amd64/126819: During install if initial name look-up fails, all subsequent lookups fail

[Daniel Hellsson]

>Number:         126819
>Category:       amd64
>Synopsis:       During install if initial name look-up fails, all subsequent lookups fail
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       serious
>Priority:       high
>Responsible:    freebsd-amd64
>State:          open
>Quarter:        
>Keywords:       
>Date-Required:
>Class:          sw-bug
>Submitter-Id:   current-users
>Arrival-Date:   Mon Aug 25 08:50:01 UTC 2008
>Closed-Date:
>Last-Modified:
>Originator:     Daniel Hellsson
>Release:        4.0
>Organization:
Cross Technology Solutions AB
>Environment:
Not available since the problem happens during install and the machine is not yet installed.
>Description:
During installation from the boot-cd, if a mirror is selected that does not exist (in my case the ftp at se.snapshots.freebsd.org), lookup of that address fails. Any subsequent attempt to choose another mirror for download will automatically fail even if the address is correct. 
That no actual lookup is performed is evident from the speed at which the installation program proclaims that "lookup of address 'xxx' failed" immediately without any delay. Usualy a DNS-lookup will take a few seconds at least to fail.


>How-To-Repeat:
Start installation from boot CD-image, select installation from FTP-server. Select a mirror that does not exist (see above). The lookup fails. Now select one that does exist. Lookup will fail anyway.
>Fix:
If a mirror that does exist is selected from the very start, there is no problem, but this confused the hell out of me and it was only because of my persistance that I found that there actually was a way to get the installation going. To get ftp-server addresses that are not viable in the installation instructions is uncommon (and a separate issue).


>Release-Note:
>Audit-Trail:
>Unformatted: