On Wed, 16 Aug 2000, Matthew Franz wrote:
> Would its "raw material" be pre-compiled debian binary packages or would
> it be able to build the system from source. Unless there were separate
> embedded .debs, I don't know that the standard binaries would be compact
> enough to support limited memory/storage environments. Take busybox.
> Based on the build instructions, the app would modify busybox.def.h and
> build the binary to contain only the commands/features that were
> necessary. In many cases, the standard .debs would probably be fine, but
> in some cases you would need more control over the build.
For the most part, I think there is enough flexibility within Debian to
pick and choose the smallest tools that will do the job from among the
binary packages. Where Debian currently falls short, we can create -tiny
versions of packages as needed. Most useful optimizations that can be
done at compile time can also be used to create binary packages to save
people the time and bother of compiling it themselves.
Busybox, however, is a special case. Looking at the boot-floppies package
in Debian, busybox is compiled specifically for boot floppies, and no
mechanism is provided for hand-picking components. So I agree that some
sort of configuration at compile-time would be a useful. Is busybox used
anywhere else in Debian? It's curious that busybox isn't packaged
separately.
Ben
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