[Tfug] Making an install set?

[Brian Masur]

(not sure I'm still getting TFUG emails here, I unsubscribed via the 
tfug.org web site and replied to the confirmation, hrmm...)

Isn't Fedora 1 a bit old?  IMHO, the easier it is to run a flavor of linux, 
the less you learn and retain about linux.

Regarding compiling a kernel, you should be able to do this with any 
distribution of linux.  Just download and decompress the kernel source into 
/usr/src/ and read the /usr/src/linux-version/Documentation/Changes file for 
a list of current minimal requirements.  Use your particular linux 
distribution's package manager (or manually run through each program with a 
--version or similar) to check which version of each requirement you have 
installed.  The Changes file tells you which command to run for each 
package.

You can copy the .config file to another box but make sure to change the 
PROCESSOR FAMILY to meet the capabilities of that box or you might be 
wasting the resources of that box.

If you are using a .config from an older kernel version with a newly 
installed kernel source, first run make oldconfig and answer the questions 
for what is new.  Then run make menuconfig and do a quick check to make sure 
everything is configured for your needs.  Then run make && make 
modules_install   ...  Then copy the new bzImage file where your system 
looks for it (according to grub.conf or menu.lst or lilo.conf) such as in 
/boot and update such configuration files as needed.  It's a good idea to 
make a backup of your old kernel and have a separate entry for it in your 
boot config like grub/lilo.conf...

As for vi and all the other 10,000 packages out there, you should be able to 
use your package manager to update.  Every linux distribution out there, 
including debian and gentoo, you can manually download kernel source, unpack 
it, manually compile and install a kernel and have little effect on the rest 
of the system.  Even back when I used to run debian I would never use 
make-kpkg for kernel installation because I already knew how to manage the 
kernel and its upgrades/etc.  Whenever you start using a new version of a 
kernel (or any differently compiled kernel) you need to check to make sure 
all of your modules are also recompiled to match the new kernel.  If you run 
anything like proprietary nvidia or ati drivers those will need to be 
recompiled.  Atheros/madwifi needs to be recompiled.  Modules for lm_sensors 
hardware sensors, vmware modules, all those kinds of modules not included in 
the kernel will need to be recompiled/reinstalled/reemerged etc. etc.

If you have to ask this kind of thing about the kernel, I recommend getting 
a hold of as many distributions as possible and install them, with the focus 
on rolling your own kernel in each distro and still having a completely 
working installation afterward.  Maybe even try LFS for practice, although I 
don't recommend LFS for any production environment.

GCC 4.1.1 is pretty much accepted lately, FYI.

>From: "Joe Blais" <joe.blais at pti-instruments.com>
>Reply-To: Tucson Free Unix Group <tfug at tfug.org>
>To: "Tfug" <tfug at tfug.org>
>Subject: [Tfug] Making an install set?
>Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2006 11:37:07 -0700
>
>Hello -
>
>Thank you all for the help building a kernel.  What actually worked, was
>going back to Fedora 1, which has gcc 3.3.2, and then doing the build on 
>the
>kernel code we were supplied.  -- first I thought it wasn't working because
>I didn't see screens full of warnings -- the old gcc compiler worked on the
>old code - no errors...
>
>Now some new questions.  Now that I have the code compiling on my
>development box, how do I update the target box?  They are both i386 type
>machines.  How do I make an install set for instruments we build?  I was
>looking at the install CD we were given.  It has a boot folder (with an
>empty s2 folder, and boot.catalog, boot.img and stage2.img files) an 
>INSTALL
>folder ( with instimage.tgz, ram.tgz ximage.tgz) some other folders
>including the source that I finally got building.  The target system has
>some utilities like vi, but it doesn't have a make or anything, so I feel I
>have to develop on another box.
>
>Do I need to somehow turn the linuxz file that was compiled from the 
>source,
>into a boot.img file?
>
>I assume I can keep the boot folder on the CD, and what it contains, and
>just replace the tar files in the INSTALL folder.
>
>Do I do the final "make install" of the source on the development box,
>directing it to some new folders, and then just roll these up as 
>replacement
>tar files for the CD?  I looked into the instimage.tgz file and much of it
>seemed like the familiar bin, lib, usr folders with utilities, vi,... all
>that kind of stuff.  The ram.tzg just had 3 zero sized file names. The
>ximage.tgz seems to have everything for the x windows stuff.
>
>-- the next thing -- upgrade.
>
>If the above process works, can I upgrade to newer kernels by starting with
>the latest Fedora, with it's source from kernel.org, on my development box,
>apply the .config settings from our old system, then build with the newest
>gcc ?  What about all the utilities like vi?
>
>Thanks
>Joe
>
>ps - as to the religious stuff, I'm glad we have been able to keep religion
>out of government (it's not out of politics).  If we did have a religion
>based government, then, based on the last flurry of messages, I think we'd
>be like the middle east, shooting each other instead of helping each other!
>
>
>--
>Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.
>Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>Version: 7.0.405 / Virus Database: 268.11.7/434 - Release Date: 8/30/2006
>
>
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