Installing Gentoo Linux - Computer Engineering Technology

Transcription

v1.81
Installing Gentoo Linux
Installing Gentoo
Linux
by Ted Kosan
Copyright © 20012 by Ted Kosan
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License. To view a copy of this license,
visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
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Table of Contents
Installing Gentoo Linux.............................................................................................................................1
1 Why bother to manually install an operating system?...........................................................................4
2 Which operating system to install?........................................................................................................4
3 The Parts Of An Operating System........................................................................................................5
4 The GNU/Linux operating system.........................................................................................................6
5 What is a GNU/Linux distribution?.......................................................................................................7
6 Gentoo GNU/Linux, a good distribution for our purposes....................................................................8
7 Obtain an IBM PC compatible computer to install Gentoo Linux on....................................................8
8 Download the minimal install .iso image, check it, and then burn it on a CD.....................................10
9 Boot your computer with the CD.........................................................................................................11
9.1 Your computer must be plugged into an Ethernet network that is attached to the Internet for these
instructions to work..................................................................................................................................11
10 Exploring the copy of Gentoo Linux that is on the CD itself............................................................19
11 Testing the network connection.........................................................................................................19
12 Exploring the CD's filesystem............................................................................................................21
13 Managing storage device complexity.................................................................................................28
14 Abstraction.........................................................................................................................................28
15 Interfaces............................................................................................................................................29
16 Different types of devices can provide the same abstract interface...................................................30
17 Block devices and character devices are abstract interfaces..............................................................31
18 All devices are bound to names in the /dev directory........................................................................32
19 Partitioning the main storage device..................................................................................................34
20 Placing filesystems on the partitions..................................................................................................44
21 Mounting the boot and root partitions................................................................................................47
22 Setting the system's date and time......................................................................................................50
23 Preparing to extract the standard Gentoo directory hierarchy into the /dev/sda3 top-level root
partition....................................................................................................................................................51
24 Extracting the standard Gentoo directory hierarchy into the /dev/sda3 top-level root partition........54
25 Downloading and extracting the portage tree....................................................................................56
26 Changing the top-level root directory from the CD to the /dev/sda3 root partition...........................60
27 Terminals and shells: interfaces to the operating system...................................................................66
28 Customizing the shell that is being used by the default terminal emulator.......................................71
29 The nano text editor...........................................................................................................................74
30 USE flags...........................................................................................................................................78
31 The /etc/make.conf file.......................................................................................................................79
32 Emerging the kernel's source code.....................................................................................................80
33 Configuring the kernel......................................................................................................................84
34 How to select kernel options..............................................................................................................90
35 Selecting your CPU's processor family.............................................................................................92
36 Selecting the IDE device driver.........................................................................................................92
37 Selecting the SCSI device drivers (VirtialBox users should skip this section)..................................96
38 Selecting the Ethernet network chip driver........................................................................................99
39 Selecting the device driver for the video card..................................................................................102
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40 Selecting the device driver for the sound card ................................................................................103
41 Selecting the ext3 filesystem option................................................................................................106
42 Saving the kernel configuration file and viewing it.........................................................................108
43 Compiling the kernel........................................................................................................................109
44 Configuring the system....................................................................................................................112
45 Configuring the /etc/fstab file..........................................................................................................112
46 Configuring the network..................................................................................................................114
47 Services and the network service.....................................................................................................115
48 Emerging the DHCP client..............................................................................................................116
49 Installing additional services............................................................................................................116
50 Installing and configuring the bootloader........................................................................................116
51 Setting the root password and adding a user account......................................................................118
52 Rebooting the machine.....................................................................................................................120
Shutting Down VirtualBox Before Installation Is Complete.................................................................122
1 Shutting Down Before chroot Is Executed........................................................................................122
1.1 If you need to shutdown the virtual machine before the chroot command was executed, here is
what you need to type:...........................................................................................................................122
2 Shutting Down After chroot Is Executed...........................................................................................122
2.1 If you need to shutdown the virtual machine after the chroot command was executed, here is what
you need to type:....................................................................................................................................122
====.......................................................................................................................................................122
Howto Access via ssh a Virtualbox Guest machine..........................................................................122
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1 Why bother to manually install an operating system?
1.1 This document will guide you through manually installing an operating
system. You might ask yourself "why bother to manually install an operating
system when it is much easier to install one automatically with a CD?"
Manually installing an operating system does take a great deal of time and
effort. For people who just want to use a computer as a tool, automatically
installing an operating system is usually the best choice. However, if you
have a deeper interest in computers beyond just using them as tools, then
the knowledge you will gain from manually installing an operating system
will be very valuable.
2 Which operating system to install?
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2.1 After you have made the decision to manually install an operating system,
the next decision to make is which one to install? Since the most widely
available kind of computer today is the IBM PC compatible computer,
selecting an operating system that runs on this type of computer is a good
choice. Another thing to consider is that some operating systems are
proprietary while others are free (with free here meaning one does not need
to pay for them). Some free operating systems also have an open source
license which means that the source code for the operating system can be
viewed, used, and modified by anyone who agrees to the license. If your
goal is to learn as much about an operating system as possible, my opinion
is that the best kind of operating system to work with is a no-cost one that
has a widely-used open source license.
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2.2 Here is a list of the most popular operating systems that currently run on
IBM PC compatible computers:
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Microsoft DOS.
FreeDOS.
Microsoft Windows.
Mac OS X.
FreeBSD (Berkley Standard Distribution).
Solaris.
GNU/Linux.
2.3 Of these operating systems, both versions of DOS are obsolete for most
purposes and not much knowledge would be gained by installing them. All
of Microsoft's operating systems are proprietary and closed source which
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limits their effectiveness for learning about operating systems. FreeBSD,
Solaris, and GNU/Linux are all no-cost open source operating systems that
are suitable for learning about operating systems. In this document we will
focus on GNU/Linux.
3 The Parts Of An Operating System
3.1 Operating systems for PC and server class computers usually consist of
the parts shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1
Application Programs
System Utility Programs
Operating
System
Kernel
Computer
System
Device Drivers
Hardware
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3.2 The kernel is the core part of an operating system and it is actively
running in the computer's memory map while the computer is on. It
controls and coordinates almost all of the resources in the computer and the
computer would cease to function if the kernel was removed. The kernel
accesses the computer's hardware through special programs called device
drivers and each piece of hardware needs to have a device driver written
for it before the kernel can access it. Examples of hardware that need
device drivers before the kernel can access them include the following:
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- Keyboard.
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- Hard Drive.
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- CDROM Drive.
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- Video Card.
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- Sound Card.
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3.3 The kernel of an operating system provides the core functionality of a
computer, but deep software and operating systems knowledge is needed to
access this functionality and the access techniques are tedious. In order to
make the operating system easier to use, system utility programs are
included with it that access the kernel and then make its resources available
to other utility programs and application programs.
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3.4 A significant amount of the effort that is needed to manually install an
operating system consists of installing its system utility programs, selecting
which device drivers are needed for the computer's hardware, and
configuring the kernel.
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4 The GNU/Linux operating system
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4.1 In order to understand what GNU/Linux is, one must first understand a
little bit about UNIX because GNU/Linux is modeled after UNIX. UNIX is an
operating system that was developed for mainframe and minicomputers in
the 1960s and 1970s at AT&T Bell Laboratories. AT&T licensed UNIX to
universities, governments, and companies throughout the 1970s and the
license included access to the operating system's source code, which was
mostly written in the C programming language. A number of UNIX versions
were created by companies and universities throughout the 1970s and
1980s and it became widely adopted.
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4.2 In 1983, Richard Stallman announced the GNU project and one of its goals
was to create a UNIX-like operating system which consisted of 100% open
source software. By the early 1990s, the GNU project had succeeded in
creating most of the software needed for an operating system, except a
kernel and device drivers.
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4.3 In 1991 Linus Torvalds, a student at the University of Finland, wanted an
open source version of UNIX that would run on standard personal
computers. Since one did not exist at the time, he decided to start a project
to create one and he used the communications capabilities of the Internet to
invite people from all over the world to help him. The project started by
developing a kernel called "Freax" which stood for "free UNIX". The person
who maintained the FTP server that the Freax software was placed on
created a directory for it called "Linux" and the kernel became known as
"Linux" soon afterwards. Instead of creating a kernel and all of the system
utility software for it, the Linux developers decided to adapt their kernel to
the already existing GNU systems software thereby creating the GNU/Linux
open source operating system. Figure 2 shows the relationship between the
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GNU software and the Linux kernel.
Figure 2
Application Programs
System Utility Programs
GNU
Kernel
Linux Kernel
Device Drivers
Hardware
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5 What is a GNU/Linux distribution?
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5.1 The source code needed to build a GNU/Linux system exists on numerous
servers on the Internet and these servers are located throughout the world.
Before a GNU/Linux system can be built, copies of this source code need to
be brought into one place, compiled, configured, and then tested. While it is
possible for an individual to do this, it takes a significant amount of skill and
experience to accomplish. GNU/Linux distributions were created to help
solve this problem. A GNU/Linux distribution is usually put together by a
group of experienced developers who copy the source code needed to create
a GNU/Linux distribution into one place, compile and configure it, and then
make the result available to others. There are numerous GNU/Linux
distributions available and new ones are being created all the time. Some
distributions are cost-free while others are commercial.
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5.2 The following is a list of the more popular GNU/Linux distributions:
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- Debian.
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- Fedora.
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- Gentoo.
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- Knoppix.
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- Linspire.
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- LFS (Linux From Scratch).
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- Red Hat Enterprise.
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- SUSE.
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- Ubuntu.
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- Mint.
6 Gentoo GNU/Linux, a good distribution for our purposes
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6.1 Of the GNU/Linux distributions listed in the previous section, LFS is too
difficult to install for a first-time GNU/Linux user and the rest of the
distributions except Gentoo are too easy to install. I have found that Gentoo
GNU/Linux (or Gentoo Linux for short) is easier to install than LFS but
difficult enough so that one learns a great deal during the installation
process.
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6.2 Here is the URL for the Gentoo Linux main website. Look through the
website and then continue reading:
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http://gentoo.org
6.3 The normal way that a beginner learns how to install Gentoo Linux is by
reading the Gentoo Installation Manual and following the step-by-step
instructions that are contained there. The Installation Manual, however,
assumes that the user has a mid-level computer background and it leaves
out information that a beginner would find useful. This document covers
much of the same material that the Gentoo Installation Manual does, but it
moves slower through the installation process and contains more detailed
explanations.
7 Obtain an IBM PC compatible computer to install Gentoo Linux on
7.1 Since IBM PC compatible computers are the most common type of
computer, this document focuses on installing Gentoo Linux on these type of
machines. The machine you select should have the following minimum
requirements:
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- i686 CPU.
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- 348MB of RAM.
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- 8GB hard drive.
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- CDROM drive.
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7.2 As an alternative, you can use a virtual machine that emulates an
x86-based PC (recommended).
7.2.1 If you choose this route, you must first download VirtualBox and
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install it (http://www.virtualbox.org). After VirtualBox has been installed,
your next step is to create a virtual machine using the following steps:
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7.2.1.1 Select "Machine -> New" to launch the New Virtual Machine
Wizard.
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7.2.1.2 Press the "Next" button.
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7.2.1.3 Give the machine a name (like gentoo_kosan_1) and select "Linux
2.6" as the OS Type.
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7.2.1.4 Press the "Next" button to go to the "Memory" dialog.
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7.2.1.5 Set the machine's RAM to 1024 MB.
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7.2.1.6 Press the "Next" button to go to the "Virtual Hard Disk" dialog.
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7.2.1.7 Select "New" to create a new Boot Hard Disk.
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7.2.1.8 Select "Next" to go to the "Virtual Disk Image Type dialog.
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7.2.1.9 Keep the default selection of Image Type (which is "Dynamically
expanding image.".
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7.2.1.10 Select "Next" to go to the "Virtual Disk Location and Size"
dialog.
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7.2.1.11 Keep the default "Image File Name" and set the image size to 21
GB.
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7.2.1.12 Press "Next" to go to the "Summary" dialog and then press
"Finish".
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7.2.1.13 You should now be back to the "Virtual Hard Disk" dialog. Press
"Next" to go to the "Create New Virtual Machine Summary" and verify
your selections.
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7.2.1.14 Press "Finish".
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7.2.1.15 You should now be back at the "VirutalBox OSE" window.
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7.2.2 If you need to shutdown VirtualBox before gentoo is installed on the
hard drive, see appendix A.
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8 Download the minimal install .iso image, check it, and then burn it on
a CD
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8.1 Many GNU/Linux distributions enable the user to download a .iso file that
contains a bootable software image that can be burned onto a CDROM.
After the image has been burned on the CDROM, the CDROM can be used
to boot the machine into a GNU/Linux environment and then this
environment can be used to install GNU/Linux on a hard drive.
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8.2 The latest Gentoo Linux bootable image for x86-based PCs is called
install-x86-minimal-xxx.iso (xxx represents a date number such as
20110315. You must use a browser to view the 206.21.94.61/gentoo
directory to determine what the actual filename is.).
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8.3 Download the .iso file.
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8.3.1 Obtain the file install-x86-minimal-xxx.iso from
http://206.21.94.61/gentoo . This is the file that you will be burning onto a
CD. You have a problem, though. What if the file is corrupted? It would
not be good to spend time burning the file onto a CD, booting a computer
with it, getting half way through the installation process, and then
discovering that a part of the file was corrupted. Most files that are
downloaded from the Internet are checked to make sure they are not
corrupted by using a hash algorithm.
8.4 Check the .iso file with a hash algorithm.
8.4.1 A program that implements a hash algorithm scans every byte in a file
and generates a number that is sometimes called the digital fingerprint
or message digest of the file. As long as the bytes in the file do not
change, each time a given hash algorithm is run on a file the same
message digest number is generated. A popular hash algorithm is called
MD5 and here is an example MD5 message digest for the install-x86minimal-xxx.iso file:
1e75c6830cefff313fcef4320e3b5d0e
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8.4.2 This number is in hexadecimal (or base 16) format and this format is
widely used with computers. Before a given file is made accessible on the
Internet, a hash algorithm is run on it and a message digest number is
generated. This digest number is put into a separate small file and then
both the main file and the message digest file are placed on the Internet.
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8.4.3 When a user wants to obtain a copy of the main file, both the main file
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and its digest file are downloaded to the user's computer. The user then
runs a program that uses the same hash algorithm as the original one
used on the main file. The message digest number that is generated is
then compared to the number that is in the separate small file. If the
numbers match, then the main file is not corrupted but if they do not
match, it is corrupted and it must be downloaded again.
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8.4.4 If you are using the Windows operating system, download the
md5sum.exe program from the server at http://206.21.94.61/gentoo/ and
use it to generate a message digest for the install-x86-minimal-xxx.iso
file you downloaded.
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8.4.5 Download the install-x86-minimal-xxx.iso.DIGESTS file from the
server, open it and if the MD5 message digest numbers match, your file is
not corrupted.
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8.4.6 If you will be installing Gentoo on a physical PC, burn the .iso file into
a CD. If you are using the VirtualBox virtual machine, you do not need to
burn the .iso file onto a CD. Instead, just remember where you placed it
on your hard drive so you can tell VirtualBox where to find it.
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9 Boot your computer with the CD
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9.1 Your computer must be plugged into an Ethernet network that is attached
to the Internet for these instructions to work.
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9.2 Turn on your machine and enter the setup utility (usually by pressing
<F2>, <F10>, or <Del>) to make sure it is configured to have the CDROM
drive as the first boot device. Place the install CD into the CDROM drive
and then boot the computer with it. For people that are using VirtualBox,
launch the VirtualBox and then do the following:
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9.2.1 From the "VirtualBox OSE" window, Press the "Settings" button,
which is the one with the icon of a gear on it.
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9.2.2 Select "Storage" from the list on the left side of the dialog.
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9.2.3 Select "Mount CD/DVD Drive".
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9.2.4 Select the "Empty" icon of a CD under the IDE controller.
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9.2.5 Select the small icon of a folder which is to the right of the "CD/DVD"
text.
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9.2.6 Select the "Add" button.
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9.2.7 Use the dialog that is shown to locate and select the .iso file you
downloaded earlier.
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9.2.8 Select the "Select" button and you should be sent back to the main
"VirutalBox OSE" window.
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9.2.9 Select the "Ok" button.
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9.2.10 Select the "Start" button to launch the virtual machine.
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9.3 When your machine boots from the install CD or image, the first screen it
shows should be similar to the following (Note: click inside the black
window and press your <space> key once as soon as the boot: prompt
appears or the boot process will start before you are ready for it to.):
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9.4 The CD will wait for input from the user for a short while and, if no input
it given, it will boot the machine using the default configuration. If you
press the F1 key, a list of kernels that are available on the CD is shown.
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9.5 The kernel named gentoo is the default kernel and the one named
gentoo-nofb is a kernel that does not use the frame buffer to switch into
graphics mode when it boots. In a moment we will boot the computer using
the gentoo-nofb kernel to make it easier to read the information that is
displayed when the system is booting.
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9.6 If you press the F2 key, the following options screen is shown:
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9.7 You can press the F3 -F7 keys to read about the options that are available
during the boot process. After you are done reading about the options, type
gentoo-nofb at the boot: prompt (which is shown next) and the system will
begin to boot the copy of Gentoo Linux which is on the CD.
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9.8 As Gentoo Linux boots, it is going to show the details of the boot process
on the screen. As each part of the operating system is loaded into memory
and initialized, it prints a message on the screen which indicates whether it
was successfully loaded or not. It may also print information about the
hardware it is responsible for, such as the speed of the system's processor
or the amount of RAM that it has. The following screen shot shows both of
these pieces of information. Can you locate them on the following screen
capture?
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9.9 A little bit later in the boot process, the CD scans the system to see what
the make and model are for the various pieces of hardware in the system
and then it loads the device drivers that match this hardware. Device
drivers in Linux are often loaded as kernel modules and the following screen
shows kernel modules being loaded into RAM:
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9.10 When you are asked for which keyboard keymap to select, hitting Enter
will select the default mapping which is the US English keymap:
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9.11 Towards the end of the boot process, the CPU is detected, the mouse
driver is attached to /dev/input/mice (make a note of this), the main
network device is found (usually eth0), and a DHCP (Dynamic Host
Configuration Protocol) request is sent to the local network asking for local
configuration information. The sound card and video card are then located
and finally, a login password is randomly generated so that someone else
on the network cannot log into your machine without you knowing about it.
These steps can be seen in the following screen shot:
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9.12 The last part of the boot process provides information that describes
options that the user may want to explore. One of these options is to launch
the ssh server which will permit the user to remotely log into the current
machine from another machine on the network. This is useful if the user
wants to leave the current machine running at one location (like school) and
work through the installation process from another location (like home).
For now, though, we will proceed by working right at the machine.
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9.13 This last screen shot shows the end of the boot process:
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10 Exploring the copy of Gentoo Linux that is on the CD itself
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10.1 The way that the minimal install CD works is that it boots the machine
into the copy of Gentoo Linux that came on the CD itself and then the
user enters this environment and uses it to install Gentoo Linux on the
system's hard drive. After Gentoo Linux has been successfully installed on
the hard drive, the CD is removed, the system is rebooted and the copy of
Gentoo that was placed on the hard drive is then used to boot the system
from then on.
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10.2 Before starting the installation of Gentoo Linux on the system's hard
drive, we are going to explore the CD's copy of Gentoo Linux in order to
gain a better understanding of the Gentoo Linux environment.
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11 Testing the network connection
11.1.1 The first thing I want you to do is to enter the command ifconfig at
the command prompt. The ifconfig command is used to configure the
system's network interfaces, but it will also show the current
configuration of each network interface if it is entered without any
additional options.
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livecd root # ifconfig
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eth0
Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0C:29:92:EB:79
inet addr:10.0.1.8 Bcast:10.0.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::20c:29ff:fe92:eb79/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:79 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:65 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:11121 (10.8 Kb) TX bytes:11270 (11.0 Kb)
Interrupt:17 Base address:0x1400
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lo
Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
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11.1.1.1 If your machine does not have a valid IP address ,
make sure the machine is properly connected to the network. Now,
execute the following command: net-setup eth0 and configure your
machine to use a wired network and DHCP.
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11.1.1.2 After this command is finished executing, check to make sure
you have a valid IP address again using the ifconfig command.
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11.1.2 The output of the ifconfig command executed above shows that this
machine has 2 network interfaces attached to it which are called eth0
and lo. The eth0 interface is usually bound to an Ethernet network
device and it is also usually the system's main network connection.
Ethernet is the most popular networking technology for connecting PCs to
networks and it is likely that your PC is attached to a network using
Ethernet too. The DHCP request that was sent to the network while the
system was booting received a response that configured this machine
with IP address 10.0.1.8. Your machine should also have been
configured with an address from your network (Note: your address will
most likely be different than 10.0.1.8).
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11.1.3 The lo interface is attached to what is called a loopback network,
which is a simulated network local to the machine itself. The lo interface
is used for testing purposes and for allowing different applications on the
machine to communicate with each other even when the machine is not
attached to an actual network. Most lo interfaces are given IP address
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127.0.0.1.
12 Exploring the CD's filesystem
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12.1.1 The next aspect of the CD's version of Gentoo Linux we are going to
explore is its filesystem. A file is a sequence of numbers that are
associated with each other. A filename is the name that is given to a file
so that the file can be referred to. A filesystem is a system for organizing
a storage device (like a hard drive, flash drive or CDROM drive) so that
files can be stored on it. Most computers use an hierarchal filesystem
which means that the filesystem can contain directories. Directories,
which are also called folders in GUIs, are containers that can hold both
files and other directories. A directory that is inside of another
directory is called a subdirectory and the top-level directory in an
hierarchal filesystem is called the root directory (most UNIX-like
systems also have a subdirectory in the top-level root directory
which is named "root". Even though they have the same name,
they are different directories and the purpose of the root
subdirectory will be explained later).
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12.1.2 Issue the following commands:
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livecd root # cd /
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livecd / # pwd
/
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12.1.3 The top-level directory in a Linux system is always given the forward
slash symbol (/) as its name. The cd command stands for Change
Directory and it allows the user to change from the current working
directory to another directory. The new directory is now the working
directory, which means it is the directory we are currently working in.
The cd / command issued above changed us into the top-level root
directory. The pwd command stands for Print Working Directory and it
shows which directory we are currently in. When the above pwd
command was issued, it indicated that we were now in the / directory.
Notice also that the command prompt changed from "livecd root #" to
"livecd / #".
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12.1.4 A command prompt is used in a command line interface (CLI) to
inform the user that it is ready to accept typed input. Most command
prompts can be configured to provide useful information to the user and
the one we are working with has been configured to show the name of the
working directory. You might be wondering why the prompt had the
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working directory name change from root to / and this will be explained
shortly.
12.1.5 Now that we are in the top-level root directory, issue the ls
command (the 'l' is a lower case L, not a number one):
livecd / # ls
bin
dev home
boot etc initrd
lib
mnt
opt
proc
root
sbin
sys
tmp
usr
var
12.1.6 The ls command stands for List directory and it shows the contents
of the working directory. A directory can contain files or subdirectories
and a subdirectory is simply a directory that is inside of another directory.
Most of the names that the above ls command listed are the names of the
standard subdirectories that are present in the root directory of most
Gentoo Linux systems. Figure 3 shows the upper levels of this filesystem
along with some of the subdirectories inside of the etc and mnt
directories that we will be working with soon.
Figure 3
/
bin dev
etc
conf.d
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home lib opt mnt sys proc boot root usr sbin tmp var
init.d
cdrom
gentoo
livecd
12.1.7 You may be wondering how to tell the difference between the names
of files and the names of directories when the ls command is executed. If
the -l option (which is a lower case L and stands for long listing) is
passed to the ls command, it will add extra information to the listing that
will indicate this:
livecd / # ls -l
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root
15 Jan 20 19:55 bin -> /mnt/livecd/bin
16 Jan 20 19:55 boot -> /mnt/livecd/boot
drwxr-xr-x 15 root root 3120 Jan 20 19:55 dev
drwxr-xr-x 49 root root 2120 Jan 20 19:58 etc
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root
60 Aug 30 17:04 home
40 Jan 20 19:55 initrd
15 Jan 20 19:55 lib -> /mnt/livecd/lib
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 100 Jan 20 19:54 mnt
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dr-xr-xr-x 54 root root
drwx------ 4 root root
drwxrwxrwt 5 root root
15
0
140
16
0
100
15
240
Jan
Jan
Sep
Jan
Jan
Jan
Jan
Sep
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01:43
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opt -> /mnt/livecd/opt
proc
root
sbin -> /mnt/livecd/sbin
sys
tmp
usr -> /mnt/livecd/usr
var
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12.1.8 This version of ls places each name in a separate row. The names
that represent directories have a row that begins with a letter 'd' and
rows that begin with a letter 'l' represent a symbolic link or reference to
a separate directory or file. For example, the name etc above refers to a
directory that is in the / directory but the name bin is a link that refers to
another directory called bin which is inside a directory called livecd. The
livecd directory, in turn, is inside the mnt directory.
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12.1.9 /mnt/livecd/bin is called a path and a path is a concise method
for indicating which files and directories are contained within
other directories. Paths are read from left to right. In this path, notice
that the leftmost character is the '/' character which represents the toplevel directory in the filesystem. The other '/' characters in the path are
called path separators and they are used to separate one path name
from another.
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12.1.10 A file has a '-' character at the beginning of its row and, since none
of the above rows begin with a '-', the / directory does not contain any
files.
