Default labeling and space for rebuilding the kernel.

[Michael Powell]

Leon Meßner wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> if one uses the default labeling with current installer it is not
> possible to rebuild the kernel (GENERIC). It fails on installing the
> wlan.ko.
> 
> Isn't that wrong somehow ?
> 
> ===> wi (install)
> install -o root -g wheel -m 555   if_wi.ko /boot/kernel
> install -o root -g wheel -m 555   if_wi.ko.symbols /boot/kernel
> ===> wlan (install)
> install -o root -g wheel -m 555   wlan.ko /boot/kernel
> install -o root -g wheel -m 555   wlan.ko.symbols /boot/kernel
> 
> /: write failed, filesystem is full
> install: /boot/kernel/wlan.ko.symbols: No space left on device
[snip]

There has been some discussion lately about possibly changing the defaults. 
If you become faced with having to reinstall jot down your current partition 
sizes and adjust manually making / larger.

Since it is full, if you intend to try and recover it will entail deleting 
something. This could get tricky, especially if the new 'kernel' space is 
what filled up. This would presuppose that the kernel.old area was already 
written out successfully. If the machine will not boot successfully with the 
new kernel it is imperative that kernel.old still be healthy in order to 
recover. However, if the new kernel does actually boot, with the result 
being that some modules are missing you may be able to delete the kernel.old 
in order to buy space. Messing around with this can potentially be 
problematic, for obvious reasons. A strong 'YMMV' is indicated here.

If you can get past that, you may be able to mitigate the / being too small. 
Place STRIP= -s into /etc/make.conf and WITHOUT_PROFILE= true into 
/etc/src.conf. The con of this is that you lose some debugging ability. The 
pro is new kernels will now fit. I have two servers set up this way at home, 
and one uses 91MB while the other uses 93MB of space. The 91MB one only has 
a / of 200MB total, and is nearly half empty. Allows for rebuilding and 
installing a new kernel without running out of space.

-Mike