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mlm001
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 8:38 pm    Post subject: Help! Trying to build minimal LiveCD for Sparc64... Reply with quote

Hello,

I've been trying this for the last several days with out much progress..

I've collect several different HOWTOs on building LiveCDs for Gentoo using Catalyst...

However, I've had many problems...

I am compiling on an Ultra 10 with a Gig of memory and the 440Mhz processor, loaded with http://gentoo.osuosl.org/releases/sparc/2005.0/sparc64/installcd/install-sparc64-universal-2005.0.iso. I finally managed to get an ISO compiled using the procedure found here:
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_build_a_LiveCD

Only, I was using portage 2005.0, and stage3-sparc64-2005.0. And I didn't ask it to do so, but it went out and retrieved kernel 2.4.31 and add patches including squashfs, etc.

However, once I wrote it to a CD-RW and attempted to boot it, I got the "Fatal error: Image too large to fit in destination." My kernel was 3736688 bytes.


So...... After scratching my head for a while over that, I found:
http://gentoo.osuosl.org/distfiles/livecd-specs-2005.0.tar.bz2

Which appears to contain the stage1 and stage2 specs for the released install iso images...

I thought, Great! I'll try it using those... and so far so good... made it through stage 1, now however, I'm searching for a couple of files that stage2 refers to...

1) 2.4.29-sparc64-up.config
2) silo-1.2.6-sparc64-cdtar.tar.bz2

In the meantime, I'm going to try to use my kernel config, and silo-1.3.2-sparc64-cdtar.tar.bz2 which came with catalyst when I did the emerge catalyst.



All that aside, All I want to be able to do is build a minimal bootable LIVECD for Sparc64 architecture that will boot and recognize the harddrives and the network card on as many different Suns as possible. I am building a specialized release for a very specific data backup component, and I will need to be able to boot on some of Sun's newer hardware, V240, Netra T120, Netra 1125, Netra 1405, (yes, I now the last two are not new, however, we have them), as well as Ultra 10, 60, E4500, E250, etc... I'm not picky about Kernel version, Silo release, Gentoo release, all I want is a minimal LIVECD that I can come back in a add a little extra software to and a kernal module or two.

Any help would be greatly appricated...

Thank You,

Mike Marshall
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gust4voz
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 5:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

First of all, those HOWTOs are mostly x86-centric, and they don't account for other platform specifics or limits.
Second, for the most part, the total size for kernel+initrd on sparc64 is 4 MB, usually the initrd is ~800-900k for sparc64 LiveCDs, thus you can't have such a big kernel (SILO 1.4.x can go to 8MB but read on...)
You can't use newer SILO versions if you expect it to work "on as many systems as possible" (>1.2.6* just doesn't cut it).
You can get the spec files to build release or your own customized media from cvs under gentoo/src/releng/specs (kernel configs in gentoo/src/releng/kconfig).
And you'll also have to build the whole shebang to get a clear working thing... you can't just use an already built stage to build a livecd without the appropiate snapshot used to built it. Build -> stage1, stage2, stage3, livecd-stage1, and then and only then livecd-stage2.
Last but not least, you'll will have to customize the specfiles for your stuff, otherwise you'll get a plain and regular livecd.
Please read the catalyst docs to understand the process involved.
Use the provided kernel configurations as a basis for yours, you'll be challenged to make them smaller otherwise, and will have to do a lot of trial and error before getting it right, nothing should be Y unless explicitly necessary, otherwise you'll exceed the size limit VERY easily.
Above all remember, all the regular sparc limits apply, i.e. you won't get reliable reiser, xfs or jfs filesystems, 2.6 kernels, or internal Ex500 disks working.
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mlm001
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 9:28 pm    Post subject: I appreciate you taking the time to reply. Reply with quote

I have to admit that I should know more about CVS than I do...

After reading through the Gentoo docs and looking at cvs.gentoo.org and emerging cvs, I think I have found docs indicating that I can only connect via ssh protocol. It indicates that I should put in my login and password, is that the same as the one used for the forum?

I found silo-1.2.6-sparc-cdtar.tar.bz2 in the CVS, is that the only place I will find it?
I "downloaded" the specs and the kconfigs for the sparc64. Thank you... I will use those as is first, just to make a livecd that works, then I will go back in and add my customizations.

I noticed that silo-1.2.6-sparc-cdtar.tar.bz2 is just "sparc" as opposed to sparc64, is there a specific location to find the one built for sparc64, as I noticed that the spec is calling it from:
/root/sparc64-release/silo-1.2.6-sparc-cdtar.tar.bz2

Or does that also get built when I build stage1, stage2, stage3,etc...??

As far as docs under /usr/share/doc/catalyst-1.1.10.7/:
I found a README, and examples files. I've also found the Catalyst FAQ, brief Howto, and the Catalyst Reference.

Can you direct me to a document, that would explain more of the process of rebuilding all stages?

If possible, could you also, post your:
catalyst.conf
make.conf
make.profile
envscript

or any other files that you feel would greatly effect my build environment. I will duplicate your setup, the once I get up and running, I will then add any changes...

Anyway, I'm guessing, after setting up the config files, I just go through each spec with:
catalyst -f stage1.spec
catalyst -f stage2.spec
catalyst -f stage3.spec
catalyst -f livecd-stage1.spec
catalyst -f livecd-stage2.spec

Also, how much disk space do you estimate this will take for the build?

Any tid-bits that you think I might run into would be very helpful. I plan to start a re-build attempt later on this evening, and let it run through the night.

Thank You for you help... sorry for so many questions...

Mike Marshall
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 9:44 pm    Post subject: Re: I appreciate you taking the time to reply. Reply with quote

cvs access to the Gentoo development efforts is restricted to developers only. It has nothing to do with your forum's username or password.
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 27, 2005 12:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Anonymous web CVS access is available for you (or anyone for that matter) to look at and/or download stuff... http://www.gentoo.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/
Silo is generic, there's no sparc64-specific version and only used in the livecd-stage2 phase, when the ISO is built.
Documentation for catalyst -> http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/releng/catalyst/index.xml
catalyst.conf is quite self-explaining with it's comments, no need to speak much, just turn off kerncache since it doesn't work quite right for sparc.
make.conf & make.profile are auto-generated... basically make.profile points to the profile you choose on the specfiles.
envscript is usually not needed.
You can shave disk space usage by nuking temporary files when you're done with each stage, but for the sake of giving a number, about 3-4 gigs for doing a livecd should be enough.
There's not much magic into it, catalyst is quite sufficient, the big voodoo is in the livecd-stage1 & livecd-stage2 specfiles where packages are chosen for the final cd, cleanup is done and so on and so on. You'll probably want to nuke the empty and rm entries in there, the livecd will be bigger, but you'll avoid a lot of headaches if you plan on getting some form of full environment.
Sorry if i can't be too helpful but we're just in the middle of the 2005.1 release which will have some more niceties for sparc64-land, those specfiles should be available soonish.
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 27, 2005 8:06 pm    Post subject: My status... Reply with quote

Ok,

Thank you for those details...

Here's what I've done so far, I actually put a larger drive 20GB in the Ultra 10 last night and reloaded a fresh image using the install-universal-sparc64-2005.0.iso image. Chose as many of the defaults as I could. That is up and running.

I then did emerge -sync.
emerge vim

emerge catalyst

Now, I am continuing on with catalyst -f stage1.spec, using the files from CVS that you pointed me to.

I figure it's worth asking, should I be using a particular version of catalyst, or is the current 1.1.10.7 going to work fine??

Thank you,

Mike
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 27, 2005 9:02 pm    Post subject: One other thing... Reply with quote

The stage1.spec file I retrieved from CVS is:

Code:
subarch: sparc64
version_stamp: 2005.0
target: stage1
rel_type: default
profile: default-linux/sparc/sparc64/2005.0
snapshot: 20050303
source_subpath: default/stage2-sparc64-20050119


I have been unable to locate stage2-sparc64-20050119.tar.bz2 anywhere, so I am using the following:

http://gentoo.osuosl.org/releases/sparc/2005.0/sparc64/stages/stage2-sparc64-2005.0.tar.bz2

Is that going to cause me problems? If so, do you know where I get the one indicated by the spec file?

Thank You again...

Mike
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 27, 2005 9:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Latest stable is always fine, for catalyst and stages.
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 4:07 am    Post subject: Failure in stage1 build... Reply with quote

Well....

It ran for a long time, then it was trying to download:

gzip-1.3.5-deb.patch.bz2

it tried lots and lots of different locations, and was getting "File Not found".
Finally it gave up.

I searched google, found it and downloaded it manually. I them made a best guess as to where to put it:
/usr/portage/distfiles/.

I then restarted it...

catalyst -f stage1.spec

I noticed that the first thing it did was remove all that it had done...

1) Did I take the best corrective action? Did I put the file in the best place?
2) Is there any way to get it to pick up where it left off, rather than starting completely over again?

Thank You,

Mike
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 4:21 am    Post subject: Spoke to soon... Reply with quote

Sorry...

Looks like that did the trick, and we are off and rolling again...

I see that it doesn't rebuild everything again, it just re-copies the files.

I guess I'm a little confused about which portage tree it is using...

/usr/portage/distfiles
/var/tmp/catalyst/tmp/default/stage1-sparc64-2005.0/usr/portage/distfiles

Especially when /usr/portage/app-arch/gzip contains ebuild files for r7 and r8 of gzip, and
/var/tmp/catalyst/tmp/default/stage1-sparc64-2005.0/usr/portage/app-arch/gzip contains ebuild for r5.

To me it looks like it is getting the ebuild from the stage1 dir but using the distfiles location of /usr/portage/distfiles...

Anyway, it's late here... and the build is running again...

Thank You,

Mike
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 12:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

/usr/portage/distfiles gets bind-mounted to the chroot in /var/tmp/catalyst/tmp/default/X -> whatever catalyst is building atm.
When catalyst gets aborted for some reason (Ctrl-C or error) it can mostly resume since it's using "pkgcache", which basically builds binary packages of what's already been compiled. It just nukes the temporary build space when restarted just in case there's a changed snapshot or stageball, but it'll use those pkgs when necessary (/var/tmp/catalyst/packages/default/...).
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 31, 2005 3:50 am    Post subject: It worked!!! Thank You... Reply with quote

Well, 4 days of compiling later... we have a bootable CD iso image! Thank You for your help!

I did run into the Fast ... MMU Error... Can't remeber the exact error... but I found lots of posts about it.
I am on the Ultra 10, and I noticed that this is common...

I ended up doing:

> setenv auto-boot? false

> reset

> boot cdrom

and it worked after that!

I will be testing this on the V240, T120, Netra T1120, Netra T1405, and more... I will keep notes, and report how it does. We have a number of different models... Mostly telco grade aka rackmount -48V DC powered...

Anyway, very much appricated...

Mike Marshall
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 10:56 pm    Post subject: Excellent Results!!! Reply with quote

Test result so far booting the new LiveCD:

    Model | CPU | OBP version | RAM | Drives
    Sun Ultra 10 | 1 x UltraSPARC-IIi-270Mhz | ? | | 1024MB | 1 x 20GB IDE
    Sun Ultra 5 | 1 x UltraSPARC-IIi-270Mhz | 3.11 | | 128MB | 1 x 4.3GB IDE
    Sun Fire V100 | 1 x UltraSPARC-IIe-548Mhz | 4.00 | | 1024MB | 1 x 32GB IDE
    Sun Netra T120 | 1 x UltraSPARC-IIe-648Mhz | 4.00 | | 512MB | 1 x 72GB SCSI
    Sun Netra 240 | 2 x UltraSPARC-IIIi-1.2Ghz | 4.1.4 | 2048MB | 2 x 73GB SCSI

No failures as of yet!! Great!

Hope that info is helpful. I plan on testing on a Sun Netra 440 with Quad 1.6Ghz CPUs, 4 SCSI harddrives, and 8GB of RAM. It should also have FiberChannel connections into a SAN. Also a Quad NIC PCI card in addition to the Gig NICs onboard.

Can't wait...

Now, on a different note, I know this is probably the wrong forum for this, but I can't find the x86 non 64-bit forum.
I am using the exact same procedure as you gave me for doing the Sparc64, on the x86 load. I retrieved the spec files and kernel config files from CVS, and followed the same instructions... I am confused about one thing...

If the spec files and kernel config files in CVS were the ones used to build the Install CD, why are there SO MANY very very old distfiles that it keeps needing. I am hunting all over the world looking for some of these files. I would think that the required distfiles for the latest LiveCD install, would be readily available. Can you direct me to the write person/forum to get this straight?? I want to follow as close to the same instructions as possible, because, I'm trying to be able to generate livecds for different architectures that do the same thing.

Thank You for all your help...

Mike Marshall

P.S. I plan to setup another build enviornment for the Sparc32 platform soon. So I will be interested in your progress there as well.
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