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12.1.11 Lets change into the bin directory and see what it contains:
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livecd / # cd bin
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livecd bin # pwd
/bin
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livecd bin # ls
arch
df
awk
dir
basename
dircolors
bash
dirname
bashlogin
dmesg
bunzip2
dnsdomainname
bzcat
domainname
bzcmp
du
bzdiff
echo
bzegrep
egrep
bzfgrep
env
bzgrep
expr
kill
killall
link
ln
loadkeys
login
logname
ls
lsattr
lsmod
lsmod.old
mkdir
printenv
ps
pstree
pstree.x11
ptx
pwd
rbash
rc-status
readlink
rm
rmdir
rnano
true
tty
umount
uname
uniq
unlink
uuidgen
vdir
wc
who
whoami
wpa_cli
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bzip2
bzip2recover
bzless
bzmore
cat
chattr
chgrp
chmod
chown
chroot
cksum
comm
cp
cryptsetup
cut
date
dd
false
fgrep
fuser
gawk
gawk-3.1.5
grep
groups
gunzip
gzcat
gzexe
gzip
head
hostid
hostname
id
igawk
install
mkfifo
mknod
mktemp
more
mount
mv
nano
netstat
nice
nisdomainname
nohup
oldfuser
passwd
pgawk
pidof
ping
ping6
run-parts
sed
seq
setfont
sh
sleep
sort
split
stat
stty
su
sync
tar
tee
tempfile
touch
tr
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wpa_passphrase
yes
ypdomainname
zcat
zcmp
zdiff
zegrep
zfgrep
zforce
zgrep
zless
zmore
znew
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12.1.12 The bin directory contains a significant number of files. These files
are special because they contain numbers which represent machine
language instructions that the CPU can execute directly. The name of this
directory stands for binary because programmers sometimes refer to files
that contain machine language instructions as binaries.
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12.1.13 Generate a long listing for this directory so that we can confirm
that the bin directory contains at least some files:
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livecd bin
total 4828
-rwxr-xr-x
lrwxrwxrwx
-rwxr-xr-x
-rwxr-xr-x
-rwxr-xr-x
lrwxrwxrwx
lrwxrwxrwx
lrwxrwxrwx
-rwxr-xr-x
lrwxrwxrwx
lrwxrwxrwx
-rwxr-xr-x
-rwxr-xr-x
-rwxr-xr-x
lrwxrwxrwx
-rwxr-xr-x
-rwxr-xr-x
-rwxr-xr-x
-rwxr-xr-x
<snip>
# ls -l
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
3212 Sep 18 00:19 arch
root
10 Sep 18 01:17 awk -> gawk-3.1.5
root 13644 Aug 31 18:21 basename
root 648400 Aug 31 16:04 bash
root
116 Sep 18 00:10 bashlogin
root
5 Sep 18 01:17 bunzip2 -> bzip2
root
5 Sep 18 01:17 bzcat -> bzip2
root
6 Sep 18 01:17 bzcmp -> bzdiff
root
2105 Aug 31 18:30 bzdiff
root
6 Sep 18 01:17 bzegrep -> bzgrep
root
6 Sep 18 01:17 bzfgrep -> bzgrep
root
1677 Aug 31 18:30 bzgrep
root 30744 Aug 31 18:30 bzip2
root
8424 Aug 31 18:30 bzip2recover
root
6 Sep 18 01:17 bzless -> bzmore
root
1259 Aug 31 18:30 bzmore
root 17736 Aug 31 18:21 cat
root
7840 Aug 31 18:29 chattr
root 34148 Aug 31 18:21 chgrp
12.1.14 I did not include the full output from the ls -l command because of
its long length. In fact, the listing is so long that it scrolls off the top of
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the window which prevents one from seeing everything that was listed.
You can fix this problem by issuing the following command:
livecd bin
total 4828
-rwxr-xr-x
lrwxrwxrwx
-rwxr-xr-x
-rwxr-xr-x
-rwxr-xr-x
lrwxrwxrwx
lrwxrwxrwx
lrwxrwxrwx
-rwxr-xr-x
lrwxrwxrwx
lrwxrwxrwx
-rwxr-xr-x
-rwxr-xr-x
-rwxr-xr-x
lrwxrwxrwx
-rwxr-xr-x
-rwxr-xr-x
-rwxr-xr-x
-rwxr-xr-x
-rwxr-xr-x
-rwxr-xr-x
-rwxr-xr-x
--More--
# ls -l | more
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
3212 Sep 18 00:19 arch
root
10 Sep 18 01:17 awk -> gawk-3.1.5
root 13644 Aug 31 18:21 basename
root 648400 Aug 31 16:04 bash
root
116 Sep 18 00:10 bashlogin
root
5 Sep 18 01:17 bunzip2 -> bzip2
root
5 Sep 18 01:17 bzcat -> bzip2
root
6 Sep 18 01:17 bzcmp -> bzdiff
root
2105 Aug 31 18:30 bzdiff
root
6 Sep 18 01:17 bzegrep -> bzgrep
root
6 Sep 18 01:17 bzfgrep -> bzgrep
root
1677 Aug 31 18:30 bzgrep
root 30744 Aug 31 18:30 bzip2
root
8424 Aug 31 18:30 bzip2recover
root
6 Sep 18 01:17 bzless -> bzmore
root
1259 Aug 31 18:30 bzmore
root 17736 Aug 31 18:21 cat
root
7840 Aug 31 18:29 chattr
root 34148 Aug 31 18:21 chgrp
root 31324 Aug 31 18:21 chmod
root 36492 Aug 31 18:21 chown
root 14496 Aug 31 18:21 chroot
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12.1.15 The ls -l | more command does not send its output to the screen.
Instead, the '|' symbol (which is typed by holding down the <shift> key
and pressing the backslash '\' key) is used to pipe the output from the ls
-l command into the more command. The more command is used to
show long output one page at a time so that it can be seen. Press the
<space> key to view the next page of output. You can keep pressing the
<space> key until all of the output has been viewed, or you can press the
'q' key in order to exit the more command early.
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12.1.16 If you look closely at the files that were listed, you will notice the
names of three commands that we recently executed (ls, pwd and more).
Most commands that are executed at a command line are simply
executable files that are present somewhere in the filesystem. You may
have noticed that the cd command is not present in the bin directory. We
will cover the reason for this later.
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12.1.17 We will now go back to the / directory, change to the etc directory,
and then enter the conf.d directory which is inside the etc directory:
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livecd bin # cd /
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livecd / # pwd
/
livecd / # cd etc
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livecd etc # pwd
/etc
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livecd etc # cd conf.d
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livecd etc # pwd
/etc/conf.d
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livecd conf.d # ls
apmd
crypto-loop
bootmisc
dante-sockd
clock
domainname
consolefont env_whitelist
cryptfs
gpm
hdparm
hostname
ipw3945d
keymaps
local.start
local.stop
mdadm
net
net.example
nfs
portmap
rc
rdate
slmodem
splash
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livecd conf.d # ls -a
.
cryptfs
..
crypto-loop
apmd
dante-sockd
bootmisc
domainname
clock
env_whitelist
consolefont gpm
hdparm
hostname
ipw3945d
keymaps
local.start
local.stop
mdadm
net
net.example
nfs
portmap
rc
rdate
slmodem
splash
sshd
wireless.example
sshd
wireless.example
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12.1.18 After changing into the conf.d directory, I executed an ls command
followed by an ls -a command. Can you see what the difference is? The
ls -a command stands for list all and it will show any hidden names that
are in a directory. In this case, two hidden names are in the directory
(which are . and ..). If you execute an ls -la command, you will see that
the . and .. names both refer to directories. These directories are special,
however, because every directory in the filesystem contains these two
hidden directories.
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12.1.19 The . directory refers to the working directory and the .. directory
refers to the directory that the working directory is inside of. We are
currently working in the /etc/conf.d directory. If we issue a cd ..
command, notice what happens:
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livecd conf.d # pwd
/etc/conf.d
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livecd conf.d # cd ..
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livecd etc # pwd
/etc
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12.1.20 The cd .. command placed us into the etc directory which is one
above the conf.d directory that we were inside of. If we now execute a
cd . command, notice that we remain in the etc directory because a single
. refers to the working directory:
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livecd etc # pwd
/etc
600
livecd etc # cd .
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livecd etc # pwd
/etc
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12.1.21 Change back to the top-level directory by executing a cd ..
command or a cd / command. No matter where you are in the directory
hierarchy, executing the cd / command will take you back to the top-level
directory. You can also pass a path to the cd command and it will move
you to the last directory on the path. Lets try this. In the following
example, I will change to the top-level directory, change to the
/etc/conf.d directory, and then change back to the top-level directory:
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livecd / # pwd
/
612
livecd / # cd /etc/conf.d
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livecd conf.d # pwd
/etc/conf.d
615
livecd conf.d # cd /
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livecd / # pwd
/
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12.1.22 Typing commands and paths can become tedious so most command
line interfaces provide a feature to help with this. From the / directory,
try typing cd e <tab>. You should see the rest of the etc directory's
name automatically filled out. The <tab> key provides automatic
command and path completion and it saves a significant amount of typing.
You should currently have cd /etc/ on your command line and if you now
type con <tab>, the rest of the conf.d's name will be automatically typed
and you can then change into this directory.
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12.1.23 Here is a list of the standard subdirectories that are typically in a
Gentoo Linux's root directory, along with a short explanation of what the
purpose of each one is:
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bin - Contains utility programs that can be run from a command line.
boot - Holds a bootloader program and the kernel image that will be loaded.
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dev
etc
home
lib
mnt
opt
proc
root
sbin
sys
tmp
usr
var
-
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Device drivers are bound to the names in this directory.
Contains most of the system's configuration files.
Each user on the system gets their own directory in the home directory.
Contains the system's library files and kernel modules.
Removable storages devices are bound to the names in this directory.
Applications that are added to the system are often stored here.
Special directory that shows live information about the kernel.
The superuser's home directory.
Contains utility programs that only the superuser can execute.
Similar to proc but allows parameters to also be changed.
Space for temporary files.
Houses much of the software that is loaded on the system.
Contains data that varies as the system runs, such as system logs.
13 Managing storage device complexity
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13.1 There are many kinds of storage devices available today including
CDROM drives, flash drives, and hard drives. Personal computers and
servers usually use a hard drive as their main storage device and this is the
kind of storage device we will be installing Gentoo Linux onto. However,
Gentoo Linux can be installed onto almost any of the wide range of storage
device types that are currently available.
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13.2 Storage device types are usually implemented in very different ways
from each other. For example, a hard drive consists of one or more spinning
metal disks which use a magnetic head to write information onto them and
read information from them, while flash drives use solid state electronics for
these tasks. Something that should be bothering you at this point is how all
of these different types of storage devices, along with ones that are yet to be
invented, are treated in a uniform way by the operating system.
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14 Abstraction
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14.1.1 Our world is an extremely complex place and it is becoming more
complex all the time. If we did not have ways to deal with all of this
complexity, our civilization would collapse and we would be thrown back
into stone age conditions. Fortunately, techniques do exist for managing
complexity and one of the most powerful of these techniques is called
abstraction. Abstraction is the process of strategically hiding certain
details of a concept or object so that only those details that are important
for a given purpose remain exposed.
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14.1.2 As an example, consider the device that city planners use to measure
the amount of traffic that passes a given point on a street during a certain
time frame. The device usually consists of a rubber hose that is run
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673
across the road and attached to a box with a counter in it. Each time a
vehicle's tires roll over the hose, the air pressure in the hose is
momentarily increased, a sensor in the box senses this increase, and it
advances a counter.
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14.1.3 From the point of view of the counting system, it does not care
whether the vehicle that has just run over it was a small red Chevy car, a
green Volkswagen luxury sedan, or a white Mac truck. Details like this
are not needed for the purpose of counting vehicles and they would only
serve as unwanted distractions. Therefore, the designers of the vehicle
counter used abstraction to hide these unwanted details from the device
so that only the properties they wanted to measure remained visible.
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15 Interfaces
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15.1.1 Abstraction is used heavily in all areas of computing in order to
manage the enormous amounts of complexity contained within this field.
One area of computing that takes great advantage of the process of
abstraction involves the mechanisms that are used when one computing
entity needs to communicate with another computing entity. These
communications mechanisms are usually called interfaces.
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15.1.2 Using the terminology of abstraction, an interface is an abstraction
of an entity that can be used by other entities to communicate with it.
Keyboards, hard drives, CDROM drives, flash drives, video cards, and
sound cards all use interfaces to communicate with the computer's
motherboard. Software also makes use of interfaces and we will cover
some examples of this later. Before we do, though, lets discuss an
example of an interface that is in common use in the world today in order
to gain a better understanding of how abstraction and interfaces work.
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15.1.3 This example consists of the interface that humans use to drive a
car. If you think about it, almost all of the details about how a car works
have been hidden from the driver and the few details they absolutely have
to deal with have been abstracted into an automatic-car-operator
interface. This automatic-car-operator interface consists of a steering
wheel, an accelerator pedal, a brake pedal, and a transmission selection
lever which has Park, Drive and Neutral positions on it (most
transmissions also have the ability to force the selection of lower gear
ranges like L1 and L2 but we will ignore these for this discussion). For the
most part, this automatic-car-operator interface is all a person needs to
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know in order to operate an automatic car and a knowledge of this
interface will give this person the ability to operate any car in the world.
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715
15.1.4 The interesting thing is that interfaces are more durable (and almost
more real) than their implementations. This can be illustrated by
imagining a person who was put into hibernation in the 1950s and
awakened today. The automatic-car-operator interface in use today is
identical to the one used to operate 1950's automatic transmission cars.
Therefore, this person would have no problem operating a modern car
even though the details of how this automatic-car-operator interface are
implemented have changed significantly since the 1950s.
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15.1.5 The typical automatic car in the 1950s had a carbureted engine, rear
wheel drive, drum brakes, and a hydraulically shifted transmission. The
typical modern car has a fuel-injected engine, front wheel drive, disc
brakes, and an electronically shifted transmission. A 1950s mechanic that
had been placed in hibernation and awakened today would have to be
completely retrained before being capable of working on a modern
automobile. The reason for this is that a mechanic works with the
implementation details behind the automatic-car-operator interface and
these details are constantly changing.
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16 Different types of devices can provide the same abstract interface
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16.1.1 As discussed in the automatic-car-operator interface example,
abstraction and interfaces can be used to manage the changes in
complexity that occur when devices are improved over time. Abstraction
and interfaces can also be used, however, to allow very different types of
devices to act in a uniform way so that these differences are hidden from
the users of these devices. The following example will use the automaticcar-operator interface in another way to illustrate this.
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16.1.2 In the physical world, there are many things that move around in a
primarily two dimensional plane. A partial list of these things include cars,
trucks, buses, boats, motorcycles, hovercraft, snowmobiles, and horses.
In theory, if a person knew how to use the automatic-car-operator
interface, and if they needed to use a motorcycle but had never ridden
one before, abstraction and interfaces could assist them.
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16.1.3 If the motorcycle implemented the automatic-car-operator interface
then, when the person looked at the motorcycle, all they would see was
the automatic-car-operator interface. They would get 'into' the car, put it
in drive, press the accelerator pedal and drive away. The person would
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have no idea that they were actually riding a motorcycle. This concept can
even be extended to something like a horse. If a given horse implemented
the automatic-car-operator interface then, when a person who knew this
interface (but did not know how to ride a horse) looked at the horse, all
they would see is the automatic-car-operator interface and they could use
this interface to 'drive' the horse. Any of the things in the above list
could be made to implement the automatic-car-operator interface and
then it could be used by a person who only knew the automatic-caroperator interface to 'drive' it around.
16.1.4 Unix-like operating systems also use abstraction and interfaces to
deal with the complexity of change and the complexity of diversity
and this is covered in the next section.
17 Block devices and character devices are abstract interfaces
756
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17.1.1 There are numerous kinds of devices that can be attached to a
computer including mice, keyboards, sound cards, hard drives, CDROM
drives, flash drives, and RAM drives. This creates a significant amount of
complexity that needs to be managed and the way that UNIX-like systems
manage this complexity is by having all devices implement either the
character device interface or the block device interface.
762
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17.1.2 A character device communicates with a computer one byte at a
time and examples of devices that implement the character device
interface include:
765
Mouse - Sends a series of bytes to the computer as it is moved and clicked.
766
Keyboard - Sends bytes to the computer as its keys are pressed.
767
Sound card - Receives a sequence of bytes from the computer and turns these into sounds.
768
769
17.1.3 Block devices communicate with the computer using groups or
blocks of bytes and examples of block devices include:
770
Hard drive - Uses spinning metal disks to hold information using magnetics.
771
CDROM drive - Uses spinning plastic disk to hold information using optics.
772
Flash drive - Uses computer chips to hold information.
773
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RAM drive - A program that pretends that it is a physical storage devices but it stores its
information in RAM.
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18 All devices are bound to names in the /dev directory
18.1.1 Change into the /dev directory and execute an ls -l command (I have
edited this listing to make it shorter.):
livecd dev
total 0
drwxr-xr-x
lrwxrwxrwx
lrwxrwxrwx
crw------drwxr-xr-x
drwxr-xr-x
lrwxrwxrwx
crw-rw---lrwxrwxrwx
lrwxrwxrwx
drwxr-xr-x
crw-rw-rwsrwxrwxrwx
brw-rw---brw-rw---prw------drwxr-xr-x
crw-r----crw-rw---srw-rw-rwdrwxr-xr-x
drwxr-xr-x
crw-r----drwxr-xr-x
lrwxrwxrwx
crw-rw-rwcrw-r----lrwxrwxrwx
crw-rw-rwdrwxr-xr-x
lrwxrwxrwx
lrwxrwxrwx
crw-rw-rwdrwxr-xr-x
lrwxrwxrwx
drwxr-xr-x
lrwxrwxrwx
lrwxrwxrwx
lrwxrwxrwx
crw-rw---drwxr-xr-x
crw-rw-rwcrw-rw---crw------crw-rw---crw-rw----
# ls -l
3
1
1
1
5
2
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
2
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
60 Jan 24 16:19 bus
root
8 Jan 24 16:20 cdrom -> /dev/hdc
root
3 Jan 24 16:19 cdrom1 -> hdc
tty
5,
1 Jan 24 16:19 console
root
100 Jan 24 16:19 disk
root
60 Jan 24 16:19 fb
root
4 Jan 24 16:19 fb0 -> fb/0
root 10, 63 Jan 24 16:19 fbsplash
root
13 Jan 24 16:19 fd -> /proc/self/fd
root
8 Jan 24 16:21 fd0 -> floppy/0
root
60 Jan 24 16:21 floppy
root
1,
7 Jan 24 16:19 full
root
0 Jan 24 16:21 gpmctl
disk
3,
0 Jan 24 16:19 sda
cdrom 22,
0 Jan 24 16:19 hdc
root
0 Jan 24 16:20 initctl
root
120 Jan 24 16:19 input
root
1,
2 Jan 24 16:19 kmem
root
1, 11 Jan 24 16:19 kmsg
root
0 Jan 24 16:20 log
root
200 Jan 24 16:19 loop
root
60 Jan 24 16:19 mapper
root
1,
1 Jan 24 16:19 mem
root
80 Jan 24 16:19 misc
root
15 Jan 24 16:20 mouse -> /dev/input/mice
root
1,
3 Aug 31 18:22 null
root
1,
4 Jan 24 16:19 port
root
10 Jan 24 16:19 psaux -> misc/psaux
tty
5,
2 Jan 24 16:28 ptmx
root
0 Jan 24 16:19 pts
root
4 Jan 24 16:19 ram0 -> rd/0
root
4 Jan 24 16:19 ram1 -> rd/1
root
1,
8 Jan 24 16:19 random
root
360 Jan 24 16:19 rd
root
8 Jan 24 16:19 rtc -> misc/rtc
root
40 Jan 24 16:19 shm
root
4 Jan 24 16:19 stderr -> fd/2
root
4 Jan 24 16:19 stdin -> fd/0
root
4 Jan 24 16:19 stdout -> fd/1
root 10, 25 Jan 24 16:19 synth
root
120 Jan 24 16:19 tts
tty
5,
0 Jan 24 16:19 tty
tty
4,
0 Jan 24 16:19 tty0
root
4,
1 Jan 24 16:25 tty1
tty
4, 64 Jan 24 16:20 ttyS0
tty
4, 67 Jan 24 16:19 ttyS3
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826
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830
18.2 In the ls -l long listing, character devices have a 'c' in the left column
and block devices have a 'b'. On the computer I generated this list on, the
hard drive is attached to /dev/sda and the CDROM drive is attached to
/dev/hdc. We will be using /dev/sda shortly to access the main hard drive
so that we can prepare it for holding our Gentoo Linux installation.
831
832
833
18.3 Before we do that, however, I want you to experiment with the mouse
device so that you can get a better feel for how devices work. Change into
the /dev/input directory and execute the following commands:
834
livecd dev # cd /dev/input
835
836
livecd input # pwd
/dev/input
837
838
livecd input # ls
event0 event1 mice
839
840
841
842
843
livecd input
0000000 0008
0000010 ff00
0000020 28fe
<snip>
# hexdump
2802 ff00
0028 28ff
fe00 0028
mouse0
mice
fe38 28ff ff00 0028 28ff
ff00 0028 28fd fe00 0028
28fe fe00 0028 28fe fe00
844
845
846
847
848
849
18.4 After you have entered the hexdump command, move your mouse
around on the screen and notice what happens. The mouse is generating
numbers as it is being moved and it is sending these numbers one at a time
to the mouse driver (which is part of the kernel). The mouse driver, in turn,
is attached to the file named /dev/input/mice so that it is easily accessible
to other programs in the system.
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
18.5 The hexdump command is designed to open a character device (or a
file) and then display each number that is sent by the device to the screen.
By default, hexdump displays numbers in hexadecimal format although it
can be told to display the numbers in other formats too. When you are
finished sending numbers to the hexdump command with the mouse, hold
down the <ctrl> key on your keyboard and then press the 'c' key. <ctrl> c
sends a signal to a program that tells it to exit. If you ever run a program
from the command line and you can not get it to stop running, entering
<ctrl> c will usually force it to exit.
859
860
861
862
18.6 All devices that are attached to the computer are bound to a name
somewhere in the /dev directory. Now that you have a better understanding
of how devices are accessed in a UNIX-like system, we are going to prepare
the main storage device so that Gentoo Linux can be loaded onto it.
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19 Partitioning the main storage device
864
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866
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870
871
872
873
19.1 Most PCs use a hard drive as their main storage device so we are going
to assume that you are going to install Gentoo Linux on a hard drive. Hard
drives implement the block device interface which means they
communicate with the computer using blocks of numbers instead of one
number at a time like character devices do. Hard drive block devices have
such large capacities, however, that they are often made to appear as a set
of smaller block devices (called logical drives) in order to increase their
manageability. The process of making a hard drive look like a group of
smaller block devices is called partitioning. Before you partition your hard
drive, lets look at where it is attached inside of the /dev directory.
874
875
876
19.2 Change into the /dev directory and issue a ls -l sda command. If you
pass a name to the ls command, it will just list that one name instead of all
the names in a directory.
877
livecd dev # cd /dev
878
879
livecd dev # ls -l sda
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 3, 0 Jan 25 20:16 sda
880
881
882
883
884
19.3 If your main storage device is an IDE hard drive, then it will usually be
attached to the name sda in the /dev directory Notice that this is a block
device because a 'b' is listed in the left column. What we are going to do is
use the fdisk command to partition the sda drive into 3 smaller block
devices called sda1, sda2, and sda3.
885
886
887
19.4 First, lets have fdisk show us information about all of the storage
devices that are currently attached to the computer by passing it the -l
option, which stands for 'List partitions' ('l' is a lower case L):
888
19.5 livecd dev # fdisk -l
889
890
891
Disk /dev/sda: 22.5 GB, 22548578304 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 43690 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes
892
Disk /dev/sda doesn't contain a valid partition table
893
894
895
896
897
The above information is what fdisk listed on the VMware virtual computer that
I used to prepare the materials for this class. It indicates that the virtual
computer has one IDE hard drive attached to it at /dev/sda and the size of this
drive is 22.5 Gigabytes. The drive has not been partitioned yet so we receive a
message that indicates that a valid partition table does not yet exist on the drive.
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When you issue the fdisk -l command on a machine that already has an
operating system on it, partitions probably exist on the drive and these will be
listed. As an example, here is the information that was listed when I ran fdisk -l
on my portable computer:
902
the_count tkosan # fdisk -l
903
904
905
906
907
908
909
Device Boot
/dev/sda1
/dev/sda2
/dev/sda3
Start
1
6
73
End
5
72
8469
Blocks
37768+
506520
63481320
Id
83
82
83
System
Linux
Linux swap / Solaris
Linux
910
911
912
913
19.6 This hard drive has an 80 Gigabyte capacity and it has been partitioned
into 3 smaller block devices called sda1, sda2 and sda3. If your computer
has already been partitioned, the first thing you will need to do when you
execute the fdisk command is to delete any existing partitions on the drive.
914
915
916
917
19.7 If your machine has more than one IDE drive, the second drive will be
named hdb, the third one hdc and so on. If your machine is using SCSI
hard drives instead of IDE hard drives, the SCSI drives will be named sda,
sdb, sdc, etc.
918
919
19.8 Let us now use fdisk to partition your main hard drive. Assuming your
hard drive is named sda, execute the following command:
920
livecd dev # fdisk /dev/sda
921
922
923
924
Device contains neither a valid DOS partition table, nor Sun, SGI or OSF disklabel
Building a new DOS disklabel. Changes will remain in memory only,
until you decide to write them. After that, of course, the previous
content won't be recoverable.
925
926
927
928
929
930
931
The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 43690.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
(e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)
Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 4 will be corrected by w(rite)
932
Command (m for help):
933
19.9 The first thing you should do is to enter an 'm' command in order to
v1.81
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941
942
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944
945
946
947
948
949
950
951
952
953
954
obtain a list of all the operations that fdisk can perform.
