Hacky tip for Illumos

 This seems to be the weekend to do all the virtualizers -so I've installed OpenIndiana (Hipster 2021-10) which can use UEFI boot now.

I made my hard disk too small so I created another one and then realized that I have no idea how to find out what the name for the disk is. 

Then I remembered -format lists the drives it can see. So:

root@openindiana:~# format -e
Searching for disks...done


AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
       0. c5t0d0 <VBOX-HARDDISK-1.0-36.00GB>
          /pci@0,0/pci8086,2829@d/disk@0,0
       1. c5t2d0 <VBOX-HARDDISK-1.0-32.00GB>
          /pci@0,0/pci8086,2829@d/disk@2,0
Specify disk (enter its number): ^C
root@openindiana:~#

So now I know I can add c5t2d0 to the end of a zpool create incantation.

As I say; hacky, but it works...

NetBSD on VB - no more hacks! (or at least a lot less)

 Normally doing a NetBSD desktop on VirtualBox involves a convoluted ritual on both host and guest. I still need to do VBoxManage for the host setup, but I've discovered something interesting. For the guest, all I need to do is specify a vesa setting, like this: 

menu=Boot normally:rndseed /var/db/entropy-file;vesa 0x160;boot

...and I get a nice, rich but readable console, and a 1920x180 desktop in X too; without configuring X in any way. This works in VBoxSVGA and VMSVGA. 

Best of all, I get a respectable sized console in full-screen mode -without X. Instead of a tiny 640x480 screen I get a console like this:

 

 

This is a game-changer! No more X (at least, it's optional), no more scaled mode. It's not perfect, but it's a serious improvement!

 

 

11 hours to build -current; what the hell?

 I'm not filing a bug because there's too many things that could be problems on my end:

• This is in a virtualbox VM
• I've seen other symptoms of HD failure on my host (I'm replacing the SATA with an SSD)
• This is current compiled on current (9.99.82 compiled on 9.99.81)
• Everything was sent to /usr/obj, which is a zfs volume. 

So -too many moving parts to report, basically. 

That said, here's the summary:

64,no-emul-boot,allow-multidot,bootimage=i386\;efiboot.img,platformid=efi,no-emul-boot NetBSD-9.99.82-amd64.iso cdrom

--- iso_image ---

mkdir -p -m 0755 /usr/src/obj/releasedir/images

/usr/src/obj/tooldir.NetBSD-9.99.81-amd64/bin/x86_64--netbsd-install -r  -c -m 444 NetBSD-9.99.82-amd64.iso /usr/src/obj/releasedir/images

iso-image ===> etc

make iso-image-source started at:  Sat May  8 14:02:24 AKDT 2021

make iso-image-source finished at: Sat May  8 14:42:32 AKDT 2021

===> Successful make iso-image-source

===> build.sh ended:      Sat May  8 14:42:32 AKDT 2021

===> Summary of results:

         build.sh command:    ./build.sh -j 5 -m amd64 -x release sourcesets iso-image-source

         build.sh started:    Sat May  8 04:05:23 AKDT 2021

         NetBSD version:      9.99.82

         MACHINE:             amd64

         MACHINE_ARCH:        x86_64

         Build platform:      NetBSD 9.99.81 amd64

         HOST_SH:             /bin/sh

         No $TOOLDIR/bin/nbmake, needs building.

         Bootstrapping nbmake

         MAKECONF file:       /etc/mk.conf

         TOOLDIR path:        /usr/src/obj/tooldir.NetBSD-9.99.81-amd64

         DESTDIR path:        /usr/src/obj/destdir.amd64

         RELEASEDIR path:     /usr/src/obj/releasedir

         Created /usr/src/obj/tooldir.NetBSD-9.99.81-amd64/bin/nbmake

         Updated makewrapper: /usr/src/obj/tooldir.NetBSD-9.99.81-amd64/bin/nbmake-amd64

         Successful make release

         Successful make sourcesets

         Successful make iso-image-source

         build.sh ended:      Sat May  8 14:42:32 AKDT 2021

===> .

Finding my way

 My last entry was a bunch of compile times with no context.

This post will give the context -hopefully!

