Debian chroot image

[Jim Pick <jim@jimpick.com>]

   Debian-ARM for the NetWinder
   ============================

   chroot image - August 10, 1998

   Jim Pick <jim@jimpick.com>


I've prepared an image of the Debian base system that can be easily
installed into a directory on a NetWinder, and used as a chroot
environment - without affecting the software that Corel supplies.

It is minimally configured - containing just enough installed packages
to make it easy to download the official ARM packages from Debian and
some additional non-official/local packages from my FTP server.

It is simple enough to install that anybody with a NetWinder should be
able to get it up and running.

The Debian port is still a work-in-progress, so you have been warned!
Most importantly, it is not yet complete enough to act as a
replacement for Corel's root disk iamge.

Here's what you do (as root):

  1) Download the image from:

         ftp://ftp.jimpick.com/pub/debian/netwinder/chroot-image/

     The filename should be something like:  debian-chroot_980810.tar.gz

     It's about an 11MB download.

  2) Pick a directory where you want to install it.  Something like
     /mnt/chroot or /opt/chroot is a good choice.  You might want to
     install it on another partition.

  3) Untar the file, ie:

       # tar xzvf debian-chroot_980810.tar.gz

     This will untar the files into a directory called "chroot" below
     your current directory.  Feel free to rename it.

     Unpacked, it takes up around 27MB - but you'll want to leave more
     room than that, so you can install additional packages.

  4) Change directory into the base of the chroot, ie:

      # cd chroot

  5) The NetWinder as supplied by Corel doesn't include a "chroot" command,
     but you can use the one from the Debian chroot:

      # cp usr/sbin/chroot /usr/local/bin

  6) The image I made didn't have the proper /dev files.  So just copy
     the Corel ones into the chroot area:

      # cp -af /dev/* dev

  7) Actually go into the chroot:

      # chroot .

     Now you should be inside the chroot environment!  You can
     verify this by doing an "ls /" - you should see a file called
     "I_am_inside_Debian_chroot".

  8) You might want to edit /etc/resolv.conf to point to your nameservers.
     Or you can just leave it pointing at mine.

  9) Install additional packages.  You do this using the "dselect" program.

     Dselect has been configured to use the "dpkg-http" access method.  It
     will look for package files via http from an official Debian mirror,
     and also via ftp from the collection of un-official packages on
     ftp.jimpick.com .

 10) You should have a functional Debian environment set up now!  You might
     want to go on and add some users (using "adduser"), and do some
     additional configuration.

     You can mount the /proc filesystem by doing:

      # mount /proc /proc -t proc

     You might want to join the debian-arm mailing list, by sending a
     message contain the word "subscribe" in the body to
     debian-arm-request@lists.debian.org .

     Also, feel free to check our website, which is at:

       http://master.debian.org/~jim/netwinder.html


If you have any questions, please direct them to the mailing list.  If
you have a correction/clarification for this set of instructions, please
send me a note - <jim@jimpick.com> .

Cheers,

 - Jim