The Install Program

The OpenBSD installer is just a shell script that calls programs to download files, format disks, and in general prepare your system for use. It might not be pretty, but it is extremely fast and in educated hands it is extremely powerful.

Note

The installer changes very slightly between releases of OpenBSD. Some of the words may change, and some of the questions may be rearranged. The following was prepared with a prerelease version of OpenBSD 3.3. Do not blindly follow these directions; instead, use them as examples!

Once the boot messages pass, you'll see the following text:

 erase ^?, werase ^W, kill ^U, intr ^C, status ^T (I)nstall, (U)pgrade or (S)hell? i 

We'll examine the "Upgrade" option in Chapter 14. The "Shell" command will drop you into a command line, where you could work with the few commands available on the boot disk. We want the "Install" option now, however. Hit "i" and then ENTER. The installer will display a welcome message and a few basic instructions.

 Welcome to the OpenBSD/i386 3.2 install program. This program will help you install OpenBSD in a simple and rational way. At any prompt except password prompts you can run a shell command by typing '!foo', or escape to a shell by typing '!'. Default answers are shown in []'s and are selected by pressing RETURN. At any time you can exit this program by pressing Control-C and then RETURN, but quitting during an install can leave your system in an inconsistent state. Specify terminal type: [vt220] 

If you're using a standard i386 keyboard and monitor, just press ENTER as the default. If you have an unusual terminal hooked up to your i386 system, you're probably one of those old hands and know exactly what terminal type you have. If you're a new user who hooked up some ancient unidentified dust-covered piece-of-crud terminal you found in a disused laboratory at the back of the abandoned fertilizer plant because you thought it would be nifty, stop now and get a standard monitor and keyboard. While that antediluvian console will probably work, your first install is not the time to try it!

 Do you wish to select a keyboard encoding table? [n] 

A keyboard-encoding table allows you to remap your keyboard from the standard U.S. QWERTY style to that used in some other language. Entering "y" will give you an option to choose one. Most readers of this book will be perfectly comfortable with the standard QWERTY keyboard, so just hit ENTER to take the default.

 IS YOUR DATA BACKED UP? As with anything that modifies disk contents, this program can cause SIGNIFICANT data loss. It is often helpful to have the installation notes handy. For complex disk configurations, relevant disk hardware manuals and a calculator are useful. Proceed with install? [n] y 

This is your last chance to save any data that might be on your hard drive. If you're not sure about the quality of your backup, just hit ENTER to take the default and abort the installation. If you're certain you do not need any data on your hard drive, enter "y" to continue.