First, I want to show why I think I may be on the right track:

iso-image ===> etc
make iso-image started at:  Fri Feb 26 12:57:59 AKST 2021
make iso-image finished at: Fri Feb 26 12:58:01 AKST 2021
===> Successful make iso-image
===> build.sh ended:      Fri Feb 26 12:58:01 AKST 2021
===> Summary of results:
         build.sh command:    ./build.sh -X /home/random/netbsd9/usr/xsrc -x -m sparc -j 5 -U -u -O /home/random/netbsd9/usr/obj -R /home/random/netbsd9/rel/rel-sparc -T /home/random/netbsd9/tooldir/tooldir-sparc release iso-image
         build.sh started:    Fri Feb 26 12:35:41 AKST 2021
         NetBSD version:      9.1_STABLE
         MACHINE:             sparc
         MACHINE_ARCH:        sparc
         Build platform:      Linux 4.19.0-14-amd64 x86_64
         HOST_SH:             /usr/bin/sh
         MAKECONF file:       /etc/mk.conf (File not found)
         TOOLDIR path:        /home/random/netbsd9/tooldir/tooldir-sparc
         DESTDIR path:        /home/random/netbsd9/usr/obj/destdir.sparc
         RELEASEDIR path:     /home/random/netbsd9/rel/rel-sparc
         Updated makewrapper: /home/random/netbsd9/tooldir/tooldir-sparc/bin/nbmake-sparc
         Successful make release
         Successful make iso-image
         build.sh ended:      Fri Feb 26 12:58:01 AKST 2021
===> . 

At this point, it seems as if I'm able to compile sparc/32 ...including X...in 23 minutes. That started at 12:35 and ended at 12:58. 

I haven't tested the iso to confirm that there's X on it, however. 

Even if that has messed up (and I've no reason to think it has) I'm still in the right direction. What I'm referring to is using some of the more advanced(ish) features of buildsh. I have set up a per-arch tools dir and built the tools for several architectures. The quick compile time of sparc32 shows that it's paying off. 

I have a shell script that still has some flaws, but will show you the general idea of what I'm trying to do:

$ cat ../makeit.sh
#!/bin/bash
export TTDR=$HOME/netbsd9/tooldir/tooldir-
export RREL=$HOME/netbsd9/rel/rel-
export OOBJ=$HOME/netbsd9/usr/obj
 for x in i386 sparc64
do
mkdir $RREL$x
./build.sh -X ~/netbsd9/usr/xsrc/ -x -m $x -j 5 -U -u -O $OOBJ -R $RREL$x -T $TTDR$x release iso-image

done

I'm setting up the directories, then the enviromental variables and having mixed results. As I was typing this up, my i386 compile crashed -and now I'm trying with arch-specific obj dirs -a change not reflected in the snippet above.

I also need to research how/what buildsh does with DESTDIR and how to set it, too.

Vax in under an hour...

make iso-image started at:  Thu Feb 25 20:50:56 AKST 2021
make iso-image finished at: Thu Feb 25 20:51:03 AKST 2021
===> Successful make iso-image
===> build.sh ended:      Thu Feb 25 20:51:03 AKST 2021
===> Summary of results:
         build.sh command:    ./build.sh -m vax -U -O /home/random/netbsd9/usr/obj -T /home/random/netbsd9/arch/amd64 -j 5 release iso-image
         build.sh started:    Thu Feb 25 20:08:36 AKST 2021
         NetBSD version:      9.1_STABLE
         MACHINE:             vax
         MACHINE_ARCH:        vax
         Build platform:      Linux 4.19.0-14-amd64 x86_64
         HOST_SH:             /usr/bin/sh
         MAKECONF file:       /etc/mk.conf (File not found)
         TOOLDIR path:        /home/random/netbsd9/arch/amd64
         DESTDIR path:        /home/random/netbsd9/usr/obj/destdir.vax
         RELEASEDIR path:     /home/random/netbsd9/usr/obj/releasedir
         Updated makewrapper: /home/random/netbsd9/arch/amd64/bin/nbmake-vax
         Successful make release
         Successful make iso-image
         build.sh ended:      Thu Feb 25 20:51:03 AKST 2021
===> .

 ...well, hmmph.

I ran a traditional/amd64 build with X and that took about 2 hours -but didn't record the time summary. also the make iso part was messed up because I forgot to put "sourcesets" before "iso-image-source".

Still! It takes half the time to compile NetBSD on a Linux VM than it does on a NetBSD VM. 

Hmmmph. 

