History log of /freebsd-current/usr.sbin/bsdinstall/bsdinstall.8
Revision Date Author Comments
# 84f77303 18-Nov-2023 John Baldwin <jhb@FreeBSD.org>

bsdinstall.8: Clarify the description of ZFSBOOT_FORCE_4K_SECTORS

This variable does not set the exact sector size of the pool, but
controls the minimum sector size. The sector size of the underlying
disks can always be larger than the minium controlled by this knob.

PR: 274513
Reported by: Albin "a12l" Otterhäll <bugs.freebsd.org@a12l.xyz>


# fea2cffb 18-Sep-2023 Mateusz Piotrowski <0mp@FreeBSD.org>

bsdinstall.8: Document BSDINSTALL_SKIP_* variables

Fixes: 17f4ded55180 bsdinstall: add variables to allow skipping
MFC after: 3 days


# a8f5c9d3 18-Sep-2023 Mateusz Piotrowski <0mp@FreeBSD.org>

bsdinstall.8: Set Bl's -width correctly

MFC after: 3 days


# fa9896e0 16-Aug-2023 Warner Losh <imp@FreeBSD.org>

Remove $FreeBSD$: two-line nroff pattern

Remove /^\.\\"\n\.\\"\s*\$FreeBSD\$$\n/


# 3bb92304 23-May-2023 Mike Karels <karels@FreeBSD.org>

bsdinstall on zfs: create dataset for /home rather than /usr/home

Now that pw (hence adduser and the initial install) use /home for
user home directories rather than /usr/home, create a dataset for
/home rather than /usr/home. Update the man page to match.

Reviewed by: rgrimes, markj
Differential Revision: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D40086


# 3e1101f2 05-Aug-2022 Brad Davis <brd@FreeBSD.org>

bsdinstall: allow setting the root password via env variables

Reviewed by: 0mp, allanjude, asiciliano, dteske, pauamma, rpokala, sef
Sponsored by: Rubicon Communications, LLC ("Netgate")
Differential Revision: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D35588


# aa35037b 17-Jul-2022 Mateusz Piotrowski <0mp@FreeBSD.org>

beinstall.8: Update example distsites for BSDINSTALL_DISTSITE

MFC after: 1 week


# 4b1e2c2f 23-Mar-2022 Farhan Khan <farhan@farhan.codes>

bsdinstall(8): Usage example of tar doesn't work

The order of arguments in the example does not work, because tar thinks
the directory is named -C, which does not exist and reports:
tar: Error opening archive: Failed to open '-C'

Approved by: rpokala@ (src) on IRC
Differential Revision: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D34649


# 8422d54f 22-Mar-2022 Jens Schweikhardt <schweikh@FreeBSD.org>

Correct a handful of typos and grammos.


# b8639a10 05-Apr-2021 Nathan Whitehorn <nwhitehorn@FreeBSD.org>

Tweak language involving ZFS installation; no content changes.


# 3b20b988 05-Apr-2021 Nathan Whitehorn <nwhitehorn@FreeBSD.org>

Add some general notes about scripted installations.


# 5140034c 26-Mar-2021 Nathan Whitehorn <nwhitehorn@FreeBSD.org>

Add a new mode to the scripted partition editor for variant disk names.

If the disk parameter "DEFAULT" is set in place of an actual device name,
or no disk is specified for the PARTITIONS parameter, the installer will
follow the logic used in the automatic-partitioning mode, in which it
will either provide a selection dialog for one of several disks if
several are present or automatically select it if there is only one. This
simplifies the creation of fully-automatic installation media for
hardware or VMs with varying disk names.

Suggested by: Egoitz Aurrekoetxea <egoitz@sarenet.es>
MFC after: 3 weeks
Relnotes: yes


# 9f88bee1 22-Mar-2021 Nathan Whitehorn <nwhitehorn@FreeBSD.org>

Bump documentation date after recent updates to bsdinstall.8.


