FreeBSD From Scratch

1 Introduction

Have you ever upgraded your system with make world? There is a problem if you have only one system on your disks. If the installworld fails partway through, you are left with a broken system that might not even boot any longer. Or maybe the installworld runs smoothly but the new kernel does not boot. Then it is time to reach for the Fixit CD and dig for those backups you have taken half a year ago.

I believe in the ``wipe your disks when upgrading systems'' paradigm. Wiping disks, or rather partitions, makes sure there is no old cruft left lying around, something which most upgrade procedures just do not care about. But wiping the partitions means you have to also recompile/reinstall all your ports and packages and then redo all your carefully crafted configuration tweaks. If you think that this task should be automated as well, read on.

2 Why would I (not) want FreeBSD From Scratch?

This is a legitimate question. We have sysinstall and the well known way to compile the kernel and the userland tools.

The problem with sysinstall is that it is severely limited in what, where and how it can install.

• It is normally used to install pre-built distribution sets and packages from some other source (CD, DVD, FTP). It cannot install the result of a make buildworld.

• It cannot install a second system under a directory in a running system.

• It cannot install in Vinum partitions.

• It cannot compile ports, only install precompiled packages.

• It is hard to script or to make arbitrary post-installation changes.

• Last but not least, sysinstall is semi-officially at its End-Of-Life.

The well known way to build and install the world, as described in the Handbook, by default replaces the existing system. Only the kernel and modules are saved. System binaries, headers and a lot of other files are overwritten; obsolete files are still present and can cause surprises. If the upgrade fails for any reason, it may be hard or even impossible to restore the previous state of the system.

FreeBSD From Scratch solves all these problems. The strategy is simple: use a running system to install a new system under an empty directory tree, while new partitions are mounted appropriately in that tree. Many config files can be copied to the appropriate place and mergemaster(8) can take care of those that cannot. Arbitrary post-configuration of the new system can be done from within the old system, up to the point where you can chroot to the new system. In other words, we go through three stages, where each stage consists of either running a shell script or invoke make:

1. stage_1.sh: Create a new bootable system under an empty directory and merge or copy as many files as are necessary. Then boot the new system.

2. stage_2.sh: Install desired ports.

3. stage_3.mk: Do post-configuration for software installed in previous stage.

Once you have used FreeBSD From Scratch to build a second system and found it works satisfactorily for a couple of weeks, you can then use it again to reinstall the original system. From now on, whenever you feel like an update is in order, you simply toggle the partitions you want to wipe and reinstall.

Maybe you have heard of or even tried Linux From Scratch, or LFS for short. LFS also describes how to build and install a system from scratch in empty partitions using a running system. The focus in LFS seems to be to show the role of each system component (such as kernel, compiler, devices, shell, terminal database, etc) and the details of each component's installation. FreeBSD From Scratch does not go into that much detail. My goal is to provide an automated and complete installation, not explaining all the gory details that go on under the hood when making the world. In case you want to explore FreeBSD at this level of detail, start looking at /usr/src/Makefile and follow the actions of a make buildworld.

There are also downsides in the approach taken by FreeBSD From Scratch that you should bear in mind.

• While compiling the ports during stage two the system can not be used for its usual duties. If you run a production server you have to consider the downtime caused by stage two. The ports compiled by stage_2.conf.default below require about 4 hours to build on an AMD1800+ SCSI system with 10krpm disks and 1GB of RAM. If you prefer to install packages instead of ports, you can significantly reduce the downtime to about 10 minutes.

3 Prerequisites

For going the FreeBSD From Scratch way, you need to have:

• A running FreeBSD system with sources and a ports tree.

• At least one unused partition where the new system will be installed.

• Experience with running mergemaster(8). Or at least no fear doing so.

• If you have no or only a slow link to the Internet: the distfiles for your favorite ports.

• Basic knowledge of shell scripting with the Bourne shell, sh(1).

• Finally, you should also be able to tell your boot loader how to boot the new system, either interactively, or by means of a config file.

4 Stage One: System Installation

The first version of this article used a single shell script for stage one where all your customization had to be done by editing the script. After valuable user feedback I have decided to separate the code and data in the scripts. This allows to have different configuration data sets to install different systems without changing any of the code scripts.

The code script for stage one is stage_1.sh and when run with exactly one argument, like

# ./stage_1.sh default

will read its configuration from stage_1.conf.default and write a log to stage_1.log.default.

Further below you find my stage_1.conf.default. You need to customize it in various places to match your idea of the ``perfect system''. I have tried to extensively comment the places you should adapt. The configuration script must provide four shell functions, create_file_systems, create_etc_fstab, copy_files and all_remaining_customization (in case it matters: this is also the sequence in which they will be called from stage_1.sh).

The points to ponder are:

• Partition layout.

  I do not subscribe to the idea of a single huge partition for the whole system. My systems generally have at least one partition for /, /usr and /var with /tmp symlinked to /var/tmp. In addition I share the file systems for /home (user homes), /home/ncvs (FreeBSD CVS repository replica), /usr/ports (the ports tree), /src (various checked out src trees) and /share (other shared data without the need for backups, like the news spool).

• Luxury items.

  What you want immediately after booting the new system and even before starting stage two. The reason for not simply chrooting to the new system during stage one and installing all my beloved ports is that in theory and in practice there are bootstrap and consistency issues: stage one has your old kernel running, but the chrooted environment consists of new binaries and headers. If the new binaries use a new system call, these binaries will die with SIGSYS, Bad system call, because the old kernel does not have that system call. I have seen other issues when I tried building lang/perl5.

