Re: controlling installation from a serial terminal

["James R. Van Zandt" <jrv@vanzandt.mv.com>]

Enrique Zanardi <ezanardi@ull.es> wrote:
>Have you seen utilities/dinstall/baseconfig.c: update_console_info()? 
>It probably does what you want.

Er, yes.  I had forgotten.  

I suspect that a compile-time choice (controlled by #define
SERIAL_CONSOLE) is the wrong way to go, though.  Either we ought to
enable logins for everyone, or else ask the user what he wants.

>> I suppose I am stuck asking for a special kernel for this option.
>> (The CONFIG_SERIAL_CONSOLE probably would not hurt, but some some may
>> not want CONFIG_SERIAL.)  I would hope eventually to incorporate the
>> necessary changes into the standard rescue floppy and base.tgz,
>> though.
>
>If the kernel is not much bigger than our default one, it's OK for me.

This is turning into a big problem.  At your suggestion, I have
started building installation files using unstable kernels, but they
are big.

The stable kernels have been growing slightly:
  
  -rw-r--r-- root/root    696136 1998-06-30 04:56 boot/vmlinuz-2.0.33
  -rw-r--r-- root/root    704533 1998-07-08 21:00 boot/vmlinuz-2.0.34
  -rw-r--r-- root/root    708567 1998-11-22 01:00 boot/vmlinuz-2.0.35
  -rw-r--r-- root/root    715317 1999-01-17 04:01 boot/vmlinuz-2.0.36

However, when I copied the kernel configuration file from the 2.0.36
package into the 2.1.125 sources, I got this:

  -rwxr-xr-x   1 root     root       833397 Jan 26 19:58 linux

I have removed quite a few drivers (mainly SCSI), but have not yet
been able to build a rescue disk with a 2.1.x kernel.  "make"
generates only these files before failing: 

  -rw-r--r--   1 root     root       706219 Jan 27 19:46 root.bin
  -rw-r--r--   1 root     root           45 Jan 27 19:45 keymaps.tgz
  -rw-r--r--   1 root     root        63743 Jan 27 19:45 sys_map.gz
  -rw-r--r--   1 root     root         1455 Jan 27 19:45 modcont
  -rw-r--r--   1 root     root      1040456 Jan 27 19:45 modules.tgz
  -rw-r--r--   1 root     root       744576 Jan 27 19:45 linux

I intend to find out whether these (plus a base2_1.tgz from a previous
build) would be enough for a loadlin installation.  However, I would
still like to support floppy installations eventually.  I would
appreciate suggestions:

  - What is the best way to persuade the boot-floppies scripts to
    finish building the installation files, even if root.bin and the
    other installation files would not fit onto the rescue disk?
    (After all, loadlin installations don't need the rescue disk.)

  - Is there an easy way to put the kernel and root filesystems on
    separate floppies?  I think we will have to do this with 2.2.x
    kernels, anyway.  (I think preparing one more floppy for an
    installation is not a big problem.  A single rescue floppy is very
    convenient, and may still be possible if it does not have to do
    installations too.)  I know about the ramdisk0 and floppy0 modes,
    but they only work if I can create a rescue floppy to begin with.

I am sure that, with enough time, I can hack the scripts to do either
of these, but I have the feeling I would be reinventing the wheel.

	      - Jim Van Zandt