[laffer1]

Problem

rc.d/firstboot asks its questions with a plain read. On a headless board, or one with no keyboard, boot stops at the package-mirror prompt and never reaches sshd or login. The aarch64 RPI snapshot image did exactly this in QEMU.

Change

• Skip the questions when stdin is not a terminal ([ -t 0 ]).
• Skip at boot when every active console in kern.console is serial. A video console (ttyv*) keeps the prompts. This check applies only when rc_quiet is set (faststart/quietstart), so running service firstboot start by hand over ssh or serial still asks the questions.
• Timeout: each answer is read with read -t ${firstboot_timeout}, default 300 s, which can be set in rc.conf. On a timeout or end of input, firstboot prints a warning and stops without writing /etc/fbreceipt, so it runs again on the next boot.
• Order: firstboot now requires sshd, so sshd is already running while the questions wait at the console. Someone can ssh in (board images enable sshd and DHCP) and run service firstboot start. firstboot still finishes before init starts the console getty. When sshd isn't enabled, it does nothing. rcorder order: LOGIN … sshd … cron sendmail jail firstboot bgfsck securelevel.

Testing

• sh -n passes.
• Helper harness with a stubbed kern.console:
  • no tty → skip;
  • manual run on serial → prompts;
  • boot with uart or ttyu0 only → skip;
  • boot with vt+uart or vt only → prompts;
  • answer given → read OK;
  • 2 s timeout → "No answer within 2 seconds", rc 1;
  • EOF → "No more input", rc 1.
• QEMU raspi3b with the aarch64 RPI snapshot image and this script: the loader runs a dual console ("Serial Primary, Video Secondary", because the Pi has HDMI), so the prompts still appear. The 300 s timeout then fired, and boot went on to host key generation, sshd and login: on ttyu0. Before this change the same image waited forever.
• With the second commit, the same boot logs host key generation, Starting sshd. and Starting cron. before the FirstBoot prompt. QEMU raspi3b has no network device here, so I didn't test an actual ssh login.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Summary by Sourcery

Make firstboot safe for unattended boots while preserving interactive configuration when a usable console or remote session is available.

New Features:

• Add configurable timeouts to firstboot prompts so unanswered or closed input no longer blocks boot indefinitely.

Bug Fixes:

• Prevent firstboot from blocking headless or serial-only boots by skipping noninteractive prompts when appropriate.
• Ensure timed-out or incomplete firstboot runs leave no receipt so they can be retried later.
• Start firstboot after sshd, allowing administrators to connect remotely and run it interactively when needed.

[sourcery-ai]

Reviewer's Guide

Implementation

Review firstboot’s boot-time console checks, prompt timeouts and receipt handling together with its sshd ordering requirement, since these changes determine whether setup blocks boot and when it can be answered.

• libexec/rc/rc.d/firstboot L83-126, L140-145, L266-270 (+11 small edits)

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[github-actions]

Claude finished @laffer1's task in 30s —— View job

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Review of PR #645 (rc.d/firstboot)

I read the diff and the surrounding rc script. I didn't run it or any tests. The change looks correct, and I found no blocking issues. It only touches a /bin/sh rc script: no C, assembly or contrib/mksh.

What I checked

• [ -t 0 ] gate and rc_quiet console check. The logic is sound. ${active%%/*} takes the active half of kern.console. case ",${active}" in *,ttyv* matches a video console in any position. If the sysctl fails or returns nothing, it falls through to prompting, which is a safe default.
• fb_read. read -t is supported by FreeBSD sh. A timeout returns a status above 128 and EOF returns 1, which matches your branches. read without -r is unchanged from before.
• Receipt handling. Every fb_read ... || return 0 happens before /etc/fbreceipt is written, so a timeout or EOF reruns firstboot on the next boot, as intended.
• POSIX and style. The script uses no Bash-isms apart from the existing echo -e. : ${firstboot_timeout:=300} after load_rc_config lets rc.conf override it.
• Ordering. Nothing in rc.d requires firstboot except dhcp6c, which says BEFORE: firstboot and doesn't conflict with the new REQUIRE: sshd. I didn't check whether LOGIN, which sshd requires, depends on firstboot. A quick rcorder run would settle that.

Minor, non-blocking

1. Partial runs repeat. A timeout partway through leaves earlier steps applied, for example the mirror region and the aged setting. They run again on the next boot, which is harmless but means those prompts reappear. This may be worth a line in the docs or a comment.
2. Skip message on every boot. On a headless system the "Skipping FirstBoot Configuration" message prints every boot until someone runs service firstboot start, because no receipt is written. That seems intended.
3. Timeout vs. dual console. On a dual-console board like the Pi, the 300 s wait still delays boot once per boot until the questions are answered. You could lower the default or document firstboot_timeout in rc.conf(5) or a man page.
4. Hardcoded /sbin/sysrc. The script calls /sbin/sysctl and /usr/sbin/sysrc by absolute path, consistent with the existing style. No change needed.

LGTM from a correctness standpoint.