#netbsd Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

NetBSD related questions 

pkgsrc related questions 

NetBSD related questions

NetBSD 1.6 sysinst segfaults during extraction of the distribution sets (top)

This seems to be a problem with pax. It only occurs, if you have selected to view files once they get extracted. There is actually no know solution for this problem; as a workaround disable the display of filenames once they get extracted.

How do I build boot floppies?(top)

First you need a source tree (you shouldn't be suprised at this).

cd /usr/src/etc
make snap_kern
cd /usr/src/distrib/i386/floppies/ramdisk-xxx
make
cd ../kernel-ramdisk
make netbsd.INSTALL.gz
cd ../bootfloppy
make

Obviously you replace the appropriate arch and ramdisk-xxx to whichever disks you want.

When building a release, do I have to build all the kernels? (top)

No, you can comment out the kernels you don't want to build in /usr/src/etc/etc.arch/Makefile.inc.

Is it safe to set DESTDIR to / when building a distribution? (top)

You should never build to '/', always set DESTDIR to something else. There is talk about building to '/' being deprecated or at least being not default.

Where can I grab NetBSD/current snapshots? (top)

Have a look at the snapshots page or at the snapshot area of your favourite NetBSD FTP mirror.

pkgsrc related questions

How can I package software without actually installing it? (top)

You may want to give pkg_comp a try. It'll enable you to build packages in a chrooted environment and therefore not touching your system. To install pkg_comp, you'll need a recent pkgsrc tree, then simply chdir to /usr/pkgsrc/pkgtools/pkg_comp and type make install.

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