Before you run stage_1.sh make sure you have completed the usual tasks in preparation for make installworld installkernel, like:

• configured your kernel config file

• successfully completed make buildworld

• successfully completed make buildkernel KERNCONF=whatever

When you run stage_1.sh for the first time, and the config files copied from your running system to the new system are not up-to-date with respect to what is under /usr/src, mergemaster will ask you how to proceed. I recommend merging the changes. If you get tired of going through the dialogues you can simply update the files on your running system once (Only if this is an option. You probably do not want to do this if one of your systems runs -STABLE and the other -CURRENT. The changes may be incompatible). Subsequent mergemaster invocations will detect that the RCS version IDs match those under /usr/src and skip the file.

The stage_1.sh script will stop at the first command that fails (returns a non-zero exit status) due to set -e, so you cannot overlook errors. It will also stop if you use an unset environment variable, probably due to a typo. You should correct any errors in your version of stage_1.conf.default before you go on.

In stage_1.sh we invoke mergemaster. Even if none of the files requires a merge, it will display and ask at the end

*** Comparison complete

Do you wish to delete what is left of /var/tmp/temproot.stage1? [no] no

Please answer no or just hit Enter. The reason is that mergemaster will have left a few zero sized files below /var/tmp/temproot.stage1 which will be copied to the new system later (unless already there).

After that it will list the files it installed, making use of a pager, more(1) by default, optionally less(1):

*** You chose the automatic install option for files that did not
    exist on your system.  The following were installed for you:
      /newroot/etc/defaults/rc.conf
      ...
      /newroot/COPYRIGHT

(END)

Type q to quit the pager. Then you will be informed about login.conf:

*** You installed a login.conf file, so make sure that you run
    '/usr/bin/cap_mkdb /newroot/etc/login.conf'
    to rebuild your login.conf database

    Would you like to run it now? y or n [n]

The answer does not matter since we will run cap_mkdb(1) in any case.

Here is the author's stage_1.conf.default, which you need to modify substantially. The comments give you enough information what to change.

# This file: stage_1.conf.default, sourced by stage_1.sh.
#
# $Id: stage_1.conf.default,v 1.2 2004/01/03 13:55:06 toor Exp toor $
# $FreeBSD: doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/fbsd-from-scratch/stage_1.conf.default,v 1.3 2004/07/19 21:02:26 schweikh Exp $

# Root mount point where you create the new system. Because it is only
# used as a mount point, no space will be used on that file system as all
# files are of course written to the mounted file system(s).
DESTDIR="/newroot"

# Where your src tree is.
SRC="/usr/src"

# Your kernel config name as from make buildkernel KERNCONF=...
KERNCONF="HAL9000"

# Available time zones are those under /usr/share/zoneinfo.
TIMEZONE="Europe/Berlin"

#
# The create_file_systems function must create the mountpoints under
# DESTDIR, create the file systems, and then mount them under DESTDIR.
#
create_file_systems () {
  # The new root file system. Mandatory.
  # Change DEVICE names or risk foot shooting.
  # You must use newfs -O 1 for the root fs if you want to boot it from grub.
  DEVICE=/dev/da0s1a
  mkdir -m 755 -p ${DESTDIR}
  chown root:wheel ${DESTDIR}
  newfs -U -O 1 ${DEVICE}
  mount -o noatime ${DEVICE} ${DESTDIR}

  # Additional file systems and initial mount points. Optional.
  DEVICE=/dev/da0s1e
  mkdir -m 755 -p ${DESTDIR}/var
  chown root:wheel ${DESTDIR}/var
  newfs -U ${DEVICE}
  mount -o noatime ${DEVICE} ${DESTDIR}/var

  DEVICE=/dev/da2s1e
  mkdir -m 755 -p ${DESTDIR}/usr
  chown root:wheel ${DESTDIR}/usr
  newfs -U ${DEVICE}
  mount -o noatime ${DEVICE} ${DESTDIR}/usr
}

#
# The create_etc_fstab function must create an fstab matching the
# file systems created in create_file_systems.
#
create_etc_fstab () {
  cat <<EOF >${DESTDIR}/etc/fstab
# Device         Mountpoint          FStype    Options              Dump Pass#
/dev/da0s1b      none                swap      sw                   0    0
/dev/da1s1b      none                swap      sw                   0    0
/dev/da2s2b      none                swap      sw                   0    0
/dev/da3s2b      none                swap      sw                   0    0
/dev/da0s1a      /                   ufs       rw,noatime           1    1
/dev/da0s1e      /var                ufs       rw,noatime           1    1
/dev/da2s1e      /usr                ufs       rw,noatime           1    1
/dev/vinum/Share /share              ufs       rw,noatime           0    2
/dev/vinum/home  /home               ufs       rw,noatime           0    2
/dev/vinum/ncvs  /home/ncvs          ufs       rw,noatime           0    2
/dev/vinum/ports /usr/ports          ufs       rw,noatime           0    2
/dev/ad1s1a      /flash              ufs       rw,noatime           0    0
/dev/ad0s1       /2k                 ntfs      ro,noauto            0    0
/dev/ad0s6       /linux              ext2fs    ro,noauto            0    0
#
/dev/cd0         /cdrom              cd9660    ro,noauto            0    0
/dev/cd1         /dvd                cd9660    ro,noauto            0    0
proc             /proc               procfs    rw                   0    0
linproc          /compat/linux/proc  linprocfs rw                   0    0
EOF
  chmod 644 ${DESTDIR}/etc/fstab
  chown root:wheel ${DESTDIR}/etc/fstab
}