Command (m for help): m
Command action
a
toggle a bootable flag
b
edit bsd disklabel
c
toggle the dos compatibility flag
d
delete a partition
l
list known partition types
m
print this menu
n
add a new partition
o
create a new empty DOS partition table
p
print the partition table
q
quit without saving changes
s
create a new empty Sun disklabel
t
change a partition's system id
u
change display/entry units
v
verify the partition table
w
write table to disk and exit
x
extra functionality (experts only)
19.10 The first operation we are going to perform is to print the partition
table using the 'p' command to see if the disk already has partitions on it:
955
Command (m for help): p
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958
959
960
36/124
Device Boot
Start
End
Blocks
Id
System
Command (m for help):
961
962
963
964
19.11 As indicated before, the virtual computer I am using does not have any
partitions but your computer may. If it does, use the 'd' (delete partition)
command to delete all current partitions and then execute the 'p' command
again to make sure they have all been removed.
965
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967
968
969
970
19.12 Now that we have a disk that does not have any partitions on it, we are
going to create 3 new partitions to hold our Gentoo Linux operation
system. The 'n' (add a partition) command is used to create a new partition
and the first partition we will create is called the boot partition. The boot
partition will be used to hold the programs and information that are needed
to boot the computer.
971
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973
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e
extended
v1.81
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p
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primary partition (1-4)
19.13 The first question that the n command asks is if you want to create a
primary partition or an extended partition. We will be creating only
primary partitions during this installation so select 'p'.
Command action
e
extended
p
p
Partition number (1-4):
19.14 The next question that the 'p' command asks is what the number is of
the partition we want to create. There can only be 4 primary partitions on a
hard drive and we will use partition 1 for our boot partition:
Command action
e
extended
p
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First cylinder (1-43690, default 1):
19.15 The 'p' command now wants to know which cylinder is going to be the
first cylinder that is allocated to partition 1. In order to understand what a
cylinder is, one must first know how a hard drive stores data on the metal
disk or disks that it contains. Here is a picture of the inside of a hard drive:
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998
999
19.16 And here is a picture of the heads that read data from a disk's surfaces
and write data onto them:
1000
1001
1002
1003
19.17 If a hard drive has only one metal disk in it, then both the top surface of
the disk and the bottom surface are used to hold data and each surface will
need its own head. If more than one disk is present in a hard drive, then
two heads are needed for each of these disks.
1004
1005
1006
1007
19.18 Each disk surface is coated with a magnetic material and data is stored
magnetically by the heads in concentric circles or tracks on this surface. If
one could see the magnetic tracks on the surface of one of the metal disks,
they would look similar to figure 4:
Figure 4
Track
1008
1009
1010
1011
1012
19.19 The number of tracks and their placement on one surface of a disk
exactly match the tracks that are on the opposite surface of the disk.
Taking this one step further, the number of tracks and their placement on
one metal disk exactly match the tracks on all of the other disks in the
drive if it has more than one disk.
v1.81
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1013
1014
1015
1016
1017
19.20 All of the tracks that are the same distance from the edge of the disk
they are on form an imaginary cylinder that that passes through all of them
and these are the cylinders that are referred when the fdisk command
creates a new partition. Cylinder number 1 always starts at the outer edge
of a disk.
1018
1019
1020
1021
19.21 Now that we have covered what a cylinder is, lets continue creating
partition 1. The fdisk command is asking us which cylinder should be used
as the first cylinder devoted to partition 1 and the default value is cylinder
1. Accept the default value by pressing <enter>:
1022
1023
1024
1025
1026
1027
1028
1029
1030
1031
1032
1033
1034
1035
Command action
e
extended
p
p
First cylinder (1-43690, default 1): <enter>
Using default value 1
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-43690, default 43690):
19.22 Fdisk then asks what the number of the last cylinder in partition 1
should be and it also gives us the option to specify the size of the partition in
bytes. We want the boot partition to be 32 megabytes long so enter
+32M at the prompt. Then enter the 'p' command again to make sure
partition was created properly:
1036
1037
1038
1039
1040
1041
1042
1043
1044
Command action
e
extended
p
p
First cylinder (1-43690, default 1):
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-43690, default 43690): +32M
1045
1046
1047
1048
1049
1050
Device Boot
/dev/sda1
1051
1052
1053
Start
1
End
63
Blocks
31720
Id
83
System
Linux
19.23 The 'p' command indicates that partition 1 was successfully created and
it was given the name sda1. The first cylinder in partition 1 is cylinder 1
and the last cylinder in this partition (on the computer that I am using, yours
v1.81
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1054
1055
1056
1057
may be different) is cylinder 63. Each partition on a hard drive needs to be
set to a partition type and fdisk sets new partitions to type 83 by default
(which is a Linux partition). We want the boot partition to be a Linux
partition so we do not need to change its type.
1058
1059
1060
1061
1062
1063
19.24 The next partition we are going to create is called the swap partition.
A swap partition provides a way for a computer to create a virtual
memory map that is larger than the computer's physical memory map. The
way that virtual memory is made larger than physical memory is by
having it include the machine's RAM plus the storage that is present in the
swap partition.
1064
1065
1066
1067
1068
1069
1070
1071
19.25 This larger virtual memory map can hold more programs (or larger
programs) than the physical memory map can because the contents of the
virtual memory map that are not being used at any given moment are copied
out of RAM (which is the only place programs can run) and into the swap
partition. Information that is already in the swap partition that is currently
needed is then copied back into RAM and this constant swapping of
information between the physical RAM and the swap partition is how the
swap partition received it name.
1072
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1074
1075
1076
1077
19.26 Begin creating the swap partition by executing the 'n' command again.
Make the partition a primary partition and make it number 2. Accept the
default value for the first cylinder in this partition and make it 512
megabytes long by entering +512M at the prompt for the last cylinder.
Finally, execute the 'p' command to make sure partition 2 was created as
desired:
1078
1079
1080
1081
1082
1083
1084
1085
1086
Command action
e
extended
p
p
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (68-43690, default 43690): +512M
1087
1088
1089
1090
1091
1092
1093
Device Boot
/dev/sda1
/dev/sda2
Start
1
64
End
63
1056
Blocks
31720+
500472
Id
83
83
System
Linux
Linux
v1.81
19.27 Notice that partition 2 was given the name sda2 and it was also given
the default partition type of 83 which is not what we want. The 't'
(change a partition's system id) command is used to change a partition's
type and you can execute it now. The command asks which partition
number it should change and you should respond '2'. Finally, it asks what
type to set the partition to and then gives the option for you to type a capital
'L' to see a list of all the types that fdisk supports. Enter a capital 'L' at the
prompt to see the list:
1094
1095
1096
1097
1098
1099
1100
1101
1102
1103
1104
Command (m for help): t
Hex code (type L to list codes): L
1105
1106
1107
1108
1109
1110
1111
1112
1113
1114
1115
1116
1117
1118
1119
1120
1121
1122
1123
1124
1125
1126
1127
1128
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
a
b
c
e
f
10
11
12
14
16
17
18
1b
1c
1129
1130
1131
1132
1133
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Empty
FAT12
XENIX root
XENIX usr
FAT16 <32M
Extended
FAT16
HPFS/NTFS
AIX
AIX bootable
OS/2 Boot Manag
W95 FAT32
W95 FAT32 (LBA)
W95 FAT16 (LBA)
W95 Ext'd (LBA)
OPUS
Hidden FAT12
Compaq diagnost
Hidden FAT16 <3
Hidden FAT16
Hidden HPFS/NTF
AST SmartSleep
Hidden W95 FAT3
Hidden W95 FAT3
1e
24
39
3c
40
41
42
4d
4e
4f
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
5c
61
63
64
65
70
75
Hidden W95 FAT1
NEC DOS
Plan 9
PartitionMagic
Venix 80286
PPC PReP Boot
SFS
QNX4.x
QNX4.x 2nd part
QNX4.x 3rd part
OnTrack DM
OnTrack DM6 Aux
CP/M
OnTrack DM6 Aux
OnTrackDM6
EZ-Drive
Golden Bow
Priam Edisk
SpeedStor
GNU HURD or Sys
Novell Netware
Novell Netware
DiskSecure Mult
PC/IX
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
8e
93
94
9f
a0
a5
a6
a7
a8
a9
ab
b7
b8
bb
Old Minix
Minix / old Lin
Linux swap / So
Linux
OS/2 hidden C:
Linux extended
NTFS volume set
NTFS volume set
Linux plaintext
Linux LVM
Amoeba
Amoeba BBT
BSD/OS
IBM Thinkpad hi
FreeBSD
OpenBSD
NeXTSTEP
Darwin UFS
NetBSD
Darwin boot
BSDI fs
BSDI swap
Boot Wizard hid
be
bf
c1
c4
c6
c7
da
db
de
df
e1
e3
e4
eb
ee
ef
f0
f1
f4
f2
fd
fe
ff
Solaris boot
Solaris
DRDOS/sec (FATDRDOS/sec (FATDRDOS/sec (FATSyrinx
Non-FS data
CP/M / CTOS / .
Dell Utility
BootIt
DOS access
DOS R/O
SpeedStor
BeOS fs
EFI GPT
EFI (FAT-12/16/
Linux/PA-RISC b
SpeedStor
SpeedStor
DOS secondary
Linux raid auto
LANstep
BBT
19.28 There are quite a large number of partition types to choose from! The
partition we are interested is type 82, which is the Linux Swap partition
type, so enter the number 82 at the prompt and then execute the 'p'
command again to verify that the partition type was set correctly for
partition 2:
1134
1135
Hex code (type L to list codes): 82
Changed system type of partition 2 to 82 (Linux swap / Solaris)
1136
1137
1138
v1.81
1139
1140
1141
1142
Device Boot
/dev/sda1
/dev/sda2
Start
1
64
End
63
1056
Blocks
31720+
500472
Id
83
82
42/124
System
Linux
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19.29 The final partition we need to create is called the root partition
because it is going to contain the main directory hierarchy of our Gentoo
Linux installation (which will include the top-level root directory and all of
the subdirectories that are within the root directory). This is going to be the
largest of the three partitions and it will use the remainder of the cylinders
on the drive.
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19.30 If we wanted to, we could have also created a 4th partition and placed
another operating system into it (like Windows) so that the machine could
be booted into Linux or the alternate operating system as needed. This is
know as configuring the machine for "dual booting" but we are not going
to cover this technique at this time.
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1159
19.31 Create the root partition using the following steps. Accept the default
for the first cylinder and when you are asked for the last cylinder number
for partition 3, just take the default by pressing <enter>. The default is
the highest cylinder number on the disk and this will allocate the
remainder of the disk space to partition 3. As before, execute a 'p'
command to verify that partition 3 was created correctly:
1160
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1162
1163
1164
1165
1166
1167
1168
1169
Command action
e
extended
p
p
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1057-43690, default 43690): <enter>
1170
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1174
1175
1176
1177
Device Boot
/dev/sda1
/dev/sda2
/dev/sda3
1178
Start
1
64
1057
End
63
1056
43690
Blocks
31720+
500472
21487536
Id
83
82
83
System
Linux
Linux
19.32 Partition 3 was given the name sda3 and it was also given the default
v1.81
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1183
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1185
partition type of 83. We want the root partition to have a type of 83 so you
do not need to change it.
19.33 We now need to make partition 1 bootable by turning on its boot
flag. Do this by executing the 'a' (toggle a bootable flag) command and
selecting partition 1 when asked which partition's flag to toggle. Execute
the 'p' command again to verify that an asterisk was placed into the Boot
column next to partition 1 to indicate it is now bootable:
1186
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Command (m for help): a
1188
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1190
1191
1192
1193
1194
1195
Device Boot
/dev/sda1
*
/dev/sda2
/dev/sda3
1196
1197
1198
1199
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Start
1
64
1057
End
63
1056
43690
Blocks
31720+
500472
21487536
Id
83
82
83
System
Linux
Linux
19.34 Up to this point, the fdisk command has recorded all of the information
we have given it, but it has not yet written this information to the drive.
Before you exit the fdisk program, execute the 'w' (write table to disk and
exit) command as follows:
1200
1201
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!
1202
1203
1204
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.
livecd dev #
1205
1206
1207
1208
19.35 The 'w' command will indicate that the partition table on the drive has
been altered. All of the information we entered should have been written to
the drive and the 'w' command then exits the fdisk program and brings us
back to a normal command prompt.
1209
1210
19.36 You should now execute a fdisk -l command to make sure that the drive
was partitioned properly:
1211
livecd dev # fdisk -l
1212
1213
1214
v1.81
1215
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1217
1218
1219
1220
1221
1222
1223
1224
Device Boot
/dev/sda1
*
/dev/sda2
/dev/sda3
Start
1
64
1057
End
63
1056
43690
Blocks
31720+
500472
21487536
Id
83
82
83
44/124
System
Linux
Linux
19.37 The last thing I want you to do before we move on to the next step is to
look in the /dev directory to see that the new partitions/block devices (sda1,
sda2 and sda3) have been added there so that they can be accessed by
other parts of the system (the asterisk at the end of sda is called a wildcard
charater and it will match any group of characters that start in the position
it is put in.):
1225
livecd dev # cd /dev
1226
1227
1228
1229
1230
livecd dev
brw-rw---brw-rw---brw-rw---brw-rw----
#
1
1
1
1
ls -l sda*
root disk 3,
root disk 3,
root disk 3,
root disk 3,
0
1
2
3
Sep
Sep
Sep
Sep
4
4
4
4
18:01
18:02
18:02
18:02
sda
sda1
sda2
sda3
1231
1232
1233
19.38 We will be using the names /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2 and /dev/sda3
throughout the rest of the installation process to access the partitions we
have created.
1234
1235
19.39 THIS IS A GOOD BREAKING POINT IF YOU DO NOT HAVE TIME TO
WORK THROUGH SECTION 20.
1236
19.40 You can close VirtualBox by selecting Machine -> Close.
1237
1238
19.41 When the "Close Virtual Machine" dialog is shown, select "Save the
machine state" option then select "Ok".
1239
1240
19.42 You can close the VirtualBox application and when you open it again,
you simply have to select the "Start" button to resume where you left off.
1241
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1244
1245
1246
1247
1248
1249
1250
20 Placing filesystems on the partitions
20.1 When a new partition has been created, it is unable to have files and
directories placed on it until it has been formatted with a specific
filesystem type. The Linux kernel is able to work with a significant number
of filesystems and here is a partial list of the ones it supports:
Ext2
Ext3
Reiserfs
JFS
XFS
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OCFS2
Minix
ISO 9660
MSDOS
VFAT
NTFS
Amiga FFS
Apple Macintosh
BeOS
SquashFS
OS/2 HPFS
1262
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20.2 Any of these filesystems could be placed on the partitions we have
created, but we are only going to use the two most common ones used with
GNU/Linux systems, which are Ext2 and Ext3.
1265
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1267
1268
1269
1270
1271
1272
20.3 The Ext2 filesystem, which stands for second extended filesystem,
was one of the earliest filesystems that was supported by the Linux kernel.
It is still very popular, but one of its drawbacks is that it does not support
journaling. If the power is suddenly removed on a non-journaling
filesystem like Ext2, much of the information that was about to written to
the disk was still in RAM and it becomes lost. This sudden loss of disk
information often results in damaged files that will need to be repaired
during the next system boot.
1273
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1276
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1279
1280
1281
20.4 A journaling filesystem solves this problem by recording the additions
and changes that are about to be made to the disk in a special log. The log
is usually updated every few seconds and, if the computer loses power, the
log can be used to automatically restore the filesystem during the next
system boot. The Ext3 filesystem is an extension to the Ext2 filesystem that
supports journaling along with some other advanced features. These
extended capabilities, however, mean that an Ext3 filesystem requires more
resources than an Ext2 filesystem does so one must decide which filesystem
is appropriate for a given use.
1282
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1285
1286
1287
20.5 We are going to apply the Ext2 filesystem to the /dev/sda1 boot
partition and the Ext3 filesystem to the /dev/sda3 top-level root filesystem.
The boot filesystem is only used during the boot process and it is mostly
read from during this time. Therefore, it does not need the extended
capabilities that the Ext3 filesystem offers. You can apply the Ext2
filesystem to partition 1 using the mke2fs command as follows:
1288
1289
1290
1291
1292
livecd / # mke2fs /dev/sda1
mke2fs 1.40.8 (13-Mar-2008)
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=1024 (log=0)
v1.81
1293
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1297
1298
1299
1300
1301
1302
Fragment size=1024 (log=0)
7936 inodes, 31720 blocks
1586 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=1
Maximum filesystem blocks=32505856
4 block groups
8192 blocks per group, 8192 fragments per group
1984 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
8193, 24577
1303
1304
Writing inode tables: done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done
1305
1306
This filesystem will be automatically checked every 33 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first. Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
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1311
1312
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20.6 Since the root partition is going to hold the main directory hierarchy
for our Gentoo Linux installation, it is a good idea to use the Ext3 filesystem
with this partition. The mke2fs command is also used to apply the Ext3
filesystem to a partition, but a -j (journaling) option needs to be passed to
this command to tell it to create an Ext3 filesystem instead of an Ext2
filesystem:
1313
1314
1315
1316
1317
1318
1319
1320
1321
1322
1323
1324
1325
1326
1327
1328
livecd / # mke2fs -j /dev/sda3
mke2fs 1.40.8 (13-Mar-2008)
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
1343488 inodes, 5371884 blocks
268594 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
Maximum filesystem blocks=0
164 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
8192 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,
4096000
1329
1330
1331
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (32768 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done
1332
1333
This filesystem will be automatically checked every 39 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first. Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
1334
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1336
20.7 The last partition that needs to be initialized is the /dev/sda2 swap
partition. The swap partition does not use a normal filesystem and instead
it has a special swap format applied to it. The mkswap command is used to
v1.81
1337
1338
prepare the swap partition for use and the swapon command is used to
enable it:
1339
1340
1341
livecd / # mkswap /dev/sda2
Setting up swapspace version 1, size = 512479 kB
no label, UUID=f6a429b6-8e34-485e-afb3-32a8edf85168
1342
livecd / # swapon /dev/sda2
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1345
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20.8 The boot and root filesystems are now ready to have files and
directories added to them and we will do this in the next section.
21 Mounting the boot and root partitions
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1349
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1351
1352
1353
21.1 Now that the boot partition (/dev/sda1) and the root partition
(/dev/sda3) have had filesystems applied to them, the next step is to make
these partitions accessible to the rest of the system. In UNIX-like systems,
the way that devices with filesystems on them are made accessible is
by attaching them to a directory in the main directory hierarchy. The
process of attaching a device to a directory is called mounting and it is
done using the mount command. The place where a device is mounted to a
directory hierarchy is called a mount point.
1354
1355
1356
1357
21.2 Figure 5 shows the upper levels of the CD's directory hierarchy. In a
moment we are going to mount the root partition to the /mnt/gentoo
directory but before we do, lets change into this directory and see what is
there:
1358
livecd gentoo # cd /mnt/gentoo
1359
1360
livecd gentoo # pwd
/mnt/gentoo
1361
1362
livecd gentoo # ls -l
total 0
v1.81
48/124
Figure 5
/
bin dev
etc
conf.d
init.d
cdrom
gentoo
livecd
Currently empty
1363
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1365
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1367
21.3 As you can see, the /mnt/gentoo directory is empty. This directory's
only purpose for being on the CD is to provide a place to mount the
/dev/sda3 root partition to so that it can be accessed. Lets do this now.
First, you must change out of the /mnt/gentoo directory and a safe
directory to change into is the top-level root directory:
1368
livecd gentoo # cd /
1369
1370
livecd / # pwd
/
1371
1372
1373
21.4 Now, mount the /dev/sda3 partition to the /mnt/gentoo directory,
change back into the /mnt/gentoo directory, and then execute an ls -l
command in order to see if anything appeared there:
1374
livecd / # mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/gentoo
1375
livecd / # cd /mnt/gentoo
1376
1377
1378
total 16
drwx------ 2 root root 16384 Jan 27 03:02 lost+found
1379
1380
1381
1382
1383
1384
21.5 Notice that there is now a subdirectory inside of the /mnt/gentoo
directory called lost+found. mke2fs always places a directory called
lost+found in a partition after it is done preparing it. The fact that this
directory is present inside the /mnt/gentoo directory means that we have
successfully mounted the /dev/sda3 partition to /mnt/gentoo. (See Figure
6).
v1.81
Figure 6
Top-level root directory
for the CD
bin dev
etc
conf.d
49/124
/
init.d
cdrom
for the hard drive
gentoo
/
livecd
/dev/hda3
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1390
1391
1392
1393
21.6 Figure 6 shows that the /dev/sda3 partition has been mounted to the
gentoo directory, and the gentoo directory is inside of the /mnt directory.
The /mnt directory's name is short for mount and normally its purpose is
to provide a place to mount removable storage devices, such as flash
drives and CDROMs. In this case, however, we are using the /mnt/gentoo
directory as a place to temporarily mount the partitions we have created
so that we can place information on them. After we are done placing
information on the /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda3 partitions, they will be capable
of booting the PC without the help of the CD.
1394
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1398
1399
1400
21.7 As you study Figure 6, another thing you should notice is that a label has
been added to the top of the figure which reads "Top-level root directory
for the CD" and a label near the bottom of the figure has been added which
reads "Top-level root directory for the hard drive". Both labels point to
a '/' top-level root directory symbol, but the CD's top-level root directory is
currently the active one. This means that if you type cd /, it will be the CD's
root directory that you will be placed into.
1401
1402
1403
1404
1405
1406
21.8 What we are in the process of doing is creating a copy of the standard
Gentoo Linux directory hierarchy on the /dev/sda3 partition. The next step
is to create a directory called boot inside the /dev/sda3 '/' partition and
then mount the /dev/sda1 boot partition to this directory. The command
that creates directories is called mkdir and you must make sure you are in
the /mnt/gentoo directory before using it:
1407
livecd gentoo # cd /mnt/gentoo
1408
1409
livecd gentoo # pwd
/mnt/gentoo
1410
1411
livecd gentoo # ls
lost+found
v1.81
1412
livecd gentoo # mkdir boot
1413
1414
livecd gentoo # ls
boot lost+found
1415
livecd gentoo # mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/gentoo/boot
1416
1417
1418
1419
1420
21.9 The mkdir command creates a directory inside the current directory
and, in this case, a directory called boot was created in the /mnt/gentoo
directory. The /dev/sda1 boot partition was then mounted to this newlycreated boot directory so that it could be accessed. Lets change into the
boot directory and see what it contains:
1421
livecd gentoo # cd boot
1422
1423
livecd boot # pwd
/mnt/gentoo/boot
1424
1425
livecd boot # ls
lost+found
1426
1427
1428
1429
21.10 Notice that the /mnt/gentoo/boot directory also contains a lost+found
directory which means that the /dev/sda1 partition has been successfully
mounted to it. The directory hierarchy now looks like the one shown in
Figure 7.
Figure 7
/
for the CD
bin dev
etc
conf.d init.d
cdrom
for the hard drive
gentoo
/
livecd
/dev/hda3
boot
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/dev/hda1
22 Setting the system's date and time
22.1 Up until this point, we have not been concerned about whether or not the
system's date and time were set correctly. Before we start adding files and
directories to the /dev/sda3 root and /dev/sda2 boot partitions, the date and
time need to be correct because each file and directory is given a
timestamp of when it was created and incorrect timestamps will eventually
v1.81
1436
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1439
1440
1441
1442
1443
1444
cause problems.
22.2 Check the system time using the date command:
livecd boot # date
Tue Sep 4 19:36:59 UTC 2007
22.3 The CD is configured to use Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and if
your system's date or time are incorrect, they can be set using the date
command by passing it a new date in the format MMDDhhmmYYYY
(Month, Day, hour, minute, Year). For example, to set the time to February
21st 17:32 2007, pass the parameter 022117322007 to the date command:
1445
livecd boot # date 022117322007
1446
Wed Feb 21 17:32:00 UTC 2007
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22.4 The date command sets the operating system's copy of the date and
time, but a separate copy of the date and time is kept on a clock chip on
the motherboard. Each time the system boots, the time that is in the clock
chip is used to initialize the operating system's date and time. If your
system's time was incorrect and you used the date command to set it, you
should also execute the following hwclock command to copy the operating
system's time to the hardware clock:
livecd boot # hwclock --systohc
1455
1456
1457
22.5 The hwclock command is used to communicate with the clock chip on
the motherboard and the --systohc option tells the hwclock command to
set the clock chip to the operating system's date and time.
1458
1459
23 Preparing to extract the standard Gentoo directory hierarchy into the
/dev/sda3 top-level root partition
1460
1461
1462
1463
1464
1465
1466
23.1 As shown in Figure 7, we have reached the point where we have created
a top-level '/' root directory in the /dev/sda3 root partition, created a
directory called boot in this root directory, and mounted the /dev/sda1
boot partition to the boot directory. The boot directory is one of the
standard directories that is in a Gentoo Linux system's top-level root
directory and our next step is to place the rest of the standard Gentoo Linux
directories into this root directory.
v1.81
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23.2 Since Gentoo Linux systems use a standard directory hierarchy, the
Gentoo installation process has users place a pre-created copy of this
directory hierarchy onto their hard drives during the installation process.
The steps involved in this process are as follows:
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1473
1474
1) The Gentoo developers create a standard Gentoo Linux directory hierarchy from scratch on
a Gentoo development machine. The programs, configuration information and
documentation that are used on most Gentoo Linux systems is placed into this directory
hierarchy.
1475
1476
2) The Gentoo developers place the complete directory hierarchy into a single compressed file
and then generate one or more digest numbers (or digital fingerprints) for it.
1477
1478
3) The compressed file containing the directory hierarchy, along with the file containing the
digest numbers, are placed on the Gentoo servers so that users can download them.
1479
1480
1481
1482
1483
23.3 The compressed file that contains the standard Gentoo Linux directory
hierarchy we are going to use is called stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2 and its
companion file that contains this file's digest numbers is called stage3stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2.DIGESTS. Both files can be obtained from
http://206.21.94.61/gentoo using a program called wget (web get).