This is on Debian 10.8, Virtualbox 6.1.18, 4 cores, for whatever that's worth

---

update

---

i386 in almost 90 minutes (again, no X):

make iso-image started at:  Thu Feb 25 22:26:51 AKST 2021
make iso-image finished at: Thu Feb 25 22:26:58 AKST 2021
===> Successful make iso-image
===> build.sh ended:      Thu Feb 25 22:26:58 AKST 2021
===> Summary of results:
         build.sh command:    ./build.sh -m i386 -U -O /home/random/netbsd9/usr/obj -T /home/random/netbsd9/arch/amd64 -j 5 release iso-image
         build.sh started:    Thu Feb 25 20:58:56 AKST 2021
         NetBSD version:      9.1_STABLE
         MACHINE:             i386
         MACHINE_ARCH:        i386
         Build platform:      Linux 4.19.0-14-amd64 x86_64
         HOST_SH:             /usr/bin/sh
         MAKECONF file:       /etc/mk.conf (File not found)
         TOOLDIR path:        /home/random/netbsd9/arch/amd64
         DESTDIR path:        /home/random/netbsd9/usr/obj/destdir.i386
         RELEASEDIR path:     /home/random/netbsd9/usr/obj/releasedir
         Updated makewrapper: /home/random/netbsd9/arch/amd64/bin/nbmake-i386
         Successful make release
         Successful make iso-image
         build.sh ended:      Thu Feb 25 22:26:58 AKST 2021
===> .

sun2 in ~45 minutes (no X)

---

iso-image ===> etc
make iso-image started at:  Thu Feb 25 23:13:19 AKST 2021
make iso-image finished at: Thu Feb 25 23:13:34 AKST 2021
===> Successful make iso-image
===> build.sh ended:      Thu Feb 25 23:13:34 AKST 2021
===> Summary of results:
         build.sh command:    ./build.sh -m sun2 -U -O /home/random/netbsd9/usr/obj -T /home/random/netbsd9/arch/amd64 -j 5 release iso-image
         build.sh started:    Thu Feb 25 22:38:21 AKST 2021
         NetBSD version:      9.1_STABLE
         MACHINE:             sun2
         MACHINE_ARCH:        m68000
         Build platform:      Linux 4.19.0-14-amd64 x86_64
         HOST_SH:             /usr/bin/sh
         MAKECONF file:       /etc/mk.conf (File not found)
         TOOLDIR path:        /home/random/netbsd9/arch/amd64
         DESTDIR path:        /home/random/netbsd9/usr/obj/destdir.sun2
         RELEASEDIR path:     /home/random/netbsd9/usr/obj/releasedir
         Updated makewrapper: /home/random/netbsd9/arch/amd64/bin/nbmake-sun2
         Successful make release
         Successful make iso-image
         build.sh ended:      Thu Feb 25 23:13:34 AKST 2021
===> .

---

iso-image ===> etc
make iso-image started at:  Fri Feb 26 00:08:14 AKST 2021
make iso-image finished at: Fri Feb 26 00:08:15 AKST 2021
===> Successful make iso-image
===> build.sh ended:      Fri Feb 26 00:08:15 AKST 2021
===> Summary of results:
         build.sh command:    ./build.sh -m sun3 -U -O /home/random/netbsd9/usr/obj -T /home/random/netbsd9/arch/amd64 -j 5 release iso-image
         build.sh started:    Thu Feb 25 23:23:37 AKST 2021
         NetBSD version:      9.1_STABLE
         MACHINE:             sun3
         MACHINE_ARCH:        m68k
         Build platform:      Linux 4.19.0-14-amd64 x86_64
         HOST_SH:             /usr/bin/sh
         MAKECONF file:       /etc/mk.conf (File not found)
         TOOLDIR path:        /home/random/netbsd9/arch/amd64
         DESTDIR path:        /home/random/netbsd9/usr/obj/destdir.sun3
         RELEASEDIR path:     /home/random/netbsd9/usr/obj/releasedir
         Updated makewrapper: /home/random/netbsd9/arch/amd64/bin/nbmake-sun3
         Successful make release
         Successful make iso-image
         build.sh ended:      Fri Feb 26 00:08:15 AKST 2021
===> . 

...time passes... 

iso-image ===> etc
make iso-image started at:  Fri Feb 26 12:57:59 AKST 2021
make iso-image finished at: Fri Feb 26 12:58:01 AKST 2021
===> Successful make iso-image
===> build.sh ended:      Fri Feb 26 12:58:01 AKST 2021
===> Summary of results:
         build.sh command:    ./build.sh -X /home/random/netbsd9/usr/xsrc -x -m sparc -j 5 -U -u -O /home/random/netbsd9/usr/obj -R /home/random/netbsd9/rel/rel-sparc -T /home/random/netbsd9/tooldir/tooldir-sparc release iso-image
         build.sh started:    Fri Feb 26 12:35:41 AKST 2021
         NetBSD version:      9.1_STABLE
         MACHINE:             sparc
         MACHINE_ARCH:        sparc
         Build platform:      Linux 4.19.0-14-amd64 x86_64
         HOST_SH:             /usr/bin/sh
         MAKECONF file:       /etc/mk.conf (File not found)
         TOOLDIR path:        /home/random/netbsd9/tooldir/tooldir-sparc
         DESTDIR path:        /home/random/netbsd9/usr/obj/destdir.sparc
         RELEASEDIR path:     /home/random/netbsd9/rel/rel-sparc
         Updated makewrapper: /home/random/netbsd9/tooldir/tooldir-sparc/bin/nbmake-sparc
         Successful make release
         Successful make iso-image
         build.sh ended:      Fri Feb 26 12:58:01 AKST 2021
===> .

Note to future self, feb 2021

This blog post details a personal workflow experiment. This is for my own use only -if you found this entry because of google, whatever you should be aware that none of this is recommended. It's shit I'm trying for myself.

At least it compiles!

I was able to build CDE on NetBSD 9.1 by following the instructions and then running:

LANG=C make -k World

Four Seventeen...

 ===> build.sh ended:      Fri Feb  5 03:36:39 AKST 2021
===> Summary of results:
         build.sh command:    ./build.sh -j 5 -u -x -X /usr/xsrc release sets sourcesets iso-image-source
         build.sh started:    Thu Feb  4 23:19:31 AKST 2021
         NetBSD version:      9.99.77
         MACHINE:             amd64
         MACHINE_ARCH:        x86_64
         Build platform:      NetBSD 9.99.77 amd64
         HOST_SH:             /bin/sh
         MAKECONF file:       /etc/mk.conf
         TOOLDIR path:        /usr/src/obj/tooldir.NetBSD-9.99.77-amd64
         DESTDIR path:        /usr/src/obj/destdir.amd64
         RELEASEDIR path:     /usr/src/obj/releasedir
         Updated makewrapper: /usr/src/obj/tooldir.NetBSD-9.99.77-amd64/bin/nbmake-amd64
         Successful make release
         Building sets from pre-populated /usr/src/obj/destdir.amd64
         Built sets to /usr/src/obj/releasedir/amd64/binary/sets
         Successful make sourcesets
         Successful make iso-image-source
         build.sh ended:      Fri Feb  5 03:36:39 AKST 2021
===> .
beasty2021$

A more prudent decision ...?

 I just, just wrote my previous blogpost 12 hours ago -and I've already got a good deal of 2020Q4 built on Debian 10.

It ought to go without saying I'm doing all of this in Virtualbox, as I do with 9/10ths of the other things I write about (with the exception of 86box stuff). But the Debian VM I was building in was built wrong -the disk space was split and arranged oddly.

So this morning I packed up what I had built and then remade another VM -this time with 80 odd gigs and all on one partition, and splatted it back on there.

Ncurses, gcc-10, libcups and harfbuzz all built just fine -but it was building harfbuzz that I discovered that I'd run out of room. I had things build while I slept:

gcc-10

clang

LLVM

harfbuzz

...it turns out that clang and LLVM didn't build; presumably because of space issues. 

Basically, my strategy is the get the problematic builds (ncurses, libcups) built, then the larger ones (gcc-10, clang) ...after that, I'll tackle widget libraries (gtk,wxwidgets and qt) and hopefully after that I'll be able to build packages such as codeblocks and libreoffice.

The title refers to my move (back) to building on Debian instead of Centos. I know where Debian is going to be and what they'll be doing 5 years from now. IBM -not so much. I might be more interested in riding out the Centos drama if I was invested in the RedHat ecosystem to begin with -but I'm not. I've always preferred Mint, Debian or Ubuntu (in that order).

Mind you, the Centos VM feels cozy as a desktop, and I can see myself possibly setting up a RHEL or a "Rocky" Or a "AlmaLinux" secondary desktop in the future -but for the purposes of learning pkgsrc on Linux I think my time is better spent getting things working on Debian. Like I say, I know where they'll be 5 or 10 years from now.

OI on VB; quick note-to-self

 To get proper graphics, the following need to be done: 

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage.exe setextradata OI-2021 CustomVideoMode1 1920x1080x16

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage modifyvm OI-2021 --graphicscontroller vboxvga

The resolution may/may not need to be adjusted in MATE (preferences -> system -> displays).

The text installer (an option from the mate boot disk) allows you to specify an IP and default router, instead of having it handled by Network Manager. 

ooof. 4 hours and 42 minutes to build 9.99.77!

 mkdir -p -m 0755 /usr/src/obj/releasedir/images

/usr/src/obj/tooldir.NetBSD-9.99.77-amd64/bin/x86_64--netbsd-install -r -p -c -m 444 NetBSD-9.99.77-amd64.iso /usr/src/obj/releasedir/images

iso-image ===> etc

make iso-image-source started at:  Sun Dec 27 07:55:04 AKST 2020

make iso-image-source finished at: Sun Dec 27 07:56:11 AKST 2020

===> Successful make iso-image-source

===> build.sh ended:      Sun Dec 27 07:56:11 AKST 2020

===> Summary of results:

         build.sh command:    ./build.sh -j 4 -u -x -X /usr/xsrc release sets sourcesets iso-image-source

         build.sh started:    Sun Dec 27 03:14:41 AKST 2020

         NetBSD version:      9.99.77

         MACHINE:             amd64

         MACHINE_ARCH:        x86_64

         Build platform:      NetBSD 9.99.77 amd64

         HOST_SH:             /bin/sh

         No $TOOLDIR/bin/nbmake, needs building.

         Bootstrapping nbmake

         MAKECONF file:       /etc/mk.conf

         TOOLDIR path:        /usr/src/obj/tooldir.NetBSD-9.99.77-amd64

         DESTDIR path:        /usr/src/obj/destdir.amd64

         RELEASEDIR path:     /usr/src/obj/releasedir

         Created /usr/src/obj/tooldir.NetBSD-9.99.77-amd64/bin/nbmake

         Updated makewrapper: /usr/src/obj/tooldir.NetBSD-9.99.77-amd64/bin/nbmake-amd64

         Successful make release

         Building sets from pre-populated /usr/src/obj/destdir.amd64

         Built sets to /usr/src/obj/releasedir/amd64/binary/sets

         Successful make sourcesets

         Successful make iso-image-source

         build.sh ended:      Sun Dec 27 07:56:11 AKST 2020

===> .

Command line:  ./build.sh -j 4 -u -x -X /usr/xsrc release sets sourcesets iso-image-source

Virtualbox, 4 cpus, Execution cap 95%, 10248mb of ram

----

Results from 11 Jan 2021:

----

make iso-image-source finished at: Mon Jan 11 03:33:14 AKST 2021

===> Successful make iso-image-source

===> build.sh ended:      Mon Jan 11 03:33:14 AKST 2021

===> Summary of results:

         build.sh command:    ./build.sh -j 4 -u -x -X /usr/xsrc release sets sourcesets iso-image-source

         build.sh started:    Sun Jan 10 23:54:07 AKST 2021

         NetBSD version:      9.99.77

         MACHINE:             amd64

         MACHINE_ARCH:        x86_64

         Build platform:      NetBSD 9.99.77 amd64

         HOST_SH:             /bin/sh

         No $TOOLDIR/bin/nbmake, needs building.

         Bootstrapping nbmake

         MAKECONF file:       /etc/mk.conf

         TOOLDIR path:        /usr/src/obj/tooldir.NetBSD-9.99.77-amd64

         DESTDIR path:        /usr/src/obj/destdir.amd64

         RELEASEDIR path:     /usr/src/obj/releasedir

         Created /usr/src/obj/tooldir.NetBSD-9.99.77-amd64/bin/nbmake

         Updated makewrapper: /usr/src/obj/tooldir.NetBSD-9.99.77-amd64/bin/nbmake-amd64

         Successful make release

         Building sets from pre-populated /usr/src/obj/destdir.amd64

         Built sets to /usr/src/obj/releasedir/amd64/binary/sets

         Successful make sourcesets

         Successful make iso-image-source

         build.sh ended:      Mon Jan 11 03:33:14 AKST 2021

===> .

