MetaNAS 1.x is relatively stable, but is still being polished. There isn't
complete feature parity between 0.7 (legacy) and 1.x, yet, and there are still
some rough edges, but there are also some features in 1.x that aren't
available in 0.7. There isn't an upgrade path from 0.7 to 1.x, yet.

To build the system (experts only):

Requirements:

- Your build environment must be FreeBSD 8.1-RELEASE or newer.
- amd64 or i386 for i386 builds; an amd64 for amd64 builds.
- You will need the following ports/packages when compiling anything
  MetaNAS-related:
  - devel/git or devel/subversion
  - lang/python26 or lang/python27

- You need the following additional ports/packages to build the MetaNAS base
  OS image:
  - sysutils/cdrtools

- You need the following additional ports/packages to build the plugins jail:
  - ports-mgmt/pbi-manager

Building the System Quickstart Flow:

- Checking out the code from svn:

% svn co https://metanas.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/metanas/trunk
% cd trunk

More information about checking out sources from svn via SourceForge
can be found here: http://p.sf.net/sourceforge/svn .

- Use the build script (substituting your favorite cvsup mirror)

% sudo env FREEBSD_CVSUP_HOST=cvsup1.freebsd.org sh build/do_build.sh

That's it.

The End Result:

If your build completes successfully, you'll have an image in
obj.yyyy/MetaNAS-VVVV-XXXX-yyyy.img.xz where:

- VVVV is the 'release' branch version or.
- XXXX is the svn revision from the MetaNAS repo.
- yyyy is either i386 or amd64 depending on your platform and what was
  provided via $METANAS_ARCH on the command line / via the environment.

This is a compressed raw disk image, and needs to be decompressed and
converted to your favorite VM container format before use, flashed on to a USB
key fob, etc.  There will also be a CD/DVD image,
obj.yyyy/MetaNAS-VVVV-XXXX-yyyy.iso, that you can use to install/upgrade
MetaNAS.

Common workflows:

1. Building an i386 on an amd64 build server:

% sudo env METANAS_ARCH=i386 sh build/do_build.sh

2. Forcing an source / ports update:

% sudo env FREEBSD_CVSUP_HOST=cvsup1.freebsd.org sh build/do_build.sh -u

3. Updating ports patches:

% sudo rm -Rf obj.$METANAS_ARCH/ports/packages/
% sudo env FREEBSD_CVSUP_HOST=cvsup1.freebsd.org sh build/do_build.sh -u

NOTE: when things get smarter (and they will.. the developers feel your pain
too :/..), nuking individual packages won't be required; this will require
fiddling around with the ports infrastructure, which is a semi-large
undertaking. Thus, I wouldn't expect this to be enhanced anytime soon :(..
(but it's annoyed the author of this document enough that it's time to fix
things properly!).

4. Update source and ports, patch, and rebuild FreeBSD:

% sudo env FREEBSD_CVSUP_HOST=cvsup10.freebsd.org sh build/do_build.sh -fu

5. Force a build from scratch (nukes packages, rebuild FreeBSD):

% sudo env FREEBSD_CVSUP_HOST=cvsup10.freebsd.org sh build/do_build.sh -ff

6. Build everything required (src, ports) but don't produce GUI upgrade/CD
   images:

% sudo sh build/do_build.sh -- -i

Submitting Build Bugs:

Please execute the 'build/build_bug.sh' command and follow the directions
described by the script.