First a few words of caution: This guide depends on that you already have FreeBSD installed on one machine, and it also depends on that you’ll need a USB stick with FreeBSD installed.

On a already existing FreeBSD system:

Create a bootable USB stick if not already done so

Compile the FreeBSD system with a ZFS aware boot loader:
# cd/usr/src
# make buildkernel buildworld SRCCONF=/dev/null __MAKE_CONF=/dev/null \
-DLOADER_ZFS_SUPPORT=YES -j3

Create a ram disk and install FreeBSD on it:
# mdmfs -L -s 1024m md /mnt
/dev/md101: 1024.0MB (2097152 sectors) block size 16384, fragment size 2048
using 6 cylinder groups of 183.72MB, 11758 blks, 23552 inodes.
with soft updates
super-block backups (for fsck -b #) at:
160, 376416, 752672, 1128928, 1505184, 1881440
# make installworld installkernel distribution DESTDIR=/mnt SRCCONF=/dev/null \
__MAKE_CONF=/dev/null -DLOADER_ZFS_SUPPORT=YES
Remember which device was used when creating the ram disk (in my case its /dev/md101) – You’ll need it later.

Create a dump file and copy it to the USB stick:
# umount /mnt
# dump -0 -f - /dev/md101 > freebsd.img
# cp freebsd.img /media
# umount /mnt
# umount /media
# mdconfig -d -u 101

On the victim new FreeBSD system boot with the USB stick and log in. Figure out which disk you’ll use for ZFS. In my case it is /dev/da0.

Slice it up and create a layout:
# fdisk -BI /dev/da0
# bsdlabel -Bw /dev/da0s1
# bsdlabel -e /dev/da0s1
The last command will open ‘vi’ – edit the file so it looks something like this:

# /dev/da0s1:
8 partitions:
#        size   offset    fstype   [fsize bsize bps/cpg]
a:    256M    16      unused        0     0
c:    *       0       unused        0     0         # "raw" part, don't edit
d:    *       *       unused
The first slice(a) will be used for /boot while the rest of the disk (d) will be ZFS.

Format the a-slice and create the new zpool:
# newfs -U /dev/da0s1a
# zpool create data /dev/da0s1d

Create the ZFS layout (YMMV, but do not create a seperate /etc system):
# zfs create data/ROOT
# zfs create data/ROOT/usr
# zfs create data/ROOT/usr/home
# zfs create -o compression=on  data/ROOT/usr/src
# zfs create -o compression=on  data/ROOT/usr/ports
# zfs create -o compression=off data/ROOT/usr/ports/packages
# zfs create -o compression=off data/ROOT/usr/distfiles
# zfs create -o compression=on  data/ROOT/tmp
# zfs create data/ROOT/var
# zfs create -o compression=off data/ROOT/var/db
# zfs create -o compression=on data/ROOT/var/log
# zfs create -o compression=on data/ROOT/var/mail
And some polishing:
# cd /data/ROOT
# chmod 1777 /data/ROOT/tmp
# ln -s usr/home /data/ROOT/home

Prepare the a-slice for boot
# mkdir /data/ROOT/bootdir
# mount /dev/da0s1a /data/ROOT/bootdir
# mkdir /data/ROOT/bootdir/boot
# ln -s bootdir/boot /data/boot

Edit /data/ROOT/boot/loader.conf and add:
vfs.root.mountfrom="zfs:data/ROOT"
zfs_load="YES"

Make the data/ROOT bootable:
zpool set bootfs=data/ROOT data
Restore the image created earlier:
cd /data/ROOT
cat /freebsd.img | restore -rvf -
Chroot to make some adjustments:
chroot /data/ROOT
mount -t devfs devfs /dev

Edit /etc/rc.conf
ifconfig_re0="DHCP" #or whatever your machine have
hostname=pony
sshd_enable=TRUE
zfs_enable=TRUE #important!

