Diff for "Debian_GNU/kFreeBSD_FAQ"

Differences between revisions 46 and 47

Basic questions

Q. What does the 'k' in "kFreeBSD" stand for?

A. It's an abbreviation. It stands for "kernel of". Hence "kFreeBSD" means "kernel of FreeBSD", and "GNU/kFreeBSD" means "GNU with kernel of FreeBSD".

Q. What is the point of Debian GNU/kFreeBSD?

A. This answer has its own wiki page, see ["Debian GNU/kFreeBSD why"].

Q. What version of kFreeBSD is supported?

A. The latest GNU/kFreeBSD install CD is based on 6.2 kernel, see [http://lists.debian.org/debian-bsd/2007/03/msg00020.html for details]. However, there are kernel packages for 5.4 and 7.0 (early development version) available, too.

Q. Which Debian releases are available?

A. Only the unstable release is regularly available. But as unstable is sometimes really unstable, we also provide an etch-based snapshot of the GNU/kFreeBSD archive. Just use the install CD from [http://glibc-bsd.alioth.debian.org/install-cd/kfreebsd-i386/20070313/ March 2007] and put the following lines into your /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://ftp.gnuab.org/debian-snapshot/etch unstable main
deb http://ftp.gnuab.org/debian-snapshot/etch unreleased main
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian dists/etch/main/binary-i386/

Note: As of [http://lists.debian.org/debian-bsd/2007/07/msg00033.html July 2007], the following is sufficient for unstable, as Architecture: all packages are now directly available:

deb http://ftp.gnuab.org/debian unstable main
deb http://ftp.gnuab.org/debian unreleased main

Q. Can I run Debian GNU/kFreeBSD in a chroot under FreeBSD?

A. Yes, but it won't work perfectly unless you apply some kernel patches. You can get them from the Debian kfreebsd-6 source package, but it is up to you to find out and decide which ones you need. We recommend to use a Debian kernel for running Debian GNU/kFreeBSD userland. In case something fails, you're on your own.

Q. Can I share a swap partition between GNU/Linux and GNU/kFreeBSD?

A. Yes, but it's not recommended. See http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Linux+FreeBSD-3.html for details on how to proceed. Also note that Linux tends to save suspend-to-disk data to the swap partition, which makes sharing swap less attractive.

Q. Can I share partitions between GNU/Linux and GNU/kFreeBSD?

A. Yes, but you must use ext2fs. When creating the filesystem, pass "-O none" to mke2fs for best results. As for other file systems:

For ufs (either 1 or 2), it's only supported readonly by Linux. Write support is highly experimental and is likely to cause panics.
For ext3fs, kFreeBSD can only access it in readonly mode.
For reiserfs, readonly support has been added to kfreebsd 6.x (see [http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=335019 #335019]).
For xfs, readonly support has been added to kfreebsd 7.x (see [http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=335020 #335020] for details). Write support is also planned.

Q. What's the status of amd64 support?

A. It is only slightly behind the i386 one. You're welcome to try it out, and help is appreciated in debugging and cleaning it up. Also, if you want to donate hardware for that purpose please let us know.

Q. apt-get complains that it can't verify binaries. I installed gnupg but the errors persist.

A. You probably don't have the gnuab archive key imported. Try:

gpg --keyserver subkeys.pgp.net --recv 19BFB8AB && gpg --export 19BFB8AB | sudo apt-key add -

Q. I just installed Debian GNU/kFreeBSD. Is there anything I can do to help making it more popular?

A. Yes! You can install/enable popularity-contest (see http://popcon.debian.org/) to increase our user count. Also you can register yourself as Debian GNU/kFreeBSD user in http://buildd.net/cgi/archvote.phtml. You might also want to tell us how did you hear about Debian GNU/kFreeBSD [http://snappoll.com/poll/83221.php in this poll]. And of course, you can tell all your friends about it. =)

Finally, you can install the "[http://www.mirbsd.org/cvs.cgi/src/share/misc/bsdstats?rev=HEAD;content-type=text%2Fplain bsdstats]" script to record your Debian GNU/kFreeBSD installation at [http://bsdstats.org bsdstats.org]. You need to install the following packages for the script to work:

apt-get install netcat mksh sharutils openssl bind9-host

Then, you can simply run the script manually via "mksh bsdstats", and/or via a cron-job (weekly, for example).

Q. Is there any way to upgrade to Debian-*bsd an existing, running FreeBSD installation (whether it makes sense or not)

A. I am unsure about this. You can prepare a filesystem on a different partition/slice and use chroot to install the basic files. Look inside the latest ISO at http://glibc-bsd.alioth.debian.org/install-cd/, there is base/base.tgz inside install.iso. Unpack it into the created chroot. But at least multi-threaded programs will not work under pristine FreeBSD kernel.

