1 .\" $NetBSD: newbtconf.8,v 1.18 2004/08/31 17:08:06 uwe Exp $
2 .\" $DragonFly: src/sbin/newbtconf/newbtconf.8,v 1.4 2006/11/11 17:26:48 swildner Exp $
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35 .Nd multiple boot-up configurations
46 is used to set up the system in such a way that the user is offered a
47 selection of environments in which to boot the system up into.
48 The most obvious application being for laptops to provide a network
49 and non-network environment after a successful boot into multi-user mode.
51 In order to accomplish this task, the files usually associated with
52 establishing the current system's running configuration are replaced with
53 symbolic links which are adjusted with each boot to point to the appropriate
54 file for the desired run-time environment.
55 This is accomplished by directing all of the symbolic links through a
56 directory which itself is a symbolic link
57 .Pq Pa /etc/etc.current ,
58 to the destination files.
59 At each bootup, the selection made changes which directory
63 Through doing this and reloading
68 been established, the resulting run-time configuration is effectively
69 controlled without the need to directly edit any files.
70 The default boot-up environment is selected by manually directing which
71 configuration directory
79 is not automatically updated.
83 only has one boot-up configuration - that set in the
86 In order to initialize the system for operating in a
87 manner which supports multiple boot configurations,
89 must be run with an argument of
91 This will create two symbolic links
96 .Pa /etc/etc.network .
97 The following files are all moved into
98 that directory and symbolic links put in their place, in
101 .Pa /etc/etc.current/\*[Lt]filename\*[Gt] :
102 .Bd -literal -offset indent
119 To test that this has been performed correctly, reboot your system into
121 After the kernel has autoconfigured and tty flags have been set,
122 a prompt should appear, preceded by the following like, looking like this:
125 Which configuration [network] ?
128 The []'s are used to indicate the default configuration, which can be
129 selected by just pressing return.
130 If there were other configurations available at this stage, you would
131 have 30 seconds to enter that name and press
133 .Ss Multiple Configurations
134 Once an initial configuration has been set up, we can proceed to set up further
135 run time environments.
136 This is done by invoking
138 with the name of the new configuration to be created.
139 By default, this step
140 will use the current configuration files as the basis for this setup unless
141 a second parameter is given - that of the configuration to use as the basis
143 Upon completion, a new directory,
144 .Pa /etc/etc.\*[Lt]newname\*[Gt] ,
145 will have been created,
146 priming the directory with the appropriate files for editing.
147 For example, if we do
150 it would create a directory named
152 and copy all the files from
155 Upon rebooting, we should see:
158 Which configuration [network] ?
161 To set up the system for booting into the
163 configuration, the files in
167 If you wanted to make
169 the default configuration when booting, you
170 would need delete the symbolic link
172 and create a new symbolic link (with the same name) to
174 Booting up after having made such a change would
175 result in the following being displayed:
178 Which configuration [nonet] ?
181 Assuming that we performed the above command successfully, in order to
182 successfully configure
184 to not configure interfaces (or generate no
185 errors from attempting to do so), the following settings (at least) should
187 .Pa /etc/etc.nonet/rc.conf :
193 Of course other networking services, such as NTP, routed, etc, are all
196 In general, the only setting that should be
198 is syslogd, and perhaps cron (if your cron scripts don't
199 need the network) or screenblank/wscons (if applicable).
200 Other actions such as deleting any NFS mounts from
201 .Pa /etc/etc.nonet/fstab
202 would also need to be undertaken.
203 .Ss Reverting multiple boot configurations
204 Multiple boot configurations can be deactivated by running
208 All the symlinks mentioned above are then removed and the files they point to
209 are copied to their default place.
210 This effectively makes the currently selected
211 configuration the only one active.
216 are also removed so upon rebooting no configuration selection menu is
218 Note that the previously created configurations (in
219 .Pa /etc/etc.\*[Lt]name\*[Gt] )
222 .Bl -tag -width /etc/mrouted.current -compact
223 .It Pa /etc/etc.current
224 Symbolic link to current config directory.
225 .It Pa /etc/etc.default
226 Symbolic link to default config directory.
228 .It Pa /etc/defaultdomain
229 These files all become symbolic links.
230 .It Pa /etc/dntpd.conf
232 .It Pa /etc/ifconfig.*
233 .It Pa /etc/inetd.conf
234 .It Pa /etc/mrouted.conf
238 .It Pa /etc/nsswitch.conf
239 .It Pa /etc/ntpd.conf
241 .It Pa /etc/rc.conf.d
242 .It Pa /etc/resolv.conf
250 program first appeared in
254 This shell script was written by
256 .Aq darrenr@NetBSD.org
257 with initial input from
260 on how to approach this problem.
262 It presently does not display a count down timer whilst waiting for input
263 to select which configuration and nor does it abort said timer when a key
266 The management of the overall collection of multiple configurations is much
267 more manual than it ought to be.
268 A general system configuration tool needs to be written to ease their