Edit /etc/fstab
/dev/da0s1a     /boot   ufs     rw      0       0

create new user and assign password for him and root
# pw user add joe -m -G wheel
# passwd joe
Changing local password for joe
New Password:
Retype New Password:
# passwd root
Changing local password for root
New Password:
Retype New Password:

Exit chroot
# unmount /dev
# exit

Unmount ZFS and bootdir to make some final adjustments
# umount /data/ROOT/boot
# zfs umount -a
# zfs set mountpoint=legacy data/ROOT
# zfs set mountpoint=/tmp data/ROOT/tmp
# zfs set mountpoint=/usr data/ROOT/usr
# zfs set mountpoint=/var data/ROOT/var

Copy the latest zpool.cache to the a-slice:
# mount /dev/da0s1a /mnt
# cp /boot/zfs/zpool.cache /mnt/zfs
reboot and have a lot of fun!

Here are my toughts about of what I think Sun and the community should work with

The possibility to trim OpenSolaris down!
A default install of OpenSolaris is about 4GB. Disk space is cheap, I know, but something is terribly wrong when the default is 4GB and that it does not contain any developer utilities (GCC or Sun Studio)  – But I can live with a default of a operating system to be 4GB /if/ I had the possibility to trim it down a little. Right now that is not possible. Well, it is *possible* by either 1) creating your own OpenSolaris distribution 2) Uninstalling the unneeded packages yourself 3) Setup a Automated Install (in Solaris 10 speak that is the same as Jumpstart) which is so wrong at some many levels (se below)

Why force GNOME and Xorg as default install when Solaris is mostly used as a server OS?

More mirrors

pkg.opensolaris.org is slow. Painfully slow. And I can’t find any list of official mirrors.

OpenSolaris require OpenSolaris

In order to setup AI (Automated Install) you need OpenSolaris. I can’t find any official document that says otherwise. And I find that hard to understand. I mean, it’s only pxeboot! Do it the way Debian and Ubuntu does it: They release a netboot.tar.gz which includes pxeboot, a installkernel and ramdisk. If I had anything to say OpenSolaris would have done the same thing. Maybe together with a XML file that describes the installation options to do it even more easier.

Setting up a pkg mirror is also i PITA. I need some special magic Sun software to be able to do that. Why not just create a mirror with rsync and let me choose if I want to share the packages with http, apache or NFS. It’s only files, not some chinese black magic!

Mailinglists

There are over 373 different mailinglist for OpenSolaris (and OpenSolaris projects) – That’s way to much!

Bug tracking

I still don’t know if I should report a bug to http://defect.opensolaris.org/bz or http://bugs.opensolaris.org. And when I did report something to bugs.opensolaris.org I got a mail with some kind of bug ID which did not exist in any of those two systems.

Reporting a bug is almost worth it’s own story. There where about 6-7 fields that was mandatory, whereas two of them was drop-down menus with at least 100 different types to choose from. For a newbie it would be impossible to know what to input where when he/she all  want to do was to help and report that he/she recived a warning during boot up with the new and facy mainboard.

This is how I did it:

Use csup to get the source

csup supfile
My supfile looks like this:
*default host=cvsup.no.FreeBSD.org
*default base=/var/db
*default prefix=/usr
*default release=cvs tag=RELENG_7_2
*default delete use-rel-suffix
*default compress
src-all

Build

Build world and kernel as described in /usr/src/UPDATING or take a look in the FreeBSD handbook. You may want a seperate src.conf(5) for this if you want.
cd /usr/src
rm -rf /usr/obj/*
make cleandir clean buildworld buildkernel SRCCONF=/etc/src-usb.conf

Prepare USB stick

While this may take some time you can begin preparing the USB stick. First you’ll plug the USB stick in your machine and look in /var/log/messages for something like this:

da0 at umass-sim0 bus 0 target 0 lun 0

Then  make a partition the stick, label it and create a filesystem on the new slice. After that mount it to ensure that it works. The last step will install a bootloader.
fdisk -BI /dev/da0
bsdlabel -B -w da0s1
newfs -U /dev/da0s1a
mount /dev/ad0s1a /mnt

Install to USB stick

When buildworld and buildkernel is finished we need to install it on the stick.

