In the past two weeks I managed to produce a GNU/kFreeBSD debian-installer (d-i) image being able to boot up to a "welcome screen".
I switched to the .udeb packages on debian.org (previously I was using those on debian-ports.org). I proposed two patches, i.e. libc [0] and kernel [1], for inclusion into d-i trunk, and both were accepted. I didn't manage to split rootskel-bootfloppy from the building of the rootskel package [2], so I didn't propose it for inclusion. I disabled the debug shell, to workaround the current known bug in the GNU/kFreeBSD port of BusyBox ash. Analysing the cdebconf templates related issue, I initially thought it was caused by the dlopen() function. Then my mentor discovered the cause was an unexistent file, i.e. /var/lib/cdebconf/templates.dat, that should be created at runtime. I discovered that file couldn't be created because the filesystem was read-only. Making it read-write [3] solved the issue. A terminal issue [4] popped up, and I quickly solved it. I proposed the patch for inclusion into d-i trunk [5]. An other issue popped up: main-menu was launched, but the screen was all black. I initially thought it was caused by the dup2() function, but debugging it I got the same output on both GNU/kFreeBSD and GNU/Linux. I discovered the problem was instead an infinite loop (see the debug output [6]), caused by a poll() system call portability issue (see [7]). I lost so much time on the "black screen issue" that in the meantime I made the netcfg package building with a hack. It should be not working, because substituting the Linux specific ethtool-lite is needed. I proposed the generic part of the patch for inclusion into d-i trunk [8]. Finally I managed to produce a GNU/kFreeBSD d-i image being able to boot up to a "welcome screen" [9] Initially the keyboard (standard input) was not working, but I managed to solve this without losing too much time [10]. To test the image, download the monolithic mini.iso from [11] and boot it in your favourite virtual machine (if it is qemu, execute "qemu -boot d -cdrom mini.iso"). After choosing the language (not working), you can "execute a shell" to play a bit. If you try to "abort the installation", a funny screen will pop up [12]. In the next two weeks I should -get keyboard layout selection working -get network configuration working -get udeb download and installation working Luca Favatella [0] http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2009/06/msg00685.html [1] http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2009/06/msg00686.html [2] http://svn.debian.org/viewsvn/d-i/branches/d-i/kfreebsd/packages/rootskel/ [3] http://svn.debian.org/viewsvn/d-i/branches/d-i/kfreebsd/packages/rootskel/src/sbin/init-kfreebsd?view=log#rev59096 [4] http://slackydeb.altervista.org/files/debian_gnu_kfreebsd/gsoc2009_kfreebsd_progress_report_week_6/20090625_1248.png [5] http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2009/06/msg00932.html [6] http://slackydeb.altervista.org/files/debian_gnu_kfreebsd/gsoc2009_kfreebsd_progress_report_week_6/20090629_1950.png [7] http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/2001/06/poll.html [8] http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2009/06/msg00935.html [9] http://slackydeb.altervista.org/files/debian_gnu_kfreebsd/gsoc2009_kfreebsd_progress_report_week_6/20090630_1223.png [10] http://svn.debian.org/viewsvn/d-i/branches/d-i/kfreebsd/packages/rootskel/?view=log#rev59196 [11] http://slackydeb.altervista.org/files/debian_gnu_kfreebsd/gsoc2009_kfreebsd_progress_report_week_6/mini.iso [12] http://slackydeb.altervista.org/files/debian_gnu_kfreebsd/gsoc2009_kfreebsd_progress_report_week_6/20090702_1430.png _______________________________________________ Soc-coordination mailing list [email protected] http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/soc-coordination
