4 Oct
2021
4 Oct
'21
5:22 p.m.
Hello All,
I am attempting to restore 4.3BSD-Tahoe to a usable state on the VAX. It
appears, based on the work that I have done already, that this is
possible. Starting with stock 4.3BSD I got a source tree into /usr/tahoe
and using it I replaced all of /usr/include and /sys, recompiled and
replaced /bin, /lib, and /etc, recompiled a GENERIC kernel, and from there
I was able to successfully reboot using the new kernel. As far as I can
tell (fingers crossed!) the hardest part is over and I'm in the process of
working on /usr.
My question is: how was this sort of thing done in the real world? If I
was a site running stock 4.3BSD, would I have received (or been able to
request) updated tapes at regular intervals? The replacement process that
I have been using is fairly labor intensive and on a real VAX would have
been very time intensive too. Fortunately two to three years' worth of
changes were not so drastic that I ever found myself in a position where
the existing tools were not able to compile pieces of Tahoe that I needed
to proceed, but I could easily imagine finding myself in such a place.
(This was, by the way, what I ran into when attempting to upgrade from
2.9BSD to 2.10BSD, despite a fully documented contemporary upgrade
procedure).
-Henry
4 Oct
4 Oct
5:41 p.m.
On 10/4/21 12:22 PM, Henry Bent wrote:
My question is: how was this sort of thing done in the
real world? If
I was a site running stock 4.3BSD, would I have received (or been able
to request) updated tapes at regular intervals? The replacement
process that I have been using is fairly labor intensive and on a real
VAX would have been very time intensive too. Fortunately two to three
years' worth of changes were not so drastic that I ever found myself
in a position where the existing tools were not able to compile pieces
of Tahoe that I needed to proceed, but I could easily imagine finding
myself in such a place. (This was, by the way, what I ran into when
attempting to upgrade from 2.9BSD to 2.10BSD, despite a fully
documented contemporary upgrade procedure).
Hi Henry,
I expect folks who actually ran this can weigh in with the 'real world'
perspective. What I can offer is that the document entitled, "Installing
and Operating 4.3BSD-tahoe UNIX* on the VAX" by the folks doing the
release (CSRG) is probably canonical:
http://blog.livedoor.jp/suzanhud/BSD/4.3BSD_Tahoe_VAX.pdf
There's a section on migrating 4.2/4.3 to tahoe and the like. After it's
up and running, it looks a little shy on details, but getting there
seems well enough documented. If it's anything like 1bsd+, it seems like
it was usually unpack and copy to the right locations, with the
occasional compile with the right options thrown in.
Will
5:51 p.m.
On Mon, 4 Oct 2021 at 13:42, Will Senn <will.senn(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On 10/4/21 12:22 PM, Henry Bent wrote:
Well now I feel a little silly. I did look in the source tree for a
document like this but couldn't find one. It does appear, however, in the
installed (for Tahoe) tree in /usr/doc/smm/01.setup.
-Henry
My question is: how was this sort of thing done
in the real world? If
I was a site running stock 4.3BSD, would I have received (or been able
to request) updated tapes at regular intervals? The replacement
process that I have been using is fairly labor intensive and on a real
VAX would have been very time intensive too. Fortunately two to three
years' worth of changes were not so drastic that I ever found myself
in a position where the existing tools were not able to compile pieces
of Tahoe that I needed to proceed, but I could easily imagine finding
myself in such a place. (This was, by the way, what I ran into when
attempting to upgrade from 2.9BSD to 2.10BSD, despite a fully
documented contemporary upgrade procedure).
Hi Henry,
I expect folks who actually ran this can weigh in with the 'real world'
perspective. What I can offer is that the document entitled, "Installing
and Operating 4.3BSD-tahoe UNIX* on the VAX" by the folks doing the
release (CSRG) is probably canonical:
http://blog.livedoor.jp/suzanhud/BSD/4.3BSD_Tahoe_VAX.pdf
7:22 p.m.
On Oct 4, 2021, at 10:51 AM, Henry Bent
<henry.r.bent(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On Mon, 4 Oct 2021 at 13:42, Will Senn <will.senn(a)gmail.com
<mailto:will.senn@gmail.com>> wrote:
On 10/4/21 12:22 PM, Henry Bent wrote:
It is kind of funny that the following never got checked:
If your hardware configuration does not provide at least 75 XXX checkme XXX Megabytes of
disk space ...
David
My question is: how was this sort of thing done
in the real world? If
I was a site running stock 4.3BSD, would I have received (or been able
to request) updated tapes at regular intervals? The replacement
process that I have been using is fairly labor intensive and on a real
VAX would have been very time intensive too. Fortunately two to three
years' worth of changes were not so drastic that I ever found myself
in a position where the existing tools were not able to compile pieces
of Tahoe that I needed to proceed, but I could easily imagine finding
myself in such a place. (This was, by the way, what I ran into when
attempting to upgrade from 2.9BSD to 2.10BSD, despite a fully
documented contemporary upgrade procedure).
Hi Henry,
I expect folks who actually ran this can weigh in with the 'real world'
perspective. What I can offer is that the document entitled, "Installing
and Operating 4.3BSD-tahoe UNIX* on the VAX" by the folks doing the
release (CSRG) is probably canonical:
http://blog.livedoor.jp/suzanhud/BSD/4.3BSD_Tahoe_VAX.pdf
<http://blog.livedoor.jp/suzanhud/BSD/4.3BSD_Tahoe_VAX.pdf>
Well now I feel a little silly. I did look in the source tree for a document like this
but couldn't find one. It does appear, however, in the installed (for Tahoe) tree in
/usr/doc/smm/01.setup.
-Henry
945
days inactive
945
days old
3 comments
3 participants
participants (3)
-
David Barto -
Henry Bent -
Will Senn