# c8923d19 22-Mar-2021 Nathan Whitehorn <nwhitehorn@FreeBSD.org>

Include examples of how to build script-install media.


# f91026bf 22-Mar-2021 Nathan Whitehorn <nwhitehorn@FreeBSD.org>

Improve example install scripts, making them simpler and more robust.

In particular:
- There is no need to do anything with gpart (the installer does that
for you).
- There is no need to specify the network interface, since we have
an option for defaults.


# e8b4c5a6 19-Mar-2021 Nathan Whitehorn <nwhitehorn@FreeBSD.org>

Clarify that scripted installations don't require specification of boot
partitions, as there seems to be widespread confusion on this point.

MFC after: 1 day


# e0e236ba 24-Aug-2020 Marc Fonvieille <blackend@FreeBSD.org>

s/redundacy/redundancy

MFC after: 1 week


# 89be2c1e 06-Feb-2020 Mateusz Piotrowski <0mp@FreeBSD.org>

Improve documentation of bootconfig and PARTITIONS

- Mention bootconfig target in TARGETS section.
- Document PARTITIONS variable, which is only mentioned in the examples,
but doesn't have its own point.

Submitted by: arrowd@
Reviewed by: bcr
Approved by: bcr (mentor)
MFC after: 2 weeks
Differential Revision: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D22927


# d512033e 15-Jan-2020 Ben Woods <woodsb02@FreeBSD.org>

bsdinstall: Change "default" (first) Partitioning method to ZFS

Reported by: Ruben Schade (during his talk at linux.conf.au)
Approved by: philip
Differential Revision: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D23173


# a107ddbb 14-Jan-2020 Rebecca Cran <bcran@FreeBSD.org>

bsdinstall: Use TMPDIR if set

Submitted by: Ryan Moeller <ryan@freqlabs.com>
Reviewed by: bcran, Nick Wolff <darkfiberiru@gmail.com>
Differential Revision: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D22979/


# 4a3c7e67 08-Jan-2020 Maxim Konovalov <maxim@FreeBSD.org>

o Spell "Redundancy" and "Remember" correctly.

PR: 243187
Submitted by: mikael.urankar@gmail.com (partially)


# 6e02be63 21-Nov-2019 Mateusz Piotrowski <0mp@FreeBSD.org>

bsdinstall.8: Fix description of DISTRIBUTIONS environment variable

Reviewed by: bcr
Approved by: bcr (mentor)
MFC after: 1 week
Differential Revision: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D22478


# ace67128 05-Oct-2018 Mateusz Piotrowski <0mp@FreeBSD.org>

bsdinstall(8): Fix a typo.

Reported by: Jose Luis Duran
Reviewed by: bcr
Approved by: re (gjb), krion (mentor, implicit), mat (mentor, implicit)
Differential Revision: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D17409


# 5475ce62 04-Oct-2018 Mateusz Piotrowski <0mp@FreeBSD.org>

bsdinstall(8): Document ZFS installation scripting.

- Extend the bsdinstall(8) man page with ZFS installation scripting
details. [1]
- Extend the bsdinstall(8) man page with the description of all the ZFS
variables involved in a scripted installation of ZFS-based systems. [1]
- Extend the SCRIPTING section with an example for a ZFS-based scripted
installation. [1]
- Create a new section explaining how ZFS datasets must be written into
a variable to get them set on the final system. [1]

While here:
- Add Roberto to the copyrights for recognition as changes to the manual
page are huge.
- Use "Dq" for default values.
- Use sysrc(8) instead of echo in examples.

Submitted by: Roberto Fernandez Cueto <roberfern@gmail.com> [1]
Reviewed by: dteske
Approved by: re (gjb), krion (mentor, implicit), mat (mentor, implicit)
Differential Revision: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D14169


# fb4f0dca 18-May-2018 Nathan Whitehorn <nwhitehorn@FreeBSD.org>

Use sysrc(8) in the documentation rather than echoing things to rc.conf
in order to encourage good habits.

PR: 228325
Submitted by: Mateusz Piotrowski
MFC after: 2 weeks


# 5a7c7dc5 23-May-2017 Enji Cooper <ngie@FreeBSD.org>

bsdinstall(8): fix manpage issues

- Start new sentences on new lines.
- Separate e.g. (more of an igor thing) with commas, and rewrite some examples
not to be enclosed in parentheses.

Reported by: igor, make manlint
MFC after: 2 weeks
Sponsored by: Dell EMC Isilon


# f7e00d4b 29-Dec-2014 Joel Dahl <joel@FreeBSD.org>

mdoc: remove EOL whitespace.


# 5b9ee78d 31-Oct-2014 Nathan Whitehorn <nwhitehorn@FreeBSD.org>

Rewrite some of the disk setup documentation to be clearer and contain
less obsolete information. Also move the entropy command down the list --
the list is ordered by likelihood of use rather than alphabetically.

MFC after: 1 week


# f071b64e 26-Aug-2014 Stefan Eßer <se@FreeBSD.org>

More man pages that need to know about vt in addition to syscons.

MFC after: 3 dayS


# 01c2b8ac 20-Jun-2014 Baptiste Daroussin <bapt@FreeBSD.org>

use .Mt to mark up email addresses consistently (part2)

PR: 191174
Submitted by: Franco Fichtner <franco@lastsummer.de>


# e2defa52 08-Nov-2013 Joel Dahl <joel@FreeBSD.org>

mdoc: add missing El.


# bc4a673f 08-Nov-2013 Devin Teske <dteske@FreeBSD.org>

A series of changes tested together as a whole:
+ Add a `-D FILE" command-line option for overriding the path to the
bsdinstall log file (BSDINSTALL_LOG env var).
+ Document new `-D FILE' in the man page for bsdinstall.
+ If FILE in `-D FILE' begins with a +, debug output goes to stdout
(interleaved between dialog(1) invocations/output) as well as to FILE
(minus the leading + of course).
+ If BSDINSTALL_LOG cannot be written, then debugging is disabled (except in
the case of a leading + in the pathname, wherein debug will still be
printed to stdout).
+ Update source code formatting style.
+ Fix a dangling participle ("Begun ..." -> "Began ...")
+ Rewrite the docsinstall script (was necessary to abate direct dependency
on BSDINSTALL_LOG (instead, use fault-tolerant bsdconfig framework which
displays appropriate errors for package management).
NB: docsinstall is still using pkg(8) after this change.
+ Add additional debug output for dhclient/rtsol/wpa_cliscan
+ Display script errors in a textbox rather than just on stdout
+ Update many coments.
+ Add new f_show_err() API call (like f_show_msg but changes the dialog
title to "Error")(see bsdconfig's `common.subr').
+ Add new f_eval_catch() API call for executing a command via eval but not
before logging the command to debug. Several example cases documented in
API header for function in bsdconfig's `common.subr'.
+ Fix dialog auto-sizing when launched as an rvalue to a pipe for indirected
scripts (previously would default to 24x80 sizing in this case, now it can
autosize to full size even when in a pipe chain).
+ Fix bug in f_snprintf if $format argument began with "-"; printf would
misinterpret as a flag. (this is in bsdcofig's `strings.subr').
+ Add accompanying f_sprintf() and f_vsprintf() to go along with already
existing f_snprintf() and f_vsnprintf() (see bsdconfig's `strings.subr').
+ Remove some unnecessary default ZFS datasets from the automatic "zfsboot"
script. Such as: /usr/ports/distfiles /usr/ports/packages /usr/obj /var/db
/var/empty /var/mail and /var/run (these can all be created as-needed once
the system is installed).
+ Remove setuid=off for /usr/home (as discussed from last round of CFT).
+ Fix some i18n string violations in "zfsboot".
+ Bolster debugging output in "zfsboot".
+ Fix some string quoting issues in "zfsboot".
+ Fix some variable scope issues in "zfsboot".
+ Change "Create" to "Install" in "zfsboot" main menu.
+ Increase error checking in "zfsboot" (type-check arguments and such).
+ Add call to "graid destroy" killing automatic metadata (part of the series
of pedantic destructions we do when bootstrapping a new/naked disk).
+ Make judicious use of new f_eval_catch() in "zfsboot".
+ Fixup some variable names for consistency (zfsboot).
+ Fix an underride syntax parameter expansion folly (zfsboot).
+ Confirm layout if not explicitly chosen when blindly proceeding (no
longer have to touch anything on the ZFS menu if it scares you, just
choose the omnibus "Install" option at the top and you'll be prompted to
select vdev type and disks in the layout confirmation dialog).
+ Change numbered menu items to alphabetic for more efficient navigation.
+ Consolidate vdev selection and disk selection into a single stateful
menu which performs validation and allows backing out to each previous
menu as you go deeper.
+ Redesign the ``Last Chance'' dialog (still using the same colors, but
make it conform to a tolerable width and make disks appear in a block-
quote style indented region).
+ Fix a bug wherein we used the a lowercase variable name by accident
(actual variable name declared as all-uppercase) at the time of
initializing fstab(5) (not believed to cause any issues though).
+ Update the geli setup infobox for each provider being initialized
(not just at the onset -- since each ``geli init'' causes kernel messages
to push our infobox off-screen).