#
# The copy_files function is used to copy files before mergemaster is run.
#
copy_files () {
  # Add or remove from this list at your discretion. Mostly mandatory.
  for f in \
    /.profile \
    /etc/group \
    /etc/hosts \
    /etc/inetd.conf \
    /etc/ipfw.conf \
    /etc/make.conf \
    /etc/master.passwd \
    /etc/nsswitch.conf \
    /etc/ntp.conf \
    /etc/printcap \
    /etc/profile \
    /etc/rc.conf \
    /etc/resolv.conf \
    /etc/start_if.xl0 \
    /etc/ttys \
    /etc/ppp/* \
    /etc/mail/aliases \
    /etc/mail/aliases.db \
    /etc/mail/hal9000.mc \
    /etc/mail/service.switch \
    /etc/ssh/*key* \
    /etc/ssh/*_config \
    /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 \
    /var/cron/tabs/* \
    /var/files \
    /root/.profile \
    /boot/*.bmp \
    /boot/loader.conf \
    /boot/device.hints ; do
    cp -p ${f} ${DESTDIR}${f}
  done
}

#
# Everything else you want to tune in the new system.
# NOTE: Do not install too many binaries here. With the old system running and
# the new binaries and headers installed you are likely to run into bootstrap
# problems. Ports should be compiled after you have booted in the new system.
#
all_remaining_customization () {
  # Without the compat symlink the linux_base files end up on the root fs:
  cd ${DESTDIR}
  mkdir -m 755 usr/compat; chown root:wheel usr/compat; ln -s usr/compat
  mkdir -m 755 usr/compat/linux;      chown root:wheel usr/compat/linux
  mkdir -m 555 usr/compat/linux/proc; chown root:wheel usr/compat/linux/proc
  mkdir -m 755 boot/grub;             chown root:wheel boot/grub
  mkdir -m 755 linux 2k;              chown root:wheel linux 2k
  mkdir -m 755 src;                   chown root:wheel src
  mkdir -m 755 share;                 chown root:wheel share
  mkdir -m 755 dvd cdrom flash;       chown root:wheel dvd cdrom flash
  mkdir -m 755 home;                  chown root:wheel home
  mkdir -m 755 usr/ports;             chown root:wheel usr/ports

  # My personal preference is to symlink tmp -> var/tmp. Optional.
  cd ${DESTDIR}; rmdir tmp; ln -s var/tmp

  # Make spooldirs for the printers in my /etc/printcap.
  cd ${DESTDIR}/var/spool/output/lpd; mkdir -p as od ev te lp da
  touch ${DESTDIR}/var/log/lpd-errs

  # If you do not have /home on a shared partition, you may want to copy it:
  # mkdir -p ${DESTDIR}/home
  # cd /home; tar cf - . | (cd ${DESTDIR}/home; tar xpvf -)

  case ${REVISION} in
  4.*)
    # 4.x without devfs: create non-standard devices to match your hardware.
    cd ${DESTDIR}/dev
    ./MAKEDEV all
    ./MAKEDEV da0 da0s1h da0s2h da0s3h da0s4h
    ./MAKEDEV da1 da1s1h da1s2h da1s3h da1s4h
    ./MAKEDEV da2 da2s1h da2s2h da2s3h da2s4h
    ./MAKEDEV da3 da3s1h da3s2h da3s3h da3s4h
    ./MAKEDEV bktr0 cd1
    if test -d /dev/vinum; then
      # 'vinum makedev' can only create devices in /dev, thus use cpio.
      cd /dev; find vinum -print | cpio -pv ${DESTDIR}/dev
    fi

    # Make the floppy group wheel writable.
    chown root:wheel ${DESTDIR}/dev/fd0*
    chmod g+w ${DESTDIR}/dev/fd0*
    ;;

  5.*)
    # Make the floppy group wheel writable.
    printf '%s\n' 'own  fd0 root:wheel' >> ${DESTDIR}/etc/devfs.conf
    printf '%s\n' 'perm fd0 0660'       >> ${DESTDIR}/etc/devfs.conf
    ;;

  *)
    printf '%s\n' "REVISION ${REVISION} not supported"
    exit 1
    ;;

  esac
}

# vim: tabstop=2:expandtab:shiftwidth=2:syntax=sh:
# EOF $RCSfile: stage_1.conf.default,v $

Download stage_1.conf.default .

Running this script installs a system that when booted provides:

• Inherited users and groups.

• Firewalled Internet connectivity over Ethernet and PPP.

• Correct time zone and NTP.

• Some more minor configuration, like /etc/ttys and inetd.

Other areas are prepared for configuration, but will not work until stage two is completed. For example we have copied files to configure printing and X11. Printing however is likely to need applications not found in the base system, like PostScript® utilities. X11 will not run before we have compiled the server, libraries and programs.

5 Stage Two: Ports Installation

The following stage_2.sh script is how I install my favorite ports. It can be run any number of times and will skip all ports that are already installed. It supports the dryrun option (-n) to just show what would be done. You run it like stage_1.sh with exactly one argument to denote a config file, e.g.

# ./stage_2.sh default

which will read the list of ports from stage_2.conf.default.

The list of ports consists of lines with two or more space separated words: the category and the port, optionally followed by an installation command that will compile and install the port (default: make install BATCH=yes < /dev/null). Empty lines and lines starting with # are ignored. Most of the time it suffices to only name category and port. A few ports however can be fine tuned by specifying make variables, e.g.:

www mozilla make WITHOUT_MAILNEWS=yes WITHOUT_CHATZILLA=yes install

In fact you can specify arbitrary shell commands, so you are not restricted to simple make invocations:

java linux-sun-jdk13 yes | make install
news inn-stable CONFIGURE_ARGS="--enable-uucp-rnews --enable-setgid-inews" make install

Note that the line for news/inn-stable is an example for a one-shot shell variable assignment to CONFIGURE_ARGS. The port Makefile will use this as an initial value and augment some other essential args. The difference to specifying a make variable on the command line with

news inn-stable make CONFIGURE_ARGS="--enable-uucp-rnews --enable-setgid-inews" install

is that the latter will override instead of augment. It depends on the particular port which method you want.

