sysinst(8) - NetBSD Manual Pages

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


NAME

     sysinst -- install or upgrade a NetBSD system


SYNOPSIS

     sysinst [-Dp] [-C bg:fg] [-f definition_file] [-m message_catalog_dir]


DESCRIPTION

     sysinst is a menu-based program that may be used to install or upgrade a
     NetBSD system.  It is usually invoked automatically when the system is
     booted from appropriate installation media.

     The following options are available:

     -C bg:fg                  Use the ansi colors (see <curses.h>) bg as
                               background (default: 4 for blue) and fg as
                               foreground/text color (default: 7 for white).

     -D                        Switch on debugging.

     -f definition_file        Use definition_file as a file for definitions
                               other than the defaults.  See the DEFINITION
                               FILE section for its format.

     -m message_catalog_dir    Search for available language files in
                               message_catalog_dir.  If this argument is miss-
                               ing and there are sysinstmsgs.* files in the
                               current directory, those are used.  If no such
                               files are found, a compiled in default catalog
                               directory is used.

     -p                        Start the extended partition editor instead of
                               the installer.  This option is not available on
                               some versions compiled for space limited
                               install media.


DEFINITION FILE

     A definition file can be used with sysinst to control several aspects of
     the installation or upgrade process.  Options can be stored within the
     file as
           option = value
     pairs.  Options include the following, shown with their defaults as well
     as a description (``REL'' and ``MACH'' are the release and architecture
     respectively, as determined by the image sysinst is used on):

     option name         default value            description
     machine             MACH                     Machine architecture
     xfer dir            /usr/INSTALL             Transfer dir
     ext dir                                      Extract dir (will usually be
                                                  set later on)
     ftp host            ftp.NetBSD.org           FTP host for fetching files
     ftp dir             pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-REL    FTP directory for fetching
                                                  files
     ftp prefix          /MACH/binary/sets        Directory to look for sets,
                                                  used for all methods of
                                                  fetching (i.e., not just
                                                  FTP)
     ftp user            ftp                      FTP user for connecting
     ftp pass            -                        FTP password
     ftp proxy           -                        FTP proxy
     nfs host            -                        NFS host for fetching via
                                                  NFS
     nfs dir             /bsd/release             NFS directory for fetching
                                                  files
     cd dev              cd0a                     Name of CD device for
                                                  fetching files
     fd dev              /dev/fd0a                Name of floppy device for
                                                  fetching files
     local dev           -                        Other device to be mounted
                                                  for fetching files
     local fs            ffs                      File system type for local
                                                  device
     local dir           release                  Directory to look for in the
                                                  mounted local file system
     targetroot mount    /targetroot              Directory to mount target
                                                  root dir to
     dist postfix        .tgz                     Suffix of set files to be
                                                  extracted
     diskname            mydisk                   disktab(5) diskname to use
                                                  for target disk


SEE ALSO

     release(7), afterboot(8), boot(8), diskless(8)

     <machine>/INSTALL.* files on CD-ROM installation media
     .../NetBSD-<rel>/<machine>/INSTALL.* files in NetBSD releases or snap-
     shots.

     The default message catalog files are installed in
     /usr/share/sysinst/catalog.


HISTORY

     A sysinst command appeared in NetBSD 1.3.

NetBSD 10.1                    January 28, 2022                    NetBSD 10.1