cd /usr/src
make installworld installkernel distribution DESTDIR=/mnt SRCCONF=/etc/src-usb.conf

The last thing we need to do is to create /mnt/etc/fstab

/dev/da0s1a /      ufs    rw                      1 1
md          /tmp   mfs    rw,-s16M,nosuid,noatime 0 0
/dev/acd0   /cdrom cd9660 ro,noauto,nosuid        0 0
proc        /proc  procfs rw                      0 0

The only thing you need to do now is to unmount /mnt, the rest is…

Optional

Create a basic /mnt/etc/rc.conf
hostname=pony.your.lan
defaultrouter="192.168.0.1"
ifconfig_age0="inet 192.168.0.3 netmask 255.255.255.0"
sshd_enable="YES"

Add user
chroot /mnt /bin/sh
pw user add username -m -G wheel
passwd username

Unmount the stick

cd
umount /mnt

Create a backup of the stick

dd if=/dev/da0 of=freebsd-usb.img bs=50k


Lets say you have created a ZFS filesystem for /usr/src – The data is already there, and compression is turned off.
Create a snapshot.
zfs snapshot tank/src@snap

Create a new temprary filesystem with compression.
zfs create -o compression=gzip tank/temp


Transfer data from tank/src@snap.
zfs send tank/src@snap | zfs receive tank/temp/src_comp

Ensure compression is on.
zfs get -r compression

Compression is inherited from the parent so have to turn on compression.
zfs set compression=gzip tank/temp/src_comp

Destroy old uncompressed filesystem.
zfs destroy -r tank/src

Rename the filesystem.
zfs rename tank/temp/src_comp tank/src

Destroy temporary filesystem, and the old snapshot.
zfs destroy tank/temp
zfs detroy tank/src@snap

List all zfs systems to ensure everything is okay.
zfs list

(Optionally)Set mountpoint for the new and compressed src.
zfs set mountpoint=/usr/src tank/src

Vóila!

Install Archlinux 2007.08

Install using Archlinux-i686-2007.08-2.core.iso, as default as it could be.
Run ‘pacman -Scc’
Run ‘df -h’ and write down result.
Run ‘pacman -Q | wc -l’ and write down result.

Upgraded to 2008.05.20

(Archlinux uses a rolling release, so this is the latest “release)
Run ‘pacman -Suy’, and follow instructions.
Reboot
Run ‘pacman -Suy’ again
Run ‘pacman -Scc’
Run ‘df -h’ and write down result.
Run ‘pacman -Q | wc -l’ and write down result.

Install Archlinux 2008.05.20

Install using arch-ftp-install-2008.04-rc-i686.iso to start a FTP installation
Run ‘df -h’ and write down result.
Run ‘pacman -Q | wc -l’ and write down result.

Results

Archlinux 2007.08-core
Disk usage: 475,5M
Number of install packages: 93

Archlinux upgraded to 2008.05.20
Disk usage: 549M
Number of install packages: 96

Archlinux 2008.05.20
Disk usage: 549M
Number of install packages: 96

Conclusion

Perfect!

Test scenario
Install Fedora 8

Install Fedora 8 with Fedora-8-i386-DVD.iso , default installation.
Update system with ‘yum update’
Reboot
Run ‘yum update’ again
Run ‘yum clean all’
Run ‘df -h’ and write down result.
Run ‘rpm -qa | wc -l’ and write down result.

Upgrade to Fedora 9

Reboot, and boot with Fedora-9-i386-DVD.iso, and do a default upgrade to Fedora 9.
Update system with ‘yum update’
Reboot
Run ‘yum update’ again
Run ‘yum clean all’
Run ‘df -h’ and write down result.
Run ‘rpm -qa | wc -l’ and write down result.
Run ‘rpm -qa | grep fc8 > fc8-packages-in-fc9-upgrade’

Install Fedora 9

Install Fedora 9 with Fedora-9-i386-DVD.iso , default installation.
Update system with ‘yum update’
Reboot
Run ‘yum update’ again
Run ‘yum clean all’
Run ‘df -h’ and write down result.
Run ‘rpm -qa | wc -l’ and write down result.
Run ‘rpm -qa | grep fc8 > fc8-packages-in-fc9-fresh-install’

