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From: j@bonnie.heep.sax.de (J Wunsch)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Going from Linux to FreeBSD
Date: 29 Aug 1995 09:53:12 +0200
Organization: Private U**x site, Dresden.
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David Anderson <partek@indecent.com> wrote:
>1- Will I be able to use any of my Linux executables or do I have to port
> and recompile everything that I've customized?
The Linux emulator is in `experimental state'. I'd rather recommend
you recompiling. Perhaps you'll find many things of what you need in
the `ports collection'?
>2- I am acting as a small internet provider for about 45 people. Does
> FreeBSD support the EXT2 filesystem or do I need to tar up their home
> directories? (They're on a seperate partition)
Unfortunately, not yet. The author of ext2fs once promised to make a
FreeBSD port, but apparently got swamped in other work. Most
FreeBSDers are happy with ufs, so they don't have much of a driving
force to use ext2fs.
>3- Does FreeBSD have any ways of doing "distaster recovery"? Like I
> commonly, while playing with the kernel or a critical bootup file,
> leave Linux unbootable, and have to use my install disks to fix things.
The fixit floppy is not yet back up again for public consumption.
Maybe Jordan will jump in and report about its current status. I can
see a target `fixit.flp' in the Makefile for building a release, but
since he's never been announcing one i suspect there are still
problems to solve in this field.
Anyway, you can always boot an alternate kernel, or boot into single
user from the boot prompt (comparable to LILO). Except when playing
with the bootstrap itself, this should catch 99 % of all possible
failures. In addition, init_main searches for the following list of
`init' programs to run:
static char *initpaths[] = {
"/sbin/init",
"/sbin/oinit",
"/sbin/init.bak",
"/stand/sysinstall",
NULL,
};
This list is walked along until one of the programs exec's ok.
When entering single user, you'll be asked for the shell to use, so if
you've accidentally demolated your /bin/sh, you can e.g. run /bin/csh
and recover the ordinary shell.
Except for potential troubles with the bootstrap, i've rarely had an
occasion for additional safety nets. Bootstraps might be best tested
on a floppy before trashing the hard disk's bootstrap area.
--
cheers, J"org private: joerg_wunsch@uriah.heep.sax.de
http://www.sax.de/~joerg/
Never trust an operating system you don't have sources for. ;-)