Openindiana Static IP

Thanks to a post on the OI mailing list, I finally figured out how to set a static IP.

Actually, setting the static IP hasn't been the problem; that's easy enough to do using network manager. The tricky part has been dns.

The mailing list referred to this guide on the openindiana website. Using those instructions -modified for virtualbox (substituting bge0 with e1000g0), I was able to set my IP to 192.168.1.15 and my router to 192.168.1.1

ifconfig showed the correct information, and my route seemed to be set; but I couldn't ping anything.

I went back to re-read and found this gem:

IF you cannot ping an external IP (e.g. google.com) run this command and try again.

# cp /etc/nsswitch.dns /etc/nsswitch.conf

After that, the net worked just like it was supposed to. In fact, I half suspect I could have skipped all the dinking around and simply set /etc/resolv.conf and nsswitch.conf. I'll have to try that another day!

Other, unrelated notes:
I tried setting up sunstudio 12.3, but it didn't like my installed java version; so it won't run.

I temporarily borked my mate by adding the following to .profile:
$PATH:/opt/solarisstudio12.3/bin
which should have been:
export PATH=$PATH:/opt/solarisstudio12.3/bin

The result being that lightdm would get confused and send me back to the login prompt after successfully logging in.

Debian Testing in a VB VM (2019/2020 edition)

To install guest additions, first:

sudo apt update -y && apt upgrade
sudo apt install dkms linux-headers-$(uname -r) build-essential

Then:

cd /media/cdrom0/; /bin/sh VBo*run

To set up ISO files as a local repository: 

1)Download the files somewhere. I use /.iso:

random@flustered:~$ ls -l /.iso
total 12833380
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root   root         4096 Oct  6 20:57 1
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root   root         2048 Oct  6 21:13 2
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root   root         2048 Oct  6 21:15 3
-rwxr-xr-x 1 random random 3838230528 Oct  7 09:23 debian-testing-amd64-DVD-1.iso
-rwxr-xr-x 1 random random 4619786240 Oct  7 09:25 debian-testing-amd64-DVD-2.iso
-rwxr-xr-x 1 random random 4683341824 Oct  7 09:27 debian-testing-amd64-DVD-3.iso
random@flustered:~$
 

2) create mountpoints (mkdir /.iso{1,2,3}). 

3) add the mountpoints to /etc/fstab:

random@flustered:~$ cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
#                
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=4c /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=28 none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/sr0        /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660 user,noauto     0       0
/.iso/debian-testing-amd64-DVD-1.iso /.iso/1 iso9660     ro,loop,auto    0       0
/.iso/debian-testing-amd64-DVD-2.iso /.iso/2 iso9660     ro,loop,auto    0       0
/.iso/debian-testing-amd64-DVD-3.iso /.iso/3 iso9660     ro,loop,auto    0       0
random@flustered:~$
 

4) make the proper changes to /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb [trusted=yes] file:/.iso/1 bullseye contrib main

deb [trusted=yes] file:/.iso/2 bullseye contrib main
deb [trusted=yes] file:/.iso/3 bullseye contrib main

...it's important to put "[trusted=yes]", or apt won't process them.

5)apt update to use the new sources

...and you're good to go.

Setting up FreeBSD 12 in Virtualbox 6, 2019

VirtualBox has come a long way since I started using it 11 years ago!

In that time, FreeBSD has put in a lot of spit and elbow grease and make the process of using it as a guest operating system pretty smooth for a BSD.

FreeBSD has also switched package systems in that time too -going from the aging pkg_* tools to using the newly written pkgng system.

I don't write often because I have settled into a pretty dull routine; WSL, or Mint, and the occasional NetBSD vm, with some retrocomputing mixed in from time to time. Nothing worth writing about, honestly.

Frustrated with trying to compile an update for NetBSD, I decided to take FreeBSD out for a spin. While I do play with FreeBSD from time to time (not as much as Net) I hadn't really taken a very close look at how well it works with VMs these days.

