# upgrading freebsd 7.2Release to 8.0Release using sysinstall



## alex_ritm83 (Jan 19, 2010)

Hello.
During the upgrade process there was a few messages:

```
Unable to resurrect your old /etc/mail !
Unable to resurrect your old /etc/pwd.db !
Unable to resurrect your old /etc/services !
Unable to resurrect your old /etc/spwd.db !
Unable to resurrect your old /etc/ssh !
```
Ater reboot I couldn't log in to the system.
What caused the problem and how can I fix it?
Thanks.

PS: my FreeBSD is in VMware Workstation7


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## graudeejs (Jan 19, 2010)

You can't updated system with sysinstall.

read Handbook
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/updating-upgrading.html


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## alex_ritm83 (Jan 19, 2010)

couldn't find anything about it in the handbook.
I have a book "FreeBSD: the defenitive guide" written by M. Lucas.
It tells me I can upgrade from one release to another using sysinstall. There is a step-by-step guide in it.

Could you please tell me the reason I cannot use sysinstall?

Thanks for reply.


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## graudeejs (Jan 19, 2010)

oh, sorry, I just checked sysinstall.
Yes, apparently you can upgrade with sysinstall, but I've never done that [in fact I haven't been using sysinstall for long time]

Still in handbook [link that I gave], there is info how to update your system, Read it [The only thin it requires is internet connection, and running FreeBSD system]


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## SirDice (Jan 19, 2010)

alex_ritm83 said:
			
		

> Could you please tell me the reason I cannot use sysinstall?


Because you shouldn't use sysinstall for anything else but the initial install. You're quite likely to nuke your entire install, as you already found out.

To put it simply, don't use it, at all. Learn the tools, read the handbook. It's quite simple to upgrade and there's absolutely no need to use sysinstall.


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## alex_ritm83 (Jan 21, 2010)

Is it possible to make freebsd-update from FreeBSD 8 installation DVD, not from internet?
If it is, how can I make it?


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## alex_ritm83 (Jan 21, 2010)

it seems to me, that is not possible


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## Beastie (Jan 21, 2010)

I wouldn't normally use sysinstall (I actually don't, even for first-time setups), but I can tell you, you *can* upgrade from DVD or disc1. And it *usually* works. It will keep backups of your configuration and restore it at the end, but I suggest you keep your own backups just in case...

If you don't want to do that and have no Internet connection, you probably have no choice but to install from scratch.
But you don't necessarily have to do the slicing, partitioning and labeling again if you follow this method and skip the fdisk and bsdlabel parts. It's all about mounting partitions on the right mount points, doing newfs, extracting the base system and GENERIC kernel, and restoring your configuration files.


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## alex_ritm83 (Jan 22, 2010)

Hmmm...Just for test: sysinstall upgrade from 8.0 to 8.0 was successfull.
Gonna try freebsd-upgrade tomorrow.


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## alex_ritm83 (Jan 22, 2010)

I do not use GENERIC kernel, I compiled my own one from GENERIC!
So I cannot use sysinstall and freebsd-upgrade for upgrades.
I can only upgrade from sources, am I right?:stud


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## alex_ritm83 (Jan 22, 2010)

> So I cannot use sysinstall and freebsd-upgrade for upgrades.


Sorry, I meant "freebsd-update", not "freebsd-upgrade"


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## SirDice (Jan 22, 2010)

alex_ritm83 said:
			
		

> I do not use GENERIC kernel, I compiled my own one from GENERIC!
> So I cannot use sysinstall and freebsd-upgrade for upgrades.
> I can only upgrade from sources, am I right?:stud



Yes. Or you can temporarily switch to GENERIC, do the update, then compile a new custom kernel.


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## alex_ritm83 (Jan 22, 2010)

GENERIC kernel is lost 
I compiled new kernel twice, so _/boot/kernel.old_ directory was rewritten. I have sources of GENERIC installed. I'll try to compile a new GENERIC kernel and switch on it.


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## Beastie (Jan 22, 2010)

Don't! Just extract it from disc1 or the DVD: `# ./install.sh GENERIC` in the *kernel* (or is it *kernels*) directory. It only takes a few seconds/minutes depending on your machine specs.


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## alex_ritm83 (Jan 24, 2010)

thanks, I'll try it on monday.
It's a virtual machine, anyway. I'll restore it from snapshot, if I crash it


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## alex_ritm83 (Jan 25, 2010)

Have installed GENERIC from Freebsd 8 DVD and switched to it
upgrade with sysinstall was successfull 
thanks a lot!

Can I upgrade a production server this way? Is it proper and safe enougth?


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## Beastie (Jan 25, 2010)

Well, did it not work on your virtual machine?

The process described here is more or less what sysinstall does when it's installing FreeBSD. The only disadvantage will be higher downtime compared to doing the upgrade over the Internet. But when you master the method, you'll be able to do the entire upgrade safely and rapidly.


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## alex_ritm83 (Jan 26, 2010)

thanks, the subject is solved.


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## randi@ (Feb 1, 2010)

SirDice said:
			
		

> Because you shouldn't use sysinstall for anything else but the initial install. You're quite likely to nuke your entire install, as you already found out.
> 
> To put it simply, don't use it, at all. Learn the tools, read the handbook. It's quite simple to upgrade and there's absolutely no need to use sysinstall.



I've been pondering axing support for upgrading from sysinstall. Not only is it a less than optimal way to upgrade, but from what I can recall, there's a bug that I haven't yet fixed that involves existing base bind configurations being overwritten. It's the only problem I've heard of so far, but if you know of more, please let me know or file a bug. The more bugs that get reported, the more likely I am to remove the support altogether and have the upgrade menu display a window that says "Please use freebsd-update".


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