[FreeBSD AMD64 Current] passive ftp. WAS: proper Options release name string for: SESNAP 0730

[stuart nichols]

On Fri, 30 Jul 2004, Will Andrews wrote:

> On Fri, Jul 30, 2004 at 01:43:20PM -0500, stuart nichols wrote:
> > I've been ftping to the box repeatedly for several days, so I don't know
> > why its not in the logs.  There is a pointer record for the address.

> Oh, you didn't say you were using ftp, I assumed http.

Really?  It sure looks like I told you in the marked lines below from a
previous message:

     On Fri, Jul 30, 2004 at 12:02:10PM -0500, stuart nichols wrote:

     > I'm now using the 0730 build iso.  The installer comes up with the
     > release name set to 5.2-CURRENT.  I use the Custom line, make the whole
     > drive a FreeBSD partition, then label it with 6 partitions {/, /usr,
     > /usr/local, /var, /home, /export}.  This is all how I do the i386
     > install, and how I did the AMD64 5.2.1-RELEASE.

     > I select ALL for the distributions and say Yes for the ports.

->   > I choose FTP for the media and under URL pick snapshots.se.freebsd.org.
     > I say No to IPv6 and Yes to DHCP.  I type in a hostname and the rest is
     > DHCP supplied.  There is a lookup done on snapshots.se.freebsd.org, and
     > then it returns me to the menu where I select Commit.

     > The partition/label info gets written and the various partitions get
     > initialized.

     > Then I get a message saying that the "5.2-CURRENT" distribution files
-->  > cannot be found on the server: "Would you like to try another FTP
     > server?"

     [. . .]

> According to the log, your problem is passive vs. active FTP.  It
> tried to pull base.inf but the operation timed out.  Try HTTP
> instead - it's a much less problematic protocol.

Yes, the box is behind a FreeBSD 5.2.1-R i386 firewall (IPFW2), but I've
never had a problem installing a FreeBSD system from behind it before.

I have no idea how to use "HTTP" in the middle of a Custom install.  The
only HTTP choice in the media is for an HTTP proxy-to-ftp, where it asks
you what port to use.  If that is the choice you want me to try, you'll
need to supply the information that it is asking for.

In the meantime, just to try it out, I selected FTP passive mode for the
media and explicitly typed in snapshots.se.freebsd.org.  I also explicitly
set the release name to 5.2-CURRENT-20040730-SESNAP.  I got much further
than the previous times, but it stopped after installing the regular
distribution files and said that it is "unable to get packages/INDEX file
from the selected media".


> I will look into why it's using 5.2-CURRENT instead of the
> special name 5.2-CURRENT-YYYYMMDD-SESNAP to connect.

The 5.2-CURRENT might work.  There is a double indirection from
5.2-CURRENT --> 5-LATEST --> 5.2-CURRENT-20040730-SESNAP, and it may have
been the passive mode problem that was keeping 5.2-CURRENT from working
before, not the release name itself.  I'll try it at some point.


I don't know why it needs to do a package install on a new system (I would
think that if its required, it might as well be in the distribution), but
let me know what I should do from this point.  When I accept "OK" on the
packages/INDEX message it simply tries to get the package INDEX from the
same server again without asking me if I want to reset the media, then it
gives me the "unable to get packages/INDEX" message again.  Endless loop.

stu