OpenBSD installing OpenBSD from USB

[ocicat]

There are a myriad of ways in which OpenBSD can be installed from a USB device. An article published on OpenBSD Journal today provides quite a bit of background which can help most newbies wrap their heads around the subject:

http://undeadly.org/cgi?action=artic...20100404103735

Another solid source of related information (loosely affiliated with the project's developers...) can be found at the following:

http://azbsd.org/~marco/openbsd/flashkeyinstaller/

[shep]

I am one of those whose skills are largely gleaned by what I read in FAQ's, Man pages and Forums and have been looking putting OBSD on a netbook.

The minimal install set for i386 (from a snapshot or release) would be:

# l files/
total 500060
drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 512 Mar 31 03:04:36 2010 ./
drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 512 Mar 30 15:48:38 2010 ../
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 2162 Mar 30 15:48:52 2010 SHA256
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 50551104 Mar 30 15:50:08 2010 base47.tgz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 7592844 Mar 30 15:49:56 2010 bsd
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 7616392 Mar 30 15:49:54 2010 bsd.mp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 6304746 Mar 30 15:49:51 2010 bsd.rd
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 92648166 Mar 30 15:49:43 2010 comp47.tgz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 514498 Mar 30 15:49:21 2010 etc47.tgz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 2618018 Mar 30 15:49:19 2010 game47.tgz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 9463948 Mar 30 15:49:17 2010 man47.tgz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 364819 Mar 30 15:49:16 2010 misc47.tgz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 15550317 Mar 30 15:49:12 2010 xbase47.tgz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 70053 Mar 30 15:49:10 2010 xetc47.tgz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 39684757 Mar 30 15:49:05 2010 xfont47.tgz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 19879062 Mar 30 15:48:53 2010 xserv47.tgz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 2946170 Mar 30 15:50:14 2010 xshare47.tgz

I wonder about calling the above file set "minimal". It seems to me that
on could use

drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 512 Mar 31 03:04:36 2010 ./
drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 512 Mar 30 15:48:38 2010 ../
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 2162 Mar 30 15:48:52 2010 SHA256
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 50551104 Mar 30 15:50:08 2010 base47.tgz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 7592844 Mar 30 15:49:56 2010 bsd
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 7616392 Mar 30 15:49:54 2010 bsd.mp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 6304746 Mar 30 15:49:51 2010 bsd.rd
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 514498 Mar 30 15:49:21 2010 etc47.tgz

Once you have accomplished the install and have a working internet connection then add the additional file sets per FAQ 4.11
http://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq4.html#AddFileSet
The above would fit on a 128mb drive

Another thought is whether it would be feasible to make minimal i386 and amd64 *.img files that could be burned directly to the usb flash drive and post them on the internet as a service. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears that you need to copy

cp /usr/mdec/boot /mnt

from a working OBSD machine. This could be an obstacle for newbies whose only machine needs a usb device for installation.

[ocicat]

Originally Posted by shep

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears that you need to copy

cp /usr/mdec/boot /mnt

from a working OBSD machine. This could be an obstacle for newbies whose only machine needs a usb device for installation.

To make the drive bootable, the following three files are required:

• /usr/mdec/boot
• /usr/mdec/installboot
• /usr/mdec/biosboot

...& all can be extracted from base46.tgz itself. However, to run installboot requires being on a OpenBSD platform which gets back to your original point. To construct a bootable USB install device requires a working OpenBSD installation.

Once you have accomplished the install and have a working internet connection then add the additional file sets per FAQ 4.11
http://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq4.html#AddFileSet
The above would fit on a 128mb drive

Configuring a USB drive for all file sets + kernels takes 200-210MB as I recall, but if your goal is to utilize very small USB drives, you may want to consider copying floppy46.fs to the USB drive with dd(1). This only provides enough functionality to boot & grap file sets via ftp(1).

Another thought is whether it would be feasible to make minimal i386 and amd64 *.img files that could be burned directly to the usb flash drive and post them on the internet as a service.

This has been discussed repeatedly on misc@ lately, & you will get little (if any) support from the community in general. ie:

http://marc.info/?t=126765524000004&r=1&w=2

The most salient argument is that it would cut into CD sales.

[shep]

http://marc.info/?t=126765524000004&r=1&w=2

I did not go through all 155 posts but in the 10 messeage that were listed on the page there is a link to a sourceforge upload of i386_4.6 install binary for usb drives.

This is not the venue to continue the argument but I wonder if the project is missing a revenue opportunity by not supplying a preloaded thumb drive. Also wonder if zealously protecting CD sales comes at the expense of expanding the user base.

In my country there is an increasing sense of internet paranoia that could drive sales of OBSD but the task would be to make it more assessible.

I have even thought about trying adding install sets with xfce, web browser, email client (seamonkey cover both). One would need security update tools (What FreeBSD has works slick) and a package manager.

[jggimi]

The project is uninterested in advocacy, or increasing the user base, unless that drives revenue, perceived as CD sales.

You could propose an alternative revenue stream -- such as a USB stick delivery system to replace or sell in adjuct to CDs. You would need to overcome the following five fairly difficult obstacles. As I see it, these are:

• It must be simultaneously bootable on all of the architectures currently bootable with the 3-CD set.
• The release engineering effort must be automated, and provably negligible.
• Packaging must still include the artwork and stickers and such in a form suitable for bookshelf storage. A large number of people who purchase the CDs do not actually use them, the discs and packages are mementos of their support.
• Manufacture, profit margins, costs, shipping, and storage must all be equivalently similar -- the vendor must pre-load the sticks, and the costs then borne by the project and users, and the profits made by the project must be in line with CD sales.
• Theo.

[IdOp]

To add to jggimi's list, if the general belief among the developers is that expressed in the OBSD Journal article linked above by ocicat, namely that flash sticks are highly unreliable proto-rubbish, then it's hard to see them wanting to add that option. Sure, most people might not use the flash any more than the CDs, but if they don't work for those who'd rely on them, it'd be too big a headache.