Gentoo FreeBSD/Install Guide

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The information in this article is representative of former times and has been archived. It can be used for reference, but is most likely not appropriate for current usage. Generally, archived articles should not be edited.


This document provides general information on FreeBSD, as well as installation instructions for FreeBSD. It also includes some reference for people interested in helping out with development.

Introduction

What is FreeBSD?

FreeBSD is a free (license) Unix-like operating system. Back in 1993 when development of 386BSD stopped, two projects were born: NetBSD, commonly known to run on a huge number of architectures, and FreeBSD which supports the x86, amd64, ia64, sparc64 and alpha platforms. FreeBSD is renowned for its stability, performance and security, thus being used from small to huge companies all over the world.

FreeBSD's current production release is version 6.2. Gentoo/FreeBSD is based on this version and older versions of Gentoo/FreeBSD are discontinued and no longer supported.

What is Gentoo/FreeBSD?

Gentoo FreeBSD is a sub-project of the Prefix project, with the goal of providing a fully-capable FreeBSD operating system featuring design sensibilities taken from Gentoo Linux, such as the init system and the Portage package management system.

FreeBSD and Linux

Users migrating from Linux to FreeBSD commonly consider the two operating systems "almost the same". In fact, FreeBSD really shares a lot of similarities with Linux distributions in general. Nevertheless, it has some key differences that are worth noting:

  • Contrary to Linux, which actually only refers to the kernel, FreeBSD is a complete operating system, consisting of a C library, userland tools and much more. This development approach makes the overall system very consistent.
  • Contrary to the Linux kernel, FreeBSD development is not led by one person, but instead managed by a small group of people called the Core Team.

Besides, FreeBSD also has some technical differences which set it apart from Linux. Some of them are very important to know, even if you don't plan on joining the Gentoo/FreeBSD development effort:

  • To get run-time dynamic linking functions like dlopen(), programs do not need to be linked against libdl like on GNU/Linux. Instead they are linked against libc.
  • FreeBSD doesn't have an official tool for kernel compilation, thus you'll have to resolve feature dependencies on your own.
  • FreeBSD uses UFS/UFS-2 as its filesystems and has no official support for e.g. ReiserFS or XFS. However, there are projects for adding read-only support for these filesystems. Accessing ext2/ext3 partitions is already possible, but you cannot install your system on them.

Installation

Booting the CD

After this short introduction, it's about time to finally install Gentoo/FreeBSD. Unfortunately, we currently lack our own installation media, however there are two alternative installation methods from which to choose. The first would be to use an existing FreeBSD installation to partition your hard drive and use it as a base for installing Gentoo/FreeBSD. This guide will describe how to use the FreeSBIE LiveCD as an installation medium for Gentoo/FreeBSD.

Note
When intending to use FreeSBIE for installing Gentoo/FreeBSD, please make sure to use a version based on FreeBSD 6.x, such as FreeSBIE 2.0 (or one of its release candidates).

First, boot the CD in order to begin the installation process. You'll be presented with a login screen. The username is freesbie, and there is no password. Next, run sudo su to become root, and optionally setup a password. If you want to pass time during the installation process, you can run startx to enter into an Xfce environment, suitable for web browsing, AIM, and other things. Unlike Linux, FreeBSD bases the name of your interface on the driver for the interface. For example, the Intel EtherExpress driver (fxp) appears as fxp0 (driver fxp, first network card). To see what your interface is, use ifconfig:

root #ifconfig
fxp0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
        options=8<VLAN_MTU>
        inet6 fe80::2d0::b7ff:febc:4fe3%fxp0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
        inet 192.168.0.106 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.0.255
        ether 00:d0:b7:bc:4f:e3
        media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
        status: active
lo0: flags=8007<LOOPBACK,MULTICAST> mtu 16384

If the original DHCP request during the CD bootup failed, you can use the dhclient command to obtain an IP address:

root #dhclient fxp0
DHCPDISCOVER on fxp0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 9
DHCPOFFER from 192.168.0.1
DHCPREQUEST on fxp0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
DHCPACK from 192.168.0.1
bound to 192.168.0.106 -- renewal in 302400 seconds
Note
The output presented here will differ based on the network.

