Re: [uml-user] UML+Mounting host fs + chroot in the mounted host drive

[Michael R. <mc...@sa...>]

Teto <mat...@gm...> wrote:
    > My current technique is to boot the kernel to test with a custom initrd
    > that mounts the host filesystem, chroot to this mounted directory so
    > that I can use my host binaries (custom ip route binaries already
    > installed in my host etc...). I've seen no thread presenting this
    > though it's very practical so I was wondering if that violated some
    > rules (could harm host system for instance ?) or is it because it's not
    > how UML is meant to be used (it aims at isolating).

I have been doing this since 2001 :-)
I've tried to extract this system into a separate package, see:
https://github.com/mcr/uml-network-testing-infrastructure
(I've decided to call this "UNTI". I hacked a bunch of on the weekend,
let me push from my laptop)

    > I wondered if I could use my host drive as a root filesystem
    > (read-only, using a qcow2 file to save changes) to boot UML instead of
    > creating/downloading a filesystem ?

Yes, you could do this.
I use hostfs for /, and I just mount /usr/share from the host.

--
]               Never tell me the odds!                 | ipv6 mesh networks [
]   Michael Richardson, Sandelman Software Works        | network architect  [
]     mc...@sa...  http://www.sandelman.ca/        |   ruby on rails    [