Bug 19025

Summary: Installer assumes /dev exists if target disk has a filesystem on it.
Product: Base System Reporter: msal <msal>
Component: miscAssignee: freebsd-bugs (Nobody) <bugs>
Status: Closed FIXED    
Severity: Affects Only Me    
Priority: Normal    
Version: Unspecified   
Hardware: Any   
OS: Any   

Description msal 2000-06-05 16:40:04 UTC 
standalone sysinstall makes invalid assumption that a hard disk
with a filesystem on it must include /dev, then tries to use
devices like the cdrom, though the nonexistent /dev entry,
and fails.  Means you can spend much time replacing the files
that were on the disk later.  In order to make the install actually
work, the disk needs to be blank.  Not clear what an upgrade install
would do on a disk with no prior operating system on it, or a disk
with, for example, with missing or wrong  major/minor numbers on
/dev entries (say, restored from some alien unix system).

Fix: 

do a MAKEDEV acd  and MAKEDEV cd  in the install scripts, probably
also for whatever other devices could be needed for installation.
How-To-Repeat: create a filesystem on a new second hard disk, and put some files on it,
but no /dev
go about installing 4.0-release on that hard disk.
the installer will fail to mount the cdrom drive, because it 
proudly announces it assumes /dev must exist because there's
a filesystem on it already, and then can't find the cd device.
Comment 1 Mike Barcroft freebsd_committer freebsd_triage 2001-07-22 04:07:30 UTC 
State Changed
From-To: open->feedback


Does this problem still occur in newer versions of FreeBSD, 
such as 4.3-RELEASE?
Comment 2 Sheldon Hearn freebsd_committer freebsd_triage 2002-01-18 16:14:39 UTC 
State Changed
From-To: feedback->closed

Automatic feedback timeout.  If additional feedback that warrants 
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