Q. Can *.deb packages co-exist with classical BSD ports?

A. It is not good idea. Please use a chroot for things like this.

Q. Are the *.deb packages for *bsd handled the same old way they did on Linux, or do they simply use the /usr/local filesystem?

A. In the same way as on any other Debian system -- the usual prefix is /usr.

Q. What about some specs I once read about leaving the use of /usr/local to the system administrator? (Maybe these are concerning only to Linux...)

A. There are (almost) no files from any *.deb in /usr/local/. It is really left for local system administrator.

Using Debian GNU/kFreeBSD

Q. How do I configure/enable sound?

A. You have to load the proper kernel sound driver(s) using the kldload command. This works for me (SiS AC'97 sound controller):

kldload snd_csa
kldload snd_driver

Q. Wireless?

A. Yes, but we don't have the tools to scan for networks yet. If you know the ssid beforehand, the following stanza in /etc/network/interfaces should work:

auto ${if}
iface ${if} inet dhcp
     pre-up ifconfig ${if} ssid ${my_ssid}

Development questions

Q. Where can I check buildd logs for a particular package on kfreebsd-i386?

A. http://unstable.buildd.net/index-kfreebsd-i386.html and http://experimental.ftbfs.de/.

Q. Where can I check buildd logs for a particular package on kfreebsd-amd64?

A. http://unstable.buildd.net/index-kfreebsd-amd64.html and http://experimental.ftbfs.de/.

Q. I'm a Debian maintainer. Is there any machine running GNU/kFreeBSD I can have access to?

A. Yes, see http://io.debian.net/ and http://asdfasdf.debian.net/.

Q. How do packages move out of unreleased?

Either a newer version appears in unstable, then the old one gets obsoleted;
Or a list can be sent to Guillem Jover (braindmg), so that he runs the appropriate command on them.

-  ⇤ ← Revision 46 as of 2007-08-07 22:06:52 → 
  Size: 6210
  Editor: ?UweHermann
  Comment: How to enable sound on kFreeBSD boxes.
+   ← Revision 47 as of 2007-08-07 22:51:21 → ⇥
  Size: 7003
  Editor: ?UweHermann
  Comment: Information on how to install the bsdstats script. Various wiki fixes.
-Deletions are marked like this.
+Additions are marked like this.
 Line 9:
-A. This answer has its own wiki page, see: ["Debian GNU/kFreeBSD why"].
+A. This answer has its own wiki page, see ["Debian GNU/kFreeBSD why"].
 Line 14:
-see [http://lists.debian.org/debian-bsd/2007/03/msg00020.html for details].
+see [http://lists.debian.org/debian-bsd/2007/03/msg00020.html for details]. However, there are kernel packages for 5.4 and 7.0 (early development version) available, too.
 Line 18:
-A. There is regularly available only ''unstable'' release. But as ''unstable'' is sometimes really unstable, we provide also etch based snapshot of GNU/kFreeBSD archive. Just use install CD from [http://glibc-bsd.alioth.debian.org/install-cd/kfreebsd-i386/20070313/ March 2007] and put into your /etc/apt/sources.list
+A. Only the ''unstable'' release is regularly available. But as ''unstable'' is sometimes really unstable, we also provide an etch-based snapshot of the GNU/kFreeBSD archive. Just use the install CD from [http://glibc-bsd.alioth.debian.org/install-cd/kfreebsd-i386/20070313/ March 2007] and put the following lines into your /etc/apt/sources.list
 Line 26:
-'''Note:''' As of [http://lists.debian.org/debian-bsd/2007/07/msg00033.html July 2007], the following for ''unstable'' is sufficient, ''Architecture: all'' packages are now directly available.
+'''Note:''' As of [http://lists.debian.org/debian-bsd/2007/07/msg00033.html July 2007], the following is sufficient for ''unstable'', as ''Architecture: all'' packages are now directly available:
 Line 32:
-Line 42:
+Line 41:
-Line 45:
+Line 43:
-A. Yes, but you must use ext2fs.  When creating the filesystem, pass "-O none" to mke2fs for best results.
+A. Yes, but you must use ext2fs.  When creating the filesystem, pass "-O none" to mke2fs for best results. As for other file systems:
-Line 47:
+Line 45:
-For ufs (either 1 or 2) are only supported readonly by Linux.  Write support is highly experimental and is likely to cause panics.

For ext3fs, kFreeBSD can only access it in readonly mode.

For reiserfs, readonly support has been added to kfreebsd 6.x (see #335019).

