FreeBSD 5.x / make installworld woes

[Ruben de Groot]

On Fri, Nov 14, 2003 at 07:12:46AM -0800, Edmund L. Wong typed:
> Hello all,
> 
> I am a relatively new FreeBSD user running a CURRENT
> version of FreeBSD 5.x (I forget the number, but I
> just rebuilt the kernel about a week ago).  When I ran
> a make buildworld/installworld this morning after
> updating my sources (via cvsup), the installworld
> portion failed at some point.  Following this, most
> functionality in my system now ceases to work
> (including ls, rm, etc.).  I can get a prompt as root
> but not much else.
 
Yes, this is a result of recent changes in statfs structure. Has 
been announced and discussed on the -current mailing list (that you 
really should be subscribed to when you want to follow -current).
It has also been documented in UPDATING (allways a must when updating
via cvsup).
Adding to this, following -current is not recommended for new users
(http://www.freebsd.org/handbook/current-stable.html#CURRENT), so
maybe you would be better of running -stable instead?

> I do realize now that it is recommened that I rebuild
> the kernel, run mergemaster and reboot before doing
> installworld.  But obviously its a bit late for that
> now.

Maybe, maybe not... see below

> Is there any way this installation can be saved?  Or
> must I reinstall from scratch now?  If so, is there a
> recommended way of going about this such that I don't
> lose any of my data (in my home directory)?

IF you build and installed a new kernel allready, you might save
your installation just by rebooting into the new kernel, which is
aware of the new 64-bit statfs and can still handle the old
binaries. Reboot to single user mode and finish the installworld, 
then boot multiuser and your fine again (hopefully)

Good luck,
Ruben

> Thanks in advance,
> Ed
> 
> =====
> edmund l wong
> assistant staff : mit lincoln lab 
> cs/ece alumni : carnegie mellon
> 
> ewong at alumni.cmu.edu
> http://www.edmundlwong.com
> 
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