Re: [debian-knoppix] Some thoughts&questions about knoppix...
On Wed, 22 May 2002 04:20:20 +0200, Klaus Knopper <knopper@linuxtag.org>
wrote:
> > a) Use the GCC options "-Os -s" in the kernel Makefile (line 20 &
> > 91). Gain: ~130kB (not compressed) for the modules, and some kBs for
> > the bzImage (I didn't count them...)
>
> Hmm, I don't think so. Did you do a real measurement? Remember that
> also the modules on the miniroot.gz are compressed.
Oops, that was my fault. I used strip -s on the modules. They got
smaller by 130k, but of course they didn't work anymore. But you can
still gain some bytes...
> > b) remove unused /dev/ nodes: *random loop* ram[2-9] ram??
> > psaux sndstat , maybe "ttyp*" and "ttyS*" as well.
>
> They COULD be needed on a rescue system. And ram* is definitely
> needed at boot time.
Only ram0 is needed. Other question: is KNOPPIX a rescue system?
> > c) Maybe: use busybox + uClibc and asmutils instead of ash-knoppix.
>
> This is probably way bigger. ash-knoppix is already linked against
> dietlibc and has insmod compiled in (which is needed for loading the
> cloop module).
and for the SCSI stuff...
Even the gzip algorithm can be better than with gzip -9 (see the Windows
utility 7-zip).
I made a measurement:
KNOPPIX' miniroot vs. mine
Same filesystem: loop ext2, 3000 blocks, 8k inodes
Same directories, /linuxrc script not include
KNOPPIX: 475585 bytes
compressed with gzip -9
mine: 439882 bytes
some /dev nodes deleted as mentioned above, removed most files in /etc,
using busybox and asmutils, compressed with 7-zip, doesn't have ls and
cat (use "echo *" for ls, cat is not needed IMHO)
/linuxrc:
# copy library cache
cat /KNOPPIX/etc/ld.so.cache > /etc/ld.so.cache
Is this necessary? I don't think so.
You can use "ldconfig -n /lib /usr/lib"
7-Zip could also be used for the Kernel bzImage (see
/usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/compressed/Makefile). Or maybe we could
tweak gzip?
This would give free space for more SCSI modules. Or what about e3 (VI
clone)? Uses 8282 bytes... Or a graphical boot logo? Or...?
> > I saw a TODO-list somewhere where it said: "use 2.88 el torito image
> > and boot/root floppies". Another possible way: use 2.88 el torito
> > image and only one 1722kb floppy. advantage: only one floppy is
> > needed, disadv.: cd-rom space wasted, maybe incompatible with some
> > floppy drives
>
> The floppy drives should do fine, but I am still not fond of the idea
> of maintaining different images for floppy and CD-Rom boot. And are
I agree, this would complicate things.
> you sure that all bioses support the 2.88 eltorito boot option? I try
> to stick to the 1.44MB image as long as possible. ;-)
The biggest problem is that some BIOSes don't even support ElTorito.
They have an option to boot from a CD, but they expect some other kind
of boot image. I'm trying to hack an assembly program that could do
something (at least display something, but it would be best if it could
load the ElTorito image)
> > It would be nice if some startup script would point /etc/localtime
> > to the right file in /usr/share/zoneinfo.
>
> Interesting thought. But what about people in french speaking parts of
> canada? Besides, most people use localtime in their bios settings
> (probably because Windows does not know better...), so the timezone
> would not be set correct in most cases.
Setting the BIOS time to localtime doesn't matter. You can still use
hwclock --localtime. The absolut time doesn't change, only the
difference to the UTC does.
> And there are lots of people who are booting with lang=us in europe,
> and who don't want the US time settings. So, I think the idea is good
> in general, but would give wrong results in more cases than success.
> A boot option timezone= would probably be the best solution.
Yet another boot option? I don't think that typing lots of options at
the SYSLINUX prompt is according to the philosophy of KNOPPIX. Anyway,
timezone isn't that important.
> I use the atime timestamp from the files on the master system to
> generate the sortlist, but there are probably better ways. The results
> may vary, so you may just leave out the -sort option at all and get
> an even faster CD.
This is my sort file (numbers are automagically inserted with awk):
cloop/sbin/ldconfig
cloop/bin/rm
cloop/lib/ld-linux.so.2
cloop/lib/libc.so.6
cloop/bin/awk
cloop/bin/gawk
cloop/lib/libm.so.6
cloop/bin/expr
cloop/bin/test
cloop/bin/mkdir
cloop/bin/mount
cloop/bin/ln
cloop/bin/cp
cloop/dev/*
cloop/etc/*
cloop/sbin/init
cloop/bin/bash
cloop/lib/libdl.so.2
cloop/lib/libncurses.so.5
cloop/lib/*
cloop/bin/*
cloop/sbin/*
cloop/usr/bin/*
cloop/usr/lib/*
This is maybe shooting with cannons at sparrows (is there an english
saying for this?), as my ISO image is only 50MB but perhaps it would be
good for KNOPPIX. It will surely speed up booting. You cannot speed up
the loading of other applications, because you don't know which are
started and in which order. Maybe you can set a negative value for
dpkg/apt databases and other things that are seldom used.
Mit freundlichen Grüssen (Schreib doch auf deutsch, wir zwei sind in
diesem Thread wohl alleine)
Stephan
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