NEWBTCONF(8)            NetBSD System Manager's Manual            NEWBTCONF(8)

NAME
     newbtconf -- multiple boot-up configurations

SYNOPSIS
     newbtconf new-conf-name [orig-conf-name]
     newbtconf init
     newbtconf revert

DESCRIPTION
     newbtconf is used to set up the system in such a way that the user is
     offered a selection of environments in which to boot the system up into.
     The most obvious application being for laptops to provide a network and
     non-network environment after a successful boot into multi-user mode.

   Background
     In order to accomplish this task, the files usually associated with
     establishing the current system's running configuration are replaced with
     symbolic links which are adjusted with each boot to point to the appro-
     priate file for the desired run-time environment.  This is accomplished
     by directing all of the symbolic links through a directory which itself
     is a symbolic link (/etc/etc.current), to the destination files.  At each
     bootup, the selection made changes which directory /etc/etc.current
     points to.

     Through doing this and reloading /etc/rc.conf in /etc/rc after the link
     has been established, the resulting run-time configuration is effectively
     controlled without the need to directly edit any files.  The default
     boot-up environment is selected by manually directing which configuration
     directory /etc/etc.default points to.  As opposed to /etc/etc.current
     (which is updated with every boot), /etc/etc.default is not automatically
     updated.

   Getting Started
     By default, NetBSD only has one boot-up configuration - that set in the
     file /etc/rc.conf.  In order to initialize the system for operating in a
     manner which supports multiple boot configurations, newbtconf must be run
     with an argument of `init'.  This will create two symbolic links
     /etc/etc.current and /etc/etc.default to the directory /etc/etc.network.
     The following files are all moved into that directory and symbolic links
     put in their place, in /etc, pointing to /etc/etc.current/<filename>:

           /etc/defaultdomain
           /etc/fstab
           /etc/ifconfig.*
           /etc/inetd.conf
           /etc/mrouted.conf
           /etc/mygate
           /etc/myname
           /etc/netstart
           /etc/nsswitch.conf
           /etc/ntp.conf
           /etc/rc.conf
           /etc/rc.conf.d
           /etc/resolv.conf

     To test that this has been performed correctly, reboot your system into
     NetBSD.  After the kernel has autoconfigured and tty flags have been set,
     a prompt should appear, preceded by the following like, looking like
     this:

     [network]
     Which configuration [network] ?

     The []'s are used to indicate the default configuration, which can be
     selected by just pressing return.  If there were other configurations
     available at this stage, you would have 30 seconds to enter that name and
     press RETURN.

   Multiple Configurations
     Once an initial configuration has been set up, we can proceed to set up
     further run time environments.  This is done by invoking newbtconf with
     the name of the new configuration to be created.  By default, this step
     will use the current configuration files as the basis for this setup
     unless a second parameter is given - that of the configuration to use as
     the basis for the new one.  Upon completion, a new directory,
     /etc/etc.<newname>, will have been created, priming the directory with
     the appropriate files for editing.  For example, if we do newbtconf nonet
     network it would create a directory named /etc/etc.nonet and copy all the
     files from /etc/etc.network into that directory.  Upon rebooting, we
     should see:

     [network] nonet
     Which configuration [network] ?

     To set up the system for booting into the ``nonet'' configuration, the
     files in /etc/etc.nonet need be edited.

     If you wanted to make ``nonet'' the default configuration when booting,
     you would need delete the symbolic link /etc/etc.default and create a new
     symbolic link (with the same name) to /etc/etc.nonet.  Booting up after
     having made such a change would result in the following being displayed:

     network [nonet]
     Which configuration [nonet] ?

   No Network
     Assuming that we performed the above command successfully, in order to
     successfully configure NetBSD to not configure interfaces (or generate no
     errors from attempting to do so), the following settings (at least)
     should be used in /etc/etc.nonet/rc.conf:

     auto_ifconfig=NO
     net_interfaces=NO

     Of course other networking services, such as NTP, routed, etc, are all
     expected to be ``NO''.  In general, the only setting that should be
     ``YES'' is syslogd, and perhaps cron (if your cron scripts don't need the
     network) or screenblank/wscons (if applicable).  Other actions such as
     deleting any NFS mounts from /etc/etc.nonet/fstab would also need to be
     undertaken.

   Reverting multiple boot configurations
     Multiple boot configurations can be deactivated by running newbtconf with
     an argument of revert.  All the symlinks mentioned above are then removed
     and the files they point to are copied to their default place.  This
     effectively makes the currently selected configuration the only one
     active.  The symbolic links /etc/etc.current and /etc/etc.default are
     also removed so upon rebooting no configuration selection menu is dis-
     played.  Note that the previously created configurations (in
     /etc/etc.<name>) are not removed.

FILES
     /etc/etc.current      Symbolic link to current config directory.
     /etc/etc.default      Symbolic link to default config directory.

     /etc/defaultdomain    These files all become symbolic links.
     /etc/fstab
     /etc/ifconfig.*
     /etc/inetd.conf
     /etc/mrouted.conf
     /etc/mygate
     /etc/myname
     /etc/netstart
     /etc/nsswitch.conf
     /etc/ntp.conf
     /etc/rc.conf
     /etc/rc.conf.d
     /etc/resolv.conf

SEE ALSO
     rc.conf(5), rc(8)

HISTORY
     The newbtconf program first appeared in NetBSD 1.5.

AUTHORS
     This shell script was written by Darren Reed <darrenr@NetBSD.org> with
     initial input from Matthew Green <mrg@NetBSD.org> on how to approach this
     problem.

BUGS
     It presently does not display a count down timer whilst waiting for input
     to select which configuration and nor does it abort said timer when a key
     is first pressed.

     The management of the overall collection of multiple configurations is
     much more manual than it ought to be.  A general system configuration
     tool needs to be written to ease their management.

NetBSD 5.0_STABLE             September 30, 2005             NetBSD 5.0_STABLE
