Re: [nwst-dev] howto setup a cross compiling toolchain

[<th...@bo...>]

Hi Stefan,

unfortunately I'm not familiar with LTSP. So my answer is not more  
than a guess ..

> Now I'm still stuck with the way ltsp normally boots using a /linuxrc
> script that resides (with optional modules I don't need for a  
> monolithic
> kernel) on an initrd. - See my posts yesterday.

> By the way, what is an initrd good for, if I don't need it to load
> modules right after boot?

The use of an initrd is more to cover a range of hardware like  
networkadapters on a specific platform with one standard kernel and  
only the modules needed for that particular machine.

> Can't I make things way easier, if I take the LTSP /linuxrc and
> put it into my nfsroot? - Looking at the hardware provided in the
> NS1000, a monolithic kernel should suffice always, even if all  
> possible
> hardware support is compiled in.

That's what I did, I do not use an initrd at all, everything resides  
in a NFS root and the kernel is monolithic. You need to find out what  
scripts are run in the initrd and include these scripts in your NFS  
based root. But keep in mind, that all executable files need to be  
compiled for the ppc platform. This might be the case in the LTSP  
project but I don't know.

> Is it enough, to copy the /linuxrc to the nfsroot an pass the
> "nfsroot=/some/place init=/linuxrc" parameters to the cmdline? - That
> would be easy.
>
> -> Some hints if this is feasible and how to do it would be greatly
> appreciated.
>

Please note, that you can not easily pass command line options to the  
kernel, as the BIOS of the Networkstation boots the kernel directly  
off NFS or TFTP. Therefore you can add commandline options to the  
kernel, when compiling:
General Setup -->  Initial kernel command string:
( I have: console=ttyS0,9600 console=tty0 root=/dev/nfs nfsroot=/ 
share/projects/8362/rootfs ip=dhcp )

You need to have:
Networking Options -->  TCP/IP neworking --> IP: Kernel level  
autoconfiguration --> IP: DHCP support
File Systems -->  Network Filesystems -->  NFS Filesystem support -->  
Root filesystem on NFS

That should boot the kernel, get an IP address from the DHCP server  
and use the "next server" option in DHCP to choose the correct server  
for the NFS-root, mount it and run whatever is in there.

Regards,
Thomas