Backup Chapter Updates

[Marc Fonvieille]

On Tue, Sep 09, 2003 at 07:31:09PM -0600, Warren Block wrote:
> Browsing through the Backup chapter today, I saw the script for
> generating a bootable floppy.
>
> Problem #1: the kernel config file shown has quite a bit of obsolete
> stuff.
> 
> Problem #2: okay, how about manually trimming everything possible out of
> the 4.8 GENERIC kernel config file?  It turns out that trimming it down
> to fit on the approximate 273K of free space on a 1.4M floppy is
> impossible.
>

It's possible to create a 1.4MB floppy for the backup purpose.

> The questions:
> 
> If current releases of FreeBSD (4/5) will only fit on a rare 2.8M
> floppy, is it worth updating that section of the Backup chapter rather
> than removing it?
> 

You talk about GENERIC kernels and so, in a backup case, no one needs a
GENERIC kernel.  I have the update of that part in my (long) TODO list
:))

> El Torito bootable CDs can use a 2.8M floppy image; should the script
> and instructions be modified to produce such an image, and just forget
> floppies?
> 

The live CD (CD #2) is there for that, but I don't think "forget"
floppies is a good idea cause when a problem occurs, it's still faster
and easier to write a floppy in many cases.

> Instructions on building a bootable recovery disk seem a little out of
> place in the Backup chapter anyway.

Hmm why? Backups also exist for the case a bad thing happens, so some
instructions about recovery is not out of context.

> Bootable CDs and LiveCDs have been
> a topic of discussion on -questions, too.  Is there a more appropriate
> place for this type of material, or is the subject worthy of a chapter
> by itself? Off-hand, I can think of a bunch of URLs that could be
> included in such a chapter: FreeSBIE, the original Brazilian LiveCD,
> MiniBSD, and some of the other small installs meant for embedded
> Soekris-type use.  But what do you call such a chapter?  "Minimizing
> FreeBSD", maybe?
> 

It's a very technical thing, and a livecd (most of people see it as a
Knoppix clone) is really different from a "reduced system" on many points.
About small installations, some knobs have been added to the "world" but
building a system for an embedded system is still difficult (asks for a
good knowledge of FreeBSD), a lot of ways are possible.  For example I
use a custom PicoBSD with my soekris board, some others use in part
rescue system, etc.
So I'm not sure the Handbook would be the right place for this.
A good (large) article would be perhaps a good thing.
However, if it's just a question of adding URLs, the FAQ would be the
right place.

Marc