[EMAIL PROTECTED] a écrit : > Hello :) > > Some times ago I became interested in Debian GNU/NetBSD port and I > would like to try on one of my Alpha machines, a DEC 3000 AXP which is > not supported by Linux (Turbochannel based Alphastation). > > I asked for some testing images but after a brief talk with Micheal > Weber I understood that the development of Debian GNU/NetBSD was > someway at a dead point (or at least I understood so). > > It is clear that there is not a real demand for a NetBSD port neither > from the NetBSD user base, nor the Debian user base. > Still, I think that it could be useful, so I started some research to > find out what are the main difficulties in porting and wheter I could > help in this process. > > I worked some days in summer holidays, and some more these winter > holidays. > Finally I have a comfortable system to work on (a 4-way AlphaServer > 4100 with enough disk space) and things got easyier (and faster!) > After some initial mistakes (compiling Debian packages in NetBSD native > environment) I set up a Debian chroot and compiled packages in the > chroot with a raw GCC installed in /usr/local. > > Development is now at a point that the Debian system could be booted > stand alone from SRM and many packages, libraries and tools are binary > compiled directly from Debian sources with little or no patches at all. > There are a few alien libraries in /lib* copied from NetBSD on the > Debian system. > The total count is for 260 packages compiled in *-netbsd-alpha.deb > packages including a bleeding (but working) NetBSD libc package. > > Now I have to decide if all this work has been a funny hobby, or if I > should take it seriously. > I have the interest in going on, some time to be dedicated to this work > and enough luck to compile packages with very little patches (and > little NetBSD knowledge!) > It should be a positive influence of GNU/kFreeBSD work! :)
Well that could be, but note the GNU/kFreeBSD port is using a GNU libc which help a lot to build Debian package without patches. > As time goes on, Debian is becoming more and more complex and porting > to other kernels should be come more and more difficult so I think that > at least a minimal working set of Debian should be achived now. > > I would ask you all for some guidelines and advices in development, and > development directions too. Well first you should think about GNU/NetBSD versus GNU/kNetBSD, ie using a NetBSD libc or a GNU libc. Both have some advantages, but using a GNU libc helps a lot to build Debian packages without any patches. But that also means some porting work on the GNU libc side Then I wonder if the choice of the alpha architecture is a good choice for now. I have nothing against alpha, but if you are seeking for some help, or even some users, i386 would be a lot better. Even kfreebsd-amd64 is not really used compared to kfreebsd-i386. Also an architecture i386 means that users can try this system in an emulator (for example QEMU). For the development guidelines, I would say the first goal is to have all the essential as well as build-essential packages ported so that you can have a clean developement environment. Then you can try to setup an autobuilder to get more packages built. A few tips now. I adive you to take notes of what you are doing. Take notes of the ugly hacks you are using for now (or even better avoid them), and keep a list of them. It is very frustating when you find something is not working due to an ugly hack you have written 1 or 2 years before and you have forgotten. I also advise you to use a version control system to store your patches and your notes, this is very useful. If you have other questions, don't hesitate to ask them. Cheers, Aurelien -- .''`. Aurelien Jarno | GPG: 1024D/F1BCDB73 : :' : Debian developer | Electrical Engineer `. `' [EMAIL PROTECTED] | [EMAIL PROTECTED] `- people.debian.org/~aurel32 | www.aurel32.net -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
