Small tip proposal for headless systems boot resiliency

Hello,

The headless systems, or boxes that may be far away are a pain to get =
back online if stuck during the boot sequence... (embedded/headless do =
not have IP-KVM or remote control).


* The point is : with a headless system you want it back online, really. =
Even if it needs maintenance, you need a ssh or whatever to get your =
hands dirty. So don't stop the boot sequence. If it's damaged beyond =
basic/rescue usability, it makes no difference anyway.

Example: The stop_boot() function of /etc/rc.subr got it to stop a few =
time here... and these scripts may call it:
grep stop_boot /etc/rc.d/*
/etc/rc.d/ipfilter:		stop_boot
/etc/rc.d/ipsec:		stop_boot
/etc/rc.d/pf:		stop_boot
/etc/rc.d/pf_boot:		stop_boot
(see, these are network related scripts, ones that you may play with =
remotely and get stuck for many reasons, let's tackle this one in =
particular).

A failed fsck may call it too, but this can be moderated with =
fsck_flags=3D"-p -y -P" in your rc.conf.


* Proposal:
Add a "headless" flag to rc.conf, and alter stop_boot function this way:=20=


/etc/rc.conf:
headless=3Dyes

diff -u /mnt/sd0d/backup/rc.subr /etc/rc.subr=20
--- /mnt/sd0d/backup/rc.subr	2013-12-21 23:29:01.000000000 +0100
+++ /etc/rc.subr	2013-12-31 00:10:18.000000000 +0100
@@ -100,14 +100,24 @@
 # If booting directly to multiuser, send SIGTERM to
 # the parent (/etc/rc) to abort the boot.
 # Otherwise just exit.
+# OR
+# If this is a headless system, just send a warning, pause to give a =
hint,
+# and try resuming the boot sequence.
 #
 stop_boot()
 {
-	if [ "$autoboot" =3D yes ]; then
-		echo "ERROR: ABORTING BOOT (sending SIGTERM to parent)!"
-		kill -TERM ${RC_PID}
+	if [ "$headless" =3D yes ] || [ "$headless" =3D YES ]; then
+		echo "WARNING: BOOT *SHOULD* HAVE BEEN STOPPED"
+		echo "Resuming boot sequence in 15s, the System may be =
unusable."
+		sleep 30
+		touch /CHECK_BOOT_LOG.warn
+	else
+		if [ "$autoboot" =3D yes ]; then
+			echo "ERROR: ABORTING BOOT (sending SIGTERM to =
parent)!"
+			kill -TERM ${RC_PID}
+		fi
+		exit 1
 	fi
-	exit 1
 }
=20

Happy end of year with your unstoppable NetBSD systems ;)
Kind regards,
Mat.=