Reviewed by: Allan Jude <freebsd@allanjude.com>
Discussed on: -current
MFC after: 3 days


# dc755adf 15-Oct-2013 Devin Teske <dteske@FreeBSD.org>

Bump .Dd date (should have been part of SVN r256549)


# 6ef5a07e 15-Oct-2013 Devin Teske <dteske@FreeBSD.org>

Man page updates to go along with SVN r256343, introducing zfsboot.


# ff134040 15-Oct-2013 Devin Teske <dteske@FreeBSD.org>

Document BSDINSTALL_TMPBOOT environment variable introduced by SVN r256343.


# dfc23ba5 11-Oct-2013 Dag-Erling Smørgrav <des@FreeBSD.org>

After installation, dump 4096 bytes from /dev/random to /entropy in the
newly installed system. This should greatly increase the amount of
entropy available when SSH host keys are generated during first boot.

Reviewed by: markm, nathanw
Approved by: re (gjb)


# aeff2fb3 22-Jan-2013 Nathan Whitehorn <nwhitehorn@FreeBSD.org>

Improve documentation of BSDINSTALL_DISTSITE and mdoc.


# 3193ad88 21-Jan-2013 Nathan Whitehorn <nwhitehorn@FreeBSD.org>

Clarify that the setup script is optional.


# 790f1bb7 21-Jan-2013 Nathan Whitehorn <nwhitehorn@FreeBSD.org>

Update change date.


# 53f01f3a 21-Jan-2013 Nathan Whitehorn <nwhitehorn@FreeBSD.org>

Document bsdinstall scripting as it currently operates. It may change in
the future depending on feedback from people using it to do unattended
system setup.


# 50d675f7 28-Mar-2012 Eitan Adler <eadler@FreeBSD.org>

Remove trailing whitespace per mdoc lint warning

Disussed with: gavin
No objection from: doc
Approved by: joel
MFC after: 3 days


# edf5bf99 25-Mar-2012 Joel Dahl <joel@FreeBSD.org>

mdoc: document title should be all caps.


# 74d92904 12-Jun-2011 Nathan Whitehorn <nwhitehorn@FreeBSD.org>

I forgot what year it is, apparently.

Submitted by: brucec


# 97e0f2b4 11-Jun-2011 Nathan Whitehorn <nwhitehorn@FreeBSD.org>

Long-overdue man page for bsdinstall.