Partitioning the drive

Now that we have a mount point, it's time to partition the drive. This is done with the sysinstall command:

root #sysinstall diskPartitionEditor diskPartitionWrite

We recommend that you use the default layout. Press enter at the dialog, then press a followed by q to accept the default layout. The next screen will present you with the option of a bootloader. For this option, choose "None" as we'll be installing the bootloader later on. Next comes the actual partition sizing and mount points.

The next step also uses sysinstall, but with different arguments:

root #sysinstall diskLabelEditor diskLabelCommit

Here, we'll refrain from using the automatic layout, and create one giant root partition, followed by a swap partition. Hit c to create a new partition. A dialog prompts you to enter a size. Go ahead and do so, using MB/GB for setting different sizes, or C for cylinders. For root, choose FS as the partition type, and set the mount point as /mnt/. If you do not adjust the mount point, it will overwrite the FreeSBIE environment! As /boot is not a separate partition, you'll need to disable soft-updates, or your system will not boot! To do so, use the arrow keys to navigate to your newly created partition, then hit the s key, until "Newfs" contains no +S. Now navigate the arrow keys until the "Disk" line is highlighted, and hit c again to create a swap partition. Generally, we recommend a swap space that is twice the size of your RAM. Choose SWAP as the partition type, and don't worry about soft-updates, as it does not apply to swap. Now we're finished, so hit q to finish the process.

When choosing a different mountpoint than / for your partition, sysinstall will actually create a 'd' slice, which the bootloader will not boot from. To fix this, run the following:

root #disklabel ad0s1
root # sed 's/^ d:/ a:/' {{:}} disklabel -R ad0s1 /dev/stdin

This will finalize the partitioning process, and format the drive in UFS for FreeBSD to utilize. This will also mount the drive for you at the mount point specified earlier (/mnt/). You can verify this worked by running mount:

root #mount
/dev/ad0s1a on /mnt (ufs, local)

Now that you have mounted the target partition, it is time to start on the Gentoo setup.

Gentoo setup

First, we need to download a stage3 tarball and unpack it into the chroot. Point a browser to http://gentoo.osuosl.org/experimental/x86/freebsd/stages/, grab the latest snapshot, and unpack it into the mountpoint:

root #cd /mnt/
root #tar -jxvpf stage3-x86-freebsd-6.2.tar.bz2

If desired delete the tarball with the following command to save space:

root #rm stage3-x86-freebsd-6.2.tar.bz2
Note
If you want you can use the transition overlay that contains semi-experimental ebuilds with patches not yet in the main Portage tree, but does allow a wider range of supported packages, please refer to the Prefix overlay documentation. Please note that the overlay is not critical and you can easily install and use Gentoo/FreeBSD without it.

In order for the install to work, the /dev filesystem must be mounted from the currently running system into the Gentoo/FreeBSD mount point before proceeding with the chroot.

root #mount -t devfs none /mnt/dev/
root #cp /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/etc/
root #chroot /mnt/ /bin/bash
root #env-update && source /etc/profile

After you obtain the Gentoo/FreeBSD overlay, it is time to link /etc/make.profile to the correct profile and get the /etc/portage/make.conf ready for Gentoo/FreeBSD.

Now obtain a copy of the main Gentoo repository, which, depending on the connection speed, could quite a while:

root #emerge --sync

Symlink the profile:

root #ln -sf /usr/portage/profiles/default-bsd/fbsd/6.2/x86/ /etc/portage/make.profile

Then edit make.conf:

FILE /etc/portage/make.conf
CHOST="i686-gentoo-freebsd6.2"
FEATURES="collision-protect"
Note
The ~x86-fbsd keyword does not yet fully cover the same tree as ~x86, but please do not put ~x86 in ACCEPT_KEYWORDS. Rather use /etc/portage/package.keywords to test packages, and report working packages on Bugzilla.

Now rebuild the system's core packages (optional):

root #emerge --ask --emptytree @system

Booting

Set a time zone

First make sure the date and time is set correctly using the date utility. The proper format is: yyyymmddHHMM, be sure to use UTC time.

Next, set the time zone information by using the correct listing in /usr/share/zoneinfo:

root #cp /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Brussels /etc/localtime

Edit /etc/conf.d/clock to define the time zone used previously:

FILE /etc/conf.d/clock
TIMEZONE="Europe/Brussels"

Install the kernel

If emerge --emptytree @system, the sources for the FreeBSD kernel were installed to /usr/src/sys. If that step was skipped it is possible to install the the sources in the following way:

root #emerge --ask sys-freebsd/freebsd-sources

Configuring and compiling a custom kernel is quite different from compiling Linux, so if you are not familiar with the process we encourage you to have a look at chapter 8 of the FreeBSD handbook. For now, you can do an installation of the GENERIC kernel, which works on most systems. To begin, enter the source directory for the kernel.

Important
Please note that currently only the "Traditional" way of building the kernel is supported on Gentoo/FreeBSD!

Enter kernel source directory:

root #cd /usr/src/sys/

To begin the installation head into the i386/conf/ directory. Look over the layout to see see various architectures and sub-directories for various parts of the kernel.:

root #cd i386/conf/
root #ls
.cvsignore      GENERIC         Makefile        PAE
DEFAULTS        GENERIC.hints   NOTES           SMP

The main files to note are GENERIC and GENERIC.hints. As it will be needed by the installation of the kernel copy GENERIC.hints file to /boot/device.hints:

root #cp GENERIC.hints /boot/device.hints

This file is used by the kernel drivers for basic configuration information such as IRQ settings. It is time to configure the kernel. FreeBSD uses the config command for this purpose. config uses the given file (in this instance GENERIC) to copy over the required build files to a compile directory in the parent directory. GENERIC is similar to the Linux kernel's .config file. Run config to produce the build directory:

root #config GENERIC
Kernel build directory is ../compile/GENERIC
Don't forget to ''make cleandepend; make depend''

config has now created a GENERIC build directory in the parent directory. Move to into the GENERIC directory, then run the following commands to do a complete build:

root #cd ../compile/GENERIC
root #make cleandepend && make depend && make && make install

After the complication has finished a complete kernel will be made available. The next step is to configure the bootloader to boot the newly generated kernel. The next chapter will discuss two methods of setting up the bootloader: boot0 and grub.

Bootloader configuration

boot0

Important
boot0 is the FreeBSD bootloader. Previously, it was the only supported bootloader until grub was introduced into ports with UFS slice support.

To install and configure boot0, run the following. Remember to replace adXsY with the actual number (X) and partition (Y) of the disk:

root #emerge --ask sys-freebsd/boot0

Type exit to leave the chroot environment:

root #exit

Issue the following commands from outside the chroot:

root #fdisk -B -b /mnt/boot/boot0 /dev/adX
root #chroot /mnt/ /bin/bash
root #disklabel -B adXsY

If additional information on setting up boot0 is required, please consult chapter 13 of the FreeBSD handbook. Now it is time to do some basic system configuration and settings.

Skip the next section on grub if boot0 has been selected as the system's bootloader.

grub

As of grub 0.97-r1, UFS slices are readable to grub. This lets us use grub as a bootloader, the preferred method for those coming from a Linux background. To begin, emerge grub and setup the label as bootable. Remember to replace adXsY with the actual number and slice of the disk:

root #emerge --ask {{{1}}}
root #disklabel -B adXsY

Now run grub to bring up the command prompt, and set up the partition as shown:

root #sysctl kern.geom.debugflags=16
root #grub

When inside the grub prompt issue:

grub>root (hd0,0,d)
Filesystem type is ufs2, partition type 0xa5
grub>setup (hd0)
 Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... yes
 Checking if "/boot/grub/stage2" exists... yes
 Checking if "/boot/grub/ufs2_stage1_5" exists... yes
 Running "embed /boot/grub/ufs2_stage1_5 (hd0)"... 14 sectors are embedded.
succeeded
 Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd0) (hd0)1+14 p (hd0,0,d)/boot/grub/stage
2 /boot/grub/menu.lst"... succeeded
Done.
grub>quit

To make the loader find the kernel on a specific slice (the default is 'a'), add a vfs.root.mountfrom line to the /boot/loader.conf file:

root #echo 'vfs.root.mountfrom="ufs:ad0s1d"' >> /boot/loader.conf

When you first boot, you may not receive a grub menu. If so, run this at the prompt:

grub>find /boot/grub/stage1
(hd0,0,d)
grub>kernel (hd0,0,d)/boot/loader
[FreeBSD-a.out, loadaddr=0x200000, text=0x1000, data=0x3a000, bss=0x0, entry=0x200000]
grub>boot
Note
For more information on configuring grub, please refer to the Gentoo Linux Handbook.
Warning
Grub doesn't follow UFS symlinks so be sure to delete the /boot/grub/menu.lst symlink and to use menu.lst to setup grub (grub.conf is not used).

