Re: Debian GNU/Hurd installation discs
Hi folks,
Producing a mini iso is quite easy provided one has time,
patience, an analytical mind, and a high frustration level.
If you pull the mini iso to pieces you will see a file called baseGNU.tgz,
this is the file that needs to be replaced. The change-log and
documentation should be reviewed though.
baseGNU.tgz is now produced using crosshurd with some modifications.
Once crosshurd has unpacked the required packages into the hurd partition
then this partition (mounted /gnu on my system) is then tar'd with the
commands
# cd /gnu
# tar --same-owner -cpf /$BDIR/baseGNU.tar .
# gzip --best baseGNU*
# mv baseGNU.tar.gz baseGNU.tgz
$BDIR is the directory where baseGNU is to be built.
Almost certainly the trial installation will fail. native-install will
barf, the system will not boot, or an important system component will
fail, eg, networking. Anyone who has had problems with crosshurd will
know what I mean.
Now start the iterations. There can be up to 20-30 of these in extreme
conditions at which point one gives up and goes to bed. The number of
iterations depends on the state of the archive. Adjustment are made to
config/packages
The above is the simple rundown of the process.
However, the system needs to be modified so that packages from debian-
ports.org and private repositories can be unpacked into the hurd
partition.
I do this by adding debian-ports.org to config/packages and adding a third
line for those packages I have collected from elsewhere.
Crosshurd will only work with http repositories so I have setup webfs, a
very simple server, to access my repositories. A modification to
crosshurd to work with "deb file" would be useful. I have sid/binary-
hurd-i386 and the archive at debian-ports on my HDD so I can remove any
troublesome packages, usually by removing them from Packages.*.
One useful addition config/packages is mc. It can be useful in hunting
down problems in a partially configured system.
Now it is a matter of trial and error.
Questions welcome.
Phil.
--
Philip Charles; 39a Paterson Street, Abbotsford, Dunedin, New Zealand
+64 3 488 2818 Fax +64 3 488 2875 Mobile 027 663 4453
philipc@copyleft.co.nz - personal. info@copyleft.co.nz - business
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