[comp.sys.next] Upgrade2.0 failure

abe@mace.cc.purdue.edu (Vic Abell) (03/30/91)

When trying to upgrade from NS 1.0 to 2.0 I experienced a failure
with the Upgrade2.0 script that resulted in the loss of files from
/private/etc and caused me to resort to BuildDisk.

The failure occurred while the Upgrade2.0 panel said it was working
in /private/dev.  The SCSI disk sounded like it was being used in
some type of cyclic operation for a fairly long time.  Then the
system crashed and a small console window appeared, mumbling about
a scrambled directory inode.

Sure enough -- when I rebooted and fsck'd the SD,  /private/etc was
damaged and many of its files were reconnected to /private/lost+found.
I restarted Upgrade2.0 and it said that it completed properly.  However,
the upgraded system would not boot.

The first boot complaint was about a missing /etc/mtab.  I found that
missing file in /private/lost+found, restored it, but was still unable
to boot, and the console window gave no explanation of why the boot
halted.  I guessed that other files were missing, but that it wasn't
worth wasting time tracking them down one at a time without any help
from boot.  So I had to use BuildDisk and restore NS 1.0 administrative
files from a backup OD.

Upgrade2.0 is not as robust as it should be.

Vic Abell <abe@mace.cc.purdue.edu>