CDNWiki - View Source: KnowledgeBase/FreeBSD/BootStrap

Things to remember when bootstrapping a fresh install of FreeBSD outside of sysinstall

!!! Boot Setup

!! Regular

/boot/loader.conf
<code brush="bash"
loader_logo="beastie"
kernel="GENERIC"
opensolaris_load="YES"          # if zfs root
zfs_load="YES"                  # if zfs root
kern.cam.boot_delay=5000       # if booting from a USB device that takes a long time to probe and attach
</code>

!! Tweaks if /boot is its own partition

<code brush="bash">
# Boot scripts are hardcoded to look in /boot so make sure they can find everything
# Have to move the bootcode out of the way for this to work, though
cd /path/to/new/boot && mv boot boot.blk && ln -svf . boot
</code>

/boot/boot.config (if boot.config exists, it must exist in the toplevel directory of the boot filesystem!)
<code brush="bash">
/loader
</code>

/boot/loader.conf
<code brush="bash">
vfs.root.mountfrom="ufs:/dev/ufs/root"
vfs.root.mountfrom="zfs:zpool/filesystem" # if zfs root
</code>

!! Tweaks if using serial console

/boot/boot.config (if boot.config exists, it must exist in the toplevel directory of the boot filesystem!)
<code brush="bash">
-h -S115200
/loader -h -S115200             # if /boot is its own partition
</code>

/boot/loader.conf
<code brush="bash">
console="comconsole,vidconsole" # or just comconsole, if there is no useful video hardware
comconsole_speed="115200"
boot_multicons="YES"            # pass -D to kenv (boot -D)
boot_serial="YES"               # pass -h to kenv (boot -h)
</code>

!!! System configuration
<small>Can usually be done after rebooting, with obvious accessibility exceptions</small>

Root password
* duh

/etc/fstab
* Pretty obvious

/etc/rc.conf
<code brush="bash">
hostname="hostname.domain.tld"
ifconfig_<adapter>="<config>"
sshd_enable="YES" # Unless you really want a deaf box
zfs_enable="YES"  # To auto-mount zfs filesystems; most useful when using ZFS root
</code>

/etc/ttys
* Enable serial line, if using serial

/etc/localtime
* Link to or copy from the appropriate file in /usr/share/zoneinfo

/etc/group
<code brush="bash">
pw groupadd users -g 1000
</code>

/etc/passwd
<code brush="bash">
Coming soon
</code>

/etc/mail/aliases
<code brush="bash">
newaliases # so that periodic daily emails don't spam console
</code>

!!! Packages
* sudo
** visudo (enable %wheel)
* bash
* rsync

INSTALL_NODEBUG=yes should avoid installing *.symbols files for kernel installs