader when it counts down the boot.
>
> Then type these commands into the loader:
> unload kernel
> load /ikernel
> load -t mfs_root /mfsroot
> set vfs.root.mountfrom
> boot
>
> Now cross your fingers once you wipe the partitions out to reinstall...
>
>
> It would be cool if this could be automated[1], perhaps by setting
> the boot partition to the swap partition and setting it up temporarily
> as a ufs filesystem and then... oh... well...
>
> [1] http://www.jerkcity.com/jerkcity1426.html



-- 
Dr Paul van den Bergen
Centre for Advanced Internet Architectures
caia.swin.edu.au
pvandenbergen at swin.edu.au
IM:bulwynkl2002
"And some run up hill and down dale, knapping the chucky stones 
to pieces wi' hammers, like so many road makers run daft. 
They say it is to see how the world was made."
Sir Walter Scott, St. Ronan's Well 1824