1484
1485
1486
23.4 We first make sure that we are inside of the /mnt/gentoo directory
and then we can download both of these files into this directory using the
wget program:
1487
1488
1489
livecd gentoo # pwd
/mnt/gentoo
1490
1491
livecd gentoo # ls
boot lost+found
1492
1493
1494
1495
1496
1497
livecd gentoo # wget -c http://206.21.94.61/gentoo/stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2
--20:05:28-- http://206.21.94.61/stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2
=> `stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2.1'
Connecting to 206.21.94.61:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 107,915,722 (103M) [application/x-tar]
1498
12% [===>
1499
1500
1501
] 13,561,630
89.27K/s
ETA 17:59
23.5 After the stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2 file is finished downloading, make
sure it is in the /mnt/gentoo directory:
livecd gentoo # pwd
v1.81
1502
/mnt/gentoo
1503
1504
1505
1506
1507
total 105513
1024 Sep
16384 Sep
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 107915722 Sep
1508
1509
1510
1511
1512
1513
1514
1515
1516
53/124
4 18:08 boot
4 18:09 lost+found
6 2007 stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2
23.6 Now download the stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2.DIGESTS file that
contains the digest numbers for the stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2 file. In order
to avoid having to type the whole filename, try pressing the up arrow on
your keyboard a few times. All the commands you have previously typed
are held in the command line's history memory and they can be accessed by
pressing the up arrow (pressing the down arrow moves forward through the
history.) Keep going back through your command line history until you
reach the wget command you typed earlier. Edit the filename by adding the
word DIGESTS to the end of it and then execute the following command:
1517
1518
1519
1520
1521
1522
livecd gentoo # wget -c http://206.21.94.61/gentoo/stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2.DIGESTS
--20:11:15-- http://206.21.94.61/stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2.DIGESTS
=> `stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2.DIGESTS'
Length: 153 [application/x-tar]
1523
100%[==============================================>] 153
1524
20:11:15 (7.12 MB/s) - `stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2.DIGESTS' saved [153/153]
1525
1526
23.7 Execute the pwd and ls -l commands again to make sure that both files
are in the /mnt/gentoo directory:
1527
1528
livecd gentoo # pwd
/mnt/gentoo
1529
1530
1531
1532
1533
1534
total 105517
1024 Sep
16384 Sep
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root
153 Sep
1535
1536
1537
1538
1539
1540
1541
--.--K/s
4 18:08 boot
4 18:09 lost+found
6 2007 stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2
6 2007 stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2.DIGESTS
23.8 Now that both files have been successfully downloaded to the proper
place, we need to calculate the digest number for the main file and check
this number against the copy that is in the DIGESTS file. The GNU/Linux
command that runs the MD5 digest algorithm on files is md5sum and a
command that will copy the contents of a file to the screen is cat
(concatenate):
livecd gentoo # md5sum
stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2
v1.81
1542
20768691de57b1f6575c826d3107d435
1543
1544
1545
livecd gentoo # cat stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2.DIGESTS
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----Hash: SHA1
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1547
1548
1549
1550
1551
1552
1553
1554
1555
# MD5 HASH
20768691de57b1f6575c826d3107d435 ./stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2
# SHA1 HASH
aa238bbe03f8e3726a47c4e5a56876ff182d8b64 ./stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2
# MD5 HASH
2d99869a6d44e0df66a8952575a3fb02 ./stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2.CONTENTS
# SHA1 HASH
5c6f74b62fa6df43b524860727c6896f4b7ade5f ./stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2.CONTENTS
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----Version: GnuPG v2.0.7 (GNU/Linux)
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1559
iD8DBQFIb5Z+nmQ4yBcHIFgRAnwYAJ4plKA2NRAYfEZWuUjM3JYcrc20cACgsr4S
UvA+AdmNknpG/WaiIjZ9vDQ=
=Ojv/
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
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23.9 If both MD5 digest numbers match, then your stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2
file is not corrupted and we can move on to the next step.
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24 Extracting the standard Gentoo directory hierarchy into the /dev/sda3
top-level root partition
1564
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24.1 As indicated earlier, the stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2 file contains the core
of a standard Gentoo Linux directory hierarchy. The .tar part of the
filename indicates that this directory hierarchy was placed into the Tape
ARchive format. One of the earliest devices that computers used for
storing information was the magnetic tape drive. Early UNIX machines
had a utility program called tar that was used to copy files and directories
to a single file (sometimes called a tarball) that could be saved on magnetic
tape. The tar program could also take a tar file that was on a magnetic tape
and convert it back to the original files and directories. UNIX-like operating
systems, such as Gentoo Linux, still use the tar program but the archive
files are used for more purposes than just storing on magnetic tape. One
additional purpose is to send directory structures through the Internet.
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24.2 The .bz2 part of the stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2 file indicates that the tape
archive information was compressed using the bzip2 compression
algorithm. A compressed file is usually much smaller than the original and
Gentoo Linux makes significant use of .tar.bz2 tarball files for copying
directory structures, source code, and documentation to user's computers.
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24.3 Our next step is to unzip and untar the stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2 file
that we placed into the /mnt/gentoo directory. This can be done in one
step by changing to the /mnt/gentoo directory and executing the tar xvjpf
command:
1585
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1587
livecd gentoo # pwd
/mnt/gentoo
1588
1589
livecd gentoo # ls
boot lost+found stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2
1590
1591
livecd gentoo # tar xvjpf stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2
<snip>
stage3-i686-xxx.tar.bz2.DIGESTS
1592
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24.4 As soon as the command begins executing, a list of all of the files and
directories that are being uncompressed and untared is shown on the
screen. There are a significant number of files and directories in the archive
so it will take a while for the process to complete. While you are waiting,
lets look at the options that were passed to the tar command.
1597
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1600
1601
1602
1603
1604
1605
1606
24.5 The x option indicates that we want to extract from an archive, not
create one. The v option tells the tar command to be verbose with the
information it prints to the screen during the extraction process. In verbose
mode, the tar command will list the name of each file and directory to the
screen as it is extracted. The j option tells the tar command that the archive
has been compressed with the bzip2 algorithm and that it needs to be
uncompressed before it can be untared. The p option indicates that the
permissions for each directory and file should be preserved during the
extraction process and the f option indicates that the archive is being
extracted from a file.
1607
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24.6 After the extraction process is complete, execute the ls command to see
the directories that have been created inside of your /mnt/gentoo directory:
1609
1610
livecd gentoo # pwd
/mnt/gentoo
1611
1612
1613
1614
livecd gentoo # ls
bin
etc
lost+found
boot home mnt
dev
lib
opt
1615
1616
1617
1618
proc
root
sbin
sys
tmp
usr
var
24.7 Your system's directory hierarchy should now look like the one shown in
Figure 8 (keep in mind, however, that only the upper levels of both directory
hierarchies are shown.) Having two almost identical directory hierarchies
on a system makes it easy to become confused about which directory you
v1.81
1619
1620
are in, so be careful as you change directories and use the pwd command
frequently to check where you are.
Figure 8
for the CD
bin dev
etc
bin dev
etc
/
conf.d init.d
cdrom
for the hard drive
1621
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gentoo
/
livecd
/dev/hda3
/dev/hda1
25 Downloading and extracting the portage tree
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25.1 Before any more software can be installed on the hard drive, an archived
copy of the Gentoo Linux portage tree needs to be downloaded and
extracted. Portage is Gentoo's software package management system
and a software package is what programs and data are usually placed into
so that they can be easily sent over the Internet to a user's computer for
installation.
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25.2 Most GNU/Linux distributions use binary packages which means that
the software has been precompiled and is ready for execution as soon as it is
downloaded to the user's system and installed. Gentoo, however, does not
use binary packages by default (although it is capable of using them).
Instead, portage downloads the source code for applications that the user
wants to install and compiles them right on the user's machine. It then
installs the binary code that was generated during the compilation process
into the proper directories inside the standard Gentoo directory structure.
1636
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25.3 The command that is used to download, compile, and install software
packages on Gentoo system is called emerge and the instructions which tell
emerge how to do this for each package are contained in the portage tree.
The word tree as used here is another name for directory hierarchy.
1640
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25.4 We will explore the contents of the portage tree in a moment but first
you need to download a compressed archive of it onto your computer,
check it to make sure it is not corrupted (using md5sum), and then extract
v1.81
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it. Compressed archives of the portage tree are also called snapshots
because the central copy of the portage tree on the Gentoo servers is
constantly being updated by people all over the world. When a compressed
archive of the tree is made at a given point in time, it is like taking a picture
or snapshot of it, similar to the way that a camera takes a snapshot.
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25.5 Make sure you are in the /mnt/gentoo directory and then obtain the
portage snapshot that has been placed at http://206.21.94.61 (using
wget). Next, obtain the companion digest file for the snapshot, generate a
md5 digest number for the snapshot, and make sure the snapshot file is not
corrupted. If the portage snapshot file is okay, then extract it using the tar
xvjf command (note that the 'C' in the var command is a capital 'C'):
1654
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livecd gentoo # pwd
/mnt/gentoo
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1661
livecd gentoo # wget -c http://206.21.94.61/gentoo/portage-xxx.tar.bz2
--20:37:48-- http://206.21.94.61/portage-xxx.tar.bz2
=> `portage-xxx.tar.bz2'
Length: 34,686,418 (33M) [application/x-tar]
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100%[==============================================>] 34,686,418
00:00
1664
20:37:52 (8.58 MB/s) - `portage-xxx.tar.bz2' saved [34686418/34686418]
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livecd gentoo # wget -c http://206.21.94.61/gentoo/portage-xxx.tar.bz2.md5sum
--20:42:11-- http://206.21.94.61/portage-xxx.tar.bz2.md5sum
=> `portage-xxx.tar.bz2.md5sum'
Length: 145 [application/x-tar]
1671
100%[==============================================>] 145
1672
20:42:11 (6.74 MB/s) - `portage-xxx.tar.bz2.md5sum' saved [145/145]
1673
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livecd gentoo # ls
bin
mnt
boot
opt
dev
portage-xxx.tar.bz2
etc
portage-xxx.tar.bz2.md5sum
home
proc
lib
root
lost+found sbin
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livecd gentoo # md5sum portage-xxx.tar.bz2
92832322bfee5ee90cb37123c54cca47 portage-xxx.tar.bz2
1683
livecd gentoo # cat portage-xxx.tar.bz2.md5sum
8.76M/s
--.--K/s
sys
tmp
usr
var
ETA
v1.81
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-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----Hash: SHA1
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# MD5 HASH
92832322bfee5ee90cb37123c54cca47 ./portage-xxx.tar.bz2
# SHA1 HASH
38e86b7cb48c9a36094160a24c4a81ff9fb2d6dc ./portage-xxx.tar.bz2
# MD5 HASH
eeaa185966cb29795b2255c89215521e ./portage-xxx.tar.bz2.CONTENTS
# SHA1 HASH
4e0197cbf9d5c7225b27fe2c9828fbb6fb3e5879 ./portage-xxx.tar.bz2.CONTENTS
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----Version: GnuPG v2.0.7 (GNU/Linux)
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iD8DBQFIb5bVnmQ4yBcHIFgRAvIiAKCyhn4jXlEJtkhp8rJVicWy8zikkACeMspP
7tKU5PpppSMC522CsNkI35E=
=w82G
-----END PGP SIGNATURE----- NOTE: The -C below is a capital C.
1700
livecd gentoo # tar xvjf portage-xxx.tar.bz2 -C /mnt/gentoo/usr
1701
1702
25.6 After the portage snapshot has finished being extracted, change into the
usr directory and execute an ls command:
1703
livecd gentoo # cd usr
1704
1705
livecd gentoo # pwd
/mnt/gentoo/usr
1706
1707
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livecd usr # ls
bin
i486-pc-linux-gnu
1709
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1711
i686-pc-linux-gnu
include
lib
libexec
local
portage
sbin
share
src
tmp
25.7 When the portage snapshot was extracted, a directory called portage
was created in the usr directory and it contains the portage tree. Now,
change into the portage directory and execute another ls command:
1712
livecd usr # cd portage
1713
1714
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1722
1723
1724
1725
1726
livecd portage # ls
app-accessibility dev-php5
app-admin
dev-python
app-antivirus
dev-ruby
app-arch
dev-scheme
app-backup
dev-tcltk
app-benchmarks
dev-tex
app-cdr
dev-tinyos
app-crypt
dev-util
app-dicts
eclass
app-doc
games-action
app-editors
games-arcade
app-emacs
games-board
app-emulation
games-emulation
media-gfx
media-libs
media-plugins
media-radio
media-sound
media-tv
media-video
metadata
net-analyzer
net-dialup
net-dns
net-firewall
net-fs
sci-mathematics
sci-misc
sci-physics
sci-visualization
scripts
sec-policy
skel.ChangeLog
skel.ebuild
skel.metadata.xml
sys-apps
sys-auth
sys-block
sys-boot
v1.81
1727
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1734
1735
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1737
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1740
1741
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app-forensics
app-i18n
app-laptop
app-misc
app-mobilephone
app-office
app-pda
app-portage
app-shells
app-text
app-vim
app-xemacs
dev-ada
dev-cpp
dev-db
dev-dotnet
dev-embedded
dev-games
dev-haskell
dev-java
dev-lang
dev-libs
dev-lisp
dev-ml
dev-perl
dev-php
dev-php4
games-engines
games-fps
games-kids
games-misc
games-mud
games-puzzle
games-roguelike
games-rpg
games-server
games-simulation
games-sports
games-strategy
games-util
gnome-base
gnome-extra
gnustep-apps
gnustep-base
gnustep-libs
header.txt
kde-base
kde-misc
licenses
mail-client
mail-filter
mail-mta
manifest1_obsolete
media-fonts
net-ftp
net-im
net-irc
net-libs
net-mail
net-misc
net-nds
net-news
net-nntp
net-p2p
net-print
net-proxy
net-voip
net-wireless
net-www
net-zope
perl-core
profiles
rox-base
rox-extra
sci-astronomy
sci-biology
sci-calculators
sci-chemistry
sci-electronics
sci-geosciences
sci-libs
59/124
sys-cluster
sys-devel
sys-freebsd
sys-fs
sys-kernel
sys-libs
sys-power
sys-process
virtual
www-apache
www-apps
www-client
www-misc
www-servers
x11-apps
x11-base
x11-drivers
x11-libs
x11-misc
x11-plugins
x11-proto
x11-terms
x11-themes
x11-wm
xfce-base
xfce-extra
25.8 This is the portage tree and it contains a significant number of
directories, each of which represents a package category. Each package
category directory, in turn, contains subdirectories that hold the software
packages that belong in a given category. Lets look inside one of the
category directories, like games-puzzle, to see what packages it contains:
1759
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livecd portage # pwd
/mnt/gentoo/usr/portage
1761
livecd portage # cd games-puzzle
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livecd games-puzzle # pwd
/mnt/gentoo/usr/portage/games-puzzle
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livecd games-puzzle # ls
4stattack
fish-fillets
anagramarama
flobopuyo
angrydd
galaxis
arrows
gemdropx
atomix
gemhun
bastet
glickomania
braincurses
glightoff
codebreaker
gnudoku
concentration gnurobbo
icebreaker
jools
kiki
krystaldrop
ksudoku
lmarbles
londonlaw
lpairs
ltris
pathological
pauker
penguzzle
picpuz
pingus
quadra
quadros
quintalign
scramble
tong
toppler
torrent
trimines
triptych-demo
twindistress
wakkabox
xblockout
xbomb
v1.81
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construo
cuyo
drod-bin
easysok
einstein
enigma
ensemblist
fbg
greedy
groundhog
gtetrinet
gtkballs
gweled
hangman
hexamine
hoh-bin
magiccube4d
metadata.xml
mindless
mirrormagic
monsterz
mures
neverball
ngstar
sdlvexed
seatris
shaaft
skoosh
tetrinet
textmaze
tint
tod
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xlogical
xpired
xpuyopuyo
xtris
xwelltris
xye
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25.9 As you can see, the games-puzzle category directory contains quite a
number of puzzle game software packages. Each game's directory holds
information that tells the emerge command how to download the source
code for the game, compile it, and install it.
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25.10 Most of the category directories in the portage tree contain many
software package directories and the whole portage tree currently contains
more than 25000 software packages! After you have finished installing
Gentoo Linux on your system, any of the 25000+ packages in the portage
tree can be installed on your system simply by typing emerge <package
name>.
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25.11 Figure 9 shows that the portage tree exists within the usr directory
that has been placed on the /dev/sda3 root partition.
1794
25.12 THIS IS A GOOD STOPPING POINT.
Figure 9
/
for the CD
bin dev
etc
conf.d init.d
cdrom
for the hard drive
bin dev
etc
gentoo
/
livecd
/dev/hda3
Portage tree
1795
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/dev/hda1
portage
26 Changing the top-level root directory from the CD to the /dev/sda3
root partition
v1.81
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26.1 Before proceeding, lets list the steps of the installation process we have
accomplished so far:
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1) Downloaded the Gentoo minimal LiveCD .iso image and burned it onto a CDROM (or
installed it into a virtual machine).
1801
2) Booted a PC using this LiveCD image.
1802
3) Partitioned the main hard drive.
1803
4) Mounted the /dev/sda3 root partition to the /mnt/gentoo directory.
1804
5) Mounted the /dev/sda1 boot partition to the /mnt/gentoo/boot directory.
1805
1806
6) Downloaded a compressed tar file (which contained the core of a standard Gentoo
directory structure) and extracted it into the /mnt/gentoo directory.
1807
1808
7) Downloaded a compressed tar file which contained a snapshot of the portage tree and
extracted it into the /mnt/gentoo/usr/portage directory.
1809
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1811
1812
1813
1814
1815
26.2 We have accomplished quite a bit up to this point and we now have most
of the parts of a standard Gentoo directory structure sitting on the
/dev/sda3 root partition (which is mounted to the /mnt/gentoo directory).
In fact, enough of a standard Gentoo directory structure exists on /dev/sda3
root partition that we could change into the /mnt/gentoo directory, imagine
that the CD's directory structure did not exist anymore, and pretend that the
/dev/sda3 root partition was the new active top-level root directory.
1816
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1819
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26.3 Actually, this is exactly what we are going to do using the chroot
(Change Root) command! Figure 10 shows the complete directory hierarchy
that we have been working with up to this point. The red arrow indicates
that the active top-level root directory is about to be changed to the
/dev/sda3 root partition:
v1.81
Figure 10
for the CD
bin dev
etc
etc
Change the active root directory from
the CD to the /dev/hda3 root partition
conf.d init.d
cdrom
for the hard drive
bin dev
/
gentoo
/
livecd
/dev/hda3
/dev/hda1
Portage tree
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portage
26.4 After executing the chroot command, the directory hierarchy will look
like the one shown in Figure 11:
Figure 11
New active top-level
root directory
bin dev
etc
/
/dev/hda3
/dev/hda1
Portage tree
portage
1823
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1826
26.5 The CD's directory hierarchy looks like it has disappeared and all that is
left is the directory hierarchy we have been putting together on the
/dev/sda3 root partition. The CD's directory will still exist after the chroot
command is executed, it will just be hidden temporarily.
1827
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26.6 Before executing the chroot command, however, we must make 3 items
that are in the CD's directory hierarchy available within our new directory
hierarchy.
1830
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26.7 The first item is a file called resolv.conf and the original copy exists in
the /etc directory. The resolv.conf file contains the network information
that was returned by the DHCP request that we talked about earlier when
the machine was first booted. This network information will be needed in
v1.81
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our new directory hierarchy and it can be copied there using the following
cp command (the '-L' tells the cp command to copy the target of any
symbolic links):
livecd / # cp -L /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/gentoo/etc/resolv.conf
Note for VirtualBox users, if your /etc folder contains resolv.conf-eth0.sv, then copy this file to
/mnt/gentoo/etc also.
26.8 The second item that needs to be made available in the new directory
hierarchy is the CD's whole /dev directory. Instead of copying everything in
the CD's /dev directory to the new /mnt/gentoo/dev directory, however,
we will use the mount command simply to bind our new /dev directory to
the original one:
livecd / # mount -o bind /dev /mnt/gentoo/dev
1846
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26.9 The third and final item that needs to be made available in the new
directory hierarchy is the CD's /proc directory. The proc directory is a
special directory because it does not exist as a filesystem on any storage
device. What the proc directory does is to make information that exists in
the currently running kernel available in the form of files. Using the
terminology of interfaces we discussed earlier, certain information in the
kernel is made to implement the file interface so that this information can
be accessed using the same tools that are used to access all other files. In
fact, most of the resources that are contained in a UNIX-like system are
made to implement the file interface so that they can all be treated in a
uniform way. This is one of the aspects of UNIX-like systems that give them
their great power.
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26.10 Before we make the CD's /proc directory available in the new directory
hierarchy, lets look inside of it to see what is there. Change into the /proc
directory and execute the ls command:
1861
livecd / # cd /proc
1862
1863
livecd proc # pwd
/proc
1864
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1867
1868
1869
1870
1871
1872
livecd
1
1170
122
123
124
125
12935
13422
proc #
13764
13766
13773
1396
1397
2
2803
283
ls
3535
38
39
4
4803
5
6
6234
8877
8878
8879
8880
9020
9023
97
acpi
cpuinfo
crypto
devices
diskstats
dma
driver
execdomains
fb
iomem
ioports
irq
kmsg
loadavg
locks
mdstat
meminfo
mtrr
net
partitions
scsi
self
slabinfo
speakup
stat
tty
uptime
version
vmstat
zoneinfo
v1.81
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13644
13684
13687
13699
2907
2908
2909
3
6398
6657
785
788
buddyinfo
bus
cmdline
config.gz
filesystems
fs
ide
interrupts
misc
modules
mounts
mpt
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swaps
sys
sysrq-trigger
sysvipc
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26.11 There is a significant amount of information about the currently running
kernel present in the /proc directory, but we are only going to look at a few
items at this time. Lets start by looking inside of the cpuinfo file using the
cat command:
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1900
1901
livecd proc # cat cpuinfo
processor
: 0
vendor_id
: AuthenticAMD
cpu family
: 15
model
: 36
model name
: AMD Turion(tm) 64 Mobile ML-40
stepping
: 2
cpu MHz
: 2198.905
cache size
: 1024 KB
fdiv_bug
: no
hlt_bug
: no
f00f_bug
: no
coma_bug
: no
fpu
: yes
fpu_exception
: yes
cpuid level
: 1
wp
: yes
flags
: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat
pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt lm 3dnowext 3dnow up pni
lahf_lm ts fid vid ttp tm stc
bogomips
: 4403.07
1902
1903
1904
1905
26.12 The cpuinfo file on my computer indicates that the CPU it contains is
an AMD Turion 64 Mobile running at a frequency of 2198.905
Megahertz. The other information in this file will become useful when you
learn more about CPUs.
1906
26.13 Next, lets look inside the version and uptime files:
1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
livecd proc # cat version
Linux version 2.6.19-gentoo-r5 (root@kagome) (gcc version 4.1.1 (Gentoo 4.1.1-r3))
#1 SMP Tue Apr 3 01:19:22 UTC 2007
livecd proc # cat uptime
4748.77 4715.05
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1916
26.14 The version file contains information about the currently running
kernel, including its version number, the version of the compiler that was
used to build it, and the date it was built. The uptime file contains the
number of seconds that the computer has been running along with how
much of that time the CPU was idle.
v1.81
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1920
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26.15 Finally, look inside the partitions file and the mounts file:
livecd proc # cat partitions
major minor #blocks name
7
3
3
3
3
0
0
1
2
3
44592
20971520
31626
500377
20439405
loop0
sda
sda1
sda2
sda3
livecd proc # cat mounts
rootfs / rootfs rw 0 0
tmpfs / tmpfs rw 0 0
/dev/hdc /mnt/cdrom iso9660 ro 0 0
/dev/loop0 /mnt/livecd squashfs ro 0 0
proc /proc proc rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec 0 0
udev /dev tmpfs rw,nosuid 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,nosuid,noexec 0 0
tmpfs /mnt/livecd/lib/firmware tmpfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /mnt/livecd/usr/portage tmpfs rw 0 0
usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs rw,nosuid,noexec 0 0
/dev/sda3 /mnt/gentoo ext3 rw,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/sda1 /mnt/gentoo/boot ext2 rw 0 0
udev /mnt/gentoo/dev tmpfs rw,nosuid 0 0
1940
1941
1942
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1944
1945
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26.16 The partitions file contains a list of the partitions that the kernel is
currently aware of. Notice that the sda1, sda2, sda3 partitions are listed
there. The mounts file contains a list of all of the currently mounted
filesystems along with where in the directory hierarchy they are mounted.
The sda3 and sda1 partitions are listed as being mounted to the
/mnt/gentoo and /mnt/gentoo/boot directories because this is where we
mounted them.
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1948
1949
1950
1951
26.17 The /proc directory is also in the list and it is now time to make it
available inside the new directory hierarchy. Since the /proc directory is
really just information in the kernel that implements the file interface, we
will simply mount this information a second time to the /mnt/gentoo/proc
directory:
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1954
1955
livecd proc # mount -t proc none /mnt/gentoo/proc
26.18 Now we are finally ready to change the active root from the CD's toplevel root directory (/) to the top-level root directory of the new directory
hierarchy (/mnt/gentoo):
1956
livecd proc # chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash
1957
livecd / # pwd
v1.81
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/
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1961
1962
1963
1964
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livecd / # ls
bin
mnt
boot
opt
dev
portage-xxx.tar.bz2
etc
home
proc
lib
root
lost+found sbin
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sys
tmp
usr
var
26.19 The change of the active top-level root directory has now been
accomplished. Notice that the after the chroot command was finished, we
were placed into the top-level directory of the new directory hierarchy.
In order to make sure that the active root directory was successfully
transfered, execute a cd / command and see if we are still in the root
directory of the new directory hierarchy:
1973
livecd / # cd /
1974
1975
livecd / # pwd
/
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1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
livecd / # ls
bin
mnt
boot
opt
dev
portage-xxx.tar.bz2
etc
home
proc
lib
root
lost+found sbin
sys
tmp
usr
var
1984
1985
26.20 The cd / command did not change us to the CD's top-level root
directory so the chroot command must have succeeded.
1986
1987
26.21 Before we can use the new directory hierarchy, however, both the envupdate and the source /etc/profile commands need to be executed:
1988
1989
livecd / # env-update
>>> Regenerating /etc/ld.so.cache...
