Sub-Cache

portage on mac

2008-05-20T15:56:00.003+05:30

The gentoo prefix portage throws up errors about man.ecompress.dir conflicts. When observed closely, it also threw up errors about xargs not recognisng -r flag. Thats because the default xargs doesn't support gnu extensions. So we need to emerge findutils. THere is a catch though. it fails too. you need to comment out the line that stops locate being built. and then do an ebuild findutils-.ebuild digest. Then the install will happily continue.

LFS Profile for package user

2005-12-01T08:17:00.000+05:30

Here is a page from LFS profile I created. It might help you modify the other pages. I'll put up everything shortly after I find a file host that doesn't mind hot linking.

coreutils.xml


  1  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>

  2  <!DOCTYPE alfs SYSTEM "../DTD/ALFS.dtd"
  3  [
  4  <!ENTITY % general_entities SYSTEM "../config/general.ent">

  5  <!ENTITY % package_entities SYSTEM "../config/package.ent">
  6
  7  %general_entities;

  8  %package_entities;
  9  ]>
 10  <alfs>

 11    <package name="coreutils" version="&coreutils-version;">
 12      <stage name="Adding the Package User">

 13        <execute command="add_package_user">
 14          <param>&coreutils-version;</param>

 15          <param>coreutils</param>
 16          <param>10001</param>
 17          <param>19999</param>

 18          <param>coreutils</param>
 19          <param>10001</param>
 20          <param>19999</param>

 21        </execute>
 22      </stage>
 23      <stage name="Unpacking">

 24        <stageinfo>
 25          <user>coreutils</user>
 26        </stageinfo>

 27        <unpack>
 28          <digest>&coreutils-md5;</digest>
 29          <archive>&packages_dir;/&coreutils-package;</archive>

 30          <destination>&package_home;/coreutils</destination>
 31        </unpack>
 32      </stage>

 33      <stage name="Patching">
 34        <stageinfo>
 35          <user>coreutils</user>

 36          <base>&package_home;/coreutils/&coreutils-directory;</base>
 37        </stageinfo>
 38        <patch>

 39          <param>-N</param>
 40          <param>-p1</param>
 41          <param>-i &packages_dir;/&coreutils-uname-patch;</param>

 42        </patch>
 43        <patch>
 44          <param>-N</param>

 45          <param>-p1</param>
 46          <param>-i &packages_dir;/&coreutils-dupes-patch;</param>

 47        </patch>
 48      </stage>
 49      <stage name="Configure">

 50        <stageinfo>
 51          <user>coreutils</user>
 52          <base>&package_home;/coreutils/&coreutils-directory;</base>

 53        </stageinfo>
 54        <configure>
 55          <prefix>DEFAULT_POSIX2_VERSION=199209</prefix>

 56          <param>--prefix=/usr</param>
 57        </configure>
 58      </stage>

 59      <stage name="Compile">
 60        <stageinfo>
 61          <user>coreutils</user>

 62          <base>&package_home;/coreutils/&coreutils-directory;</base>
 63        </stageinfo>
 64        <make>

 65          <param>&jlevel;</param>
 66        </make>
 67      </stage>

 68      <stage name="Test">
 69        <stageinfo>
 70          <base>&package_home;/coreutils/&coreutils-directory;</base>

 71        </stageinfo>
 72        <textdump mode="append">
 73          <file>/etc/group</file>

 74          <content>
 75          =dummy1:x:1000
 76          =dummy2:x:1001:dummy
 77          </content>

 78        </textdump>
 79        <!--textdump mode="append">
 80          <file>/etc/passwd</file>

 81          <content>
 82          =dummy:x:1000:1000:::/bin/bash
 83          </content>

 84        </textdump-->
 85        <make>
 86          <param>NON_ROOT_USERNAME=coreutils</param>

 87          <param>check-root</param>
 88        </make>
 89        <execute command="src/su">

 90          <param>coreutils</param>
 91          <param>-c "make RUN_EXPENSIVE_TESTS=yes check"</param>
 92        </execute>