Be careful that your ports do not use an interactive install, i.e. they should not try to read from stdin other than what you explicitly give them on stdin. If they do, they will read the next line(s) from your list of ports in the here-document and get confused. If stage_2.sh mysteriously skips a port or stops processing, this is likely the reason.

Below is stage_2.conf.default. A log file named LOGDIR/category+port is created for each port it actually installs.

# vim: syntax=sh
# $Id: stage_2.conf.default,v 1.2 2004/03/06 12:50:30 toor Exp toor $
# $FreeBSD: doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/fbsd-from-scratch/stage_2.conf.default,v 1.3 2004/07/19 20:42:13 schweikh Exp $
shells zsh
devel gettext make BATCH=yes install
lang perl5.8 make install; use.perl port
archivers unzip
archivers zip
security sudo
x11-servers XFree86-4-Server
x11 wrapper
x11 XFree86-4-clients
x11 XFree86-4-documents
x11-fonts XFree86-4-font75dpi
x11-fonts XFree86-4-font100dpi
x11-fonts XFree86-4-fontScalable
x11-fonts urwfonts
x11-fonts webfonts make WITH_NETSCAPE_ALIASES=yes install
x11-toolkits open-motif
x11-wm ctwm
security openssh-askpass
astro xplanet
astro xephem
editors vim
print ghostscript-gnu make A4=yes BATCH=yes install
print psutils-a4
print a2ps-a4
print gv
print acroread5
print transfig
print teTeX
# NOTE: jdk14 needs linprocfs(5) mounted or it will hang indefinitely.
java linux-sun-jdk14 mount -a linproc; yes | make install
java jdk14 mount -a linproc; make -DNODEBUG install
www apache2
www weblint
www amaya
www firefox make BATCH=yes install
www mozilla make WITHOUT_MAILNEWS=yes WITHOUT_COMPOSER=yes WITHOUT_LDAP=yes WITHOUT_CHATZILLA=yes WITHOUT_XMLTERM=yes install
www checkbot
www privoxy
graphics xfig
graphics xv
multimedia xawtv
graphics graphviz
lang expect
lang gawk
lang TenDRA unset MAKEOBJDIRPREFIX; make install
news tin
net freebsd-uucp
net cvsup-without-gui
net pathchar make NO_CHECKSUM=yes install
ftp wget
textproc ispell
german ispell-neu
german ispell-alt
textproc docproj make JADETEX=no HAVE_MOTIF=yes BATCH=yes install < /dev/null
sysutils samefile
sysutils lsof
sysutils pstree
sysutils cdrtools
sysutils grub
sysutils smartmontools
sysutils vobcopy
devel ddd
devel gindent
devel ctags
devel ElectricFence
devel strace
devel perltidy
mail procmail make BATCH=yes install
mail metamail
mail mutt-devel
emulators mtools
sysutils portupgrade
news inn-stable CONFIGURE_ARGS="--enable-uucp-rnews --enable-setgid-inews" make install
misc figlet-fonts
security gpa
mail spamoracle
multimedia mplayer make WITHOUT_RUNTIME_CPUDETECTION=yes WITH_GUI=yes BATCH=yes install
multimedia mplayer-fonts
audio wavplay
games xmahjongg
games xdemineur
editors openoffice-1.1

Download stage_2.conf.default.

6 Stage Three

You have installed your beloved ports during stage two. Some ports require a little bit of configuration. This is what stage three, the post-configuration is for. I could have integrated this post-configuration at the end of the stage_2.sh script. However, I think there is a conceptual difference between installing a port and modifying its out-of-the-box configuration that warrants a separate stage.

I have chosen to implement stage three as a Makefile because this allows easy selection of what you want to configure simply by running:

# make -f stage_3.mk target

As with stage_2.sh make sure you have stage_3.mk available after booting the new system, either by putting it on a shared partition or copying it somewhere on the new system.

7 Limitations

The automated installation of a port may prove difficult if it is interactive and does not support make BATCH=YES install. For a few ports the interaction is nothing more than typing yes when asked to accept some license. If such input is read from the standard input, we simply pipe the appropriate answers to the installation command (usually make install; this is how I deal with java/linux-sun-jdk14 in stage_2.conf.default).

This strategy for example does not work for editors/staroffice52, which requires that X11 is running. The installation procedure involves a fair amount of clicking and typing, so it cannot be automated like other ports can. However the following workaround does the trick for me: first I create a staroffice package on the old system with

# cd /usr/ports/editors/staroffice52
# make package
===>  Building package for staroffice-5.2_1
Creating package /usr/ports/editors/staroffice52/staroffice-5.2_1.tbz
Registering depends:.
Creating bzip'd tar ball in '/usr/ports/editors/staroffice52/staroffice-5.2_1.tbz'

and during stage two I simply use:

# pkg_add /usr/ports/editors/staroffice52/staroffice-5.2_1.tbz

You should also be aware of upgrade issues for config files. In general you do not know when and if the format or contents of a config file changes. A new group may be added to /etc/group, or /etc/passwd may gain another field. All of this has happened in the past. Simply copying a config file from the old to the new system may be enough most of the time, but in these cases it was not. If you update a system the canonical way (by overwriting the old files) you are expected to use mergemaster to deal with changes where you effectively want to merge your local config with potentially new items. Unfortunately, mergemaster is only available for base system files, not for anything installed by ports. Some third party software seems to be especially designed to keep me on my toes by changing the config file format every fortnight. To detect such silent changes, I keep a copy of the modified config files in the same place where I keep stage_3.mk and compare the result with a make rule, e.g. for apache's httpd.conf in target config_apache with

@if ! cmp -s /usr/local/etc/apache2/httpd.conf httpd.conf; then \
    echo "ATTENTION: the httpd.conf has changed. Please examine if"; \
    echo "the modifications are still correct. Here is the diff:"; \
    diff -u /usr/local/etc/apache2/httpd.conf httpd.conf; \
fi

If the diff is innocuous I can make the message go away with cp /usr/local/etc/apache2/httpd.conf httpd.conf.

