I asked why installboot was failing:
>I reboot from sd3, and run installboot thusly:
>
># cd /usr/mdec
># installboot -vl /boot bootsd /dev/rsd1a
>
>and it says:
>
>Primary boot: bootsd
>Secondary boot: /boot
>Boot device: /dev/rsd1a
>bootfile /boot not on bootdevice
The short answer is that the first parameter to installboot must be
the actual "boot" on the new root partition.
One of the more cogent explanations was provided by Steve Jay
(shj@ultra.com):
>
>When you say "installboot a b c", you are saying "install program 'b' as
>the boot program in the first sectors of 'c', after inserting the hardware
>address [cyl/head/sector] of 'a' into program 'b'. The idea is to put the
>hardware address of the "2nd level" boot program ('a') into the first
>sectors of 'c'. That way the 1st level boot program in ROM can find
>the 2nd level program.
>
>So, 'a' must be on the same disk partition as 'c'. The way to do what
>you want is to first get sd1a set up as a root filesystem, which will
>include 'boot'. Then do the following while running of off sd3:
>
> # mount /dev/sd1a /mnt
> # cd /usr/mdec
> # installboot -vl /mnt/boot bootsd /dev/rsd1a
>
>The key is that the first filename parameter to installboot has to be
>the "/boot" that's on the partition you are setting up to boot from.
Thanks to the *many* people who replied, nearly all of whom hit the
nail on the head.
Now, I suppose I should have been able to figure this out from the
installboot man page, but it seems it could have been made clearer.
At least the example should be expanded to show the mounting of the
new root partition.
What's unacceptable, though, is that the System and Network
Administration book doesn't mention installboot, nor have a section on
moving partitions.
Lastly, I'd like to take a poke at the output of installboot, whose
responsibility it is to explain what it did or didn't do (and why it
failed). How about something like:
# installboot -vl /boot bootsd /dev/rsd1a
Primary boot: bootsd
Secondary boot: /boot
Boot device: /dev/rsd1a
Error: can't install /boot across filesystems
-- Dave Sill (de5@ornl.gov) It will be a great day when our schools have Martin Marietta Energy Systems all the money they need and the Air Force Workstation Support has to hold a bake sale to buy a new bomber.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Fri Sep 28 2001 - 23:06:11 CDT