 93        <execute command="sed">
 94          <param>-i.bak</param>
 95          <param>'/dummy/d'</param>

 96          <param>/etc/passwd</param>
 97          <param>/etc/group</param>
 98        </execute>

 99      </stage>
100      <stage name="Prepare">
101        <remove>/bin/cat</remove>

102        <remove>/bin/pwd</remove>
103        <remove>/bin/stty</remove>
104      </stage>
105      <stage name="Install">

106        <stageinfo>
107          <user>coreutils</user>
108          <base>&package_home;/coreutils/&coreutils-directory;</base>

109        </stageinfo>
110        <make>
111          <param>install</param>
112        </make>

113        <move base="/usr/bin">
114          <source>[</source>
115          <source>basename</source>

116          <source>cat</source>
117          <source>chgrp</source>
118          <source>chmod</source>

119          <source>chown</source>
120          <source>cp</source>
121          <source>dd</source>

122          <source>df</source>
123          <source>date</source>
124          <source>echo</source>

125          <source>false</source>
126          <source>head</source>
127          <source>hostname</source>

128          <source>install</source>
129          <source>ln</source>
130          <source>ls</source>

131          <source>mkdir</source>
132          <source>mknod</source>
133          <source>mv</source>

134          <source>pwd</source>
135          <source>rm</source>
136          <source>rmdir</source>

137          <source>sync</source>
138          <source>sleep</source>
139          <source>stty</source>

140          <source>test</source>
141          <source>touch</source>
142          <source>true</source>

143          <source>uname</source>
144          <destination>/bin</destination>
145        </move>
146        <move>

147          <source>/usr/bin/chroot</source>
148          <destination>/usr/sbin</destination>
149        </move>
150        <link>

151          <option>force</option>
152          <target>../../bin/install</target>
153          <name>/usr/bin</name>

154        </link>
155        <remove>/usr/share/man/man1/su.1</remove>
156      </stage>
157      <stage name="Cleanup">

158        <remove>&package_home;/coreutils/&coreutils-directory;</remove>
159      </stage>
160    </package>

161  </alfs>

Up and running, A happy system.

2005-12-01T08:00:00.000+05:30

Categories: LFS

After My last attemp succeeded, I moved onto BLFS(didn't use profiles because this is my first BLFS attempt and I wanted to do it by hand.) My PC is happy and so am I. Initially I started with console only PC(mplayer and all). Then I needed firefox badly and installed X. No sweat here. I've put firefox and gaim in xinitrc and everything just worked. After a bit of probing from a friend, I finally gave in and installed XFCE. Now even my friends can use it.

Here is my package list(/etc/passwd)