Results

Fedora 8 default install: 3.1G
Number of install rpm’s: 879

Fedora 9 upgraded from Fedora 8: 3.3G
Number of install rpm’s: 951
Number reported during upgrade: 879
fc8 packages:
fedorainfinity-gdm-theme-8.0.1-1.fc8.noarch
system-config-soundcard-2.0.6-11.fc8.noarch
xorg-x11-drv-nsc-2.8.1-4.fc8.i386
ql23xx-firmware-3.03.20-1.fc8.1.noarch
kacst-fonts-1.6.2-2.fc8.noarch
ql2100-firmware-1.19.38-1.fc8.1.noarch
sazanami-fonts-gothic-0.20040629-4.20061016.fc8.noarch
lklug-fonts-0.2.2-5.fc8.noarch
xorg-x11-drv-via-0.2.2-4.fc8.i386
xorg-x11-drv-cyrix-1.1.0-5.fc8.i386
redhat-lsb-3.1-19.fc8.i386
fedorainfinity-screensaver-theme-1.0.0-1.fc8.noarch
python-genshi-0.4.4-2.fc8.noarch
fedora-icon-theme-1.0.0-1.fc8.noarch
paktype-fonts-2.0-2.fc8.noarch
jomolhari-fonts-0.003-4.fc8.noarch
fedora-gnome-theme-8.0.0-1.fc8.noarch
python-setuptools-0.6c7-2.fc8.noarch
xorg-x11-fonts-truetype-7.2-3.fc8.noarch
fedora-screensaver-theme-1.0.0-1.fc8.noarch
gtk-sharp2-2.10.3-3.fc8.i386
ql2200-firmware-2.02.08-1.fc8.1.noarch
ghostscript-fonts-5.50-18.fc8.noarch
ql2400-firmware-4.00.27-1.fc8.1.noarch
cjkunifonts-uming-0.1.20060928-4.fc8.noarch

Fedora 9 default install: 3.1GB
Number of install rpm’s:  930
fc8 packages:
ql2400-firmware-4.00.27-1.fc8.1.noarch
ql2200-firmware-2.02.08-1.fc8.1.noarch
ql2100-firmware-1.19.38-1.fc8.1.noarch
paktype-fonts-2.0-2.fc8.noarch
lklug-fonts-0.2.2-5.fc8.noarch
ql23xx-firmware-3.03.20-1.fc8.1.noarch
kacst-fonts-1.6.2-2.fc8.noarch
abyssinica-fonts-1.0-2.fc8.noarch
ghostscript-fonts-5.50-18.fc8.noarch
python-genshi-0.4.4-2.fc8.noarch
fedora-icon-theme-1.0.0-1.fc8.noarch
fedora-gnome-theme-8.0.0-1.fc8.noarch
redhat-lsb-3.1-19.fc8.i386
jomolhari-fonts-0.003-4.fc8.noarch
python-setuptools-0.6c7-2.fc8.noarch
cjkunifonts-uming-0.1.20060928-4.fc8.noarch
fedora-screensaver-theme-1.0.0-1.fc8.noarch
fedorainfinity-screensaver-theme-1.0.0-1.fc8.noarch

Conclusion

Now this is not that bad, considering that the default install size is almost 1GB bigger than Ubuntu. I still wonder why there is fc8 packages in Fedora 9.
The upgrading procedure took ages! I didn’t note the exact time, but 1.5hour is not far from it.

1) Register at facebook, keep default settings.
2) Do not add any friends unless somebody adds you first, or applications unless somebody invites you to
3) Do not join groups, unless invited by someone else.

Count the number of friends, applications and groups after one year.

