NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

Much like make(1), bsdinstall takes a target and possible parameters of the target as arguments. If invoked with no arguments, it will invoke the auto target, which provides a standard interactive installation, invoking the others in sequence. To perform a scripted installation, these subtargets can be invoked separately by an installation script.

OPTIONS

-D file

Provide a path for the installation log file (overrides BSDINSTALL_LOG). See ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES for more information on BSDINSTALL_LOG.

TARGETS

auto

Run the standard interactive installation, including disk partitioning.

entropy

Reads a small amount of data from /dev/random and stores it in a file in the new system's root directory.

jail destination

Sets up a new chroot system at destination, suitable for use with jail(8). Behavior is generally similar to auto, except that disk partitioning and network setup are skipped and a kernel is not installed into the new system.

script script

Runs the installation script at script. See SCRIPTING for more information on this target.

keymap

If the current controlling TTY is a syscons(4) or vt(4) console, asks the user to set the current keymap, and saves the result to the new system's rc.conf.

hostname

Prompts the user for a host name for the new system and saves the result to the new system's rc.conf. If BSDINSTALL_CONFIGCURRENT is set, also sets the host name of the current system.

netconfig

Interactively configures network interfaces (first invoking wlanconfig on wireless interfaces), saving the result to the new system's rc.conf and resolv.conf. If BSDINSTALL_CONFIGCURRENT is set, also configures the network interfaces of the current system to match.

autopart

Provides the installer's interactive guided disk partitioner for single-disk installations. Partitions disks, runs newfs(8), and writes the new system's fstab.

zfsboot

Provides the installer's (experimental) interactive/scriptable ZFS partitioner for multi-disk installations. Creates a single zpool with datasets and writes to the new system's rc.conf, loader.conf, and fstab. Supports geli(8), gnop(8), and many other features.

partedit

Provides the installer's interactive manual disk partitioner, with support for multi disk setups, non-UFS file systems, and manual selection of partition schemes. Partitions disks, runs newfs(8), and writes the new system's fstab.

scriptedpart parameters

Sets up disks like autopart and partedit, but non-interactively according to the disk setup specified in parameters. Each disk setup is specified by a three-part argument:

disk [ scheme][ {partitions}]

Multiple disk setups are separated by semicolons. The disk argument specifies the disk on which to operate (which will be erased), while the scheme argument specifies the gpart(8) partition scheme to apply to the disk. If scheme is unspecified, scriptedpart will apply the default bootable scheme on your platform. The partitions argument is also optional and specifies how to partition disk. It consists of a comma-separated list of partitions to create enclosed in curly braces. Each partition declaration takes the form

size type [ mount point]

size specifies the partition size to create in bytes (K, M, and G suffixes can be appended to specify kilobytes, megabytes, and gigabytes respectively), while the auto keyword causes the partition to take all the remaining space on the disk. The type option chooses the gpart(8) filesystem type (e.g. freebsd-ufs or freebsd-swap). The optional mount point argument sets where the created partition is to be mounted in the installed system. As an example, a typical invocation looks like:

bsdinstall scriptedpart ada0 { 20G freebsd-ufs /, 4G freebsd-swap, 20G freebsd-ufs /var, auto freebsd-ufs /usr }

mount

Mounts the file systems previously configured by autopart, partedit, or scriptedpart under BSDINSTALL_CHROOT.

distfetch

Fetches the distributions in DISTRIBUTIONS to BSDINSTALL_DISTDIR from BSDINSTALL_DISTSITE.

checksum

Verifies the checksums of the distributions listed in DISTRIBUTIONS against the distribution manifest.

distextract

Extracts the distributions listed in DISTRIBUTIONS into BSDINSTALL_CHROOT.

rootpass

Interactively invokes passwd(1) in the new system to set the root user's password.

adduser

Interactively invokes adduser(8) in the new system.

time

Interactively sets the time, date, and time zone of the new system.

services

Queries the user for the system daemons to begin at system startup, writing the result into the new system's rc.conf.

config

Installs the configuration files destined for the new system (e.g. rc.conf fragments generated by netconfig, etc.) onto the new system.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

DISTRIBUTIONS

The set of distributions to install (e.g. "base kernel ports"). Default: none

BSDINSTALL_DISTDIR

The directory in which the distribution files can be found (or to which they should be downloaded). Default: /usr/freebsd-dist

BSDINSTALL_DISTSITE

URL from which the distribution files should be downloaded if they are not already present in the directory defined by BSDINSTALL_DISTDIR. This should be a full path to the files, including architecture and release names. Most targets (e.g. auto and jail) that prompt for a FreeBSD mirror will skip that step if this variable is already defined in the environment. Example: ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/powerpc/powerpc64/9.1-RELEASE

BSDINSTALL_CHROOT

The directory into which the distribution files should be unpacked and the directory at which the root file system of the new system should be mounted. Default: /mnt

BSDINSTALL_LOG

Path to a log file for the installation. Default: /tmp/bsdinstall_log

BSDINSTALL_TMPETC

Directory where files destined for the new system's /etc will be stored until the config target is executed. If this directory does not already exist, it will be created. Default: /tmp/bsdinstall_etc

BSDINSTALL_TMPBOOT

Directory where files destined for the new system's /boot will be stored until the config target is executed. If this directory does not already exist, it will be created. Default: /tmp/bsdinstall_boot

SCRIPTING

A typical bsdinstall script looks like this:

PARTITIONS=ada0 
DISTRIBUTIONS="kernel.txz base.txz" 
 
#!/bin/sh 
echo "ifconfig_em0=DHCP" >> /etc/rc.conf 
echo "sshd_enable=YES" >> /etc/rc.conf 
pkg install puppet

On FreeBSD release media, such a script placed at /etc/installerconfig will be run at boot time and the system will be rebooted automatically after the installation has completed. This can be used for unattended network installation of new systems; see diskless(8) for details.

HISTORY

AUTHORS