Subject: RedHat 5.1 (Manhattan) ALPHA 1 for SGI/Indys

From: Alex deVries <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 00:44:23 -0400 (EDT)

It's here!

Well, it is uploading.  There are definite problems, but it works
reasonably well for me.  Please let me know if you use this. You can get
everything from ftp.linux.sgi.com:/pub/redhat/redhat-5.1.

We need to sort out some issues with how to actually download it from the
'net...

Instructions are below.

Ugh, I'm glad this is out there.  I'm taking tomorrow off.

-- 
Alex deVries, puffin on LinuxNet.
http://www.engsoc.carleton.ca/~adevries/ .

Red Hat 5.1 (Manhattan) for SGI Indy's version 5.1 ALPHA 1
----------------------------------------------------------

This is neither a product of Red Hat nor of SGI.

These are instructions on how to get the unofficial port of Red Hat
version 5.1 running on your Indy.

Stuff you'll need:

- an SGI Indy.  At this point, I'd STRONGLY recommend having a seperate
  disk for Linux.

- You need to have your Linux disk partitioned from within Irix.

- You need Irix on the machine in order to install the boot image.  Yes,
  we're working on this.

- another host to bootp/tftp/NFS root from.  For this example I'll assume
  that you're using a Red Hat Linux i386 system, although other
  configurations will be possible.  

- a lot of patience.

You are strongly encouraged to report problems and feedback back to Alex
deVries <[email-masked]>

Alright.  Here's what you need to do to get this all running:

1. Server side.

On your i386, setup the following:

a) Setup tftp 

You need to have the following lines configured in your /etc/inetd.conf:
tftp    dgram   udp     wait    root    /usr/sbin/tcpd  in.tftpd  \
  /usr/src/sgi/installfs/
bootps  dgram   udp     wait    root    /usr/sbin/bootpd /etc/bootptab

I'm using /usr/src/sgi/installfs for all my file placement.  You can
choose something else if youwant.   

After changing that, restart inetd with something like
/etc/rc.d/init.d/inetd restart.

b) Setup bootp

You need to setup your /etc/bootptab file to contain:
alex3:hd=/usr/src/sgi/installfs:\
               :rp=/usr/src/sgi/installfs:\
               :ht=ethernet:\
               :ha=080069088717:\
               :ip=140.244.9.208:\
               :bf=vmlinux:\
               :sm=255.255.255.0:\
               :to=7200:

Here, alex3 is the name of the SGI host, 080069088717 is the mac address
of the SGI which you'll have to get from Irix, and 140.244.9.208 is the
address of the SGI/Linux box.  Modify to taste.

c) Setup root NFS permissions

Ensure that in your /etc/exports you have something like:
/usr/src/sgi/installfs 140.244.9.208(no_root_squash,rw)

d) copy all the files

Take all the installation files from
ftp.linux.sgi.com:/pub/redhat/redhat-5.1 and put them in
/usr/src/sgi/installfs.  Yes, you'll need to preserve permissions.

2. Configure your disks

With Irix tools, create an EFS partition on your Linux disk.  At this
point, a swap partition won't be recognized.  Yes, we're working on it.

3. Start the install

Alright.  This is the fun part.  Assuming all your bootp/tftp/nfs root
stuff is working properly, you should be able to just go into the command
monitor (boot manager) and go: 

boot bootp():/vmlinux

You should see the kernel load, and install should run.

4. The actual install

Just go through the dialog boxes. A few notes:

- any references to partitioning don't actually work
- you will see funny partitions when it asks you to set a mount point.  Do
actually set a mount point, though.  Remember that Irix has the concept of
volume headers, so you typically want to take the *first* and slightly
smaller partition for your / filesystem.
- ignore the dependancies errors, yes, we'll get to it too.
- you'll get a lot of warnings once the install starts saying:
"RPM install of diffutils failed: execution of script failed".  We're
working on it.  Just hit Ok.

5. Configure your kernel

Boot in Irix, then copy over vmlinux which is in
/usr/src/sgi/installfs/vmlinux to the / of your Irix filesystem.  Then,
from within the boot manager, you should be able to boot with:

boot vmlinux root=/dev/sdb1

Presto!

6. Last, but not least

Let us know if it worked!

Stuff that we're working on:

- Sorting out the problems with the installer not running the scripts.
  It's bloody annoying hitting return 50 times in the install.  rpm-devel
  is suspect so far.

- filling in the missing packages, including XFree86

- disk partitioning

- being able to install a kernel without having to have Irix around.

- swap partition support in the setup

- trim down the install filesystem, it is enormous

- creating a CREDITS file

---

From: Honza Pazdziora <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 1998 17:46:06 +0200 (MET DST)

> Let us know if it worked!

Great! It worked. I mean: it worked!

I've installed it from our mirror at ftp.fi.muni.cz to an old 300 MB
disk. After some fiddling with the ftp server to support tftp
correctly and after one crash with some message about signal 11
(caused by the disk, I believe) it's now installed and running.

Some comments out of my head:

The /usr/sbin/timeconfig failed in the menu -- it doesn't seem to be
present in the installfs -- shall I find and compile it?

I've set up root password in the menu but it wasn't there after
reboot -- not even /etc/passwd -- I had to boot init=/bin/bash.

I had to install gcc from RH 5.0.

Mkswap failed with segmantation fault -- shall I send the register
output? I will try to compile my own, but the machine is slow without
swap, and I need to compile ssh first to get reasonable remote access.
Once this is done, we might be able to provide ssh*.mips.rpm, if you
are interested.