dch:x:9998:10109::/home/dch:/bin/bash
mpdaemon:x:9999:10074::/home/mpdaemon:/bin/bash
linux-libc:x:10001:10001:2.6.11.2:/usr/src/linux-libc:/bin/bash
man-pages:x:10002:10002:2.01:/usr/src/man-pages:/bin/bash
glibc:x:10003:10003:2.3.4:/usr/src/glibc:/bin/bash
binutils:x:10004:10004:2.15.94.0.2.2:/usr/src/binutils:/bin/bash
gcc:x:10005:10005:3.4.3:/usr/src/gcc:/bin/bash
coreutils:x:10006:10006:5.2.1:/usr/src/coreutils:/bin/bash
zlib:x:10007:10007:1.2.2:/usr/src/zlib:/bin/bash
mktemp:x:10008:10008:1.5:/usr/src/mktemp:/bin/bash
iana-etc:x:10009:10009:1.04:/usr/src/iana-etc:/bin/bash
findutils:x:10010:10010:4.2.23:/usr/src/findutils:/bin/bash
gawk:x:10011:10011:3.1.4:/usr/src/gawk:/bin/bash
ncurses:x:10012:10012:5.4:/usr/src/ncurses:/bin/bash
readline:x:10013:10013:5.0:/usr/src/readline:/bin/bash
vim:x:10014:10014:6.3:/usr/src/vim:/bin/bash
m4:x:10015:10015:1.4.3:/usr/src/m4:/bin/bash
bison:x:10016:10016:2.0:/usr/src/bison:/bin/bash
less:x:10017:10017:382:/usr/src/less:/bin/bash
groff:x:10018:10018:1.19.1:/usr/src/groff:/bin/bash
sed:x:10019:10019:4.1.4:/usr/src/sed:/bin/bash
flex:x:10020:10020:2.5.31:/usr/src/flex:/bin/bash
gettext:x:10021:10021:0.14.3:/usr/src/gettext:/bin/bash
inetutils:x:10022:10022:1.4.2:/usr/src/inetutils:/bin/bash
iproute2:x:10023:10023:2.6.11:/usr/src/iproute2:/bin/bash
perl:x:10024:10024:5.8.6:/usr/src/perl:/bin/bash
texinfo:x:10025:10025:4.8:/usr/src/texinfo:/bin/bash
autoconf:x:10026:10026:2.59:/usr/src/autoconf:/bin/bash
automake:x:10027:10027:1.9.5:/usr/src/automake:/bin/bash
bash:x:10028:10028:3.0:/usr/src/bash:/bin/bash
file:x:10029:10029:4.13:/usr/src/file:/bin/bash
libtool:x:10030:10030:1.5.14:/usr/src/libtool:/bin/bash
bzip2:x:10031:10031:1.0.3:/usr/src/bzip2:/bin/bash
diffutils:x:10032:10032:2.8.1:/usr/src/diffutils:/bin/bash
kbd:x:10033:10033:1.12:/usr/src/kbd:/bin/bash
e2fsprogs:x:10034:10034:1.37:/usr/src/e2fsprogs:/bin/bash
grep:x:10035:10035:2.5.1a:/usr/src/grep:/bin/bash
grub:x:10036:10036:0.96:/usr/src/grub:/bin/bash
gzip:x:10037:10037:1.3.5:/usr/src/gzip:/bin/bash
hotplug:x:10038:10038:2004_09_23:/usr/src/hotplug:/bin/bash
man:x:10039:10039:1.5p:/usr/src/man:/bin/bash
make:x:10040:10040:3.80:/usr/src/make:/bin/bash
module-init-tools:x:10041:10041:3.1:/usr/src/module-init-tools:/bin/bash
patch:x:10042:10042:2.5.4:/usr/src/patch:/bin/bash
procps:x:10043:10043:3.2.5:/usr/src/procps:/bin/bash
psmisc:x:10044:10044:21.6:/usr/src/psmisc:/bin/bash
shadow:x:10045:10045:4.0.9:/usr/src/shadow:/bin/bash
sysklogd:x:10046:10046:1.4.1:/usr/src/sysklogd:/bin/bash
sysvinit:x:10047:10047:2.86:/usr/src/sysvinit:/bin/bash
tar:x:10048:10048:1.15.1:/usr/src/tar:/bin/bash
udev:x:10049:10049:056:/usr/src/udev:/bin/bash
util-linux:x:10050:10050:2.12q:/usr/src/util-linux:/bin/bash
linux:x:10051:10051:2.6.14.2:/usr/src/linux:/bin/bash
libxml2:x:10052:10052:2.6.22:/usr/src/libxml2:/bin/bash
nalfs:x:10053:10053:1.2.5-1:/usr/src/nALFS:/bin/bash
blfs-bootscripts:x:10054:10054:6.1:/usr/src/blfs-bootscripts:/bin/bash
autofs:x:10055:10055:4.1.4:/usr/src/autofs:/bin/bash
openssl:x:10056:10056:0.9.7g:/usr/src/openssl:/bin/bash
