On Mon, 17 Jan 2000, Brian Stark wrote:

> On Mon, 17 Jan 2000, dkphoto wrote:
> 
> > I just installed netbsd and after finally getting it to start up, I 
> > noticed this line among the other startup feedback:
> > 
> > 1dev/sd1a: file system not clean (fs_flags=0); please fsck(8)
> > 
> > What the heck does that mean, and what if anything should I do about it?
> 
> There is a problem with a file system. See the man page for fsck by
> typing "man 8 fsck". That will give you more information on the command.
> Basically, you will just want to unmount the file system with the problem
> and run fsk on it. For example:
> 
>   unmount /users
>   fsck /users
> 
	To clarify - it indicates that the system did not shut
	down cleanly last time, and that fsck(8) has not been run on
	the filesystem during bootup. You should _never_ see this from
	the startup messages as the startup scripts should automatically
	run fsck(8) as necessary before mounting any filesystems.

	Could you send a copy of your /etc/fstab to the list?
> 
> > I finally figured out how to edit rc.conf (why not just have it set 
> > properly to begin with, rather than forcing new users on the very first 
> > startup to figure out how to edit a system file???)
> 
> Because (virtually) every system is different. What you may think are
> reasonable values for a default configuration may not be reasonable for
> someone else.
> 
	It probably is reasonable for the system to come up in a
	non networked configuration, to allow people to configure it
	from the comfort of a working system. I believe this will be
	the case when the mac68k port completes it switch to the new
	'sysinst' install tool.
> 
> > According to the installation instructions, after changing rc.conf, I 
> > should be able to login as "root." But when I do, the system gives me 
> > this message:
> > 
> > Don't login as root, use the su commands.
> > 
> > Now, which is it? The instructions tell me to login as root, the system 
> > won't let me. Are the instructions out of date, or have I somehow fouled 
> > up my system?
> 
> This message is there to discourage excessive use of the root account.
> Sometimes there is a need to login as root (for example, during initial
> configuration), but most of the time you do not need to be root to do what
> you want (during normal operation).
> 
	How about we change it to the (also cryptic cryptic, but less
	frightening)

"Setup of non root accounts and use of su(1) for root access is recommended."

> > Is there any documentation/book that doesn't assume that I've been using 
> 
> Go to your favorite local bookstore and look for some of the books
> published by O'Reilly & Associates. "UNIX in a Nutshell" is a good book,
> as are "Managing NFS and NIS" and "Essential System Administration". I'm
> sure there are other good books, but those are the ones I use regularly.
> 
	http://www.netbsd.org/Documentation/books.html has some good
	books listed - if anyone can suggest additional books, please
	let us know.

> If you think the documenation can be improved, then do something about
> it instead of complaining about it. Re-write what you think needs to
> be improved. You can use the the send-pr command to submit a problem
> report for the documenation and also include a copy of your new
> version. The man page for send-pr describes the operation of command in
> more detail.

	Though if you really want to help with the documentation then
	we may even let you skip the send-pr stage and have you mail in
	the updates directly :)

		David/absolute