1990
livecd / # source /etc/profile
1991
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1993
1994
26.22 It does not seem that these two commands accomplish anything, but
they do and the explanation for what was accomplished is related to what a
shell is.
27 Terminals and shells: interfaces to the operating system
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1995
1996
1997
1998
27.1 In the days before personal computers, the most common kinds of
computers were mainframe computers and minicomputers. Many
mainframe computers were so large that one or more rooms were required
to hold them. The following picture shows a typical mainframe computer:
1999
2000
27.2 Minicomputers were smaller than mainframes but they were still larger
than personal computers.
v1.81
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27.3 Both mainframes and minicomputers, however, often used devices called
dumb terminals to allow humans to interact with them. The word dumb
meant that the device did not have a computer inside of it and it relied on
the mainframe (or the minicomputer) it was attached to for all processing
chores. The word terminal meant that the devices were attached to the
end of a cable which had its other end plugged into the computer (see
Figure 12):
Figure 12
Terminal
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2010
2011
2012
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Communications
cable
Mainframe
or
Minicomputer
27.4 The first kind of terminals were similar in design to typewriters and they
were called teletypes. Whatever was typed on the keyboard was displayed
on the typewriter paper and also sent electronically to the computer.
Output from the computer was also typed on the typewriter paper so that
the user could see it:
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2013
2014
2015
2016
27.5 Later, terminals were built which used CRTs (Cathode Ray Tubes)
instead of typewriter paper for displaying input from the user and output
from the computer:
2017
2018
27.6 Inside the computer, a special program was needed that would primarily
do the following things 2:
2019
2020
- Accept commands that were typed at the terminal and, if they were not commands meant for
the program itself, pass them to the operating system.
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- Take output from the operating system and send it to the terminal.
27.7 The name which was given to this special type of program was "shell"
because it can be thought to cover or hide the details of the operating
system from the user. Shells are also known as command line interfaces
and we have been using a shell to communicate with the operating system
since we first booted the computer from the CD (see Figure 13):
Figure 13
Terminal
Communications
cable
Mainframe
or
Minicomputer
Shell
Operating
system
2027
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2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
2036
27.8 If we have been communicating with a shell program during the
installation process, what have we been using as a terminal? When
personal computers started to become available in the late 1970s and early
1980s, people began interfacing them to mainframes and minicomputers
just like dumb terminals had been. Since PCs were computers themselves,
programs could be run on them that emulated all the functions of a dumb
terminal and these program were called terminal emulators. The shell
programs on the mainframes or minicomputers that the terminal emulators
were communicating with had no idea whether they were talking to actual
dumb terminals or terminal emulator programs running on PCs.
2037
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2041
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2043
2044
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27.9 When UNIX-like operating systems began to be run on PCs during the
late 1980s and early 1990s, an interesting thing happened. The terminal
emulator programs that had previously been used to communicate with
shell programs on external mainframes and minicomputers through cables
were now used to communicate with shell programs that were running on
the PC itself! By the way, emulated terminals are also called virtual
terminals. This technique of using a terminal emulator to communicate
with a UNIX-like operating system running on the same PC is still in use
today and we have been using a terminal emulator to communicate with the
Gentoo Linux operating system that was booted from the CD.
2047
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2051
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27.10 In fact, not just 1 terminal emulator program was run when you booted
your system from the CD, but 6 of them were! The way that you can switch
between the 6 terminal emulator programs is by holding down the <alt> key
on your keyboard and pressing either the <F1>, <F2>, <F3>, <F4>, <F5>
or <F6> keys. The default terminal emulator is accessed by pressing
<alt><F1> and it is the one we have been using since the beginning of the
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2053
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installation process. Try switching to the second terminal emulator by
pressing <alt><F2> and then execute a pwd command to see where it is in
the directory hierarchy. Move around the directory hierarchy using the cd
command and use the ls command to see the contents of these directories.
You can switch to terminal emulators 3 - 6 and experiment with them too if
you would like.
2059
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2061
2062
2063
2064
27.11 Each terminal emulator is like a different window which can be used to
view the same directory hierarchy. Terminal emulators 2 - 6 have not had
the chroot command executed in them and therefore they each have the
top-level root directory of the CD as their active root directory. When
you are done experimenting, press the <alt><F1> keys in order to switch
back to the chrooted environment in the default terminal emulator.
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2073
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2095
28 Customizing the shell that is being used by the default terminal
emulator
28.1 Now that we have used the chroot command to change the active root of
the default terminal to the /dev/sda3 root partition, it would be nice to have
the command prompt indicate this. The way this is done is by changing a
variable in the shell program that the terminal is communicating with. A
variable is a name that has been associated with a memory location (or a
set of memory locations) so that humans do not need to refer to it by its
address. A shell program has a number of variables (called environment
variables) that hold configuration data which tells the shell how to operate.
The environment variables of the current shell can be viewed using the set
command:
livecd / # set
BASH=/bin/bash
BASH_ARGC=()
BASH_ARGV=()
BASH_LINENO=()
BASH_SOURCE=()
BASH_VERSINFO=([0]="3" [1]="1" [2]="17" [3]="1" [4]="release" [5]="i686-pc-linuxgnu")
BASH_VERSION='3.1.17(1)-release'
COLUMNS=81
CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK=/etc/terminfo
CVS_RSH=ssh
DIRSTACK=()
EDITOR=/bin/nano
EUID=0
GCC_SPECS=
GROUPS=()
GUILE_LOAD_PATH=/usr/share/guile/1.6
G_BROKEN_FILENAMES=1
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2104
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G_FILENAME_ENCODING=UTF-8
HISTFILE=/root/.bash_history
HISTFILESIZE=500
HISTSIZE=500
HOME=/root
HOSTNAME=livecd
HOSTTYPE=i686
IFS=$' \t\n'
INFOPATH=/usr/share/info:/usr/share/binutils-data/i686-pc-linuxgnu/2.16.1/info:/usr/share/gcc-data/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.1.1/info
LESS='-R -M --shift 5'
LESSOPEN='|lesspipe.sh %s'
LINES=22
LOGNAME=root
MACHTYPE=i686-pc-linux-gnu
MAIL=/var/mail/root
MAILCHECK=60
MANPATH=/usr/local/share/man:/usr/share/man:/usr/share/binutils-data/i686-pc-linuxgnu/2.16.1/man:/usr/share/gcc-data/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.1.1/man
OLDPWD=/
OPTERR=1
OPTIND=1
OSTYPE=linux-gnu
PAGER=/usr/bin/less
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/opt/bin:/usr/i68
6-pc-linux-gnu/gcc-bin/4.1.1
PIPESTATUS=([0]="0")
PPID=13687
PROMPT_COMMAND='echo -ne "\033]0;${USER}@${HOSTNAME%%.*}:${PWD/$HOME/~}\007"'
PS1='\[\033[01;31m\]\h\[\033[01;34m\] \W \$\[\033[00m\] '
PS2='> '
PS4='+ '
PWD=/
PYTHONPATH=/usr/lib/portage/pym
SHELL=/bin/bash
SHELLOPTS=braceexpand:emacs:hashall:histexpand:history:interactive-comments:monitor
SHLVL=2
SSH_CLIENT='206.21.94.183 48535 22'
SSH_CONNECTION='206.21.94.183 48535 206.21.94.238 22'
SSH_TTY=/dev/pts/0
TERM=xterm
UID=0
USER=root
_=/etc/profile
28.2 As you can see, shells can contain a large number of environment
variables! We are not going to discuss what all of these variables do at this
time, but we will talk about some of them in a moment. First, however,
notice that each environment variable is listed in the form of
VARIABLE_NAME = <VALUE>. The name of the environment variable is
on the left side of the '=' sign and the data that the variable is associated
with is on the right side of the sign. Here is more information about the
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environment variables that have been highlighted in the above list:
2148
2149
SHELL - The name of the current shell program is called 'bash' (which stands for Bourne
again shell) and it is located in the /bin directory.
2150
TERM - The terminal emulation program that is currently being used is called xterm.
2151
2152
2153
2154
2155
2156
PATH - When the name of a command is typed at the command line, the shell looks inside
each of the directory paths listed in the PATH variable to locate the program that
implements the command. The first path in the list is searched first, then the next path in
the list is searched and so on (paths are separated by a colon ':'). If the program is found it
is executed and if it is not found, then the shell outputs a "command not found" error
message.
2157
2158
LINES - The number of lines or rows of information that the current terminal is configured to
display.
2159
PWD - Holds the path of the current working directory.
2160
PS1 - Determines what is displayed in the command prompt.
2161
2162
2163
2164
2165
2166
2167
28.3 If we want to change our command prompt so that it indicates we are
currently in a chroot environment, then the PS1 shell environment variable
need to have new information added to it. An explanation of the strange
pattern of symbols that the PS1 variable currently contains is beyond what I
want to discuss at this point. Fortunately, you will not need to understand
them in order to add the information needed to indicate we are now in a
chroot environment.
2168
2169
2170
28.4 The export command is used to change the shell's environment
variables. Execute the following export command and notice what happens
to the command prompt (note the dollar sign '$' in front of the second PS1):
2171
2172
2173
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2175
2176
2177
2178
2179
2180
2181
2182
livecd / # export PS1="(chroot) $PS1"
(chroot) livecd / #
28.5 We just told the export command to set the PS1 environment variable
to the characters (chroot) followed by the current contents of the PS1
variable (whenever a $ is placed in front of an environment variable name,
this means to use the information that the variable is holding, not the name
of the variable). If you execute another set command, you will find that the
PS1 variable now holds the following information:
PS1='(chroot) \[\033[01;31m\]\h\[\033[01;34m\] \W \$\[\033[00m\] '
28.6 Notice that the characters (chroot) have indeed been placed before the
characters that were originally in the variable and now (chroot) will be
present on the command line's prompt until we either change the PS1
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variable again or exit the chroot environment.
28.7 Now that you know what shell environment variables are, we can explain
what the env-update and source /etc/profile commands did that we
executed earlier. Each time that a shell program is launched, it has its
environment variables set by running the source /etc/profile program.
The env-update program maintains the information database that the
source /etc/profile command uses to set the environment variables. When
we executed the chroot command, our environment changed. We updated
the environment database with the env-update command and then
updated the environment variables in our currently running shell by
executing the source /etc/profile command.
29 The nano text editor
2195
2196
2197
2198
2199
2200
2201
2202
2203
2204
29.1 A significant part of installing and configuring GNU/Linux consists of
editing configuration files. These files are usually in text format which
means that they only hold plain typed characters without any additional
formatting information. In contrast to this, a word processor file not only
holds typed characters, it contains extra information about these typed
characters (such as bold, indenting, font, font size, etc). The various
GNU/Linux programs that read the information that is present in
configuration files would not know what to do with any extra formatting
information that may be present. This is why all configuration files need to
be created and edited by a text editor and not a word processor.
2205
2206
2207
2208
29.2 The most commonly used text editor on Gentoo systems is called nano.
Lets experiment with nano a bit before we begin editing configuration files
with it. Change into the /tmp directory in the chrooted environment and
execute nano with the following options:
2209
(chroot) livecd / # cd /tmp
2210
2211
(chroot) livecd tmp # pwd
/tmp
2212
(chroot) livecd tmp # ls
2213
(chroot) livecd tmp # nano -wc test.txt
2214
2215
2216
2217
2218
29.3 Since no files or directories were listed when we executed the ls
command, this means that the /tmp directory is currently empty. The 'w'
option tells nano to allow lines that are over 80 characters wide and the 'c'
option shows the line number and column of where the cursor is currently
at. The 'test.txt' parameter tells nano to create a file called test.txt in the
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current directory when the file is saved.
29.4 Now that we are working inside the directory hierarchy which is on the
hard drive, there are commands available to us that were not present on the
CD. One of these commands is called man and it stands for manual. Most
of the programs on a GNU/Linux system have manual pages written for
them which give information about what the program does and what options
can be passed to it. For example, if you want to read about what the cat
command does, simply type man cat at the command prompt and use the
up and down arrow keys to move through the document (press the 'q' key
to quit):
(chroot) livecd /tmp # man cat
Formatting page, please wait...
2231
2232
2233
29.5 You can look at the man pages for any of the commands we have used
up to this point (such as ls, cd and hexdump) and you can also read the
man page for nano.
2234
2235
2236
2237
29.6 When nano is executed, it shows a screen which should look similar to
the one shown below. Type the sentences "This is a test text file." and
"The only thing that this file contains is plain text characters." (which
are shown in blue) into the editor window:
2238
GNU nano 1.3.11
File: test.txt
2239
This is a test text file.
2240
The only thing that this file contains is plain text characters.
2241
2242
2243
^G Get Help
^X Exit
2244
2245
2246
2247
Modified
[ line 3/4 (75%), col 65/65 (100%), char 91/92 (98%) ]
^O WriteOut ^R Read File ^Y Prev Page ^K Cut Text ^C Cur Pos
^J Justify
^W Where Is ^V Next Page ^U UnCut Txt ^T To Spell
29.7 The way that commands are given to nano while it is running is by
pressing the <ctrl> key and a letter. Commands are shown at the bottom of
nano's window and the <ctrl> key is indicated by the '^' character. After
you have typed the 2 sentences, press the <ctrl> O keys to save the file.
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Nano will then have you confirm that you want to save the file with the
name "test.txt" at the bottom of the screen:
File Name to Write: test.txt
^G Get Help
^T To Files
^C Cancel
M-D DOS Format
M-M Mac Format
M-A Append
M-P Prepend
M-B Backup File
2253
2254
29.8 Press the <enter> key to confirm the file name and then press <ctrl> X
in order to exit nano and return to the shell's command line.
2255
2256
29.9 Execute an ls -l command to make sure that the file was indeed created
by nano:
2257
2258
2259
2260
2261
2262
2263
(chroot) livecd tmp # ls -l
total 4
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 92 Feb
4 08:36 test.txt
29.10 The listing indicates that a file named test.txt is now present in the
/tmp directory and that it is 92 bytes long. In order to verify that the
sentences you typed in nano are now contained in the file, you can execute a
cat test.txt command:
2264
2265
(chroot) livecd tmp # cat test.txt
This is a test text file.
2266
The only thing that this file contains is plain text characters.
2267
2268
2269
2270
2271
2272
2273
2274
2275
2276
2277
2278
2279
2280
2281
2282
2283
29.11 For a more detailed view of the characters in this file, execute a
hexdump -C test.txt command (Note: the 'C' is capitalized):
(chroot) livecd tmp # hexdump -C test.txt
00000000 54 68 69 73 20 69 73 20 61 20 74
00000010 65 78 74 20 66 69 6c 65 2e 0a 0a
00000020 6e 6c 79 20 74 68 69 6e 67 20 74
00000030 68 69 73 20 66 69 6c 65 20 63 6f
00000040 73 20 69 73 20 70 6c 61 69 6e 20
00000050 63 68 61 72 61 63 74 65 72 73 2e
0000005c
65
54
68
6e
74
0a
73
68
61
74
65
74
65
74
61
78
20
20
20
69
74
74
6f
74
6e
20
|This is a test t|
|ext file...The o|
|nly thing that t|
|his file contain|
|s is plain text |
|characters..|
29.12 The -C option tells the hexdump command to print 16 characters per
line. The hexadecimal number that is associated with each character
shown in the middle column and the ASCII characters themselves are
shown in the right column. ASCII stands for American Code for
Information Interchange and it is a widely used standard which
associates the numbers 0-127 decimal (or 0-7F hex) with the characters
shown in Table 1.
v1.81
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ASCII ( American Standard Code for Information Interchange ) Chart
Dec
10
13
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
Hex Char
0a
Linefeed/Newline
0d
Carriage Return
20
Space
21
!
22
"
23
#
24
$
25
%
26
&
27
'
28
(
29
)
2A
*
2B
+
2C
,
2D
2E
.
2F
/
30
0
31
1
32
2
33
3
34
4
35
5
36
6
37
7
38
8
39
9
3A
:
3B
;
3C
<
3D
=
3E
>
Dec
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
Hex Char
3F
?
40
@
41
A
42
B
43
C
44
D
45
E
46
F
47
G
48
H
49
I
4A
J
4B
K
4C
L
4D
M
4E
N
4F
O
50
P
51
Q
52
R
53
S
54
T
55
U
56
V
57
W
58
X
59
Y
5A
Z
5B
[
5C
\
5D
]
5E
^
5F
_
Dec
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
Hex Char
60
`
61
a
62
b
63
c
64
d
65
e
66
f
67
g
68
h
69
i
6A
j
6B
k
6C
l
6D
m
6E
n
6F
o
70
p
71
q
72
r
73
s
74
t
75
u
76
v
77
w
78
x
79
y
7A
z
7B
{
7C
|
7D
}
7E
~
Table 1
2284
2285
2286
2287
2288
2289
29.13 In the above HexDump output, the first word of the first sentence that
was typed into the test.txt file is "This". Notice that the hex number that is
associated with the letter 'T' is 54. The letter 'h' is associated with 68, the
letter 'i' is associated with 69 and the letter 's' is associated with 73. The
spaces between the words are represented by the number 20, newlines are
represented by 0a and periods are represented by 2e.
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29.14 Now that you know what a text file is and how to use the nano editor,
we will use nano in the next section to edit the configuration file that holds
the main compile options for a Gentoo Linux system.
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30 USE flags
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2301
30.1 Earlier I indicated that "a GNU/Linux distribution is usually put
together by a group of experienced developers who copy the software
needed to create a GNU/Linux distribution into one place, compile
and configure it and then make the result available to others".
Gentoo is unique, however, because instead of its experienced developers
devoting their time to creating a distribution, they created a software
system (called portage) which generates a customized GNU/Linux
distribution automatically on the user's machine.
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30.2 As we discussed previously, each package in the portage tree contains
instructions which tell the emerge program how to obtain the package's
source code, compile it, configure it, and install the files that are generated
into the proper places in the directory hierarchy. The way that portage
enables users to customize how packages are built and configured is
through a mechanism called USE flags. A common definition for a flag is
"a piece of cloth used as a signaling device." USE flags are also a kind
of signaling device except they use keywords instead of pieces of cloth and
they allow users to communicate their package building and
configuration choices to portage.
2312
2313
2314
30.3 Portage uses 2 kinds of USE flags which are global USE flags and local
USE flags. Global USE flags are flags that are used by multiple packages
and local USE flags are only used by a single package.
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2320
2321
2322
2323
2324
30.4 Examples of USE flag keywords include gtk, gnome, dvd and cdr. A list
of the global USE flags and their descriptions can be found in the
/usr/portage/profiles/use.desc file and a list of the local USE flags can be
found in the /usr/portage/profiles/use.local.desc file. Instead of using the
more command to look at the contents of these files, however, you can use
an improved version of more called less. One of the improvements that
less has is the ability to scroll up and down through a file using the up and
down arrow keys. Change into the /usr/portage/profiles directory and
use the less command to look at the use.desc file (press the 'q' key to exit
the less command):
2325
(chroot) livecd / # cd /usr/portage/profiles/
2326
2327
(chroot) livecd profiles # pwd
/usr/portage/profiles
2328
2329
2330
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(chroot) livecd profiles # ls
ChangeLog
default-darwin info_pkgs
arch.list
default-linux
info_vars
base
desc
obsolete
repo_name
selinux
thirdpartymirrors
use.desc
use.local.desc
v1.81
2332
2333
categories
default-bsd
2334
(chroot) livecd profiles # less use.desc
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embedded
hardened
package.mask
profiles.desc
79/124
uclibc
updates
30.5 You can also look through the use.local.desc file if you would like. At
this point you do not need to fully understand what all of these USE flags
actually do, but you should at least understand that they are used to
customize your Gentoo installation. (Note: type the 'q' key to exit the 'less'
command.)
31 The /etc/make.conf file
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31.1 Now that you know what USE flags are, we next need to cover where
they are placed so that portage can find them. Inside the /etc directory is a
file called make.conf and it is the main place that portage looks for USE
flags. Portage also looks in other places for USE flags, but we are not going
to discuss these other places at this time.
2346
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2348
31.2 Lets look at what the make.conf file currently contains and then we will
add a small number of USE flags to this file for portage to use. Change into
the /etc directory and execute a cat make.conf command:
2349
(chroot) livecd etc # cd /etc
2350
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(chroot) livecd etc # pwd
/etc
2352
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(chroot) livecd etc # cat make.conf
# These settings were set by the catalyst build script that automatically
# built this stage.
# Please consult /etc/make.conf.example for a more detailed example.
CFLAGS="-O2 -march=i686 -pipe"
CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
# This should not be changed unless you know exactly what you are doing. You
# should probably be using a different stage, instead.
CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"
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31.3 CFLAGS, CHOST, AND CXXFLAGS are variables which contain
configuration information that portage will use to build packages. The
CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS variables allow portage to configure the compiler
that will be used to compile the packages on your system. For example, the
-march=i686 flag tells the compiler to only generate machine language
instructions that can be understood by i686 and later processors. We are
not going to discuss what the CHOST variable does but if you are interested
you can look at the man page for the make.conf file to learn about it.
v1.81
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31.4 Our next step is to add a variable called USE to the make.conf file
which contains the USE flag information we want to pass to portage. Edit
the make.conf file with nano , add the line highlighted in red below to it
and then save the file (make sure you remember to type the quotes at the
beginning and end of the list):
# These settings were set by the catalyst build script that automatically
# built this stage.
# Please consult /etc/make.conf.example for a more detailed example.
CFLAGS="-O2 -march=i686 -pipe"
CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
# This should not be changed unless you know exactly what you are doing. You
# should probably be using a different stage, instead.
CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"
USE="gtk gnome -kde X dvd alsa cdr"
31.5 The gtk and gnome flags will be explained when we add GUI and
desktop software to our system. Any flag with a negative sign in front of it
means that support for the capabilities that flag indicates should not be
added to packages. In this case, we do not want support for the kde
desktop. Descriptions for the rest of the flags in this list can be found in the
/usr/portage/profiles/use.desc file.
32 Emerging the kernel's source code
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32.1 We are now about 2/3 of the way through the base installation process
and quickly approaching its climax (which is the configuration, compilation,
and installation of the kernel). Before we proceed, however, I would like to
take a few moments to reflect on the material we have covered up to this
point.
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32.2 If you have made it this far, then you have seen for yourself that there is
a significant amount of detailed information that is associated with manually
installing a UNIX-like operating system. You are not going to fully
understand all of this information by just going through the installation
process one time. I was not truly comfortable with this material myself until
after I had installed Gentoo at least 5 times and I bet it will take you this
many times to be comfortable with it too.
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32.3 Therefore, if you are concerned that you are not completely
understanding all of the information we have covered so far, my advice to
you is to not worry too much about this. Continue to work hard, understand
as much as you can, and then rest easy knowing that much of this material
will sink in only after you have gone through the installation process a
number of times.
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32.4 Now that you have had a small pep talk, lets proceed with configuring
and installing the Linux kernel. Properly configuring and installing the
Linux kernel is not easy, but it is not that difficult either. The good news is
that after the kernel has been installed, we will be nearing the end of the
installation process.
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32.5 Before the kernel can be installed, however, the computer system needs
to be told which timezone it is in. Change into the /usr/share/zoneinfo
directory, list its contents, and locate your timezone:
2416
(chroot) livecd / # cd /usr/share/zoneinfo
2417
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(chroot) livecd zoneinfo # pwd
/usr/share/zoneinfo
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(chroot) livecd zoneinfo # ls
Africa
Canada
Factory
America
Chile
GB
Antarctica Cuba
GB-Eire
Arctic
EET
GMT
Asia
EST
GMT+0
Atlantic
EST5EDT GMT-0
Australia
Egypt
GMT0
Brazil
Eire
Greenwich
CET
Etc
HST
CST6CDT
Europe
Hongkong
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2435
Iceland
Indian
Iran
Israel
Jamaica
Japan
Kwajalein
Libya
MET
MST
MST7MDT
Mexico
Mideast
NZ
NZ-CHAT
Navajo
PRC
PST8PDT
Pacific
Poland
Portugal
ROC
ROK
Singapore
Turkey
UCT
US
UTC
Universal
W-SU
WET
Zulu
iso3166.tab
localtime
posix
posixrules
right
zone.tab
32.6 I am located in the eastern united states so my timezone is EST (Eastern
Standard Time). In order to set the timezone for your machine, all you need
to do is to copy the correct timezone file from the /usr/share/zoneinfo
directory into the /etc directory and then give it the name "localzone". This
can be done in one step with the cp (copy) command:
(chroot) livecd zoneinfo # cp EST /etc/localtime
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32.7 The first parameter that is passed to the cp command is the name and
location of the source file and the second parameter is the name and
location of the destination file.
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32.8 We can now use the emerge command to download the package that
contains the kernel's source code to our machines:
2441
(chroot) livecd zoneinfo # cd /
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(chroot) livecd / # pwd
/
2444
(chroot) livecd / # USE="-doc" emerge gentoo-sources
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32.9 As soon as you execute this emerge command, the gentoo-sources
information in the portage tree (which exists in the /usr/portage/syskernel/gentoo-sources directory) will be found and the instructions it
contains for downloading the files required to configure and build the kernel
will be followed. I had indicated earlier that there was more than one way
to specify USE flags and the above command uses one of them. In this
case, we do not want the emerge command to download any extra
documentation files when it downloads the source code for the kernel.
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32.10 By default, emerge uses the wget command (which we used earlier) to
download files from the Internet to the local machine and this is what is
happening when you see wget's progress bar:
2456
100%[====================================>] 153
32.11 The emerge command displays information about what it is doing stepby-step. The full listing of the emerge command we just executed is too
long to include here but I will show the last part of it:
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...
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
/usr/src/linux-2.6.19-gentoo-r5/include/asm-v850/timex.h
/usr/src/linux-2.6.19-gentoo-r5/include/asm-v850/me2.h
/usr/src/linux-2.6.19-gentoo-r5/include/asm-v850/local.h
/usr/src/linux-2.6.19-gentoo-r5/include/asm-v850/teg.h
/usr/src/linux-2.6.19-gentoo-r5/include/keys/
/usr/src/linux-2.6.19-gentoo-r5/include/keys/user-type.h
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* If you are upgrading from a previous kernel, you may be interested
* in the following documents:
*
- General upgrade guide: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/kernel-upgrade.xml
*
- 2.4 to 2.6 migration guide: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/migration-to2.6.xml
* As of 2.6.13 the support for devfs has been removed.
* You will be required to either manage a static /dev
* or to ensure that udev is starting on boot.
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* For more info on this patchset, and how to report problems, see:
* http://dev.gentoo.org/~dsd/genpatches
>>> sys-kernel/gentoo-sources-2.6.19-r5 merged.
>>> Recording sys-kernel/gentoo-sources in "world" favorites file...
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>>> No packages selected for removal by clean
>>> Auto-cleaning packages...
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>>> No outdated packages were found on your system.
* GNU info directory index is up-to-date.
2483
* GNU info directory index is up-to-date.
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32.12 Lines that look like the following indicate that files are being copied
into the specified places in the directory hierarchy:
>>> /usr/src/linux-2.6.19-gentoo-r5/include/keys/user-type.h
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32.13 If you watched the emerge listing as it scrolled by the screen, you will
have noticed that most of the files that were being copied into the directory
hierarchy were being placed in the /usr/src directory. In the next section
we will change into this directory in order to configure the kernel. Before
we do, however, lets finish talking about what happened during the emerge
process.
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32.14 The bottom part of the emerge listing usually contains messages from
the Gentoo developers who are responsible for maintaining that specific
package. You should always read these messages in case they contain
important information.
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32.15 The final thing we will do before configuring the kernel is to see where
the wget command downloaded the files to that contain the kernel's source
code. Change into the /usr/portage/distfiles directory and list its contents:
2500
(chroot) livecd / # cd /usr/portage/distfiles
2501
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(chroot) livecd distfiles # pwd
/usr/portage/distfiles
2503
2504
2505
(chroot) livecd distfiles # ls
genpatches-2.6.24-8.base.tar.bz2
genpatches-2.6.24-8.extras.tar.bz2
linux-2.6.24.tar.bz2
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32.16 Emerge downloaded 3 compressed tar files which contain the
information needed to configure and build version 2.6.24 of the Linux
kernel. The main file is called linux-2.6.24.tar.bz2 and the 2 genpatches
files contain what are called patches. A patch contains information that is
used to modify existing files. In this case, the Gentoo developers are taking
the official 2.6.24 version of the Linux kernel's source code and using
patches to make adjustments to it. Sometimes this is done to fix bugs in
the original source code while other times it is done to make improvements
to it.
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32.17 By default, emerge downloads the compressed tar files for all
packages into the /usr/portage/distfiles directory. If a given tar file
already exists in this directory, then emerge does not bother download it
again.
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33 Configuring the kernel
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33.1 It is now time for us to configure the Linux kernel. As we discussed
earlier, a kernel accesses a computer's hardware through special programs
called devices drivers (see Figures 1 and 2). A significant amount of the
work required to configure a Linux kernel involves determining the types,
manufacturers and model numbers of the electronic chips on the
motherboard (and expansion cards) and matching these with the kernel
modules needed to access them.
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33.2 CPUs communicate with the chips that are on the motherboard and
expansion cards using a communications bus. A communications bus
usually consists of a set of wires which are run from one point to another (or
to multiple points) in a circuit. The most common bus which is used today in
most PCs and servers is called the PCI (Peripheral Component
Interconnect) bus.
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33.3 The first step which needs to be done when configuring a kernel is to
obtain a list of all the electronic chips which are connected to the PCI bus
of the computer you are installing Gentoo on. There is a program called
lspci (list PCI) which is capable of doing this and it is included on the CD.
The lspci program, however, has not yet been installed into the chrooted
environment on the hard drive. This means that if you switch to any of the
virtual terminals other than the default one (using <alt><F2-F6>) you can
run lspci, but if you want to run lspci in the chrooted environment, you
must first emerge it. The lspci program is contained within the sysapps/pciutils package and it can be emerged by executing an emerge
pciutils command:
2544
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(chroot) livecd / # emerge pciutils
33.4 After the pciutils package is done emerging, execute the lspci command
and see which electronic chips are listed for your computer. :
2547
(chroot) livecd / # lspci
2548
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2556
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 440FX - 82441FX PMC [Natoma] (rev 02)
00:01.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82371SB PIIX3 ISA [Natoma/Triton II]
00:01.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82371SB PIIX3 IDE [Natoma/Triton II]
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: InnoTek Systemberatung GmbH VirtualBox Graphics
Adapter
00:03.0 Ethernet controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] 79c970 [PCnet32 LANCE]
(rev 40)
00:04.0 System peripheral: InnoTek Systemberatung GmbH VirtualBox Guest Service
00:07.0 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 08)
2557
33.5 The above chips are the ones that are listed for the VirtualBox virtual PC
v1.81
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that I am installing Gentoo on in order to provide the examples for this
document. All of the chips in this list are the chips that are present on the
PC that the virtual PC is running on, except the VGA display adapter. The
display adapter in this list is a virtual display adapter that has been created
in software by the VirtualBox developers. In this list, I have highlighted the
function of each chip in blue, its manufacturer in green, and its model
number in red. Only the chips that are needed to successfully boot the
machine have been highlighted at this time.
33.6 As we discussed earlier, when we emerged the gentoo-sources
package, most of the source code for the Linux kernel was placed into the
/usr/src directory. Change into the /usr/src directory now and lets see
what it contains by executing a ls -l command:
2570
(chroot) livecd / # cd /usr/src
2571
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(chroot) livecd src # pwd
/usr/src
2573
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(chroot) livecd src # ls -l
total 4
22 Oct
drwxr-xr-x 19 root root 4096 Sep
4 17:41 linux -> linux-2.6.24-gentoo-r7
4 17:41 linux-2.6.24-gentoo-r7
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33.7 The /usr/src directory contains one directory called linux-2.6.24gentoo-r7 and a symbolic link to this directory called linux. The source
code for the Gentoo revision 7 patch of the version 2.6.24 Linux kernel is in
the linux-2.6.24-gentoo-r7 directory. The purpose of the symbolic link is
to allow multiple versions of the Linux kernel to exist in this directory and
the active kernel will be pointed to by the symbolic link. Since we currently
only have one version of the kernel's source code installed on the machine,
it is the active kernel by default and the symbolic link points to it.
2585
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33.8 Use the symbolic link to change into the directory where the Linux
source code is held:
2587
(chroot) livecd src # cd linux
2588
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(chroot) livecd linux # pwd
/usr/src/linux
2590
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(chroot) livecd linux #
total 352
ls -l
18693
90307
4096
1262
76067
50194
Sep
Sep
Sep
Sep
Sep
Sep
4
4
4
4
4
4
17:39
17:39
17:40
17:39
17:39
17:39
COPYING
CREDITS
Documentation
Kbuild
MAINTAINERS
Makefile
v1.81
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-rw-r--r--rw-r--r-drwxr-xr-x
drwxr-xr-x
drwxr-xr-x
drwxr-xr-x
drwxr-xr-x
drwxr-xr-x
drwxr-xr-x
drwxr-xr-x
drwxr-xr-x
drwxr-xr-x
drwxr-xr-x
drwxr-xr-x
-rw-r--r-drwxr-xr-x
drwxr-xr-x
drwxr-xr-x
drwxr-xr-x
1
1
27
2
2
62
64
42
2
2
5
5
2
37
1
9
4
17
2
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root 16538 Sep
root 3065 Sep
root 4096 Sep
root 4096 Sep
root 4096 Sep
root 4096 Sep
root 4096 Sep
root 4096 Sep
root 4096 Sep
root 4096 Sep
root 4096 Sep
root 4096 Sep
root 4096 Sep
root 4096 Sep
root
52 Sep
root 4096 Sep
root 4096 Sep
root 4096 Sep
root 4096 Sep
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
17:39
17:39
17:40
17:40
17:40
17:40
17:40
17:41
17:40
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17:40
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README
REPORTING-BUGS
arch
block
crypto
drivers
fs
include
init
ipc
kernel
lib
mm
net
patches.txt
scripts
security
sound
usr
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2623
33.9 The Linux kernel's source code exists within an organized directory
structure. Fortunately, we will not need to study the contents of this
directory structure in order to configure the kernel because a kernel
configuration utility program (called menuconfig) is included with the
source code. We will need to enter the arch directory, however, after the
kernel has been built because this is where the compiled binary file for the
kernel will be placed after the build process is finished.
2624
2625
33.10 We will now verify that we are in the /usr/src/linux directory and then
execute the menuconfig program using the command make menuconfig:
2626
2627
(chroot) livecd linux # pwd
/usr/src/linux
2628
(chroot) livecd linux # make menuconfig
2629
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2641
33.11 As soon as the menuconfig program is executed, it shows the following
text graphics display:
.config - Linux Kernel v2.6.24-gentoo-r7 Configuration
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
┌────────────────────── Linux Kernel Configuration ───────────────────────┐
│ Arrow keys navigate the menu. <Enter> selects submenus --->.
│
│ Highlighted letters are hotkeys. Pressing <Y> includes, <N> excludes, │
│ <M> modularizes features. Press <Esc><Esc> to exit, <?> for Help, </> │
│ for Search. Legend: [*] built-in [ ] excluded <M> module < >
│
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │
General setup --->
│ │
│ │
[*] Enable loadable module support --->
│ │
│ │
-*- Enable the block layer --->
│ │
v1.81
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│ │
Processor type and features --->
│ │
│ │
Power management options --->
│ │
│ │
Bus options (PCI etc.) --->
│ │
│ │
Executable file formats / Emulations --->
│ │
│ │
Networking --->
│ │
│ │
Device Drivers --->
│ │
│ │
Firmware Drivers --->
│ │
│ │
File systems --->
│ │
│ │
[*] Instrumentation Support --->
│ │
│ │
Kernel hacking --->
│ │
│ │
Security options --->
│ │
│ │
[ ] Cryptographic API --->
│ │
│ │
Library routines --->
│ │
│ │
--│ │
│ │
Load an Alternate Configuration File
│ │
│ │
Save an Alternate Configuration File
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│
<Select>
< Exit >
< Help >
│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
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33.12 As the instructions say at the top of the display, the arrow keys on the
keyboard move the blue selection bar around the display. Press the up and
down arrow keys in order to see how they move the selection bar.
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33.13 The arrows (--->) next to various menu items indicate that these menus
have submenus. The way that you enter a menu's submenu is by placing the
selection bar over the menu and pressing the <enter> key. Lets experiment
with this by entering the submenu of the Processor type and features --->
menu:
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──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
│
│
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │
General setup --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
Networking --->
│ │
│ │
Device Drivers --->
│ │
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│ │
│ │
│ │
File systems --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
Kernel hacking --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
--│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│
<Select>
< Exit >
< Help >
│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
┌────────────────────── Processor type and features ──────────────────────┐
│
│
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │
[*] Tickless System (Dynamic Ticks)
│ │
│ │
[*] High Resolution Timer Support
│ │
│ │
[*] Symmetric multi-processing support
│ │
│ │
Subarchitecture Type (Generic architecture (Summit, bigsmp, E│ │
│ │
[*] Single-depth WCHAN output
│ │
│ │
[ ] Paravirtualized guest support --->
│ │
│ │
Processor family (Pentium-III/Celeron(Coppermine)/Pentium-III│ │
│ │
[*] Generic x86 support
│ │
│ │
[*] HPET Timer Support
│ │
│ │
(32) Maximum number of CPUs (2-255)
│ │
│ │
[*] SMT (Hyperthreading) scheduler support
│ │
│ │
[*] Multi-core scheduler support
│ │
│ │
Preemption Model (Voluntary Kernel Preemption (Desktop)) ---│ │
│ │
[*] Preempt The Big Kernel Lock
│ │
│ │
[*] Machine Check Exception
│ │
│ │
<*>
Check for non-fatal errors on AMD Athlon/Duron / Intel Pent│ │
│ │
[*]
check for P4 thermal throttling interrupt.
│ │
│ │
< > Toshiba Laptop support
│ │
│ │
< > Dell laptop support
│ │
│ │
[ ] Enable X86 board specific fixups for reboot
│ │
│ │
<*> /dev/cpu/microcode - Intel IA32 CPU microcode support
│ │
│ │
<*> /dev/cpu/*/msr - Model-specific register support
│ │
│ │
<*> /dev/cpu/*/cpuid - CPU information support
│ │
│ │
High Memory Support (4GB) --->
│ │
│ └────v(+)─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│
<Select>
< Exit >
< Help >
│
v1.81
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└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
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33.14 The first thing you will notice when you enter the Processor type and
features submenu is that there are a significant number of options
available. Most menus are going to contain many options, but fortunately
we will only need to deal with a small number of these options in order to
configure the kernel to the point where it will boot the system. Later, after
your system is successfully booting from the hard drive, you can return to
the menuconfig program and study the options it contains in more depth.
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33.15 For now, though, I want to show you how to exit a submenu. As the
instructions indicate at the top of the display, pressing the escape key twice
(<Esc><Esc>) will exit the current submenu. What the instructions do not
say, however, is that if you press the escape key once and then wait for a
second or two, this will also exit the current submenu. Therefore, you have
2 ways you can exit a submenu. You can either 1) quickly press the
escape key twice or 2) only press the escape key once and then wait
a second or two.
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33.16 Press the escape key twice now in order to exit the Processor type
and features submenu. When you exit this menu you are placed back in
the initial top-level menu. If you exit from the top-level menu by pressing
the escape key, the menuconfig program will exit and a dialog box will
appear which asks if you want to save your new kernel configuration
information:
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Linux Kernel v2.6.24-gentoo-r7 Configuration
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
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┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│
Do you wish to save your new kernel configuration?
│
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│
< Yes >
< No >
│
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
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33.17 You will usually want to save your new kernel configuration data and,
since the <Yes> option is already highlighted, just press the <enter> key in
order to select it. I know you are going to press the escape key one too
many times at some point in the future and accidentally exit the menuconfig
program. Therefore, you may as well try it now on purpose so that you can
experience what happens. Press the escape key twice from within the toplevel menu, select the <Yes> option in the dialog box and you will be
placed back at the command prompt. In order to get back into the
menuconfig program, just execute the make menuconfig command again.
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34 How to select kernel options
34.1.1 Now that you have relaunched the menuconfig program, enter the
Processor type and features submenu again and lets take a closer look
at it:
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
┌────────────────────── Processor type and features ──────────────────────┐
│
│
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │
[*] Tickless System (Dynamic Ticks)
│ │
│ │
[*] High Resolution Timer Support
│ │
│ │
[*] Symmetric multi-processing support
│ │
│ │
Subarchitecture Type (Generic architecture (Summit, bigsmp, E│ │
│ │
[*] Single-depth WCHAN output
│ │
│ │
[ ] Paravirtualized guest support --->
│ │
│ │
Processor family (Pentium-III/Celeron(Coppermine)/Pentium-III│ │
│ │
[*] Generic x86 support
│ │
│ │
[*] HPET Timer Support
│ │
│ │
(32) Maximum number of CPUs (2-255)
│ │
│ │
[*] SMT (Hyperthreading) scheduler support
│ │
│ │
[*] Multi-core scheduler support
│ │
│ │
Preemption Model (Voluntary Kernel Preemption (Desktop)) ---│ │
│ │
[*] Preempt The Big Kernel Lock
│ │
│ │
[*] Machine Check Exception
│ │
│ │
<*>
Check for non-fatal errors on AMD Athlon/Duron / Intel Pent│ │
│ │
[*]
check for P4 thermal throttling interrupt.
│ │
│ │
< > Toshiba Laptop support
│ │
│ │
< > Dell laptop support
│ │
│ │
[ ] Enable X86 board specific fixups for reboot
│ │
│ │
<*> /dev/cpu/microcode - Intel IA32 CPU microcode support
│ │
│ │
<*> /dev/cpu/*/msr - Model-specific register support
│ │
│ │
<*> /dev/cpu/*/cpuid - CPU information support
│ │
│ │
High Memory Support (4GB) --->
│ │
│ └────v(+)─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│
<Select>
< Exit >
< Help >
│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
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34.1.2 In order to understand how to select kernel options with the
menuconfig program, you must first understand that a kernel can be built
in the following 2 ways:
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1) As one monolithic binary file which contains the core kernel code along with all of the
device drivers.
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2) As a smaller binary file (which may include some device drivers) along with external
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device drivers called "kernel modules". A kernel module is a device driver that has
been built separately from the kernel and is not placed within the kernel's binary file.
Instead, it is stored somewhere in the filesystem and it can be loaded into memory and
plugged into a running kernel as needed. Kernel modules can also be detached from the
kernel and removed from memory if they are not needed any longer.
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34.1.3 Of these 2 ways to build the kernel, we are going to use technique
#1 (and build one big monolithic kernel) because I think it is the easier of
the 2 ways for beginners to understand. Technique#2, however, is more
flexible than technique #1 and you may explore building a kernel that
uses kernel modules at a later date. An example of a system that uses
technique #2 is the CD that we booted the machine with. The CD
contains a large number of kernel modules and, as the system boots, it
scans the system's hardware and determines which kernel modules are
needed to access this hardware. Only the modules that are needed are
then loaded into memory and attached to the kernel. This uses the
system's memory resources more efficiently than one huge monolithic
kernel would.
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34.1.4 Now that you know about the 2 ways to build a Linux kernel, we can
discuss how the menuconfig program allows you to select kernel
options. The square braces [] and arrowed braces <> that are next to
each kernel option allow you to either select that option or to deselect it.
Options are selected by moving the selection bar over the option and
pressing the 'Y' key. Pressing the 'N' key will deselect the option and
pressing the space bar will toggle the selection. A selected option will
have an asterisk '*' placed within the braces and a deselected option
will have empty braces.
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34.1.5 Experiment with this now by moving the selection bar to the HPET
timer support option and pressing 'Y', 'N', and the space bar. If you
want more information about what an option does, press the 'H' key and a
help window will appear. Do this now with the HPET timer support
option to read about what this option does and then exit the window
either by pressing the escape key twice or by pressing the <enter> key.
When you are done experimenting, set the HPET timer support option
to selected so that we can have this capability built into our kernel.
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34.1.6 The difference between options that have square braces [] and
options that have arrowed braces <> is that options that have arrowed
braces <> can also be built as kernel modules. A safe module-capable
option to experiment with is the /dev/cpu/*/cpuid - CPU information
support option. Highlight this option with the selection bar and, in
addition to pressing the 'Y' key, 'N' key, and the space bar, try pressing
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the 'M' key to select this option as a module. When you are done
experimenting, leave this option selected as a module so we can later
see where modules are stored in the directory hierarchy after they are
built.
35 Selecting your CPU's processor family
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35.1.1 The last option we will set in the Processor type and features
submenu is the Processor Family option. Move the selection bar over
this option and then enter its submenu by pressing the <enter> key. A
Processor family window will be shown and you now need to decide
which processor family the CPU in your system belongs to. Earlier, you
looked inside of the /proc/cpuinfo file to determine what CPU your
system had and you can do this again by temporarily switching to another
virtual terminal by pressing the <alt><Fx> keys. After you have
determined the type of your CPU, switch back to the default terminal, find
its family in the Processor Family window and select it by pressing the
space bar. You will then be automatically sent back to the Processor
type and features menu.
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35.1.2 We are done selecting options in the Processor type and features
menu so press the escape key twice to exit this menu and go back to the
top-level menu.
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36 Selecting the IDE device driver
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36.1.1 The first piece of hardware that we are going to select a device
driver for is the IDE interface. IDE stands for Integrated Drive
Electronics and it is a standard which CPUs use to communicate with
external storage devices. As shown in the output from the lspci
command, the IDE chip on my system's motherboard is an Intel model
PIIX4 and the device driver for this chip can be found inside of the
Device Drivers menu (most of the options we are going to select are
inside of the Device Drives menu):
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──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
│
│
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │
General setup --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
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│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
Networking --->
│ │
│ │
Device Drivers --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
File systems --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
Kernel hacking --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
--│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│
<Select>
< Exit >
< Help >
│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
36.1.2 The Device Drivers submenu is shown in the following screen. The
submenu you want to select within this menu is called
ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support --->:
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
┌──────────────────────────── Device Drivers ─────────────────────────────┐
│
│
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │
Generic Driver Options --->
│ │
│ │
< > Connector - unified userspace <-> kernelspace linker --->
│ │
│ │
< > Memory Technology Device (MTD) support --->
│ │
│ │
< > Parallel port support --->
│ │
│ │
-*- Plug and Play support --->
│ │
│ │
[*] Block devices --->
│ │
│ │
[*] Misc devices --->
│ │
│ │
<*> ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support --->
│ │
│ │
SCSI device support --->
│ │
│ │
<*> Serial ATA (prod) and Parallel ATA (experimental) drivers --│ │
│ │
[*] Multiple devices driver support (RAID and LVM) --->
│ │
│ │
[*] Fusion MPT device support --->
│ │
│ │
IEEE 1394 (FireWire) support --->
│ │
│ │
< > I2O device support --->
│ │
v1.81
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│ │
[*] Macintosh device drivers --->
│ │
│ │
[*] Network device support --->
│ │
│ │
< > ISDN support --->
│ │
│ │
< > Telephony support --->
│ │
│ │
Input device support --->
│ │
│ │
Character devices --->
│ │
│ │
< > I2C support --->
│ │
│ │
SPI support --->
│ │
│ │
< > Dallas's 1-wire support --->
│ │
│ │
-*- Power supply class support --->
│ │
│ └────v(+)─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│
<Select>
< Exit >
< Help >
│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
36.1.3 Inside the ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL submenu, select the 2 Generic
IDE chipset support options along with the option that matches the
make and model of your specific IDE chip. Again, the IDE chip in my
system is an Intel PIIXn, but your IDE chip may be different:
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
┌─────────────────────── ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support ───────────────────────┐
│
│
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │<*> ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support
│ │
│ │<*>
Enhanced IDE/MFM/RLL disk/cdrom/tape/floppy support
│ │
│ │--Please see Documentation/ide.txt for help/info on IDE drives │ │
│ │[ ]
Support for SATA (deprecated; conflicts with libata SATA driv│ │
│ │[ ]
Use old disk-only driver on primary interface
│ │
│ │<*>
Include IDE/ATA-2 DISK support
│ │
│ │[ ]
Use multi-mode by default
│ │
│ │<*>
Include IDE/ATAPI CDROM support
│ │
│ │< >
Include IDE/ATAPI TAPE support (EXPERIMENTAL)
│ │
│ │< >
Include IDE/ATAPI FLOPPY support
│ │
│ │< >
SCSI emulation support
│ │
│ │[ ]
IDE Taskfile Access
│ │
│ │--IDE chipset support/bugfixes
│ │
│ │<*>
generic/default IDE chipset support
│ │
│ │[ ]
CMD640 chipset bugfix/support
│ │
│ │[*]
PCI IDE chipset support
│ │
│ │[*]
Sharing PCI IDE interrupts support
│ │
│ │[ ]
Boot off-board chipsets first support
│ │
│ │<*>
Generic PCI IDE Chipset Support
│ │
│ │< >
OPTi 82C621 chipset enhanced support (EXPERIMENTAL)
│ │
│ │< >
RZ1000 chipset bugfix/support
│ │
│ │[*]
Generic PCI bus-master DMA support
│ │
│ │[ ]
Force enable legacy 2.0.X HOSTS to use DMA
│ │
v1.81
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│ │[*]
Use PCI DMA by default when available
│ │
│ │[ ]
Enable DMA only for disks
│ │
│ │< >
AEC62XX chipset support
│ │
│ │< >
ALI M15x3 chipset support
│ │
│ │< >
AMD and nVidia IDE support
│ │
│ │< >
ATI IXP chipset IDE support
│ │
│ │< >
CMD64{3|6|8|9} chipset support
│ │
│ │< >
Compaq Triflex IDE support
│ │
│ │< >
CY82C693 chipset support
│ │
│ │< >
Cyrix CS5510/20 MediaGX chipset support (VERY EXPERIMENTA│ │
│ │< >
Cyrix/National Semiconductor CS5530 MediaGX chipset suppo│ │
│ │< >
AMD CS5535 chipset support
│ │
│ │< >
HPT34X chipset support
│ │
│ │< >
HPT36X/37X chipset support
│ │
│ │< >
National SCx200 chipset support
│ │
│ │<*>
Intel PIIXn chipsets support Note: Select your own chip. │ │
│ │< >
IT821X IDE support
│ │
│ │< >
NS87415 chipset support
│ │
│ │< >
PROMISE PDC202{46|62|65|67} support
│ │
│ │< >
PROMISE PDC202{68|69|70|71|75|76|77} support
│ │
│ │< >
ServerWorks OSB4/CSB5/CSB6 chipsets support
│ │
│ │< >
Silicon Image chipset support
│ │
│ │< >
SiS5513 chipset support
│ │
│ │< >
SLC90E66 chipset support
│ │
│ │< >
Tekram TRM290 chipset support
│ │
│ │<*>
VIA82CXXX chipset support
│ │
│ │[ ]
IGNORE word93 Validation BITS
│ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│
<Select>
< Exit >
< Help >
│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
┌────────────────────────── ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support──────────────────────────┐
│ Arrow keys navigate the menu. <Enter> selects submenus --->. Highlighted │
│ letters are hotkeys. Pressing <Y> includes, <N> excludes, <M> modularizes │
│ features. Press <Esc><Esc> to exit, <?> for Help, </> for Search. Legend: │
│ [*] built-in [ ] excluded <M> module < > module capable
│
│ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│ │
<*> ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support
││
│ │
<*>
Enhanced IDE/MFM/RLL disk/cdrom/tape/floppy support
││
│ │
--Please see Documentation/ide.txt for help/info on IDE drives
││
│ │
[ ]
Support for SATA (deprecated; conflicts with libata SATA driver││
│ │
[ ]
Use old disk-only driver on primary interface
││
│ │
<*>
Include IDE/ATA-2 DISK support
││
│ │
[*]
Use multi-mode by default
││
│ │
<*>
Include IDE/ATAPI CDROM support
││
│ │
< >
Include IDE/ATAPI TAPE support (EXPERIMENTAL)
││
│ │
< >
Include IDE/ATAPI FLOPPY support
││
│ │
< >
SCSI emulation support
││
│ │
[ ]
IDE Taskfile Access
││
│ │
--IDE chipset support/bugfixes
││
│ │
<*>
generic/default IDE chipset support
││
│ │
[ ]
CMD640 chipset bugfix/support
││
v1.81
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3100
3101
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│ │
[*]
PCI IDE chipset support
││
│ │
[ ]
Sharing PCI IDE interrupts support
││
│ │
[ ]
Boot off-board chipsets first support
││
│ │
<*>
Generic PCI IDE Chipset Support
││
│ │
< >
OPTi 82C621 chipset enhanced support (EXPERIMENTAL)
││
│ │
< >
RZ1000 chipset bugfix/support
││
│ │
[*]
Generic PCI bus-master DMA support
││
│ │
[ ]
Force enable legacy 2.0.X HOSTS to use DMA
││
│ │
[*]
Use PCI DMA by default when available
││
│ │
[ ]
Enable DMA only for disks
││
│ │
< >
AEC62XX chipset support
││
│ │
< >
ALI M15x3 chipset support
││
│ │
<*>
AMD and nVidia IDE support
││
│ │
< >
ATI IXP chipset IDE support
││
│ │
< >
CMD64{3|6|8|9} chipset support
││
│ │
< >
Compaq Triflex IDE support
││
│ │
< >
CY82C693 chipset support
││
│ │
< >
Cyrix CS5510/20 MediaGX chipset support (VERY EXPERIMENTAL)││
│ │
< >
Cyrix/National Semiconductor CS5530 MediaGX chipset support││
│ │
< >
AMD CS5535 chipset support
││
│ │
< >
HPT34X chipset support
││
│ │
< >
HPT36X/37X chipset support
││
│ │
< >
JMicron JMB36x support
││
│ │
< >
National SCx200 chipset support
││
│ │
<*>
Intel PIIXn chipsets support Note: Select your own chip
││
│ │
< >
IT821X IDE support
││
│ │
< >
NS87415 chipset support
││
│ │
< >
PROMISE PDC202{46|62|65|67} support
││
│ │
< >
PROMISE PDC202{68|69|70|71|75|76|77} support
││
│ │
< >
ServerWorks OSB4/CSB5/CSB6 chipsets support
││
│ │
< >
Silicon Image chipset support
││
│ │
< >
SiS5513 chipset support
││
│ │
< >
SLC90E66 chipset support
││
│ │
< >
Tekram TRM290 chipset support
││
│ │
< >
VIA82CXXX chipset support
││
│ │
[ ]
IGNORE word93 Validation BITS
││
│ │
││
│ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│
<Select>
< Exit >
< Help >
│
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
3105
3106
36.2 After you finish selecting the above options, escape back to the Device
Drivers menu.
3107
3108
37 Selecting the SCSI device drivers (VirtialBox users should skip this
section)
3109
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37.1 If your machine has a SCSI interface, enter the SCSI device support
menu:
v1.81
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─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
┌─────────────────────────────── Device Drivers────────────────────────────────┐
│ Arrow keys navigate the menu. <Enter> selects submenus --->. Highlighted │
│ letters are hotkeys. Pressing <Y> includes, <N> excludes, <M> modularizes │
│ features. Press <Esc><Esc> to exit, <?> for Help, </> for Search. Legend: │
│ [*] built-in [ ] excluded <M> module < > module capable
│
│ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│ │
││
│ │
Connector - unified userspace <-> kernelspace linker --->
││
│ │
Memory Technology Devices (MTD) --->
││
│ │
Parallel port support --->
││
│ │
Plug and Play support --->
││
│ │
Block devices --->
││
│ │
Misc devices --->
││
│ │
ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support --->
││
│ │
││
│ │
Serial ATA (prod) and Parallel ATA (experimental) drivers --->
││
│ │
Multi-device support (RAID and LVM) --->
││
│ │
Fusion MPT device support --->
││
│ │
││
│ │
I2O device support --->
││
│ │
Network device support --->
││
│ │
ISDN subsystem --->
││
│ │
Telephony Support --->
││
│ │
││
│ │
││
│ │
I2C support --->
││
│ │
SPI support --->
││
│ │
Dallas's 1-wire bus --->
││
│ │
Hardware Monitoring support --->
││
│ │
Multimedia devices --->
││
│ │
Graphics support --->
││
│ │
Speakup console speech --->
││
│ │
Sound --->
││
│ │
USB support --->
││
│ │
MMC/SD Card support --->
││
│ │
LED devices --->
││
│ │
InfiniBand support --->
││
│ │
EDAC - error detection and reporting (RAS) (EXPERIMENTAL) --->
││
│ │
Real Time Clock --->
││
│ │
DMA Engine support --->
││
│ │
││
│ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│
<Select>
< Exit >
< Help >
│
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
37.1.1 SCSI stands for Small Computer System Interconnect and it is
another standard that CPUs uses to communicate with external storage
devices. Your computer may or may not have a SCSI chip in it, but if it
doesn't, you can still read through the following SCSI chip section. Here
is the SCSI device support submenu:
v1.81
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──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
┌────────────────────────── SCSI device support ──────────────────────────┐
│
│
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │< > RAID Transport Class
│ │
│ │--- SCSI device support
│ │
│ │[ ]
legacy /proc/scsi/ support
│ │
│ │--SCSI support type (disk, tape, CD-ROM)
│ │
│ │<*>
SCSI disk support
│ │
│ │< >
SCSI tape support
│ │
│ │< >
SCSI OnStream SC-x0 tape support
│ │
│ │< >
SCSI CDROM support
│ │
│ │<*>
SCSI generic support
│ │
│ │< >
SCSI media changer support
│ │
│ │--Some SCSI devices (e.g. CD jukebox) support multiple LUNs
│ │
│ │[ ]
Probe all LUNs on each SCSI device
│ │
│ │[ ]
Verbose SCSI error reporting (kernel size +=12K)
│ │
│ │[ ]
SCSI logging facility
│ │
│ │
SCSI Transport Attributes --->
│ │
│ │
SCSI low-level drivers --->
│ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│
<Select>
< Exit >
< Help >
│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
37.1.2 Inside this menu, select the SCSI generic support option and then
enter the SCSI low-level drivers ---> submenu:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
┌───────────────────────── SCSI low-level drivers ─────────────────────────┐
│
│ for Search. Legend: [*] built-in [ ] excluded <M> module < > module │
│ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │
< > iSCSI Initiator over TCP/IP
│ │
│ │
<*> 3ware 5/6/7/8xxx ATA-RAID support
│ │
│ │
< > 3ware 9xxx SATA-RAID support
│ │
│ │
< > ACARD SCSI support
│ │
│ │
< > Adaptec AACRAID support
│ │
│ │
<*> Adaptec AIC7xxx Fast -> U160 support (New Driver)
│ │
│ │
(32) Maximum number of TCQ commands per device
│ │
│ │
(5000) Initial bus reset delay in milli-seconds
│ │
│ │
[*]
Compile in Debugging Code
│ │
│ │
(0)
Debug code enable mask (2047 for all debugging)
│ │
│ │
[*]
Decode registers during diagnostics
│ │
│ │
< > Adaptec AIC7xxx support (old driver)
│ │
│ │
<*> Adaptec AIC79xx U320 support
│ │
v1.81
3214
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│ │
(32) Maximum number of TCQ commands per device
│ │
│ │
(4000) Initial bus reset delay in milli-seconds
│ │
│ │
[ ]
Enable Read Streaming for All Targets
│ │
│ │
[ ]
Compile in Debugging Code
│ │
│ │
(0)
Debug code enable mask (16383 for all debugging)
│ │
│ │
[ ]
Decode registers during diagnostics
│ │
│ │
< > Adaptec AIC94xx SAS/SATA support
│ │
│ │
< > Adaptec I2O RAID support
│ │
│ │
< > AdvanSys SCSI support
│ │
│ │
< > ARECA ARC11X0[PCI-X]/ARC12X0[PCI-EXPRESS] SATA-RAID support
│ │
│ │
[ ] LSI Logic New Generation RAID Device Drivers
│ │
│ │
< > LSI Logic Legacy MegaRAID Driver
│ │
│ │
< > LSI Logic MegaRAID SAS RAID Module
│ │
│ │
< > HighPoint RocketRAID 3xxx Controller support
│ │
│ │
< > BusLogic SCSI support
│ │
│ │
< > DMX3191D SCSI support
│ │
│ │
< > EATA ISA/EISA/PCI (DPT and generic EATA/DMA-compliant boards) │ │
│ │
< > Future Domain 16xx SCSI/AHA-2920A support
│ │
│ │
< > Intel/ICP (former GDT SCSI Disk Array) RAID Controller support│ │
│ │
< > IBM ServeRAID support
│ │
│ │
< > Initio 9100U(W) support
│ │
│ │
< > Initio INI-A100U2W support
│ │
│ │
< > Promise SuperTrak EX Series support
│ │
│ │
<*> SYM53C8XX Version 2 SCSI support Note:Select your own chip.
│ │
│ │
< > IBM Power Linux RAID adapter support
│ │
│ │
< > Qlogic QLA 1240/1x80/1x160 SCSI support
│ │
│ │
< > QLogic QLA2XXX Fibre Channel Support
│ │
│ │
< > QLogic ISP4XXX host adapter family support
│ │
│ │
< > Emulex LightPulse Fibre Channel Support
│ │
│ │
< > Tekram DC395(U/UW/F) and DC315(U) SCSI support (EXPERIMENTAL) │ │
│ │
< > Tekram DC390(T) and Am53/79C974 SCSI support
│ │
│ │
< > Workbit NinjaSCSI-32Bi/UDE support
│ │
│ │
< > SCSI debugging host simulator
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│
<Select>
< Exit >
< Help >
│
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
3252
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3256
37.1.3 If your system has a SCSI chip, then it should be in this submenu.
The make and model of my system's SCSI chip is a Symbios 53c1030
and therefore this is the option I have selected. Remember that you can
obtain help on most options by pressing the 'H' key after the option has
been highlighted.
3257
3258
37.1.4 After you are done in the SCSI low-level drivers submenu, carefully
escape back two menu levels to the Device Drivers menu.
3259
3260
38 Selecting the Ethernet network chip driver
38.1.1 The next option we are going to select is a device driver for our
v1.81
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system's Ethernet network interface chip and it exists within the
Network device support ---> submenu:
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3273
3274
3275
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3277
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3303
3304
3305
3306
3307
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───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
┌───────────────────────────── Device Drivers ─────────────────────────────┐
│
│ for Search. Legend: [*] built-in [ ] excluded <M> module < > module │
│ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
Block devices --->
│ │
│ │
Misc devices --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
Serial ATA (prod) and Parallel ATA (experimental) drivers ---│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
ISDN subsystem --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
I2C support --->
│ │
│ │
SPI support --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
Sound --->
│ │
│ │
USB support --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
LED devices --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
EDAC - error detection and reporting (RAS) (EXPERIMENTAL) ---│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│
<Select>
< Exit >
< Help >
│
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
3309
3310
38.1.2 Inside the Network device support submenu there is a submenu
named Ethernet driver support. Select it.
v1.81
3311
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38.1.3 The Ethernet driver support submenu looks like this:
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
┌───────────────────────── Ethernet (10 or 100Mbit) ─────────────────────────┐
│
│ Highlighted letters are hotkeys. Pressing <Y> includes, <N> excludes,
│
│ <M> modularizes features. Press <Esc><Esc> to exit, <?> for Help, </>
│
│ for Search. Legend: [*] built-in [ ] excluded <M> module < > module
│
│ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │
[*] Ethernet driver support
│ │
│ │
--Generic Media Independent Interface device support
│ │
│ │
< > Sun Happy Meal 10/100baseT support
│ │
│ │
< > Sun GEM support
│ │
│ │
< > Sun Cassini support
│ │
│ │
[ ] 3COM cards
│ │
│ │
Tulip family network device support --->
│ │
│ │
< > HP 10/100VG PCLAN (ISA, EISA, PCI) support
│ │
│ │
[*] EISA, VLB, PCI and on board controllers
│ │
│ │
<*>
AMD PCnet32 PCI support
│ │
│ │
< >
AMD 8111 (new PCI lance) support
│ │
│ │
< >
Adaptec Starfire/DuraLAN support
│ │
│ │
<*>
Broadcom 4400 ethernet support
│ │
│ │
<*>
nForce Ethernet support
│ │
│ │
[ ]
Use Rx and Tx Polling (NAPI) (EXPERIMENTAL)
│ │
│ │
< >
Digi Intl. RightSwitch SE-X support
│ │
│ │
< >
EtherExpressPro/100 support (eepro100, original Becker driver)│ │
│ │
<*>
Intel(R) PRO/100+ support
│ │
│ │
< >
Myson MTD-8xx PCI Ethernet support
│ │
│ │
< >
National Semiconductor DP8381x series PCI Ethernet support
│ │
│ │
< >
PCI NE2000 and clones support (see help)
│ │
│ │
<*>
RealTek RTL-8139 C+ PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter support (EXPERIM│ │
│ │
<*>
RealTek RTL-8129/8130/8139 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter support │ │
│ │
[ ]
Use PIO instead of MMIO
│ │
│ │
[ ]
Support for uncommon RTL-8139 rev. K (automatic channel equa│ │
│ │
[ ]
Support for older RTL-8129/8130 boards
│ │
│ │
[ ]
Use older RX-reset method
│ │
│ │
< >
SiS 900/7016 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter support
│ │
│ │
< >
SMC EtherPower II
│ │
│ │
< >
Sundance Alta support
│ │
│ │
< >
TI ThunderLAN support
│ │
│ │
< >
VIA Rhine support
│ │
│ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│
<Select>
< Exit >
< Help >
│
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
38.1.4 My system has an Advanced Micro Devices PCnet32 Ethernet
chip in it and therefore this is the option I selected. After you have
selected your Ethernet chip, escape back to the Device Drivers menu
and then enter the Character Devices submenu:
v1.81
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──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
┌──────────────────────────── Device Drivers ─────────────────────────────┐
│
│
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
Block devices --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
ISDN subsystem --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
I2C support --->
│ │
│ │
SPI support --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
Misc devices --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
Sound --->
│ │
│ │
USB support --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
LED devices --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
EDAC - error detection and reporting (RAS) (EXPERIMENTAL) ---> │ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│
<Select>
< Exit >
< Help >
│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
39 Selecting the device driver for the video card
39.1.1 Earlier we discussed that the 2 kinds of interfaces that all devices
are placed under in Linux are Block Devices and Character Devices.
Video Cards use the Character Device interface and if you see your
v1.81
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video card in the Character devices submenu, select it. The VirtualBox
virtual machine that I am installing Gentoo Linux on uses a virtual video
card so it is not present in this list. This virtual video card will be
configured when we install the graphic desktop software.
40 Selecting the device driver for the sound card
3417
3418
40.1.1 Note: VirtualBox does not have a sound device enabled by default so
VirtualBox users can skip this section.
3419
3420
3421
40.1.2 The next kernel option we need to select is support for the system's
sound card. Escape back to the Device Drivers menu and then select the
Sound ---> submenu;
3422
3423
3424
3425
3426
3427
3428
3429
3430
3431
3432
3433
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3435
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3449
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3451
3452
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3454
3455
3456
3457
3458
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
┌────────────────────────────── Device Drivers ──────────────────────────────┐
│
│
│
│
│ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
Block devices --->
│ │
│ │
Misc devices --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
Serial ATA (prod) and Parallel ATA (experimental) drivers ---> │ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
ISDN subsystem --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
I2C support --->
│ │
│ │
SPI support --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
Sound --->
│ │
│ │
USB support --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
v1.81
3459
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│ │
LED devices --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
EDAC - error detection and reporting (RAS) (EXPERIMENTAL) ---> │ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│
<Select>
< Exit >
< Help >
│
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
40.1.3 After entering the Sound submenu, select the Advanced Linux
Sound Architecture ---> submenu:
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
┌───────────────────────────────── Sound ─────────────────────────────────┐
│
│
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │<*> Sound card support
│ │
│ │
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture --->
│ │
│ │
Open Sound System --->
│ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│
<Select>
< Exit >
< Help >
│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
40.1.4 Then enter the PCI Devices ---> submenu:
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
┌──────────────────── Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ─────────────────────┐
│
│
│
│
│ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │
<*> Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
│ │
│ │
< >
Sequencer support (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< >
OSS Mixer API (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< >
OSS PCM (digital audio) API (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< >
RTC Timer support (NEW)
│ │
│ │
[ ]
Dynamic device file minor numbers (NEW)
│ │
│ │
[*]
Support old ALSA API (NEW)
│ │
│ │
[*]
Verbose procfs contents (NEW)
│ │
│ │
[ ]
Verbose printk (NEW)
│ │
│ │
[ ]
Debug (NEW)
│ │
│ │
Generic devices --->
│ │
│ │
PCI devices --->
│ │
│ │
USB devices --->
│ │
│ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
v1.81
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├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│
<Select>
< Exit >
< Help >
│
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
3511
3512
3513
40.1.5 The lspci command indicated that my system has an Ensoniq
ES1371 AudioPCI sound chip therefore, this is the option I selected.
You should select the sound chip that your system has:
3514
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3516
3517
3518
3519
3520
3521
3522
3523
3524
3525
3526
3527
3528
3529
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3531
3532
3533
3534
3535
3536
3537
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3547
3548
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3550
3551
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3553
3554
3555
3556
3557
3558
3559
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
┌─────────────────────────────── PCI devices ────────────────────────────────┐
│
│
│
│
│ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │
< > Analog Devices AD1889 (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > Avance Logic ALS300/ALS300+ (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > Avance Logic ALS4000 (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > ALi M5451 PCI Audio Controller (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > ATI IXP AC97 Controller (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > ATI IXP Modem (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > Aureal Advantage (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > Aureal Vortex (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > Aureal Vortex 2 (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > Aztech AZF3328 / PCI168 (EXPERIMENTAL) (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > Bt87x Audio Capture (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > SB Audigy LS / Live 24bit (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > C-Media 8738, 8338 (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > Cirrus Logic (Sound Fusion) CS4281 (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > Cirrus Logic (Sound Fusion) CS4280/CS461x/CS462x/CS463x (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > CS5535/CS5536 Audio (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > (Echoaudio) Darla20 (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > (Echoaudio) Gina20 (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > (Echoaudio) Layla20 (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > (Echoaudio) Darla24 (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > (Echoaudio) Gina24 (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > (Echoaudio) Layla24 (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > (Echoaudio) Mona (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > (Echoaudio) Mia (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > (Echoaudio) 3G cards (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > (Echoaudio) Indigo (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > (Echoaudio) Indigo IO (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > (Echoaudio) Indigo DJ (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > Emu10k1 (SB Live!, Audigy, E-mu APS) (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > Emu10k1X (Dell OEM Version) (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > (Creative) Ensoniq AudioPCI 1370 (NEW)
│ │
│ │
<*> (Creative) Ensoniq AudioPCI 1371/1373
│ │
│ │
< > ESS ES1938/1946/1969 (Solo-1) (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > ESS ES1968/1978 (Maestro-1/2/2E) (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > ForteMedia FM801 (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > Intel HD Audio (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > RME Hammerfall DSP Audio (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > RME Hammerfall DSP MADI (NEW)
│ │
v1.81
3560
3561
3562
3563
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3566
3567
3568
3569
3570
3571
3572
3573
3574
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3580
3581
3582
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3585
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3587
3588
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3590
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3593
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│ │
< > ICEnsemble ICE1712 (Envy24) (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > ICE/VT1724/1720 (Envy24HT/PT) (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > Intel/SiS/nVidia/AMD/ALi AC97 Controller (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > Intel/SiS/nVidia/AMD MC97 Modem (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > Korg 1212 IO (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > ESS Allegro/Maestro3 (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > Digigram miXart (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > NeoMagic NM256AV/ZX (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > Digigram PCXHR (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > Conexant Riptide (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > RME Digi32, 32/8, 32 PRO (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > RME Digi96, 96/8, 96/8 PRO (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > RME Digi9652 (Hammerfall) (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > S3 SonicVibes (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > Trident 4D-Wave DX/NX; SiS 7018 (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > VIA 82C686A/B, 8233/8235 AC97 Controller (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > VIA 82C686A/B, 8233 based Modems (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > Digigram VX222 (NEW)
│ │
│ │
< > Yamaha YMF724/740/744/754 (NEW)
│ │
│ │
[ ] AC97 Power-Saving Mode (NEW)
│ │
│ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│
<Select>
< Exit >
< Help >
│
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
41 Selecting the ext3 filesystem option
41.1.1 We only have one more option to select and then we are done with
configuring the kernel. Carefully escape back to the top-level menu
and then enter the File systems ---> submenu:
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
│
│
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │
Code maturity level options --->
│ │
│ │
General setup --->
│ │
│ │
Loadable module support --->
│ │
│ │
Block layer --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
Power management options (ACPI, APM) --->
│ │
│ │
Bus options (PCI, PCMCIA, EISA, MCA, ISA) --->
│ │
│ │
Executable file formats --->
│ │
│ │
Networking --->
│ │
│ │
Device Drivers --->
│ │
│ │
File systems --->
│ │
│ │
Instrumentation Support --->
│ │
│ │
Kernel hacking --->
│ │
v1.81
3609
3610
3611
3612
3613
3614
3615
3616
3617
3618
3619
3620
3621
3622
3623
3624
3625
3626
3627
3628
3629
3630
3631
3632
3633
3634
3635
3636
3637
3638
3639
3640
3641
3642
3643
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│ │
│ │
│ │
Cryptographic options --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │--│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
Save Configuration to an Alternate File
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│
<Select>
< Exit >
< Help >
│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
41.1.2 Inside the File systems submenu, the only option that needs to be
selected is the Ext3 journalling file system support option. We need
this capability built into our kernel so that it can work with the the ext3
filesystem that we placed on the /dev/sda3 partition so make sure it is
selected:
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
┌─────────────────────────────── File systems ───────────────────────────────┐
│
│
│
│
│ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │
<*> Second extended fs support
│ │
│ │
[*]
Ext2 extended attributes
│ │
│ │
[*]
Ext2 POSIX Access Control Lists
│ │
│ │
[ ]
Ext2 Security Labels
│ │
│ │
[ ]
Ext2 execute in place support
│ │
│ │
<*> Ext3 journalling file system support
│ │
│ │
[*]
Ext3 extended attributes
│ │
│ │
[*]
Ext3 POSIX Access Control Lists
│ │
│ │
[ ]
Ext3 Security Labels
│ │
│ │
< > Ext4dev/ext4 extended fs support development (EXPERIMENTAL)
│ │
│ │
[ ] JBD (ext3) debugging support
│ │
│ │
<*> Reiserfs support
│ │
│ │
[ ]
Enable reiserfs debug mode
│ │
│ │
[ ]
Stats in /proc/fs/reiserfs
│ │
│ │
[*]
ReiserFS extended attributes
│ │
│ │
[*]
ReiserFS POSIX Access Control Lists
│ │
│ │
[ ]
ReiserFS Security Labels
│ │
│ │
< > JFS filesystem support
│ │
│ │
< > XFS filesystem support
│ │
│ │
< > GFS2 file system support
│ │
│ │
< > OCFS2 file system support
│ │
│ │
< > Minix fs support
│ │
│ │
< > ROM file system support
│ │
│ │
[*] Inotify file change notification support
│ │
│ │
[*]
Inotify support for userspace
│ │
│ │
[ ] Quota support
│ │
│ │
< > Kernel automounter support
│ │
v1.81
3660
3661
3662
3663
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3665
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│ │
<*> Kernel automounter version 4 support (also supports v3)
│ │
│ │
< > Filesystem in Userspace support
│ │
│ │
CD-ROM/DVD Filesystems --->
│ │
│ │
DOS/FAT/NT Filesystems --->
│ │
│ │
Pseudo filesystems --->
│ │
│ │
Miscellaneous filesystems --->
│ │
│ │
Network File Systems --->
│ │
│ │
Partition Types --->
│ │
│ │
Native Language Support --->
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│
<Select>
< Exit >
< Help >
│
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
42 Saving the kernel configuration file and viewing it
42.1.1 We are done configuring the kernel for now and the last thing we
need to do is to carefully escape back to the top-level menu and then
escape out of the menuconfig application itself. Before exiting to the
command prompt, the menuconfig application will ask if we want to save
our new kernel configuration. Select the <Yes> option by pressing the
<enter> key:
3681
3682
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
3683
3684
3685
3686
3687
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│
Do you wish to save your new kernel configuration?
│
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│
< Yes >
< No >
│
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
3688
3689
3690
3691
3692
3693
3694
3695
3696
3697
3698
3699
42.1.2 Now that the kernel configuration file has been saved, lets look at it.
At the command prompt, execute an ls command:
(chroot) livecd linux # ls
COPYING
MAINTAINERS
CREDITS
Makefile
Documentation README
Kbuild
REPORTING-BUGS
arch
block
crypto
drivers
fs
include
init
ipc
kernel
lib
mm
net
patches.txt
scripts
security
sound
usr
42.1.3 The file is in this directory but we cannot see it because it was saved
as a hidden file! In order to have the ls command show all of the hidden
files in a directory, pass a -a option to it (which means list all):
(chroot) livecd linux # ls -a
.
CREDITS
README
drivers
kernel
scripts
v1.81
3700
3701
3702
3703
3704
3705
3706
3707
3708
3709
..
.config
.gitignore
COPYING
Documentation
Kbuild
MAINTAINERS
Makefile
REPORTING-BUGS
arch
block
crypto
fs
include
init
ipc
lib
mm
net
patches.txt
(chroot) livecd linux # cat .config
#
# Automatically generated make config: don't edit
# Linux kernel version: 2.6.19-gentoo-r5
# Wed Sep 5 00:15:05 2007
#
CONFIG_X86_32=y
CONFIG_GENERIC_TIME=y
CONFIG_LOCKDEP_SUPPORT=y
CONFIG_STACKTRACE_SUPPORT=y
CONFIG_SEMAPHORE_SLEEPERS=y
CONFIG_X86=y
CONFIG_MMU=y
CONFIG_GENERIC_ISA_DMA=y
CONFIG_GENERIC_IOMAP=y
CONFIG_GENERIC_HWEIGHT=y
CONFIG_ARCH_MAY_HAVE_PC_FDC=y
CONFIG_DMI=y
CONFIG_DEFCONFIG_LIST="/lib/modules/$UNAME_RELEASE/.config"
3729
3730
3731
3732
3733
3734
3735
#
# Code maturity level options
#
CONFIG_EXPERIMENTAL=y
CONFIG_LOCK_KERNEL=y
CONFIG_INIT_ENV_ARG_LIMIT=32
<snip>
3736
43 Compiling the kernel
3741
3742
3743
3744
security
sound
usr
42.1.4 In GNU/Linux, the way to make a file hidden is to place a period '.'
before the file name. The name of the Linux kernel's configuration file is
.config and it is shown above highlighted in blue. It is a text file, so you
can use the cat command to view its contents or you can page through it
using the less command (the file is quite long so I am only going to show
the beginning part of it):
3710
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3713
3714
3715
3716
3717
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43.1.1 It is now time to compile the kernel! In order to compile the kernel,
simply execute the make && make modules_install command at the
command line (the output from the compile process is also long so I will
only show a small part of it):
(chroot) livecd linux # make && make modules_install
HOSTLD scripts/kconfig/conf
scripts/kconfig/conf -s arch/i386/Kconfig
CHK
include/linux/version.h
v1.81
3745
3746
3747
3748
3749
3750
3751
3752
3753
3754
3755
3756
3757
3758
3759
UPD
CHK
UPD
SYMLINK
CC
GEN
CC
HOSTCC
MKELF
HOSTCC
HOSTCC
HOSTCC
HOSTLD
HOSTCC
<snip>
110/124
include/linux/version.h
include/linux/utsrelease.h
include/linux/utsrelease.h
include/asm -> include/asm-i386
arch/i386/kernel/asm-offsets.s
include/asm-i386/asm-offsets.h
scripts/mod/empty.o
scripts/mod/mk_elfconfig
scripts/mod/elfconfig.h
scripts/mod/file2alias.o
scripts/mod/modpost.o
scripts/mod/sumversion.o
scripts/mod/modpost
scripts/kallsyms
43.1.2 The double ampersand symbol '&&' is called a "logical and" symbol
and it allows more than one command to be executed on a single
command line. For example, if we wanted to execute a date command
and then a ls command on the same command line, we could enter date
&& ls. The date command would be executed first and then the ls
command would be executed. While the kernel is compiling you can
switch to another virtual terminal and type date && ls to see what
happens:
3760
3761
3762
3763
3764
3765
3766
3767
3768
3769
3770
3771
3772
3773
3774
3775
3776
(chroot) livecd / # date && ls
Wed Sep 5 06:53:23 UTC 2007
bin
mnt
boot
opt
dev
portage-xxx.tar.bz2
etc
home
proc
lib
root
lost+found sbin
sys
tmp
usr
var
3777
3778
43.1.3 Notice that the date command was executed (its output is
highlighted in blue) followed by the ls command.
3779
3780
3781
3782
3783
3784
43.1.4 Going back to the command line we used to compile the kernel,
make is a program that is used to build software that consists of many
source files. We used the logical and symbol '&&' to run the make
program twice, once to compile the main kernel and a second time to
compile any options that were configured as kernel modules and install
them somewhere in the directory hierarchy.
3785
3786
43.1.5 The kernel will take a while to build and here is the last part of the
output that is generated after it is finished:
3787
<...>
v1.81
3788
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LD
arch/i386/boot/compressed/piggy.o
LD
arch/i386/boot/compressed/vmlinux
OBJCOPY arch/i386/boot/vmlinux.bin
HOSTCC arch/i386/boot/tools/build
BUILD
arch/i386/boot/bzImage
Root device is (3, 3)
Boot sector 512 bytes.
Setup is 6614 bytes.
System is 2666 kB
Kernel: arch/i386/boot/bzImage is ready (#1)
Building modules, stage 2.
MODPOST 1 modules
CC
arch/i386/kernel/cpuid.mod.o
LD [M] arch/i386/kernel/cpuid.ko
INSTALL arch/i386/kernel/cpuid.ko
if [ -r System.map -a -x /sbin/depmod ]; then /sbin/depmod -ae -F System.map
2.6.19-gentoo-r5; fi
3805
3806
3807
3808
3809
3810
3811
3812
3813
3814
43.1.6 The first line of this output that is highlighted in blue indicates that
the kernel has been compiled into one large file called bzImage and it
has been placed into the /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot directory. In the
next section we will copy the kernel into the /boot directory (which is the
directory that the sda1 boot partition is attached to) so that it can be
located during boot time. The second line that is highlighted in blue
indicates that the kernel option that we selected as a kernel module has
been installed into our directory hierarchy. The directory it was installed
into is /lib/modules/2.6.8.19-gentoo-r5/kernel/arch/i386/kernel, but this is
not shown.
3815
3816
3817
43.1.7 Assuming that you are still in the /usr/src/linux directory, change
into the arch/i386/boot directory by executing a cd arch/i386/boot
command and then execute an ls -l command to see the bzImage file:
3818
(chroot) livecd linux # cd arch/i386/boot
3819
3820
(chroot) livecd boot # pwd
/usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot
3821
3822
(chroot) livecd boot # ls -l
3823
3824
3825
3826
3827
3828
3829
5 02:05 bzImage
43.1.8 The listing indicates that the bzImage file that contains the
compiled kernel is 2737455 bytes long. Before we copy it into the /boot
directory, we should make sure that the /dev/sda1 boot partition is still
mounted to it. This can be done by executing a mount command:
(chroot) livecd boot # mount
rootfs on / type rootfs (rw)
tmpfs on / type tmpfs (rw)
v1.81
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3832
3833
3834
3835
3836
3837
3838
3839
3840
3841
3842
3843
3844
3845
3846
3847
3848
3849
3850
/dev/hdc on /mnt/cdrom type iso9660 (ro)
/dev/loop0 on /mnt/livecd type squashfs (ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,nosuid)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,nosuid,noexec)
tmpfs on /mnt/livecd/lib/firmware type tmpfs (rw)
tmpfs on /mnt/livecd/usr/portage type tmpfs (rw)
usbfs on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw,nosuid,noexec)
/dev/sda3 on / type ext3 (rw,data=ordered)
/dev/sda1 on /boot type ext2 (rw)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,nosuid)
none on /proc type proc (rw)
43.1.9 The parts of this listing that are highlighted in blue indicate that the
/dev/sda1 partition is indeed mounted to the /boot directory. We can
now copy the bzImage file into the /boot directory by issuing a cp
bzImage /boot command:
(chroot) livecd boot # cp bzImage /boot
43.1.10 Finally, lets make sure that the bzImage file was correctly copied
to the /boot directory by changing to this directory and then executing an
ls command:
3851
(chroot) livecd boot # cd /boot
3852
3853
(chroot) livecd boot # ls
boot bzImage lost+found
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44 Configuring the system
44.1 We are almost done with the base installation process and our next step
is to configure the system.
45 Configuring the /etc/fstab file
45.1.1 During the Gentoo Linux installation process, we manually mounted
filesystems to various directories in the directory hierarchy. When the
system is ready to use, however, we do not want to be required to
manually mount filesystems each time the system is booted. Luckily, the
process of mounting filesystems at boot time can be automated by
defining which filesystems should be mounted where in the /etc/fstab
file. The name fstab stands for file system table and here are the
contents of this file before it has been configured:
v1.81
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3866
(chroot) livecd / # cd /etc
3867
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(chroot) livecd etc # pwd
/etc
3869
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3875
3876
3877
3878
3879
3880
3881
(chroot) livecd etc # cat fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# noatime turns off atimes for increased performance (atimes normally aren't
# needed; notail increases performance of ReiserFS (at the expense of storage
# efficiency). It's safe to drop the noatime options if you want and to
# switch between notail / tail freely.
#
# The root filesystem should have a pass number of either 0 or 1.
# All other filesystems should have a pass number of 0 or greater than 1.
#
# See the manpage fstab(5) for more information.
#
3882
# <fs>
3883
3884
3885
3886
3887
3888
# NOTE: If your BOOT partition is ReiserFS, add the notail option to opts.
/dev/BOOT
/boot
ext2
noauto,noatime 1 2
/dev/ROOT
/
ext3
noatime
0 1
/dev/SWAP
none
swap
sw
0 0
/dev/cdroms/cdrom0
/mnt/cdrom
iso9660
noauto,ro
0 0
#/dev/fd0
/mnt/floppy
auto
noauto
0 0
3889
3890
# NOTE: The next line is critical for boot!
proc
/proc
proc
3891
3892
3893
3894
3895
# glibc 2.2 and above expects tmpfs to be mounted at /dev/shm for
# POSIX shared memory (shm_open, shm_unlink).
# (tmpfs is a dynamically expandable/shrinkable ramdisk, and will
# use almost no memory if not populated with files)
shm
/dev/shm
tmpfs
nodev,nosuid,noexec
<mountpoint>
<type>
<opts>
defaults
<dump/pass>
0 0
0 0
3896
3897
3898
3899
3900
3901
45.1.2 The fstab file is organized into columns with the filesystem device
listed in the first column <fs>, the point in the directory hierarchy
where it should be mounted listed in the second column
<mountpoint> and the type of the filesystem listed in the third column
<type>. If you would like to know what the <opts> and <dump/pass>
columns do, you can look at the man page for the fstab file.
3902
3903
3904
3905
3906
3907
45.1.3 The only parts of the fstab file that need to be edited are the 3 parts
highlighted in blue. In place of the word BOOT you should type sda1,
in place of the word ROOT you should type sda3 and in place of the word
SWAP you should type sda2. Execute a nano -wc fstab command to
make these changes now. When you are done editing the fstab file, the
three lines where the changes were made should look like this:
v1.81
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3913
3914
3915
3916
3917
3918
...
/dev/sda1
/dev/sda3
/dev/sda2
...
/boot
/
none
3920
3921
(chroot) livecd conf.d # pwd
/etc/conf.d
3922
(chroot) livecd conf.d # cat hostname
3923
# /etc/conf.d/hostname
3924
3925
# Set to the hostname of this machine
HOSTNAME="localhost"
3929
3930
3931
3932
3933
3934
3935
3936
3937
3938
3939
3940
1 2
0 1
0 0
46.1.1 The systems network software now needs to be configured and the
first step in this process is to give your machine a name. The machine's
name is held in a variable called HOSTNAME which is in the
/etc/conf.d/hostname file. The default name that the machine is
currently set to is localhost and this can be seen in the following listing:
(chroot) livecd / # cd /etc/conf.d
3928
noauto,noatime
noatime
sw
46 Configuring the network
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ext2
ext3
swap
114/124
46.1.2 The name I am giving my machine for now is "kosan1" but I will
probably change it later:
HOSTNAME="kosan1"
46.1.3 The next step in configuring the network is to set the name of the
Internet domain it is inside of. We will discuss what an Internet domain
name is later so for now edit the /etc/conf.d/net file and add the
following line to it:
dns_domain_lo="homenetwork"
46.1.4 The last network-oriented file that needs to be edited is the
/etc/hosts file. The hosts file allows the system administrator to
manually describe the local network the machine is attached to by
associating machine names with IP addresses. We are assuming that
our systems will use DHCP to automatically be configured by the network
so we will not be adding much information to the hosts file. The one line
in this file that we will edit, however, currently looks like this:
v1.81
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127.0.0.1
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localhost
46.1.5 Earlier we discussed that the 127.0.0.1 IP address is a special
address which is associated with the loopback interface. This address
refers to the local machine and we need to add the following (colored)
information to the line that contains this address in the /etc/hosts file:
127.0.0.1
kosan1.homenetwork kosan1 localhost
46.1.6 Keep in mind that instead of using the name 'kosan1' here you
should use the name that you gave your own machine.
47 Services and the network service
3950
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3954
47.1.1.1 GNU/Linux operating systems have special programs called
system services that can be started either manually or automatically.
Another name for a system service is a "daemon" and this name is
used because in Greek mythology, daemons were entities that
performed various tasks for the Greek gods.
3955
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3957
47.1.1.2 Many of these services will run continuously until they are
stopped or the machine is shut down. The following is a list of services
that are often run on GNU/Linux machines:
3958
Network service - Maintains the machine's connection to the network.
3959
3960
Logging service - Accepts messages from all of the pieces of software that are running on
the system and saves them into a log file.
3961
Cron service - Runs commands at times that are set by the system administrator.
3962
3963
Secure shell service - Allows users to remotely log into the system using a secure
connection.
3964
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47.1.1.3 A network service has already been installed on our machines,
but it is not currently configured to start automatically at boot time. In
order to have this service start automatically at boot time, execute a rcupdate add net.eth0 default command:
(chroot) livecd conf.d # rc-update add net.eth0 default
* net.eth0 added to runlevel default
47.1.1.4 If this command did not work, do the following and then try it
again (note, l is a lower case L):
cd /etc/init.d
v1.81
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3989
3990
3991
ln -s net.lo net.eth0
47.1.1.5 The name of the network service is net.eth0 and we have
configured it to start when the machine enters what is called the
default runlevel. GNU/Linux machines usually have a number of
runlevels and a runlevel is a way to define a set of system services that
should be running at the same time. The default runlevel is the
normal runlevel a Gentoo system operates at after it has booted.
48 Emerging the DHCP client
48.1.1.1 Since we are going to use DHCP to have the network
automatically configure our machines, we need to install the DHCP
client program (a client is software that uses a service that is provided
by a server). This is done by executing an emerge dhcp command:
(chroot) livecd conf.d # emerge dhcp
49 Installing additional services
49.1 Earlier we talked about system services and we will now install a
logging service and a cron service. To install a logging service called
syslog-ng, execute an emerge syslog-ng command. After it is done
emerging, add it to the default runlevel by executing an rc-update add
syslog-ng default command:
3992
(chroot) livecd / # emerge syslog-ng
3993
(chroot) livecd / # rc-update add syslog-ng default
3994
3995
3996
49.2 To install a cron service called vixie-cron, execute an emerge vixiecron command and after it is done emerging, add it to the default runlevel
by executing an rc-update add vixie-cron default command:
3997
(chroot) livecd / # emerge vixie-cron
3998
(chroot) livecd / # rc-update add vixie-cron default
3999
50 Installing and configuring the bootloader
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50.1 Before the /dev/sda1 boot partition can be used to boot the system, boot
loader software needs to be installed on it and configured. The boot loader
v1.81
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4006
4007
we are going to use is called grub and it needs to be emerged by executing
an emerge grub command:
(chroot) livecd / # emerge grub
50.2 After grub has been emerged, a directory called grub will now be
present in the /boot directory. Change to the boot directory and list its
contents to make sure the grub directory is present:
4008
(chroot) livecd boot # cd /boot
4009
4010
(chroot) livecd boot # pwd
/boot
4011
4012
(chroot) livecd boot # ls
boot bzImage grub lost+found
4013
4014
50.3 In order to configure grub, a file needs to be placed into the /boot/grub
called grub.conf:
4015
(chroot) livecd boot # cd grub
4016
(chroot) livecd grub # nano -wc grub.conf
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50.4 The grub.conf file should contain the following information (make sure
the 'I' in bzImage is capitalized):
4019
4020
default 0
timeout 10
4021
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4023
4024
#Option 0
title=Gentoo Linux
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/bzImage root=/dev/sda3
4025
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4028
4029
50.5 The default keyword selects which boot option to accept by default.
In our case, we only have one boot option (called Option 0) so this will be
the default. The timeout keyword selects how long the boot menu will wait
for input from the keyboard before moving forward with the boot process
using the default boot option.
4030
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4033
4034
50.6 Inside of option 0, the title keyword determines what is displayed in the
boot menu for option 0. The root keyword tells grub what device contains
the boot partition and which partition it is. Finally, the kernel keyword
indicates where the kernel image has been placed on the boot partition and
which partition is the root partition.
v1.81
4035
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4037
4038
50.7 The final steps that need to be done to install the boot loader are 1)
copying the current mount information to the /etc/mtab (mount table)
file using the grep command and 2) executing the grub-install /dev/sda
command:
4039
(chroot) livecd grub # grep -v rootfs /proc/mounts > /etc/mtab
4040
4041
4042
4043
4044
4045
(chroot) livecd grub # grub-install /dev/sda
Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time.
Installation finished. No error reported.
This is the contents of the device map /boot/grub/device.map.
Check if this is correct or not. If any of the lines is incorrect,
fix it and re-run the script `grub-install'.
4046
4047
(fd0)
(hd0)
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/dev/fd0
/dev/sda
50.8 If the grub-install command listed a No error Reported message, then
the boot loader was installed correctly.
51 Setting the root password and adding a user account
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4056
51.1 UNIX-like systems are known as multiuser systems because they can
have more than one person logged into the system and using it at the same
time. Each user is given what is called an account on the system and each
account has a username and a password associated with it. Most users
are also given their own directory to use which is called their home
directory. All user home directories are placed within the /home directory.
4057
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4059
4060
4061
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4063
51.2 Each user account has various permissions associated with it which
determine which resources on the machine the user has access to. There is
always at least one account on all UNIX-like systems which is called the
root account and the user that has access to this account is called the root
user or the super user. The root account has permission to access all
of the resources in the system and the home directory for this account
is the /root directory.
4064
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4067
51.3 It is just a coincidence that the top-level directory is called a root
directory, the super user of a system is also called the root user and
the root user's home directory is called /root. This can be confusing at
first but one becomes use to it over time.
4068
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4071
51.4 During the whole time we have been working from the CD, we have been
using the super user's account. In the bash shell, a person can tell if they
are currently using the super user's account if a pound sign '#' is
displayed at the end of the command prompt.
v1.81
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51.5 Before we reboot the system, we need to set the password for the
root user. If you do not set the root user's password now, when you reboot
the machine you will not be able to long into your system! What you will
then be forced to do is to reboot from the CD, mount all of the partitions,
chroot into the /dev/sda3 partition, and then set the password. Lets set the
password now in order to avoid this extra work. You can set the root user's
password for your machine by executing a passwd root command:
(chroot) livecd grub # passwd root
New UNIX password:
BAD PASSWORD: it is too short
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: password updated successfully
4084
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4089
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4091
51.6 The passwd command does not show the password you typed so that
someone cannot look at your screen and steal your password. It also asks
you to type the password twice in case you made a spelling mistake while
typing. The passwd command will also inform you if it thinks you have
chosen an unwise password (which it calls a BAD password). In my case, it
thinks the password I typed is too short. If, however, the command also
indicates that the password was updated successfully, then you can still
use this password if you would like.
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4099
51.7 Now that you have set the root user's password, it is time to create a
normal user account for yourself on the machine. It is considered to be a
bad idea to use the root user's account for doing normal work on a system
for a number of reasons. One reason is that if you make a mistake (like
accidentally deleting the /etc directory) you can lose data or crash the
machine. It is safer to do normal work in your own user account and just
switch into the root user's account only when you need that account's extra
permissions to do something.
4100
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51.8 You can create a user account for yourself using the useradd command.
The following example shows the creation of a user account which will have
the username tkosan associated with it:
4103
4104
4105
4106
4107
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4109
(chroot) livecd / # useradd -m -G users,wheel -s /bin/bash tkosan
51.9 The -m option tells useradd to create a home directory for the user,
the -G option indicates what groups the user should belong to (we will
cover groups later) and the -s option determines which shell the user
will use when they log in. After the account has been created, a password
needs to be set for it using the passwd command:
(chroot) livecd / # passwd tkosan
v1.81
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New UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: password updated successfully
51.10 You will now be able to log into your new account when you reboot the
machine.
52 Rebooting the machine
52.1 The base Gentoo Linux installation process is now complete! Before
rebooting the machine, however, we need to exit from the chroot
environment, change into the top-level root directory, and unmount
all of the filesystems that we mounted earlier. The chroot environment is
exited using the exit command and filesystems are unmounted using the
umount command:
4122
4123
(chroot) livecd / # exit
exit
4124
4125
4126
4127
4128
livecd
livecd
livecd
livecd
livecd
/
/
/
/
/
#
#
#
#
#
cd /
umount
umount
umount
umount
/mnt/gentoo/dev
/mnt/gentoo/proc
/mnt/gentoo/boot
/mnt/gentoo
4129
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52.2 You should also exit from each virtual terminal you logged into using
the exit command.
4131
52.3 Finally, execute the halt command to halt the system
4132
livecd / # halt
4133
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52.4 Before rebooting, either remove the CD or make sure that the
motherboard is configured to have the hard drive as the first boot
device and not the CDROM drive using the motherboard setup utility.
After the system reboots, you will be presented with a login prompt. Type
the username for the root account (which is "root") and press the <enter>
key. Type the root account's password, press the <enter> key again and
you will be given a standard command prompt.
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52.5 You can now start exploring your new system. The first thing you may
want to do is to remove the stage3 and portage files from the top-level
root directory using the rm (remove) command since you will not be
needing them anymore.
4144
52.6 When you are ready to shut your system down, you can use the halt
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command. You must be using the super user's account in order to halt the
machine.
v1.81
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Shutting Down VirtualBox Before Installation Is Complete
1 Shutting Down Before chroot Is Executed
1.1 If you need to shutdown the virtual machine before the chroot command
was executed, here is what you need to type:
cd /
umount /mnt/gentoo/boot
umount /mnt/gentoo
halt
1.2 When you reboot the VM, you must remount /dev/sda3 to /mnt/gentoo
and /dev/sda1 to /mnt/gentoo/boot before continuing.
2 Shutting Down After chroot Is Executed
2.1 If you need to shutdown the virtual machine after the chroot command
was executed, here is what you need to type:
exit
cd /
umount
umount
umount
umount
halt
/mnt/gentoo/proc
/mnt/gentoo/dev
/mnt/gentoo/boot
/mnt/gentoo
2.2 When you reboot the VM, you must remount sda3, sda1, proc, and dev and
chroot again before continuing.
4169
====
4170
Howto Access via ssh a Virtualbox Guest machine.
4171
August 12, 2007 | 0:03
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By default, the network connection in VirtualBox is set to NAT (Network Address Translation), that is
every packet coming from the Guest machine is modified so that it seems as it has come from the Host
machine. In this way it’s easy for the Guest machine to connect to all the rest of the network (the
internet included) but nobody can start a connection with the Guest Machine since it’s hidden behind
the Host one.
4177
So, if you are going to test a server service in your Guest machine (i.e. Apache or ssh) you have two
http://mydebian.blogdns.org/?p=148
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choices:
1. pass to Virtualbox Host network connection;
2. make virtualbox forward all the packets arriving to a certain port of the Host machine.
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This article will describe how to do the latter, in particular in the case of the ssh server. This is an
interesting case because it allows you to simulate very well a quite common condition: connecting to a
remote Linux headless machine.
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We have a Guest Machine with a running ssh server which accepts connections on the TCP port 22.
Our goal is to make any packet arriving at a given TCP port (i.e. 2222) of the Host machine, to be
forwarded to the TCP port 22 of the Guest Machine.
Fortunately, there is Virtualbox command which permits to do it almost instantly: VBoxManage.
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Let the Guest machine name (quote it if it contains spaces), here are the commands that you have to
type in the Host machine console:
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4195
$ VBoxManage setextradata <guestname>
"VBoxInternal/Devices/pcnet/0/LUN#0/Config/ssh/HostPort" 2222
"VBoxInternal/Devices/pcnet/0/LUN#0/Config/ssh/GuestPort" 22
"VBoxInternal/Devices/pcnet/0/LUN#0/Config/ssh/Protocol" TCP
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HostPort,GuestPort,Protocol are just string examples and can be changed without any consequence.
Just remember your choices if you want to remove them later.
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Once you have typed the above commands, you need to close the Guest Machine (a reboot won’t be
sufficient), restart it and then connect via ssh with:
4200
$ ssh -l <user> -p 2222 localhost
4201
Replace localhost with the Host Machine ip address if you are connecting from another computer.
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Now what? Well, you could do some Ssh Tunneling to run X application on the Guest Machine and see
the display on your Host/Desktop. How? I wrote a little guide before.
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By the way, you can check which customisations have been already set for your Guest Machine with
VBoxManage (again) by typing:
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$ VBoxManage getextradata <guestname> enumerate
or remove one, for example “VBoxInternal/Devices/pcnet/0/LUN#0/Config/ssh/GuestPort”, by setting
it without any value:
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"VBoxInternal/Devices/pcnet/0/LUN#0/Config/ssh/GuestPort"
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====
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gconf-edito
v1.81
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==== Procedure for reentering the chroot enviornment.
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livecd / # cp -L /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/gentoo/etc/resolv.conf
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livecd / # mount -o bind /dev /mnt/gentoo/dev
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livecd proc # mount -t proc none /mnt/gentoo/proc
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livecd proc # chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash
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livecd / # env-update
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livecd / # source /etc/profile
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==== Procedure for when grub> comes up when booting from the hard drive.
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When grub> come up when trying to boot from the hard drive, this usually
means that the grub.conf file has a typo in it. Do the following to fix it:
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1) Boot off of the .iso CD image.
2) Mount /dev/hda1 to /mnt/gentoo.
3) Use the cd command to change into /mnt/gentoo/boot/grub.
4) Edit the grub.conf file to fix it.
5) Change back into the root directory with cd /.
6) Unmount /mnt/gentoo.
7) Try rebooting using the hard drive again.
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Installing Gentoo Linux - Computer Engineering Technology

Transcription

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