python:x:10057:10057:2.4.1:/usr/src/python:/bin/bash
gpm:x:10058:10058:1.20.1:/usr/src/gpm:/bin/bash
gc:x:10059:10060:6.5:/usr/src/gc:/bin/bash
w3m:x:10060:10061:0.5.1:/usr/src/w3m:/bin/bash
lynx:x:10061:10062:2.8.5:/usr/src/lynx:/bin/bash
wget:x:10062:10063:1.9.1:/usr/src/wget:/bin/bash
tree:x:10064:10065:1.5.0:/usr/src/tree:/bin/bash
eject:x:10065:10066:2.1.0:/usr/src/eject:/bin/bash
alsa-lib:x:10066:10067:1.0.9:/usr/src/alsa-lib:/bin/bash
alsa-plugins:x:10067:10068:1.0.9:/usr/src/alsa-plugins:/bin/bash
alsa-utils:x:10068:10069:1.0.9a:/usr/src/alsa-utils:/bin/bash
pkg-config:x:10069:10070:0.19:/usr/src/pkg-config:/bin/bash
alsa-tools:x:10070:10071:1.0.9:/usr/src/alsa-tools:/bin/bash
alsa-oss:x:10071:10072:1.0.9:/usr/src/alsa-oss:/bin/bash
mplayer:x:10072:10073:1.0pre7:/usr/src/mplayer:/bin/bash
mpd:x:10074:10074:0.11.5:/usr/src/mpd:/bin/bash
mpc:x:10075:10075:0.11.2:/usr/src/mpc:/bin/bash
ncmpc:x:10076:10076:0.11.1:/usr/src/ncmpc:/bin/bash
gdb:x:10077:10077:6.3:/usr/src/gdb:/bin/bash
libao:x:10078:10078:0.8.6:/usr/src/libao:/bin/bash
glib:x:10079:10079:2.6.4,devel-1.2.10:/usr/src/glib:/bin/bash
libpng:x:10080:10080:1.2.8:/usr/src/libpng:/bin/bash
freetype:x:10081:10081:2.1.10:/usr/src/freetype:/bin/bash
expat:x:10082:10082:1.95.8:/usr/src/expat:/bin/bash
fontconfig:x:10083:10083:2.3.2:/usr/src/fontconfig:/bin/bash
xfree86:x:10084:10084:4.5.0:/usr/src/xfree86:/bin/bash
mpcstick:x:10085:10085:0.10.2:/usr/src/mpcstick:/bin/bash
pango:x:10086:10086:1.8.1:/usr/src/pango:/bin/bash
atk:x:10087:10087:1.9.1:/usr/src/atk:/bin/bash
libjpeg:x:10088:10088:6b:/usr/src/libjpeg:/bin/bash
libidl:x:10089:10089:0.8.5:/usr/src/libidl:/bin/bash
zip:x:10090:10090:2.31:/usr/src/zip:/bin/bash
firefox:x:10091:10091:1.0.7:/usr/src/firefox:/bin/bash
gtk-plus:x:10092:10092:2.6.7,devel-1.2.10:/usr/src/gtk-plus:/bin/bash
jre:x:10093:10093:1_5_0_05:/usr/src/jre:/bin/bash
curl:x:10094:10094:7.14.0:/usr/src/curl:/bin/bash
gaim:x:10095:10095:1.5.0:/usr/src/gaim:/bin/bash
aspell:x:10096:10096:0.60.3:/usr/src/aspell:/bin/bash
xfce:x:10097:10097:4.2.2:/usr/src/xfce:/bin/bash
startup-notify:x:10098:10098:0.8:/usr/src/startup-notify:/bin/bash
qt:x:10099:10099:3.3.4:/usr/src/qt:/bin/bash
lcms:x:10100:10100:1.14:/usr/src/lcms:/bin/bash
libmng:x:10101:10101:1.0.9:/usr/src/libmng:/bin/bash
dc:x:10102:10102:0.3.7:/usr/src/dc:/bin/bash
screen:x:10103:10103:4.0.2:/usr/src/screen:/bin/bash
ayttm:x:10104:10104:0.4.6-17:/usr/src/ayttm:/bin/bash
subversion:x:10106:10106:1.1.4:/usr/src/subversion:/bin/bash
tcp_wrappers:x:10107:10107:7.6:/usr/src/tcp_wrappers:/bin/bash
libtiff:x:10108:10108:3.7.3:/usr/src/libtiff:/bin/bash
opendchub:x:10109:10109:0.7.14:/usr/src/opendchub:/bin/bash
cvoicecontrol:x:10110:10110:0.9alpha:/usr/src/cvoicecontrol:/bin/bash
lesstif:x:10111:10111:0.94.4:/usr/src/lesstif:/bin/bash
xpdf:x:10112:10112:3.01:/usr/src/xpdf:/bin/bash
bluez-libs:x:10113:10113:2.22:/usr/src/bluez-libs:/bin/bash
bluez-utils:x:10114:10114:2.22:/usr/src/bluez-utils:/bin/bash
ctorrent:x:10115:10115:1.3.2:/usr/src/ctorrent:/bin/bash
lineakd:x:10116:10116:0.8.3:/usr/src/lineakd:/bin/bash