Test scenario

Desktop Edition(upgrade)
Install with ubuntu-7.10-desktop-i386.iso (Default settings)
Run ‘apt-get update && apt-get upgrade && apt-get clean’ to get the latest updates
Check disk usage
Upgrade using ubuntu-8.04-alternate-i386.iso
Run ‘apt-get update && apt-get upgrade && apt-get clean’ to get the latest updates
Check disk usage

Desktop Edition(fresh install)
Default install using ubuntu-8.04-desktop-i386.iso
Run ‘apt-get update && apt-get upgrade && apt-get clean’ to get the latest updates
Check disk usage

Server edition(upgrade)
Install with ubuntu-7.10-server-i386.iso (Default settings)
Run ‘apt-get update && apt-get upgrade && apt-get clean’ to get the latest updates
Check disk usage
Network upgrade to 8.04
Run ‘apt-get update && apt-get upgrade && apt-get clean’ to get the latest updates(just do be sure)
Check disk usage

Server edition(fresh install)
Default install using ubuntu-8.04-server-i386.iso

Run ‘apt-get update && apt-get upgrade && apt-get clean’ to get the latest updates
Check disk usage

Disk usage

Desktop Edition
7.10 with updates: 2.1G
8.04 after upgrade: 2.4G
8.04 fresh: 2.1G
Cruft: 0.3G

Server Edition
7.10 with updates: 498M
8.04 after upgrade: 595M
8.04 fresh: 497M
Cruft 98M

Conclusion

There seems to be a good deal of cruft left behind after the upgrade even if you follow the normal upgrading procedures. Please note that this from a default install; No packages was added. I guess that almost anyone who uses Ubuntu install more than just the default, and that would probably make the difference even bigger. And what if you did not do a clean install of 07.04 either, you began with 06.06-LTS and upgraded whenever a new release was out.

Later I will do the same test with CentOS, openSUSE, Archlinux OpenBSD, and FreeBSD. I’m looking forward to see who wins this test :)

As I almost always do when I test a new operating system (except Microsoft) I install the previous stable version just to see how well their upgrading procedure is. Some are good, and some are of course bad. And by bad I mean really bad like Microsoft where the system is almost useless.

Upgrading procedures have grown to be pretty good during the last 3 years when it comes to Linux. BSDs(at least OpenBSD and FreeBSD) haven’t changed their upgrading procedures as far as I know, except some minior details. The whole reason for that is that the BSD’s have seperate base systems. The upgrading procedure for 3rd party applications *have* indeed changed. I remember when I began using FreeBSD and when portupgrade was not available. There was a whole lot of bad hacks to get things up to date, and pkg_version(?) was used to create a sh-script in order to upgrade outdated packages. Correct me if I’m wrong but I think pkgsrc still use some kind of ancestor of that these days.
OpenBSD added the -u option in pkg_add around 3.9 I guess, which made upgrading 3rd party applications way more easy than it was.

Back in those days the only real linux alternative, when it comes to upgrading packages easily, Debian was the only choice. Unfortunately Debian was so hard to install it almost wanted to know in which ISA slot you had your network card, and sound card. But this, as many other things have changed to the better. Not only have Debian had a pretty remarkable change in their installation procedure, but Ubuntu also showed up somewhere in 2004. Ubuntu is supposed to be used by the deadliest of us, and therefore they changed the installation procedure even more. A normal Ubuntu installation is clean, intuitive and nice looking. But I think the installation takes too much time, but thats a problem with almost every distribution. The only exception I know of is Archlinux, which probably have the fastest installation(and upgrading) in the linux world.

What I really miss in Archlinux is the lean and clean way of distributing netboot images as Debian and Ubuntu do. The same can be said about FreeBSD. While both OpenBSD and NetBSD distribute pxe loaders, it seems like getting a pxe installation of FreeBSD is only a myth that SomeBody(tm) got working. Unlike almost anything else in FreeBSD pxe is some of the things that is poorly documented.
Some of the things that I also miss from the BSDs (and some linux distributions) is the lack of USB installation images, at the same time as they distribute floppy disc images. Every BSD and Linux should distribute 1) ISO image 2) USB Image 3) PXE image 4) Floppy image. All of this images should also have a upgrade option.

In the next few days I will post some funny, yet disturbing, info on how much disk space is used before and after a upgrade of a couple of free operating systems using their documentation for how to do a upgrade. And at the same time show you how much disk space is used after a fresh install.