From: Andrew Walrond <andrew@...>
Date: 2004-02-02T08:57:24+09:00
Subject: Re: Rubyx (linux distro created using ruby) - Bootstrap volunteers required

1) Download and install a stable ruby snapshot newer than 2004-01-14
(Rubyx hits some bugs in ruby 1.8.1 which have been fixed in recent stable 
snapshots)

2) Register, download and install bitkeeper from
	http://www.bitmover.com/cgi-bin/download.cgi

3) Clone a local copy of rubyx
	bk clone bk://bk.rubyx.org/rubyx
	cd rubyx
	bk -r co

4) Make sure you have unrar installed and in your path. (All rubyx sources are 
maximally rar compressed to reduce download time. Its better even than bz2)

5) Take a look around. rubyx is the main deal, init is the ruby init script 
and the package build instructions are in packages/.

Now if you run './rubyx' you should see something like:

Rubyx andrew@atlas|rubyx|20040201205716|03969

    --rd/root-dir          path
    --cf/configure         group|package <attrib 'setting'> ...
    --in/install           group|package ...
    --up/upgrade           group|package ...
    --re/reinstall         group|package ...
    --un/uninstall         group|package ...
    --cl/clean

    --tp/target-processor  <cpu>

    --bj/build-jobs        <###>
    --mj/make-jobs         <###>
    --sp/source-path       path

    --rf/read-file         filename
    --ef/expand-file       filename

    --md/make-devices
    --nd/no-download
    --nb/no-build
    --nk/no-keep
    --io/include-options
    --rt/run-tests
    --di/distributed
    --sd/strip-debug
    --vb/verbose

    --qg/query-group       <pattern>
    --qp/query-package     <pattern>

    --cd/check-dependancies

Now you'll need an empty partition (or just a directory if you like) to 
bootstrap rubyx into. 2Gb should be ample. Eg /my/rubyx/rootdir

Next, pick a rubyx supported vanilla kernel (2.4.20-24, 2.6.0-1) and create 
a .config file for it (unpack the source then do make menuconfig). If you're 
already running a supported kernel, just take a copy of your current .config 
file. Eg linux-2.4.24.config

Ok, we're almost ready to start the bootstrap. Here is the commandline; I've 
split it over several lines for clarity, but they should all be one line when 
you run it. You can also use the short options for brevity (see above)

./rubyx
	--root-dir /my/rubyx/rootdir
	--configure linux version 2.4.24 config --read-file linux-2.4.20.config
	--target-processor pentium3
	--build-jobs 1
	--make-jobs 2
	--make-devices
	--install All

The first line says where to bootstrap the distro.
The second line chooses linux 2.4.24 and reads your .config file
--target-processor selects a cpu. './rubyx --tp' will show you a list
--build-jobs sets the maximum number of packages that will be built in 
parallel. 1 is good for a slow machine with limited ram. Increase to taste :)
--make-jobs option selects the max number of make threads allowed on each 
package build (like doing make -j#). 2 is a good minimum.
--make-devices will populate the /dev directory. You don't need to do this if 
you would be using devfs or udev
--install All installs all available packages. Note the capital 'A' in All. 
individual packages start with lower case (eg samba). Groups start with a 
Capital (eg All Net, Disk, Server, Workstation, Development)

Try it. You'll get an error with some instructions on howto setup a bitkeeper 
authority file. You'll only have to do this once

Try it again. This time, all being well, a full blooded rubyx distro will 
begin to take shape. If not, well, thats why I wanted some testing :)

Andrew