There are a few more packages and things I wanna talk about, but later.

Second attempt at nALFS + package users

2005-11-21T17:55:00.000+05:30

Categories: LFS

Last night I have run another build and found a few problems.

First attempt at nALFS + package users

2005-11-20T15:29:00.000+05:30

Categories: LFS

I tried to modify the LFS-6.1-1 ALFS profile for implimenting the changes. I used 6.1 live cd and there are a few digest mismatches. Apparently there was a server hickup and things changed. I guess it's okay to ignore them. The rest of the errors and temporary work arounds are here.

patched nALFS to use /etc/passwd from $LFS

2005-11-20T15:15:00.000+05:30

Categories: LFS

The earlier patch for uid:gid failed because You can't use it to set additional groups which is required because package users use sticky bit of install dirs owned by install group.

So once more I found myself looking at nALFS code. This time I was looking at change group function in stage.c and discovered that it had been modified earlier for use in chroot environment. I knew it when I saw because I was hoping to use the fget.... functions too. Hmm, looks like the team has forgot to change the change_to_user function. I did it and here is the patch. It's working just fine.

nALFS-1.2.5-change_to_user.patch


 static INLINE int change_to_user(const char *user)
 {
  struct passwd *pw;
+ FILE *fp;
 
-
- setpwent();
-
- /* getpwnam() is failing in chroot() */
- while ((pw = getpwent())) {
-  if (strcmp(pw->pw_name, user) == 0) {
-   break;
+ if ((fp = fopen("/etc/passwd", "r"))) { //setpwent();
+  /* getpwnam() is failing in chroot() */
+  while ((pw = fgetpwent(fp))) {
+   if (strcmp(pw->pw_name, user) == 0) {
+    break;
+   }
   }
- }
 
- endpwent();
+  fclose(fp); //endpwent();
 
+ } else {
+  Nprint_h_warn("Unable to open /etc/passwd: %s",
+   strerror(errno));
+ }
  if (pw == NULL) {
   Nprint_h_err("User %s doesn't exist.", user);
   return -1;

patched nALFS to use uid:gid style user info

2005-11-17T06:33:00.000+05:30

Categories: LFS

As I got no replies for my mail to alfs mailing list, I have finally decided to get my hands dirtier (They are already dirty). I have made a patch for nALFS that seems to do the job of using <user>uid:gid</user>. the usual at your own risk blah blah... disclaimer.

The format <user>uid:gid</user> has to be strictly followed and it won't check for the format, neither does it have any defaults in case you omit anything. I don't know if I have broken the original functionality. I had to bypass the user not found check and I didn't care to adopt it, instead I removed it. So I suggest either you look into it and modify it further or wait till my exams are over and I'll be more free to work them out.

