Re: Debian S/390 distro?
On Mon, Sep 18, 2000 at 03:09:47PM -0400, mikemac@us.ibm.com wrote:
> Subject: Debian S/390 distro?
> Any news on the possibility of a Debian S/390 distro?
working on it ... SLOWLY ...
The build daemons are just chugging away - I haven't formalized the
"distributed-build-daemon" yet - so there's not much that can be done
on the outside at the moment; then we need to start the
"HOWTO-Install-debian-s390" discussion - look at the experiances which suse and
the Install-fest had, and see where we can do better.
At the moment I think it'll be a "dual-arch" snap-shot distribution-CD
based on a tailored set of packages set up for i386 and s390, so that
the sysprog can ...
1) install "this" debian-i386 on a PC somewhere
2) use that to tailor his s390 environment,
prepare command-lines, punch kernels, ftp/nfs, prepare his initrd
and load the OCO-Module(s) prior to
3) IPL (native, LPAR, VM or VIF)
and pick up the rest of the s390 distro from the i386-box over the net.
4) Packages on both the i386 and s390 will be from the same source, so that
the sysprog will be able to see what the "intended behaviour" of a package
or upgrade would be on i386 before commiting that to s390.
5) the i386 could be set up to be able to cross-compile for s390 if we hit
any more "circular dependancies" (catch-22's)
I'll be doing "unstable" and possibly "test" if that comes up looking good.
If the "distributed-build-daemon" works at all well, I might even be able to
offer "stable" "test" and "unstable".
At the moment I'm still having difficulties with the infamous "build-dependancies",
but I expect them to wear off in a month or two, when I have enough "critical mass"
to get over not having all the packages I need to build the packages I need to build
the packages I want.
I don't think it makes much sense at the moment to even start the discussion on
"HOWTO-Install-debian-s390" until I have enough .debs to bootstrap a minimal
"pure debian" development system and have it build itself.
That's my current target. When I get there, I'll open up a bit, and we'll start
compiling on several (deb390) machines and that'll get the discussions going ...
That's the second target - to distribute a deb390-distributed-build-daemon, and
let the people use it as a "productive test-bed" behind their corporate firewalls.
That should give us some experiance to be able to tackle the "first release deb390".
I will need to spend some time with the "boot-floppies" people to learn their trade too,
and apply it to an "initrd -> base -> install" process.
I see that the redbook should be out "Real Soon Now[TM]" - and I'm excited to see
how it will be received. - What sort of feedback have we been getting up to now ?
ps: I've cross-posted to debian-s390@lists.debian.org because they haven't hear from me
for ages either ;-(
//rhi
--
This letter does not include my 20-line Corporate-Image .signature.
Consider yourself lucky.
Have a nice day ;-) Richard Higson mailto:richard.higson@gt.owl.de
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