It might be nice to put the notice about this 5.1 on the web, so that
people are directed to the new stuff -- even this, plain text announce
and instructions would be nice.

As I have the system on a disk, it's much happier and it starts to
look really reasonably. I will boot my machine to Linux and run the
compilations of ssh and linux-utils (for mkswap) overnight. If there
is anything I can compile/test/do to help you, please let me know.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Honza Pazdziora | [email-masked] | http://www.fi.muni.cz/~adelton/
                   I can take or leave it if I please
------------------------------------------------------------------------

---

From: Alex deVries <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 1998 12:07:58 -0400 (EDT)

> Great! It worked. I mean: it worked!

Wuhoo!

> present in the installfs -- shall I find and compile it?

I'll fix that right now... thanks.

> reboot -- not even /etc/passwd -- I had to boot init=/bin/bash.

Do you mean that /etc/passwd didn't exist at all?

> I had to install gcc from RH 5.0.

Yup. That's because I just forgot to put gcc in there altogether.  That'll
be fixed.

> Once this is done, we might be able to provide ssh*.mips.rpm, if you

Do you mean that mkswap segfaulted during install, or after?  I'll have a
closer look.  The util-linux we're using is a little old.

> and instructions would be nice.

Definitely.  I will do that, although I welcome any help with documenting
this.

We actually already have ssh on ftp.replay.com, IIRC.  I'm in the US
(sigh...) so I can't export it.

If you were interested, you could have a look at getting a util-linux RPM
up to version 2.8.  util-linux is a gross thing.

- Alex

---

From: Honza Pazdziora <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 1998 20:25:48 +0200 (MET DST)

> Do you mean that /etc/passwd didn't exist at all?

Right. I can repeat the installation from the scratch tomorrow and
have closer look at the other consoles. But neither passwd, nor shadow
existed.

> closer look.  The util-linux we're using is a little old.

I'm not sure what happened during install -- I just wanted to have it
done to see the real prompt ;-) But when I tried mkswap /dev/sdb2 on
the prompt, it said something about freeing free buffer? (or whatever)
and then gave register dump. Sorry, I'm at home and can't get to the
machine because sshd isn't running there yet, so I will send the exact
output tomorrow.

> (sigh...) so I can't export it.

No problem, I thing we can add mips.rpm to out ssh mirror.

> up to version 2.8.  util-linux is a gross thing.

OK, I'll try.

---

From: Tomi Leppikangas <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 1998 23:25:08 +0300 (EET DST)

Hi,

I tryed to install that new 5.1 redhad tonight, but installation
stops when selecting partitions, i cant make swap partition,
and installation wont continue without any swap.

I partitioned second disk in irix, and in boot linux finds it,
but both partitions are 'linux native', i cant change them to
'linux swap' becouse fdisk segfaults in installation. Should that
fdisk work? Could that segfault be becouse i have two disks, one 
id=0 and second id=3.

Any way to install it without swap? Or how to force sdb2
to be swap partition?

In that announcment posting there was 'copy all files from...',
i just copied "installfs.tgz" and untar it, is all files in that?

-- 
##        [email-masked]         ##
##  http://www.student.oulu.fi/~tomilepp/  ##

---

From: Alex deVries <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1998 20:28:12 -0400 (EDT)

> fdisk work? Could that segfault be becouse i have two disks, one 

As mentioned in the isntructions, all the partitioning needs to be done
from Irix.  Yes, we're working on this.

> Any way to install it without swap? Or how to force sdb2

There's a dialog box that asks you if you want to use swap; just say no.
There's swap problems right now.

> i just copied "installfs.tgz" and untar it, is all files in that?

Yup.

- Alex

---

From: Daniel Veillard <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 09:04:39 -0400

Alex,

 while creating the mirror of the distribution at:

     ftp://rufus.w3.org/linux/SGILinux/redhat-5.1/

I got the following errors:
-----
Failure on 'RETR etc/ioctl.save' command
Failed to get etc/ioctl.save: 550 etc/ioctl.save: Permission denied.
Failed to get file 550 etc/ioctl.save: Permission denied.
-----
Failure on 'RETR sbin/pam_filter/upperLOWER' command
Failed to get sbin/pam_filter/upperLOWER: 550 sbin/pam_filter/upperLOWER: Permission denied.
Failed to get file 550 sbin/pam_filter/upperLOWER: Permission denied.
-----
I also noticed a couple of .rpmorig files in /etc :-)

Daniel

-- 
[email-masked] | W3C  MIT/LCS  NE43-344  | Today's Bookmarks :
Tel : +1 617 253 5884  | 545 Technology Square   | Linux, WWW, rpm2html,
Fax : +1 617 258 5999  | Cambridge, MA 02139 USA | badminton, Kaffe,
http://www.w3.org/People/W3Cpeople.html#Veillard | HTTP-NG and Amaya.

---

From: Alex deVries <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 15:22:56 -0400 (EDT)

Alright, alright! After just one and a half weeks of complaints, I've
fixed the problem.

Clearly, the installation file system is a mess; I will sort that out for
Alpha 2.

... and I've now rebuilt all the RH 5.1 RPMs with proper dependancies.

- Alex

On Wed, 24 Jun 1998, Daniel Veillard wrote:

> Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 09:04:39 -0400
> From: Daniel Veillard <[email-masked]>
> To: Alex deVries <[email-masked]>
> Cc: [email-masked]
> Subject: Re: RedHat 5.1 (Manhattan) ALPHA 1 for SGI/Indys
> 
>   Alex,
>