I have used FreeBSD From Scratch several times to update a 5-CURRENT to 5-CURRENT, i.e. I have never tried to install a 5-CURRENT from a 4-STABLE system or vice versa. Due to the number of changes between different major release numbers I would expect this process to be a bit more involved. Using FreeBSD From Scratch for upgrades within the realm of 4-STABLE should work painlessly (although I have not yet tried it.) Users of 4-STABLE may want to consider the following areas:

8 The Files

Here are the three files you need beside the config files already shown above.

This is the stage_1.sh script, which you should not need to modify.

#!/bin/sh
#
# stage_1.sh - FreeBSD From Scratch, Stage 1: System Installation.
#              Usage: ./stage_1.sh profile
#              will read ./stage_1.conf.profile
#              and write ./stage_1.log.profile
#
# Author:      Jens Schweikhardt
# $Id: stage_1.sh,v 1.7 2004/01/03 13:50:41 toor Exp toor $
# $FreeBSD: doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/fbsd-from-scratch/stage_1.sh,v 1.5 2004/07/19 21:02:26 schweikh Exp $

PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin

# Prerequisites:
#
# a) Successfully completed "make buildworld" and "make buildkernel"
# b) Unused partitions (at least one for the root fs, probably more for
#    the new /usr and /var, to your liking.)
# c) A customized stage_1.conf.profile file.

if test $# -ne 1; then
  echo "usage: stage_1.sh profile" 1>&2
  exit 1
fi

# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- #
# Step 1: Create an empty directory tree below $DESTDIR.
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- #

step_one () {
  create_file_systems
  # Now create all the other directories. Mandatory.
  cd ${SRC}/etc; make distrib-dirs DESTDIR=${DESTDIR}
}

# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- #
# Step 2: Fill the empty /etc directory tree and put a few files in /.
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- #

step_two () {
  copy_files

  # Delete mergemaster's temproot, if any.
  TEMPROOT=/var/tmp/temproot.stage1
  if test -d ${TEMPROOT}; then
    chflags -R 0 ${TEMPROOT}
    rm -rf ${TEMPROOT}
  fi
  export MAKEDEVPATH="/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin"
  mergemaster -i -m ${SRC}/etc -t ${TEMPROOT} -D ${DESTDIR}
  cap_mkdb ${DESTDIR}/etc/login.conf
  pwd_mkdb -d ${DESTDIR}/etc -p ${DESTDIR}/etc/master.passwd

  # Mergemaster does not create empty files, e.g. in /var/log. Do so now,
  # but do not clobber files that may have been copied with copy_files.
  cd ${TEMPROOT}
  find . -type f | sed 's,^\./,,' |
  while read f; do
    if test -r ${DESTDIR}/${f}; then
      echo "${DESTDIR}/${f} already exists; not copied"
    else
      echo "Creating empty ${DESTDIR}/${f}"
      cp -p ${f} ${DESTDIR}/${f}
    fi
  done
  chflags -R 0 ${TEMPROOT}
  rm -rf ${TEMPROOT}
}

# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- #
# Step 3: Install world.
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- #

step_three () {
  cd ${SRC}
  make installworld DESTDIR=${DESTDIR}
  # Install additional compatibility libraries (optional). Use this if you
  # have programs dynamically linked against libc.so.4, i.e. if you see
  # /usr/libexec/ld-elf.so.1: Shared object "libc.so.4" not found
  cd lib/compat/compat4x.i386
  make all install DESTDIR=${DESTDIR}
}

# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- #
# Step 4: Install kernel and modules.
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- #

step_four () {
  cd ${SRC}
  # The loader.conf and device.hints are required by the installkernel target.
  # If you have not copied them in Step 2, cp them as shown in the next 2 lines.
  #   cp sys/boot/forth/loader.conf ${DESTDIR}/boot/defaults
  #   cp sys/i386/conf/GENERIC.hints ${DESTDIR}/boot/device.hints
  make installkernel DESTDIR=${DESTDIR} KERNCONF=${KERNCONF}
}

# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- #
# Step 5: Install /etc/fstab and time zone info.
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- #

step_five () {
  create_etc_fstab

  # Setup time zone info; pretty much mandatory.
  cp ${DESTDIR}/usr/share/zoneinfo/${TIMEZONE} ${DESTDIR}/etc/localtime
  if test -r /etc/wall_cmos_clock; then
    cp -p /etc/wall_cmos_clock ${DESTDIR}/etc/wall_cmos_clock
  fi
}

# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- #
# Step 6: All remaining customization.
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- #

step_six () {
  all_remaining_customization
}

do_steps () {
  echo "PROFILE=${PROFILE}"
  echo "DESTDIR=${DESTDIR}"
  echo "SRC=${SRC}"
  echo "KERNCONF=${KERNCONF}"
  echo "TIMEZONE=${TIMEZONE}"
  echo "TYPE=${TYPE}"
  echo "REVISION=${REVISION}"
  echo "BRANCH=${BRANCH}"
  echo "RELDATE=${RELDATE}"
  step_one
  step_two
  step_three
  step_four
  step_five
  step_six
}

# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- #
# The ball starts rolling here.
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- #

PROFILE="$1"
set -x -e -u # Stop for any error or use of an undefined variable.
. ./stage_1.conf.${PROFILE}

# Determine a few variables from the sources that were used to make the
# world. The variables can be used to modify actions, e.g. depending on
# whether we install a 4.x or 5.x system. The __FreeBSD_version numbers
# for RELDATE are documented in the Porter's Handbook,
# doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/porters-handbook/freebsd-versions.html.
# Scheme is:  <major><two digit minor><0 if release branch, otherwise 1>xx
# The result will be something like
#
#   TYPE="FreeBSD"
#   REVISION="4.9"
#   BRANCH="RC"      { "CURRENT", "STABLE", "RELEASE" }
#   RELDATE="502101"
#
eval $(awk '/^(TYPE|REVISION|BRANCH)=/' ${SRC}/sys/conf/newvers.sh)
RELDATE=$(awk '/^[ \t]*#[ \t]*define[ \t][ \t]*__FreeBSD_version[ \t]/ {
                print $3
              }' ${SRC}/sys/sys/param.h)

echo "=> Logging to stage_1.log.${PROFILE}"
do_steps 2>&1 | tee stage_1.log.${PROFILE}

# vim: tabstop=2:expandtab:shiftwidth=2:
# EOF $RCSfile: stage_1.sh,v $

Download stage_1.sh.

This is the stage_2.sh script. You may want to modify the variables at the beginning.

#!/bin/sh
#
# stage_2.sh - FreeBSD From Scratch, Stage 2: Ports Installation.
#              Usage: ./stage_2.sh [-hnp] configname
#
# Author:      Jens Schweikhardt
# $Id: stage_2.sh,v 1.5 2004/01/23 22:09:19 toor Exp toor $
# $FreeBSD: doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/fbsd-from-scratch/stage_2.sh,v 1.5 2004/07/19 21:02:26 schweikh Exp $

DBDIR="/var/db/pkg"
PORTS="/usr/ports"
: ${PACKAGES:=${PORTS}/packages}
LOGDIR="/home/root/setup/ports.log"; mkdir -p ${LOGDIR}
PKG_PATH="/cdrom/packages/All:/dvd/packages/All"
PKG=

MYNAME="$(basename $0)"
usage () {
    exec >&2
    echo "usage: ${MYNAME} [-hnp] configname"
    echo ""
    echo "  Options:"
    echo "  -h    Print this help text."
    echo "  -n    Dryrun: just show what would be done."
    echo "  -p    Install a precompiled package if one can be found."
    echo ""
    echo "  The config file (stage_2.conf.configname) is a list of"
    echo "  ports to install with one entry per line. Each line"
    echo "  consists of two or three space separated fields:"
    echo "  category, port, and optionally a build command."
    echo ""
    exit 1
}

# Look for a package in these locations in sequence.
# Returns as soon as the first is found. Result on stdout.
#
#   ${PORTS}/${CATEGORY}/${NAME}
#   ${PACKAGES}/All
#   ${PACKAGES}/${CATEGORY}
#   ${PKG_PATH}
#
find_package () {
    echo "${PORTS}/${CATEGORY}/${NAME}:${PACKAGES}/All:${PACKAGES}/${CATEGORY}:${PKG_PATH}" |
    tr : '\n' |
    while read d; do
        test -d "${d}" || continue
        PKG=$(ls ${d}/${PKGNAME}.* 2>/dev/null)
        test $? -eq 0 && echo "${PKG}" && return
    done
}

#
# Parse command line arguments.
#
args=`getopt hnp $*`
if test $? != 0; then
    usage
fi
set -- $args
DRYRUN=
CHKPKG=
for i; do
    case "$i" in
    -n) DRYRUN="yes"; shift;;
    -p) CHKPKG="yes"; shift;;
    --) shift; break;;
    *) usage;;
    esac
done
if test $# -eq 1; then
    DATAFILE="$1"
else
    usage
fi

#
# Loop over the ports list.
#
while read CATEGORY NAME CMD; do
    case "${CATEGORY}" in
    \#*) continue;;
    '') continue;;
    esac
    DIR="${PORTS}/${CATEGORY}/${NAME}"
    if ! test -d "${DIR}"; then
        echo "$DIR does not exist -- ignored"
        continue
    fi
    cd ${DIR}
    PKGNAME=`make -V PKGNAME`
    if test -n "${CHKPKG}"; then
        PKG=$(find_package)
    else
        PKG=""
    fi
    if test -d "${DBDIR}/${PKGNAME}"; then
        echo "${CATEGORY}/${NAME} already installed as ${PKGNAME}"
        continue
    fi
    LOG="${LOGDIR}/${CATEGORY}+${NAME}"
    echo "===> Installing ${CATEGORY}/${NAME}; logging to ${LOG}"
    test -n "${CMD}" || CMD="make install BATCH=yes < /dev/null"
    if test -n "${DRYRUN}"; then
        if test -n "${PKG}"; then
            echo pkg_add -v ${PKG}
        else
            echo "${CMD}"
        fi
        continue
    fi
    date "++++ Started %v %T +++" > ${LOG}
    STARTED=$(date +%s)
    (
        if test -n "${PKG}"; then
            echo "Found package ${PKG}"
            pkg_add -v ${PKG}
        else
            echo "CMD: ${CMD}"
            make clean
            eval "${CMD}"
            make clean # Uncomment if diskspace is tight under ${PORTS}.
        fi
    ) 2>&1 | tee -a ${LOG}
    FINISHED=$(date +%s)
    DURATION=$(dc -e "${FINISHED} ${STARTED} - p")
    date "++++ Finished %v %T after ${DURATION} secs +++" >> ${LOG}
done < stage_2.conf.${DATAFILE}

# vim: tabstop=4:
# EOF $RCSfile: stage_2.sh,v $

Download stage_2.sh.