For the most part I've worked with connecting to my VMs with ssh, and hacking together decent resolutions either with Mate's tools or custom xorg.confs. Not wanting to take excessive amounts of time waiting for compiles and being curious, I just dove right in to pkgng, Virtualbox, and Mate.

I created a FreeBSD 12/amd64 virtual machine and ran through the installation from iso -nothing major there.

After that was set up, I got pkgng to work. That simply meant running pkg and then "pkg update"

From there I installed the xorg, virtualbox-ose-additions, mate and slim packages. Later I found I needed to add fuse, though I'm not sure what for at this point -mounting, maybe?

So ...pretty simple so far; after that some configuration needs to take place.

For slim, you need something in ~/.xinitrc. Since I'm running Mate I only have one line in mine:
exec mate-session

For virtualbox I've added the following to /boot/loader.conf:

fuse_load="YES"

And I made the following changes to /etc/rc.conf to get everything working:

dbus_enable="YES"
hald_enable="YES"
slim_enable="YES"
vboxguest_enable="YES"
vboxservice_enable="YES"

I've also set up codeblocks, firefox and vlc as well.

I used Mate's hardware tool (graphics) to set up a decent resolution and saved it as a local user. I wasn't able to save it globbally, which is annoying but I can cope with. I don't have sound working, but I'm confident I'll get it if I ever need it.

My middle mouse button works, though -so FreeBSD already has one over on Mint.

I wasn't able to get shared folders to mount, but I found a nice post on the FreeBSD forums that gave me the following line:

sudo mount -t vboxvfs -o rw,gid=1001,uid=1001 vmshare $HOME/windowsDir

Change the share ("vmshare") name and the destination and it works just fine, albeit a little "ghetto" for 2019.

I had a NetBSD VM set up for my retrocomputing (simh) environment -still have it, actually -but I think I'll set this up too, and maybe even try recompiling a system from scratch sometime in the future.

One thing I'll make a note of -I tried the same set-up with vmware player but couldn't set the resolution above 1280. Installed their tools, did some things I found on the google -none of it worked so I went back to my VB VM ...which did.

Back to Virtual NetBSD

I was mistaken in my last post about Openindiana. It appears to compile, but never reaches the point where the final packages are made. It's probably a problem with my sunstudio setup -I don't feel like chasing it down when there's alternatives to play with.

I'm very fond of NetBSD -have been for fifteen or so years now.

Sadly, for nine and a half years I haven't been able to get it to work with real hardware. At first it didn't like my sata drives (in a computer now long-since gone), these days it doesn't like my wifi or my wireless mouse.

...thank God for virtualization, huh?

make release started at:  Wed Mar  8 00:49:50 AKST 2017
make release finished at: Wed Mar  8 02:16:35 AKST 2017
===> Successful make release
===> build.sh ended:      Wed Mar  8 02:16:35 AKST 2017
===> Summary of results:
         build.sh command:    ./build.sh -x -j 6 -r release
         build.sh started:    Wed Mar  8 00:49:44 AKST 2017
         NetBSD version:      7.1_RC2
         MACHINE:             amd64
         MACHINE_ARCH:        x86_64
         Build platform:      NetBSD 7.1_RC2 amd64
         HOST_SH:             /bin/sh
         No $TOOLDIR/bin/nbmake, needs building.
         Bootstrapping nbmake
         MAKECONF file:       /etc/mk.conf
         TOOLDIR path:        /usr/src/obj/tooldir.NetBSD-7.1_RC2-amd64
         DESTDIR path:        /usr/src/obj/destdir.amd64
         RELEASEDIR path:     /usr/src/obj/releasedir
         Removing /usr/src/obj/tooldir.NetBSD-7.1_RC2-amd64
         Removing /usr/src/obj/destdir.amd64
         Created /usr/src/obj/tooldir.NetBSD-7.1_RC2-amd64/bin/nbmake
         Updated makewrapper: /usr/src/obj/tooldir.NetBSD-7.1_RC2-amd64/bin/nbmake-amd64
         Successful make release
         build.sh ended:      Wed Mar  8 02:16:35 AKST 2017
===> .

 tldr; it only takes an hour and a half to rebuild NetBSD on my i5. Not too shabby.

The next task is to build firefox, fluxbox and some other packages that make life under NetBSD easier.

I love the fact I can set this up to build on another computer and do things on my desktop while it runs. It's a lot better than doing everything all on one -it's almost decadent!