path: root/release/INSTALL-binary

-*- Text -*-
Instructions for bootstrapping the Hurd from binary images (i386).
Last updated 13 July 1996

This directory contains i386 binaries for the Hurd and various
programs built to run under it.  All program binaries are stripped to
save disk space; the installed libraries have the debugging
information stripped to speed linking.

See the file SOURCES to see where each package came from.  Remember
that you must adhere to the GNU General Public License and the GNU
Library General Public when distributing this binary snapshot.  See
/share/misc/COPYING and /share/misc/COPYING.LIB for copies of these
licenses. 

If you have noticed that these steps are rather long and a bit too
complex, you are right.  But we didn't want to delay the release just
in order to make the installation prettier.  You can rest assured,
however: Making it prettier and easier is one of our more important
priorities. 



STEP I:

Fetch the file `grub-boot.image' from the FTP site.  It should be
in the same directory as the Hurd binary image tar file.  Copy this
file onto a fresh floppy with the command:
  dd if=grub-boot.image of=/dev/fd0 bs=512
This is your `grub boot floppy', referred to below.

Unpack the binary distribution onto a fresh disk partition, which needs
to be BSD FFS format.  The boot loader we use (GRUB) does not yet
understand how to boot from a Linux ext2fs filesystem, though this is
expected to change very soon.

Ideally, you should make a new disk, labelling it with the BSD
`disklabel' command.  Make sure you leave cylinder 0 unused; the A
partition should start at cylinder 1.

Make the A partition large enough to hold the entire Hurd binary
image, and then some, and make a B partition for swap.  Use newfs to
make a filesystem on the A partition, mount it, and extract the entire
Hurd image into it.

If you do not have a system running BSD, you can fetch the NetBSD
install floppies and do this step using them.  (You do not need to
install NetBSD itself.)  See the instruction subroutine labelled
`Installing from NetBSD boot floppies' and follow them.

We plan to have our own boot floppies soon, which will make this all a
fair bit easier.



STEP II:

You might need to change the device on which paging is done.  This is
done in a file in the Hurd partition called `boot/servers.boot', on
the line which looks like:

  /dev/sd0b $(add-paging-file) $(default-pager)

`sd0b' is the paging device.  Replace this with the correct device
name (this is a mach partition name), or comment out the line if you
don't want paging.  Note that you don't have to do anything to
initialize swap partitions, unlike Linux.



STEP III:

You can now boot the Hurd.  Boot the grub boot floppy.  When the menu
comes up, select one of the single user boot commands, depending on
whether you have a SCSI disk (sd0) or an IDE type disk (hd0).  If you
put the Hurd on something other than partition `a', then you will need
to edit the boot commands appropriately before booting.  (Editing the
commands using grub only affects what you boot that time, it does not
affect what the floppy does the next time you boot it.)

Mach should load, and then the Hurd should start, saying something like:

   Hurd server bootstrap: ufs exec init proc auth.
   Single-user bootstrap: term sh.
   bash# 



STEP IV:

When GNU boots the first time, you might see some confusing messages,
and you may notice that pipes don't work.

In order to set up the translators for this to be a fully functional
Hurd system, say

  /bin/sh /SETUP

This will set up some initial translators so that the system runs
normally, and then offer to reboot the system.  When it comes back up,
boot it single-user again, so that you can do step V. 

NOTE: Do NOT RUN BSD FSCK on a Hurd FFS!
  
  (Hurd partitions, especially the root partition, may have filesystem
  extensions that BSD does not know about.  Most of these are ignored
  by the BSD kernel and filesystem tools.  One of them, `passive
  translators' (a/k/a non-transient mounts), is not understood by the
  BSD fsck.  If you run the BSD fsck on a Hurd partition with such
  translators, things might fail *massively*.  The Hurd version of
  fsck does not, of course, have any such problem.

  (The Hurd root partition needs to have such translators installed in
  order to work correctly.  Other partitions don't; the filesystems
  support compat options to prevent the use of Hurd filesystem
  extensions.)



STEP V:

If you want to be able to boot this disk without using the floppy each
time, then run the script /INSTALL-GRUB-MBR; give it the arg the name
of your disk without any partition.  Something like

/INSTALL-GRUB-MBR sd0

is called for.

The menu that grub provides is found in /boot/grub/menu.lst.  You can
edit that file to change what options the menu provides.  (You can
change the one on the floppy by mounting the filesystem it contains
and editing the file there.)



STEP VI:

Now you have a Hurd system.  But in order to make it fully usable, do
the following:


*** make devices
cd to /dev and make devices.

Say `MAKEDEV dev1 dev2 dev3 ...'.

Supported devices are:
  o any hard disk device you have; you must specify both unit number *and*
     partition.  Something like `sd0a' or `rd1f' is called for.
  o floppy disk drives, give something like `fd0' or `fd1'.