There is one more catch, there are two files with same function which are exact replicas. But I changed only one that was being used when I traced it in gdb. Be warned, its only a couple of days since I started using gdb. Thanks to Kousik and Sunny.

nALFS-1.2.5-user-UID.patch


diff -Naur nALFS-1.2.5/src/handlers/stage.c nALFS-1.2.5-#/src/handlers/stage.c
--- nALFS-1.2.5/src/handlers/stage.c 2004-07-04 11:21:11.000000000 +0530
+++ nALFS-1.2.5-#/src/handlers/stage.c 2005-11-17 06:18:00.000000000 +0530
@@ -103,8 +103,9 @@
 static INLINE int change_to_user(const char *user)
 {
  struct passwd *pw;
-
-
+ uid_t uid;
+ gid_t gid;
+ 
  setpwent();
 
  /* getpwnam() is failing in chroot() */
@@ -118,20 +119,28 @@
 
  if (pw == NULL) {
   Nprint_h_err("User %s doesn't exist.", user);
-  return -1;
+  // return -1;
+  //check for UID
+  uid = atoi(strtok(user,":"));
+  gid = atoi(strtok(NULL,"\0"));
+ }
+ else
+ {
+  uid = pw->pw_uid;
+  gid = pw->pw_gid;
  }
 
- if (set_supplementary_groups(user, pw->pw_gid)) {
+ if (set_supplementary_groups(user, gid)) {
   return -1;
  }
 
- if (setgid(pw->pw_gid)) {
+ if (setgid(gid)) {
   Nprint_h_err("Unable to set group ID: %s",
    strerror(errno));
   return -1;
  }
 
- if (setuid(pw->pw_uid)) {
+ if (setuid(uid)) {
   Nprint_h_err("Unable to set user ID: %s",
    strerror(errno));
   return -1;

package users and nALFS: define package id in users tag

2005-11-09T00:03:00.000+05:30

Categories: LFS

The other option Iwas left with is to use use numeric uid in <users></users>. But can it take the syntax <users>uid:gid</users> because without gid, it is going to be a mess unless taken care of. or is it going to default to the uid value for gid too? I have to experiment and find out. unless some one can help me here.

Another thing I can do is (in case it won't take the gid) set the gid while cleaning up with something like find / -uid $UID -exec chgrp $GID {} and take extra care to set gid before making any suids.

Bug 1058 - changing user breaks when chrooted in script

2005-11-08T21:47:00.000+05:30

Bug 1058 - changing user breaks when chrooted in script

I tried to make matching entries in /etc/passwd and /etc/groups on the host and still getting the user not found error.

Here are the contents I appended to the host contents.

/etc/passwd
/etc/group

Use fake package users

2005-10-29T07:23:00.001+05:30

Categories: LFS

So I need to use user IDs, huh? Wonder how I can catch the output of the script and place it in xml. If that can't be done, I can always use a package-userid xml entity in package.ent.

The first seems to beimpossible as of now and the second is a head ache. I think I will modify the add_user script so that it can be run from host root and make changes to $LFS/etc/passwd and /etc/passwd. Well, The following schema should work.

The users on host should all belong to a temp group so that they can be removed easily after the build is done. But still I don't like messing my host system.
The id finding algo should check both the files to find the usable ID. This can be ensured by making the range availiable in host passwd filed, but some how I don't like to depend on that !

nALFS for package user approach

2005-10-29T00:14:00.000+05:30

Categories: LFS

Building using nALFS along with package user approach. But it gives errors. Attached the relevent files and log extracts.

nALFS log

I:
I: Starting execution of marked elements...
I:
I: Changing root directory to "/mnt/lfs".
I: Setting environment variable HOME:
I:     /root
I: Setting environment variable TERM:
I:     linux
I: Setting environment variable PS1:
I:     '\u:\w\$ '
I: Setting environment variable PATH:
I:     /usr/lib/pkgusr:/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/tools/bin
I: Unsetting environment variable CFLAGS.
I: Unsetting environment variable CXXFLAGS.
I: Executing system command in /:
I:     add_package_user 2.6.11.2 linux-libc 10000 20000 linux-libc 10000 20000 || exit 1
-: Will create user linux-libc with uid: 10000
-: Group install has gid 9999
-: Creating group linux-libc with gid 10000
I: Changing to user "linux-libc".
E: User linux-libc doesn't exist.
I: Log file stored in:
I: /root/.nALFS/packages/libc-headers-2.6.11.2.xml
E: Execution failed (1).
I: Total time executing: 00:00:12

libc-linux.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE alfs SYSTEM "../DTD/ALFS.dtd"
[
<!ENTITY % general_entities SYSTEM "../config/general.ent">
<!ENTITY % package_entities SYSTEM "../config/package.ent">

