[Rule-list] Slinky questions

[Michael Fratoni]

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On Thursday 08 August 2002 03:42 am, Ed Blackman wrote:
> A couple of questions about the compressed filesystem on disk 1:
> - What is the purpose of the /usr/lib/rpm/{rpmrc,macros} files?  I
>   can't find anything that references them.

If I remember correctly, rpm needs them. It's been a while since I added 
those files, so I'll have to test and see if that's correct. I know I had 
a good reason at the time. ;)

> - I know that the binaries are statically linked, but what are they
>   linked against?  Standard glibc?  If so, have you considered using
>   one of the smaller libc's?

The binaries are linked against uClibc, a very small implimentation of 
libc.  http://www.uclibc.org/uClibc.html

> The reason I'm scavenging for space is that I've been hacking on the
> install to add function (install from ISO images over NFS) and to make
> the interface a little more user-friendly, but the busybox sh syntax
> is quite limited, and it's been fairly frustrating at times.

What version of the installer are you using? Recent versions use the ash 
shell, which has much more functionality that the older versions, which 
used the busybox msh shell. I've found most 'bash' style syntax works as 
expected.

> I wondered whether there would be any interest in looking at using
> another language for the installer.  It would have to be small (on
> disk and in memory) and fairly straightforward for developers with a
> C/Perl/shell background, but I think that another language with more
> capabilities than busybox sh would allow us to do more.
>
> I think that Lua (http://www.lua.org) might fit that description.
> It's small (Tom's RootBoot uses it) and somewhat C-ish/Perl-ish and
> pretty easy to read (IMO, anyway).
>
> Thoughts?  If people are OK with the idea, I'd be willing to find
> space for the interpreter on the disk, and port the existing scripts.

You mean a different shell? I'm willing to entertain the idea if it is 
small enough. I also want to make the system usable when booted from the 
installer floppy (as a rescue disk, for example) without having people 
stumbling over an unfamiliar shell.

> Oh, one more question, this time just for Marco.  Do you build the
> images by hand, or do you have an automated process?

I use a set of scripts to automate the build process. The scripts allow me 
to say:
./mkdisk1
./mkdisk2
./upload_slinky

- -- 
- -Michael

pgp key:  http://www.tuxfan.homeip.net:8080/gpgkey.txt
Red Hat Linux 7.2 in 8M of RAM: http://www.rule-project.org/
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