Re: Bootstrapping a Linux domU from scratch in a NetBSD dom0

[Harold Gutch <logix%foobar.franken.de@localhost>]

On Thu, Apr 05, 2007 at 07:23:58AM -0500, david l goodrich wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 05, 2007 at 12:38:33AM +0200, Harold Gutch wrote:
> > 
> > this actually isn't really NetBSD-related, but I could imagine that
> > some people on this list might find this interesting - also, I believe
> > that the goal is easier to achieve in a Linux dom0, so the main
> > audience probably actually are people running a NetBSD dom0.
> > 
> > Anyway, I wrote up a guide dealing with the problem of getting a Linux
> > domU up and running given a NetBSD dom0, without having to clone an
> > existing Linux-installation.  You rather create a Debian-installation
> > completely from scratch, without needing an existing Linux
> > installation or even (any) access to a Linux box at all.
> > 
> > Well, here's the URL.  Have fun with it, and I'm always open to
> > comments etc. on it:
> > 
> >   http://www.gutch.de/NetBSD/docs/xen.html
> > 
> > 
> 
> I have two stupid questions:
>  1) what is 'ar' (ar p $i data.tar.gz | tar xzf -) and where can
>     I get it?

'ar' is the GNU archive tool - just think of it as "something like
tar".  It's part of the GNU binutils, so it comes with NetBSD per
default (uhm - that is, you might need to have selected the compiler
set "comp.tgz" when installing NetBSD).  In a normal, full NetBSD
installation you will find it as /usr/bin/ar.  I think, later on, "ar"
is the only reason that I need the whole binutils .deb file in the
first (manual) download phase, as debootstrap uses it to unpack the
.deb files it itself downloads.


>  2) and the problem with every linux domU howto, where do I
>     actually find vmlinuz-2.6.11.12-xenU?

On Thu, Apr 05, 2007 at 07:25:32AM -0500, david l goodrich wrote:
> Gah!  Disregard the kernel question - I skimmed over "You can
> find the Linux kernel mentioned in this file in the distfile for
> pkgsrc/sysutils/xenkernel20"

I actually really didn't address this when I announced the guide, and
only added it a few hours ago.  I only realized this when somebody
else asked the question.


> I told you the questions were stupid :]

Not at all.  They're valuable comments that give me feedback in what's
not so clear in my Howto - which I obviously don't see anymore, since
I've dealt with a whole lot more problems when starting the whole
thing to begin with.


> Thanks, Harold.  It's an excellent HOWTO.

Thanks, nice to see that people find it useful :).


bye,
  Harold