build image from the source

[cpghost]

On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 05:38:37PM +0530, Saurabh Chopra wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I am absolutely a newbie in freebsd. My query is that I want to create
> an image from the freebsd sources. And I will be using this image to
> boot another x86 machine. Is there any utility that will use the
> compiled kernel and build the image? .Please be as descriptive in your
> answers as possible.

Hi Saurabh, welcome to FreeBSD! :)

For a *small* number of machines, I usually update one (and only one)
machine's /usr/src and /usr/ports trees with csup (see the Handbook),
create /usr/obj with make buildworld && make buildkernel, update the
machine and the installed ports.

Then, I rsync /usr/src, /usr/ports, /usr/obj and /usr/local to the
other machines, and on every machine, I run again 'make installkernel
&& make installworld' and mergemaster to update them too.

This minimizes the load on external servers (I only download stuff
once and redistribute it to the other machines).

It's not the *best* and it's not the *only* way to do it, but it works
for me if the number of machines is small (and if they run the same
architecture (all i386 or all amd64)).

> Thanks & Regards
> 
> Saurabh Chopra

-cpghost.

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