Re: Status of Emdebsys????
On Wed, 12 Mar 2003 14:15:57 +0000 (GMT)
Wookey <wookey@aleph1.co.uk> wrote:
> On Mon 10 Mar, Liberty Young wrote:
> > I'm very excited about using emdebsys for generating, and having our
> > customers, generate their own mini-OS. I like how it will automate the
> > compilation, gathering, and generation of an OS suitable for an
> > embedded product. There were a few things that i'm unclear about with
> > emdebsys:
> >
> > What is happening to it?
>
> Not much at the moment. It got updated to kernel 2.4.16 and to work with
> ARM as well as x86, and had some useful docs done just over a year ago,
> and I gave a talk about it at the UKUUG conference last June but I never
> got round to updating the website so you can only get the current
> version from CVS. In practice very few people (no-one?) seem to be using
> it so there isn't much action.
I am using it:
http://lomb.abeille.com
And I am very thankfull that you are not updating CVS too much often ;),
so it is not hard to keep up to date the few modifications I did :).
>
> I'm doing a project right now for which I am going to try using it which
> might induce some activity
>
> > Specifically, what is going to happen to the front end configuration,
> > and are there plans to move away from CML2?
>
> There is a feeling that we probably ought to move away from it as it got
> the thumbs-down from the kernel developers and is no longer maintained.
> It also has a rather un-beatiful front end.
yes, but it is pretty usable for my point.
>
> I haven't had time to look at the more recent kernel config stuff
> (kbuild?) to see if it could be used or not. I'd be interested to hear
> if anyone has any suggestions of good ways to do this or if in fact
> sticking with this general-purpose config language is the best thing to
> do - at the expense of less-close integration between the filesystem and
> kernel configuration sections.
>
> I note that something called Qplus is a similar config system that also
> uses CML2 and is therefore in a similar spot. It may be somewhat more
> developed than emdebsys (it certainly has a nicer front-end :-) - again
> I haven't had a chance to check. We should almost certainly compare
> notes with them.
>
just a personal point of view:
for me since it is 'Emdebian', so what I would like to see is a far more tight
integration between this project and the Debian project.
Usage of Debconf ??, an 'apt-get build' ability, general rules for removing
unwanted files from Debian packages (docs, locales...), a general comprehension
of the Debian dependancy system (how to make it interact with the dependancies
of say: the kernel?), usage of make-kpkg (and of the '/usr/src/linux' kernel tree
of the system), ...
even if this might force the Emdebian user to have a Debian installed on its
workstation too.
I see the Debian system of the developper (the user of Emdebian) like some
kind of 'toolkit' that Emdebian would use, so that we get a "Debian
compatible" system generated at the end. One for example that could be used and
improved by itself later, by usage of apt-get.
But I have to recognize that my customisation needs are not really high,
since I generate embedded systems for standard PC platforms with system
on a flash disk (not really different of an absolutely normal PC).
One that needs to create a system for a very specific platform,
like a PDA, would probaly loose from it at the bginning, but I think we will
see more and more PDA that are just in fact tiny computers... with more and
more storage ability and just a different processor (for now).
So the target platform could be normal computers only, it would not
matter for me :). May be we are loosing time trying to get the things
small and 'ultra-integrated', since it could no be an issue anymore in a near
future...
> So in short, no there isn't a plan yet. Suggestions welcome. Like I say
> once I've had a real-life attempt to use it in a project I may have some
> more solid opinions. We're getting real money for this job so it should
> happen pretty soon :-)
great news.
And thx for the work already done.
Damien
>
> Wookey
> --
> Aleph One Ltd, Bottisham, CAMBRIDGE, CB5 9BA, UK Tel +44 (0) 1223
> 811679 work: http://www.aleph1.co.uk/ play:
> http://www.chaos.org.uk/~wookey/
Reply to: