From anarcat@rtr0.koumbit.net  Tue Jun  4 20:20:30 2013
Return-Path: <anarcat@rtr0.koumbit.net>
Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1])
	by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 973A1D9
	for <FreeBSD-gnats-submit@freebsd.org>; Tue,  4 Jun 2013 20:20:30 +0000 (UTC)
	(envelope-from anarcat@rtr0.koumbit.net)
Received: from rtr0.koumbit.net (18.66.15.64.ic0-netel.koumbit.net [64.15.66.18])
	by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 75FFB1A3B
	for <FreeBSD-gnats-submit@freebsd.org>; Tue,  4 Jun 2013 20:20:30 +0000 (UTC)
Received: from rtr0.koumbit.net (localhost [127.0.0.1])
	by rtr0.koumbit.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id C93B2D07011
	for <FreeBSD-gnats-submit@freebsd.org>; Tue,  4 Jun 2013 16:20:29 -0400 (EDT)
Received: (from root@localhost)
	by rtr0.koumbit.net (8.14.5/8.14.5/Submit) id r54KKTvd027268;
	Tue, 4 Jun 2013 16:20:29 -0400 (EDT)
	(envelope-from anarcat)
Message-Id: <201306042020.r54KKTvd027268@rtr0.koumbit.net>
Date: Tue, 4 Jun 2013 16:20:29 -0400 (EDT)
From: Antoine Beaupre <anarcat@koumbit.org>
Reply-To: Antoine Beaupre <anarcat@koumbit.org>
To: FreeBSD-gnats-submit@freebsd.org
Cc:
Subject: PXE installer fails to boot without modification
X-Send-Pr-Version: 3.113
X-GNATS-Notify:

>Number:         179312
>Category:       misc
>Synopsis:       PXE installer fails to boot without modification
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       serious
>Priority:       medium
>Responsible:    freebsd-bugs
>State:          open
>Quarter:        
>Keywords:       
>Date-Required:  
>Class:          sw-bug
>Submitter-Id:   current-users
>Arrival-Date:   Tue Jun 04 20:30:00 UTC 2013
>Closed-Date:    
>Last-Modified:  Tue Jun  4 20:40:00 UTC 2013
>Originator:     Antoine Beaupre
>Release:        FreeBSD 9.1-RELEASE amd64
>Organization:
Koumbit.org
>Environment:

-rw-r--r--  1 root   root    153296896 mai 29 17:02 FreeBSD-9.1-RELEASE-amd64-bootonly.iso

SHA1:

2038a484ffeea3225e6d91bb1488e2548ac173bb  FreeBSD-9.1-RELEASE-amd64-bootonly.iso

>Description:

There used to be a way to install FreeBSD through a PXE bootloader. That
bootloader is still present in the ISO and while the article itself has
disappeared (http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/articles/pxe/article.html), I assume
that this capability was not lost in the 9.x series.

PXE-based installs do not work out of the box in 9.1 anymore, a regression from
8.1 at the very least.

>How-To-Repeat:

Follow those instructions:

http://freebsd.so14k.com/freebsd9_pxe.shtml

>Fix:

As you see in the above instructions, the user needed to comment out the
following line in /etc/fstab:

/dev/iso9660/FREEBSD_INSTALL / cd9660 ro 0 0

... otherwise the boot fails. Having to modify that file means we need to
duplicate all those files instead of being able to simply mount the ISO as a
filesystem and offer it over NFS...

But even then, this seems just like a crude workaround to a wider problem: in
8.1, the .ISO could be loaded directly into memory and boot properly through a
local memory filesystem.

That way, the .iso could be loaded directly from syslinux, for example with
pxelinux and memdisk:

LABEL FreeBSD-8.1-i386
        MENU LABEL FreeBSD 8.1 i386
        kernel memdisk
        append initrd=freebsd/FreeBSD-8.1-RELEASE-i386-bootonly.iso iso raw

This doesn't work in 9.1 anymore, probably because the mfsroot file seems to be
gone from 9.1.

All this makes PXE-based FreeBSD deployments *much* harder and less attractive
than before, because we need to setup a separate NFS server and hack at the
files.
>Release-Note:
>Audit-Trail:

From: Antoine =?utf-8?Q?Beaupr=C3=A9?= <anarcat@koumbit.org>
To: FreeBSD-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org, freebsd-bugs@FreeBSD.org
Cc:  
Subject: Re: misc/179312: PXE installer fails to boot without modification
Date: Tue, 04 Jun 2013 16:36:30 -0400

 --=-=-=
 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
 
 After further inspection, this may be the same bug as the rather short
 misc/169919.
 
 http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=3Dmisc/169919
 
 A.
 
 =2D-=20
 Jesus died for his own sins, not mine.
                         - CRASS, 1978
 
 --=-=-=
 Content-Type: application/pgp-signature
 
 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
 Version: GnuPG v1.4.12 (GNU/Linux)
 
 iQIcBAEBCAAGBQJRrk/OAAoJEHkhUlJ7dZIeiKwP/itxK2R/Eug+sopeHNVspjQS
 AWtH4tnvtygyvFwWppTs4xpe9NRKsxsFq8x17lkQnbxO99siPQq0z++obwH6Z9Xo
 04LK6CSKKhVpwqZ5CtuJtXRl5FgypXqzWQHDAMmvan1lcebi5Nerc3LpNxRmmfm8
 ZfGY/J9As3FdLsdnOntlE8nB3Buv6y8FbGL4tv0UMuZWnHHeCEftYnuHjjmTo4pg
 WsceFTtHgIrIyDoF5NbcCOfTe5f6D1uN3cdETZ0PxRjjLwH1Htt31YRPIOgNBc8g
 9+Lt/Md23MjcoQUkaRTq4uxpec5rXjf+26UynoWbXIxRq7fQVpIBaOmwkMeX40pn
 kUp6+n8F6KEHVBuUyhXwcqI+tSZ8GTG0VHWLN6MQYGYAUd8n7Yva+O55gfYkjDpl
 81J2TJXED5bnYRSOyAOmfo00a4hmrig/9NaP+YNJoxCaTBfNbdw7138vuKJYdGWi
 Samotu2FnY5158DXhVljTVZOm2S7u98p2ElNvw1ZQBj4tbcbi55quT+6hitOjUh8
 r8qOIvhAxYWd08xzkUrrJpguy/U/pb5fJlV+C838PCMt8I3gRsluOtPzpnZqLu4O
 q1c8IwG4+dLawfmdprnHHSMr3JioJ7xXx60C0FJBXIsS04c+7QDjIPmir6hl48Xa
 3b/h4eGL8uG6E75GRNZQ
 =wwyk
 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
 --=-=-=--
>Unformatted:
