[MiNT] Re: Bootstrapping Sparemint

[Guido.Flohr@t-online.de (Guido Flohr)]

Hi,

thanks for your work!

On Wed, Aug 16, 2000 at 10:53:33PM +0200, Jo Even Skarstein wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> I've put together some instructions and a bootstrap-archive (a slightly
> extended version of Guido's) for bootstrapping SpareMiNT. Please take
> a look at http://atari.nvg.org/sparemint/, I'd like some comments before
> I announce it publicly.

My comments:

- It's Sparemint, not SpareMiNT. ;-)

- It's not a distribution. :-(
  It's a software archive.  If you only install Sparemint packages
  your system will lack of some important tools like /bin/more, 
  rsh, ...

- Maybe you could explain why (and in what respect) your bootstrapping
  rpm archive differs from the Sparemint version.  The biggest problem
  was probably that the "Sparemint" rpm doesn't work without an fpu.
  Have you fixed that in your archive? If not, I think Frank has an
  fpu-free version, I think.

- If your bootstrapping archive is better than the Sparemint one,
  is it ok, to replace it on the server? Or do you also put the
  directory structure into the archive? That may cause problems,
  and it would probably be a good idea also for your archive to
  separate the "directory package" from the rpm stuff.

- The soft links in mint.cnf: You should point out that any deviation
  from the scheme you propose may lead to problems.  Having for example
  /sbin and /usr on different partitions (like g:\sbin and h:\usr\sbin)
  is asking for trouble.  Sure, these are rpm bugs resp. shortcomings
  in MiNT but weird symlinks are a constant source of problems with
  rpm, not suitable for beginners.

- I prefer the notation

	sln /g/usr /usr

- A reasonable path for mint.cnf would be for me:

	setenv PATH /sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/sbin:/root/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/sbin  

  Again, I prefer the slash/colon notation and in that case I would highly
  recommend it because it's not guaranteed that all programs understand
  the version with the semi-colon or don't get confused by the backslash.

- Very important, the number one newbie problem:

	$ su
	...
	# touch /etc/mnttab

  before you install the first rpm.  It's probably best to already create
  that empty file in your directory archive.

- Not critical but worth mentioning: rpm also keeps track of and verifies
  file timestamps.  If you really bootstrap you neither have $TZ set
  nor is the MiNTLib (with the timezone database) installed.  In most cases
  all file timestamps will then be wrong as soon as you have completed
  your setup.  Solution: until you have installed the MiNTLib and 
  tailored the tzinit invocation in mint.cnf to your needs you should
  manually

	setenv TZ "Ask-Your-Local-Unix-Guru"

  The possible impact of wrong timestamps is not really serious but
  for those who want it accurate ...

Thanks again for your work.  I think there should be a link to your
document on the Sparemint server.  What is the final URL?

Ciao

Guido