7.2-p7 -> 8-STABLE mergemaster core dump

[Tom Evans]

On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 5:27 PM, Jorge Biquez <jbiquez at icsmx.com> wrote:
> Hello all.
> With all respect Doug, users that have remote machines and do not have
> access to it to boot single user like the manual says.. what can we do? I
> understand that step is to be sure that no user will modify something while
> we are doing those process. In my case I do that step after midnight when
> our users are not in the server.
>
> Can others with remote systems comment about what they do in this step?
>
> Thanks in advance
>
> Jorge Biquez
>
>

Hi Jorge

As I mentioned in my email, the critical thing is that you must be
running your new kernel before installing your new world. The
single-user phase is simply to ensure that nothing is running that
would interfere with the installworld/mergemaster steps.

Therefore, an appropriate workaround if you cannot go to single user
mode remotely would be to install the kernel, reboot into the new
kernel, install world, reboot into the new world.

However, if you have no remote access at all (remote power would be
better than nothing!) this would be quite risky. Judicious use of
nextboot, and having someone on standby who can find the power button
is recommended.

Cheers

Tom