System configuration

First, we are going to setup the filesystem mounting points in /etc/fstab:

root #nano /etc/fstab
#Device         Mountpoint      Fstype          Options         Dump    Pass
/dev/adXsYb     none            swap            sw              0       0
/dev/adXsYa     /               ufs             rw              1       1
/dev/adXsYe     /usr/home       ufs             rw              2       2
/dev/adXsYd     /tmp            ufs             rw              2       2
/dev/acdX       /cdrom          cd9660          ro,noauto       0       0

Now would also be a good time to set up your network connection before the final reboot. You can find all the information necessary to configure your network in the Gentoo Handbook. To have your network interface activated at boot time, you have to add it to the default runlevel:

root #rc-update add net.fxp0 default

The system's hostname can be changed in /etc/conf.d/hostname:

root #nano /etc/conf.d/hostname
HOSTNAME="tux"

The domain name should be set for the system. This is done in the /etc/conf.d/domainname file:

root #nano /etc/conf.d/domainname
dns_domain_lo="homenetwork"

If a NIS domain is needed, it should be defined in the /etc/conf.d/domainname file:

root #nano /etc/conf.d/domainname
nis_domain_lo="my-nisdomain"
Note
For more information on domain names and networking, please refer to the Gentoo Linux Handbook; read the documentation on /etc/conf.d/net.example.

In case another keyboard layout is required for the locale, set the correct value in /etc/conf.d/syscons. The following example uses the Spanish layout, adjust it to fit the needed language:

root #nano /etc/conf.d/syscons
KEYMAP="spanish.iso.acc"

Change the root password:

root #passwd

Add a user:

root #adduser

Congratulations, you have just finished your Gentoo/FreeBSD installation which you can start exploring after the final reboot. Have fun!

Reboot the system:

root #exit
root #reboot

Contributing

How to help

There are many things you could help with, depending on your skill level and spare time:

  • Working on current ebuilds: this means working closely with ebuild maintainers in order to create patches or modify ebuilds in a way that can be accepted into the main tree.
  • Security: if you are into security, we need you! Although security advisories from the FreeBSD project are tracked and fixed, we can always use help in this area.
  • Contacts: we need people who can get in touch with FreeBSD developers to maintain contacts between us and the original project to exchange patches and discuss various problems and their solutions. Note that this should never involve any kind of spamming of mailing lists or IRC channels.
  • Testing: the more people are actively using Gentoo/FreeBSD, the more bugs will be discovered, which helps us improving the quality of the port. If you are good at describing bugs or problems, we definitely want to hear from you.
  • Other areas where we need help include: system ebuilds, creation of installation CDs, documentation, kernel hacking.

Known issues

At the moment, there are still quite a lot of known issues. Here are the ones really worth noting:

  • Some init scripts depend on the clock service which we don't provide right now. You can just remove it from the dependencies of the script and report that on our Bugzilla. Please remember to use the "Gentoo/Prefix" product for your submission.

Contact

A list of Gentoo/FreeBSD developers can be found at the project page. Other ways to contact FreeBSD developers include the #gentoo-bsd (webchat) IRC channel on Freenode, as well as the gentoo-bsd@gentoo.org mailing list.

This page is based on a document formerly found on our main website gentoo.org.
The following people contributed to the original document: Ignacio Arque-Latour (author), Michael Kohl (author), Otavio R. Piske (author), Aaron Walker (author), Chris White (author), Diego Pettenò (contributor), Joshua Saddler (editor), Camille Huot (editor) on May 17, 2007
They are listed here because wiki history does not allow for any external attribution. If you edit the wiki article, please do not add yourself here; your contributions are recorded on each article's associated history page.

Retrieved from "https://wiki.gentoo.org/index.php?title=Gentoo_FreeBSD/Install_Guide&oldid=1274162"