This is my stage_3.mk to give you an idea how to automate all reconfiguration.

# stage_3.mk - FreeBSD From Scratch, Stage 3: Ports Post-Configuration.
#              Usage: make -f stage_3.mk all     (config everything)
#                or   make -f stage_3.mk target  (to just config target)
#
# Author:      Jens Schweikhardt
#
# It is a good idea to make sure any target can be made more than
# once without ill effect.
#
# $Id: stage_3.mk,v 1.8 2004/03/27 16:53:11 toor Exp toor $
# $FreeBSD: doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/fbsd-from-scratch/stage_3.mk,v 1.4 2004/07/19 20:42:14 schweikh Exp $

.POSIX:

message:
    @echo "Please use one of the following targets:"
    @echo "config_apache"
    @echo "config_firefox"
    @echo "config_inn"
    @echo "config_javaplugin"
    @echo "config_nullplugin"
    @echo "config_privoxy"
    @echo "config_smartd"
    @echo "config_sudo"
    @echo "config_TeX"
    @echo "config_tin"
    @echo "config_uucp"
    @echo "all -- all of the above"


all: \
    config_apache \
    config_firefox \
    config_inn \
    config_javaplugin \
    config_nullplugin \
    config_privoxy \
    config_smartd \
    config_sudo \
    config_TeX \
    config_tin \
    config_uucp


config_apache:
    # 1. Modify httpd.conf.
    perl -pi \
    -e 's/^\s*ServerAdmin.*/ServerAdmin schweikh\@schweikhardt.net/;' \
    -e 's/^\s*Listen.*/Listen 127.0.0.1:80/;' \
    -e 's/^\s*StartServers.*/StartServers 2/;' \
    -e 's/^\s*MinSpareServers.*/MinSpareServers 2/;' \
    -e 's,/usr/local/www/cgi-bin/,/home/opt/www/cgi-bin/,;' \
      /usr/local/etc/apache2/httpd.conf
    # 2. Restore symlinks to web pages.
    cd /usr/local/www/data; \
    ln -fs /home/schweikh/prj/homepage schweikhardt.net; \
    ln -fs /home/opt/www/test .
    # Test if the httpd.conf has changed.
    @if ! cmp -s /usr/local/etc/apache2/httpd.conf httpd.conf; then \
        echo "ATTENTION: the httpd.conf has changed. Please examine if"; \
        echo "the modifications are still correct. Here is the diff:"; \
        diff -u /usr/local/etc/apache2/httpd.conf httpd.conf; \
    fi
    if test -f /var/run/httpd.pid; then \
        /usr/local/etc/rc.d/apache2.sh stop; \
        /usr/local/etc/rc.d/apache2.sh start; \
    else \
        /usr/local/etc/rc.d/apache2.sh start; \
    fi

config_firefox:
    # Make this group wheel writable to allow extensions being installed.
    chmod -R g+w /usr/X11R6/lib/firefox/lib/mozilla-1.6/chrome

config_inn:
    pw usermod -n news -d /usr/local/news -s /bin/sh
    mkdir -p /share/news/spool/outgoing \
             /share/news/spool/incoming \
             /share/news/spool/articles \
             /share/news/spool/overview \
             /share/news/spool/tmp      \
             /share/news/db
    chown -R news:news /share/news
    # Give the news system its initial configuration.
    cd /home/root/setup; \
    if test ! -f /share/news/db/active; then \
        echo "installing /share/news/db/active"; \
        install -C -o news -g news -m 664 active /share/news/db; \
    fi; \
    if test ! -f /share/news/db/newsgroups; then \
        echo "installing /share/news/db/newsgroups"; \
        install -C -o news -g news -m 664 newsgroups /share/news/db; \
    fi
    # The innd.sh that comes with the port is broken, it
    # checks for history.pag which does not exist.
    cd /home/root/setup; \
    install -C -o root -g wheel -m 555 innd.sh /usr/local/etc/rc.d
    # Configure storage method.
    cd /home/root/setup;      \
    printf "%s\n%s\n%s\n%s\n" \
        "method tradspool {"  \
        "  newsgroups: *"     \
        "  class: 0"          \
        "}"                   \
    >storage.conf;            \
    install -C -o news -g news -m 664 storage.conf /usr/local/news/etc
    # Configure newsfeeds.
    printf "%s\n%s\n" \
        "ME:*::"      \
        "shuttle/news2.shuttle.de:!junk,!control:B32768/512,Tf,Wfb:" \
    >/usr/local/news/etc/newsfeeds
    # Configure inn.conf.
    perl -pi                                                        \
    -e 's/^#*\s*(organization:\s*).*/$$1"An Open Pod Bay Door"/;'   \
    -e 's/^#*\s*(pathhost:\s*).*/$$1hal9000.schweikhardt.net/;'     \
    -e 's/^#*\s*(server:).*/$$1 localhost/;'                        \
    -e 's/^#*\s*(domain:).*/$$1 schweikhardt.net/;'                 \
    -e 's/^#*\s*(fromhost:).*/$$1 schweikhardt.net/;'               \
    -e 's,^#*\s*(moderatormailer:).*,$$1 \%s\@moderators.isc.org,;' \
    -e 's,^#*\s*(pathdb:\s*).*,$$1/share/news/db,;'                 \
    -e 's,/usr/local/news/spool,/share/news/spool,;'                \
    /usr/local/news/etc/inn.conf
    # Create empty history, if none there.
    # See post-install in /usr/ports/news/inn-stable/Makefile.
    cd /share/news/db; \
    if test ! -f history; then \
        touch history; \
        chmod 644 history; \
        chown news:news history; \
        su -fm news -c "/usr/local/news/bin/makedbz -i"; \
        for s in dir hash index; do \
            mv history.n.$${s} history.$${s}; \
        done; \
    fi
    # Configure send-uucp.
    echo shuttle:shuttle >/usr/local/news/etc/send-uucp.cf
    # Satisfy inncheck:
    cd /usr/local/news/etc; \
    chown news:news *; \
    chmod 640 control.ctl expire.ctl nntpsend.ctl readers.conf
    /usr/local/news/bin/inncheck
    # Test if the inn.conf has changed.
    @if ! cmp -s /usr/local/news/etc/inn.conf inn.conf; then \
        echo "ATTENTION: the inn.conf has changed. Please examine if"; \
        echo "the modifications are still correct. Here is the diff:"; \
        diff -u /usr/local/news/etc/inn.conf inn.conf; \
    fi
    if ! test -f /usr/local/news/run/innd.pid; then \
        /usr/local/etc/rc.d/innd.sh start; \
    fi