For hardwired terminals, MAKEDEV doesn't know how to do it yet.  To
create /dev/tty00, where `tty00' is the Mach device name for the
terminal, do

settrans -c /dev/tty00 /hurd/term /dev/tty00 device tty00



*** setup network

If you want to use the network, set it up thus:
    
     settrans /servers/socket/2 \
	/hurd/pfinet --interface=eth0 --address=NN.NN.NN.NN \
                     --gateway=GG.GG.GG.GG --netmask=MM.MM.MM.MM

where NN.NN.NN.NN is your IP address (not hostname, IP address).  GG.GG.GG.GG
is the address of an IP gateway, and MM.MM.MM.MM the netmask for the local
subnet.  If your host is isolated, then you can omit the gateway, and the
netmask argument is optional if you don't use subnetting.

Pfinet currently only supports a single active interface.  Parameters may be
changed while pfinet is running by using fsysopts, e.g.:

     fsysopts /servers/socket/2 --netmask=MM.MM.MM.MM

Make sure you edit /etc/resolv.conf and/or /etc/hosts for the
nameserver to work properly. 



*** mount partitions

You can mount a partition (say hd0a) by saying:

     settrans /mnt /hurd/ufs /dev/rhd0a

The name `/dev/rhd0a' must have been created using `./MAKEDEV hd0a'.

(This is equivalent to Unixy `mount /dev/hd0a /mnt'.)

(Note that you are using the *RAW* device here.  In theory, it's
irrelevant [and this is really only being used to get a name in a
clever but strange way], but there are minor bugs in the non-raw
versions, so don't try and use them.)
   
If it's a Linux ext2 format disk, just do

  settrans /mnt /hurd/ext2fs /dev/rhd0a

You can make it readonly thus:

  settrans /mnt /hurd/ufs -r /dev/rhd0a

For more information on settrans, see the end of this file.


*** mount nfs

NFS mounts, not surprisingly, are done thus:

  settrans /mnt /hurd/nfs /remote/file/system remote.host.org

(You may also use the host:fs and fs@host notations if you prefer.)
NFS supports many options; use `/hurd/nfs --help' to see them all.


*** edit configuration files

Edit the password file (/etc/passwd) appropriately.

Add any serial lines you have terminals on to /etc/ttys.

Set your hostname with `echo foo.bar.baz > /etc/hostname'.  This will
then be permanent until you change the file.

Edit /etc/fstab according to the disk mounts you've installed; this
will control which partitions `df' prints and which partitions get
`fsck' run for them at boot time.

Edit /etc/hosts if you want to.

Edit resolv.conf to provide for name service appropriate to your
location. 


Once you've completed these steps, you can reboot the system multi
user.  Enjoy!




MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:

Fscking:

/sbin/fsck is a wrapper that invokes filesystem-specific backend programs for
each particular type of filesystem; these backends do the actual work (they
can be found in the same directory, with names like /sbin/fsck.ufs and
/sbin/fsck.ext2).

/sbin/fsck will currently only work with filesystems that have entries in the
file `/etc/fstab'; for those, it will try to be intelligent about making
active filesystems readonly before fscking them, and telling them to
incorporate any changes that result (the backend fsck programs do not know
anything about active filesystems).  However, it is up to the user to make
sure that /etc/fstab accurately reflects reality.

/etc/fstab is the same as in most unix systems -- any filesystems that are
there and have a non-zero pass number will be automatically fscked during a
multi-user boot.

You'll certainly want to make an entry in /etc/fstab for the device that
corresponds to your root filesystem (and make a device entry for it using
MAKEDEV, as described above).


GDB:

The version of gdb included in this release has various features not used by
most systems, in particular, the `thread' and `info thread' commands.

The Hurd gdb can also debug running programs without halting them, which is
useful to debug crucial system servers that can't be stopped without wedging
the system.  To do this, give the commands `set task pause off', `set
exceptions off', and `set signals off', before attaching to the process.  Of
course, gdb may get confused because data structures are changing underneath
it, but this generally works pretty well.

The `portinfo' program is also very useful for debugging.


SETTRANS:

In all these cases, note that all the args after `/mnt' are a command
line being sent to the filesystem program when it starts.  The syntax
of settrans is:

  settrans [settrans-option-args] file command-line

settrans itself also supports several args.  (Use settrans --help for a
summary.)  To see the args supported by a ufs or ext2fs, say `/hurd/ufs
--help' or `/hurd/ext2fs --help'.  Once a filesystem is running, some options
may be changed at runtime using the `fsysopts FSYS' command, where FSYS is
the mount point (note that there is currently no easy way of finding out
which ones).