%general_entities;
%package_entities;
]>
<alfs>
  <package name="libc-headers" version="&linux-libc-headers-version;">
    <stage name="Adding the Package User">
      <execute command="add_package_user &linux-libc-headers-version; linux-libc 10000 20000 linux-libc 10000 20000 || exit 1" />
    </stage>
    <stage name="Unpacking">
      <stageinfo>
        <user>linux-libc</user>
      </stageinfo>
      <unpack>
        <digest>&linux-libc-headers-md5;</digest>
        <archive>&packages_dir;/&linux-libc-headers-package;</archive>
        <destination>&package_home;/linux-libc</destination>
      </unpack>
    </stage>
    <stage name="Installing">
      <stageinfo>
        <user>linux-libc</user>
        <base>&package_home;/linux-libc/&linux-libc-headers-directory;</base>
      </stageinfo>
      <!-- Other install instructions here -->
    </stage>
    <stage name="Cleanup">
      <remove>&package_home;/linux-libc/&linux-libc-headers-directory;</remove>
    </stage>
  </package>
</alfs>

Linux From Scratch

2005-10-28T18:41:00.000+05:30

Categories: LFS So I switched to LFS.

You might exclaim, "what the...!! You hardly started with slack." hmm... Yes I did, but I tweaked it a bit but never posted all that here. I don't like documentation much. How ever for the records I ompiled the kernel successfully on my sister's PC with Alan Cox patch (which contains the ITE 8212 drivers) and with yestoall switch (I couldn't figure out the right combination of 'M's, 'Y's and 'N's). It is up and working though a lot inefficient and doesn't have alsa or X in working condition. Now I wanna try out LFS too. So I decided to use this semi-god-of-an-OS as my host and started.

Honestly I don't know much about linux. I don't change them knowing the merits and demerits or anything. There is a way to get something done in everything. I wanted a good one. I thought slack is so down to earth that I can do anything I want with a few config files. The hard part comes in finding them. So I thought if in LFS I build everything from scratch, I place the things where they belong and have better chance of knowing what is where.

Any how I started with the LFS 6.1 and intentionally omitted ALFS. I followed the instructions in chapter and worked till the linux kernel in chapter 8. Then came the problem. Again the same NYM. argh.. any how I did a better job than earlier and got a working kernel. I didn't even have to patch this one. I don't know when it started but 2.6.13.4 has ITE 8212 drivers built into it. *Yeah I deviated from book and went ahead with the latest kernel.* The instructions in book are not much dependent on kernel version and that's the last one to be compiled. so I figured no probs would come.

There are still a few probs. I used udev and hadn't configured /etc/modprobe.conf. I guess most of the probs are due to this. But what matters is my LFS box works.

kernel boot option vga=791 won't work. Probably fbdev problem. But I compiled it into the kernel, not as module.

.config

Shall upload later

Driver source don't compile

2005-05-11T01:14:00.000+05:30

throws some error. shall post the complete error log later. for now see if any one can compile them successfully on stock kernal. Please let me know if you are successful.

Here is the link http://www.ite.com.tw/software_download/software_download2.asp#IT8212%20ATA133%20Controller

It's here

2005-05-10T23:37:00.000+05:30

Finally started with a blog to post my projects so that I can have a log of my screw ups and get help from people.

Right now my project is to install linux on my pc, slackware 10. ah! that would be easy you say. But what if I say I have to install it on raid 0(striping) on ITE 8212f controller without actuallly loosing the data on other partitions and espetially without a working linux environment. Now thats' a chicken and egg problem. I won't have an up and running linux unless I have the drivers for raid and I can't compile the drivers without working linux.

The big idea on my mind is linux on virtual mechine(b4 I 4gt, thanks kousik). shall let you know aout it in short while. my dial up is way too slow to post regular updates. So, I'll post 'em when ever my net connects and stays live for a while.