Re: Diskless installs?

[Chris Hanson <cmhanson%eschatologist.net@localhost>]

On Jul 31, 2025, at 10:49 PM, Martin Husemann <martin%duskware.de@localhost> wrote:
> 
> Oh, you are right - we should document the manual setup steps somewhere.
> 
> It is not a long list. Assuming you are in single user mode on the new
> client machine with all sets unpacked and / writable:
> 
> - run: cd /dev && sh MAKEDEV all
> - run: certctl rehash
> - create /etc/fstab according to your needs
> - create /etc/rc.conf according to your needs
> - set root password
> - add entropy if needed (you can use sysinst and the config menu
>   to check + fix it [if there is no entropy option in the menu
>   you are good] or check sysctl kern.entropy output)
> 
> and then go multiuser.

This type of "dance" is why macOS has the following symlinks, first established by NeXT nearly 40 years ago:

- /etc → /private/etc
- /var → /private/var
- /tmp → /private/tmp

Then each diskless client can share a single read-only root, with each system having its own read-write /private, created from a template by the script/tool that adds a new client system and discovered via directory binding. NeXT had its own directory (NetInfo) but could also use NIS and I think NIS+; in the modern era, macOS uses LDAP natively as specified by the appropriate DHCP option, and can also use ActiveDirectory.

  -- Chris