config_javaplugin:
    # Mozilla Firefox:
    cd /usr/X11R6/lib/firefox/lib/mozilla-1.6/plugins; \
    ln -fs /usr/local/jdk1.4.2/jre/plugin/i386/ns610/libjavaplugin_oji.so
    # Plain Mozilla:
    #cd /usr/X11R6/lib/mozilla/plugins; \
    #ln -fs /usr/local/jdk1.4.2/jre/plugin/i386/ns610/libjavaplugin_oji.so

# Move the nullplugin out of the way. With a .mozilla/*/*/prefs.js entry of
# user_pref("plugin.display_plugin_downloader_dialog", false);
# this suppresses popup dialogs for unavailable plugins (flash, ...)
config_nullplugin:
    find /usr/X11R6/lib -name libnullplugin.so -exec mv {} {}.orig \;

config_privoxy:
    install -C -o root -g wheel -m 644 conf/privoxy/config \
        /usr/local/etc/privoxy
    install -C -o root -g wheel -m 755 conf/privoxy/privoxy.sh \
        /usr/local/etc/rc.d
    /usr/local/etc/rc.d/privoxy.sh restart

config_smartd:
    cp smartd.sh /usr/local/etc/rc.d/smartd.sh
    cp smartd.conf /usr/local/etc/smartd.conf

config_sudo:
    if ! grep -q schweikh /usr/local/etc/sudoers; then \
        echo 'schweikh ALL = (ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL' >> /usr/local/etc/sudoers; \
    fi

config_TeX:
    # textproc/docproj advises: to typeset the FreeBSD Handbook with JadeTeX,
    # change the following settings to the listed values:
    perl -pi                                      \
    -e 's/^% original texmf.cnf/% texmf.cnf/;'    \
    -e 's/^(hash_extra\s*=\s*).*/$${1}60000/;'    \
    -e 's/^(pool_size\s*=\s*).*/$${1}1000000/;'   \
    -e 's/^(max_strings\s*=\s*).*/$${1}70000/;'   \
    -e 's/^(save_size\s*=\s*).*/$${1}10000/;'     \
    /usr/local/share/texmf/web2c/texmf.cnf
    # Test if the texmf.cnf has changed.
    @if ! cmp -s /usr/local/share/texmf/web2c/texmf.cnf texmf.cnf; then \
        echo "ATTENTION: the texmf.cnf has changed. Please examine if"; \
        echo "the modifications are still correct. Here is the diff:"; \
        diff -u /usr/local/share/texmf/web2c/texmf.cnf texmf.cnf; \
    fi

config_tin:
    # Point tin to our files.
    printf "%s\n%s\n%s\n"                          \
        "activefile=/share/news/db/active"         \
        "newsgroupsfile=/share/news/db/newsgroups" \
        "spooldir=/share/news/spool/articles"      \
    >/usr/local/etc/tin.defaults

config_uucp:
    cd /etc/mail; make install SENDMAIL_MC=/etc/mail/hal9000.mc
    # Make the uucp user's shell the correct uucico, so su(1) works.
    chpass -s /usr/local/libexec/uucp/uucico uucp
    # UUCP expects to find /usr/bin/rnews.
    cd /usr/bin; ln -fs ../local/news/bin/rnews .
    # Actual UUCP configuration.
    echo nodename js2015           > /usr/local/etc/uucp/config
    echo shuttle js2015 `cat uucp` > /usr/local/etc/uucp/call
    printf 'port tcp\ntype tcp\n'  > /usr/local/etc/uucp/port
    printf "%s\n%s\n%s\n%s\n%s\n%s\n%s\n" \
        "call-login    *"                 \
        "call-password *"                 \
        "time          any"               \
        "system        shuttle"           \
        "address       mail.s.shuttle.de" \
        "commands      rmail rnews"       \
        "port          tcp"               \
    >/usr/local/etc/uucp/sys
    cd /usr/local/etc/uucp; chown uucp:uucp *; chmod o-rwx *
    # Trigger uucico after booting.
    mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/rc.d; cp uucp.sh /usr/local/etc/rc.d

# vim: tabstop=4:
# EOF $RCSfile: stage_3.mk,v $

Download stage_3.mk.