The mounts created this way are not transient--they will last across
reboots, being recorded directly on disk.  To get rid of one, say:
`settrans /mnt' with no further args.  The command `showtrans /mnt'
will show you where it's at right now.  However, note that to have them
automatically fscked, you'll have to make entries in /etc/fstab (see
`fscking', above).

You probably want to add all such mounts to fstab, so that the
relevant disks are checked with fsck automatically on reboot, and so
that programs like `df' know of them.

A temporary mount (which lasts only until the filesystem program is
killed or the system is rebooted) can be accomplished by giving the -a
option to settrans thus: `settrans -a /mnt /hurd/ufs /dev/rsd0a'.
(Note the placement of this option, as an arg to settrans, is
different from the -r options you might give to the filesystem.)
`showtrans' does not display these temporary mounts.


CRASH SERVER:

When programs get fatal signals in the Hurd, they call the "crash
server".  Right now, the crash server suspends the program, and the
rest of its process group.

At that point, if you resume the program, it will exit.  But you can
also attach a debugger to it, and all it's current dynamic state will
still be there.

If you would rather have crashing programs just exit, and not suspend,
then disable the crash server by saying `settrans /servers/crash'.
You can always reenable it later, if you like, by typing the command
`settrans /servers/crash /hurd/crash'.  

Core dumps are not yet supported.




Subroutine: Installing from NetBSD boot floppies

If you do not have a system running BSD, the NetBSD 2-floppy install
set contains enough tools to make a new filesystem using newfs and
copy to it from nfs.  You can fetch these floppies from ftp.netbsd.org
in the directory /pub/NetBSD/arch/i386/floppies.  The NetBSD install
script will start automatically when you boot from the floppies, and
we suggest you use it in order to partition and set up your disk.

Here are detailed instructions for this step, assuming you are using
NetBSD boot floppies, and you have the Hurd binary snapshot unpacked
somewhere accessible via nfs.  It is assumed here that your machine's
network address is MY-ADDR and that the nfs server's address is
SERVER-ADDR.  The nfs mountpoint on the server is presumed to be
SERVER-DIR.  (MY-ADDR and SERVER-ADDR should be IP addresses in dot
notation, not hostnames.)  Your server and your new machine need to be
on the same network.
      
If you installing this way, you probably want to do STEP II first,
because your nfs server probably has more convenient editors than the
NetBSD boot floppies.  The boot floppies have only ed.

A.  Fetch the netbsd boot floppies from
    ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/arch/i386/floppies.  Put the
    images onto floppy disks using the instructions found on the FTP
    site. 

B.  Boot the `kernel' floppy, and switch to the `filesystem' floppy
    when instructed.

C.  Proceed through the NetBSD automated installation script.
    When you are asked if you want to view the boot messages again, 
    say yes.  Then answer the disk geometry questions correctly,
    copying from what was printed at boot time.

D.  Tell the script that you want to use cylinders, not sectors,
    in specifying sizes.

E.  VERY IMPORTANT: Make the size of your `NetBSD' portion one
    cylinder less than the total amount listed.  If the script 
    tells you that you have 3045 cylinders, then say you want the
    NetBSD portion to be 3044 cylinders long.

F.  VERY IMPORTANT: Tell the script that your `NetBSD' portion
    should start at cylinder 1.  Not 0.  1.

G.  Then allocate however much disk you want to your root partition
    and to your swap partition.  The root partition must be big
    enough to hold the entire Hurd binary snapshot; it is strongly
    recommended that you make it a fair bit bigger than that.  It is
    quite satisfactory to use only one filesystem partition in the
    Hurd. 

H.  If you specify partitions beyond the root partition and swap,
    the script will ask you for a `mount point'.  Type anything you
    like, it won't matter.

I.  Affirm to the over-eagerly questioning script that you really do
    want to smash your disk.  NetBSD will proceed to create
    filesystems on all the partitions you specified in I.G-H.

J.  When the script says "populating ..." hit ^C.  You are now done
    with the script.
    
K.  cd to /mnt.  For each mount point that was gratuitously created
    in step I.H, say `umount NAME'.  Then say `rm -rf * .*'.  Make
    sure you are really in /mnt.  This will delete whatever NetBSD
    has put on your new partition.

L.  Initialize the network with `ifconfig DEV MY-ADDR'.  DEV was
    printed by the kernel when it booted; type `more /kern/msgbuf'
    if you want to see those messages again.  (Sometimes ifconfig
    says that something is "offline".  Ignore it.)

M.  Mount the NFS server partition with the conveniente command
    `mount SERVER-ADDR:SERVER-DIR /mnt2'.

N.  Copy the Hurd onto your disk with the command 
    (cd /mnt2; tar cf - .) | (cd mnt; tar xfpv -)

O.  If you haven't done STEP II yet, then do it now; otherwise go on
    to STEP III.