For xfs, readonly support has been added to kfreebsd 7.x (see #335020 for details).  Write support is also planned.
+ * For ufs (either 1 or 2), it's only supported readonly by Linux.  Write support is highly experimental and is likely to cause panics.
 * For ext3fs, kFreeBSD can only access it in readonly mode.
 * For reiserfs, readonly support has been added to kfreebsd 6.x (see [http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=335019 #335019]).
 * For xfs, readonly support has been added to kfreebsd 7.x (see [http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=335020 #335020] for details).  Write support is also planned.
-Line 58:
+Line 52:
-A. It is only slightly behind the i386 one.  You're welcome to try it out, and help is appreciated in debugging and cleaning it up.  Also, if you donate hardware for that purpose please let us know.
+A. It is only slightly behind the i386 one.  You're welcome to try it out, and help is appreciated in debugging and cleaning it up.  Also, if you want to donate hardware for that purpose please let us know.
-Line 72:
+Line 66:
-'''Q. Wireless?'''
+Finally, you can install the "[http://www.mirbsd.org/cvs.cgi/src/share/misc/bsdstats?rev=HEAD;content-type=text%2Fplain bsdstats]" script to record your Debian GNU/kFreeBSD installation at [http://bsdstats.org bsdstats.org]. You need to install the following packages for the script to work:
-Line 74:
+Line 68:
-A. Yes, but we don't have the tools to scan for networks yet.  If you know the ssid beforehand, the following stanza in /etc/network/interfaces should work:
-Line 76:
+Line 69:
-auto ${if}
iface ${if} inet dhcp
     pre-up ifconfig ${if} ssid ${my_ssid}
+apt-get install netcat mksh sharutils openssl bind9-host
-Line 80:
+Line 71:
+Then, you can simply run the script manually via "''mksh bsdstats''", and/or via a cron-job (weekly, for example).
-Line 83:
+Line 76:
-A. I am unsure about this. You can prepare filesystem on a different
partition/slice and use chroot to install basic files.
Look inside latest iso at
http://glibc-bsd.alioth.debian.org/install-cd/,
there is base/base.tgz  inside install.iso. Unpack it into created chroot.
But at least multi-threaded programs will not work under pristine FreeBSD kernel.
+A. I am unsure about this. You can prepare a filesystem on a different partition/slice and use chroot to install the basic files. Look inside the latest ISO at http://glibc-bsd.alioth.debian.org/install-cd/, there is base/base.tgz inside install.iso. Unpack it into the created chroot. But at least multi-threaded programs will not work under pristine FreeBSD kernel.
-Line 93:
+Line 80:
-A. It is not good idea. Please use chroot for things like this.
+A. It is not good idea. Please use a chroot for things like this.
-Line 95:
+Line 82:
-'''Q. Are the *.deb packages for *bsd handled the same old way they did on linux, or they simply use /usr/local filesystem?'''
+'''Q. Are the *.deb packages for *bsd handled the same old way they did on Linux, or do they simply use the /usr/local filesystem?'''
-Line 97:
+Line 84:
-A. In the same way as on other Debian system - usual prefix is /usr
+A. In the same way as on any other Debian system -- the usual prefix is /usr.
-Line 101:
+Line 88:
-A. There are (almost) no files from any *.deb in /usr/local/
It is really left for local system administrator.
+A. There are (almost) no files from any *.deb in /usr/local/. It is really left for local system administrator.
-Line 116:
+Line 102:
+'''Q. Wireless?'''

A. Yes, but we don't have the tools to scan for networks yet.  If you know the ssid beforehand, the following stanza in /etc/network/interfaces should work:

{{{
auto ${if}
iface ${if} inet dhcp
     pre-up ifconfig ${if} ssid ${my_ssid}
}}}
-Line 120:
+Line 117:
-A. http://unstable.buildd.net/index-kfreebsd-i386.html and http://experimental.ftbfs.de/
+A. http://unstable.buildd.net/index-kfreebsd-i386.html and http://experimental.ftbfs.de/.
-Line 125:
+Line 121:
-A. http://unstable.buildd.net/index-kfreebsd-amd64.html and http://experimental.ftbfs.de/
+A. http://unstable.buildd.net/index-kfreebsd-amd64.html and http://experimental.ftbfs.de/.
-Line 130:
+Line 125:
-A. Yes, see http://io.debian.net/ and http://asdfasdf.debian.net/
+A. Yes, see http://io.debian.net/ and http://asdfasdf.debian.net/.
-Line 135:
+Line 129:
- * Either a newer version appears in ''unstable'', the old one gets obsoleted;
 * or a list can be sent to Guillem Jover (braindmg), so that he runs the appropriate command on them.
+ * Either a newer version appears in ''unstable'', then the old one gets obsoleted;
 * Or a list can be sent to Guillem Jover (braindmg), so that he runs the appropriate command on them.