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From: wpaul@panix.com (Bill Paul)
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions
Subject: Re: FreeBSD 1.1.5.1 kernel won't compile -- and a few words more.
Date: 7 Jul 1994 00:53:30 -0400
Organization: The M00se Illuminati (bl00p!)
Lines: 87
Message-ID: <2vg1oa$sj1@panix3.panix.com>
References: <2vbv2j$e0k@urmel.informatik.rwth-aachen.de> <2vc2ob$h0p@panix3.panix.com> <1994Jul07.022544.4435@Elvisti.Kiev.UA>
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Daring to challenge the will of the almighty Leviam00se,
Andrey Stesin (stesin@Elvisti.Kiev.UA) had the courage to say:
: Hi,
: : You need to get the 1.1.5(.1) 'config.' Apparently, it now generates a file
: : called config.c, which you need to link the kernel correctly. The simplest
: : way to get it would be to snarf the sources for it out of the
: : FreeBSD-current tree and compile it, then use it to config your new kernel.
: From the other viewpoint, J. Hubbard wrote that all utility
: stuff was improved, too; and maybe the libraries were
: changed, too; and maybe there are some other nice things inside...
: So, I'm stucked. I had bindist tarballs from 1.1-RELEASE.
: I got the 1.1.5 floppies + kernel sources.
: Now I can't make a decision!
: Will it be faster and simplier to get the whole 1.1.5 bindist
: tarballs, and stop claiming and be happy? :-)
: Or maybe it will be enough to get a new 'config', then
: customize a new 1.1.5 kernel, and be happy with old utilities, too?
I advise a full upgrade. When I upgraded from 1.1 to 1.1.5, I was
forced to build a new kernel first because of a peculiar hardware bug
largely unique to my system. Briefly, the GENERIC?? kernels lock up
on my machine immediately after detecting my math co-processor. I had
to remove the bloody chip in order to install 1.1-ALPHA, after which I
discovered a one line fix for npx.c that seemed to cure the problem.
(Actually, the problem is still there, only now the kernel doesn't
stumble over it anymore.) So really, the only reason I bothered building
a 1.1.5 kernel beforehand was so that I could put together a custom
kernel-copy floppy. The alternative would have been to once again open
up my computer and remove my math chip, which I wasn't in the mood to
do. :) Once I had the custom boot floppy ready, I went ahead and did
a complete reinstallation.
Anyway, while testing the new kernel, I had a chance to fiddle around
and see what things had changed. I discovered that the tty driver has
been whacked around a bit, as was syscons, and the serial I/O code.
This affected such user level commands as stty, comcontrol and the
syscons stuff. There were probably other things, but I decided very
quickly that there wasn't any point in hunting them all down. You
really should upgrade everything. Aside from the stuff that depends
on the kernel, new things have been added, like a newer version of
pppd, s/key support, and who knows what else. Also, some of the
header files in /usr/include have undoubtedly been changed to reflect
alterations/fixes in the kernel, so you'd have to replace them if
you intended to use your compiler at all. In the end, you'd probably
wind up downloading the bindist anyway. Might as well go the distance. :)
: Maybe someone knowlegeable can give a suggestion?
I think I just did. :)
: Regards, and thanks to all FreeBSD team!
: Andrew Stesin
One other note, which might be useful for those of you on the verge of
upgrading, who only have one disk:
I configured my system with three main partitions: /, /usr and /home.
Whenever I upgrade, I use tar to save my /usr/local and /usr/X386 trees
to my normal user account's home directory, which is on /home, then I
modify the 'install' script on the filesyst floppy so that it doesn't
newfs /home. I always use the same disk gemoetry and partitioning info,
so the new disklabel created by the install script is always the same
as the original, and since it doesn't newfs the /home filesystem, all
my user accounts and the backed up stuff are preserved across installations.
I can even download the bindist onto /home and unpack it from there once
the floppy installation is finished.
Modifying the install script is simple: just grep for 'newfs' and
comment out the line that pertains to your /home filesystem.
-Bill
--
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