[Buildroot] targetting buildroot at vmware

[Buildroot] targetting buildroot at vmware

[Joe Pruett]

i haven't found any obvious hits on the web yet, but it seems like this 
shouldn't be too hard.  i want to make a very small vmware image using 
buildroot.  has anyone else done this and have suggestions?  i figure i'll 
just start with defaults for 386 and see where i get...

[Buildroot] targetting buildroot at vmware

[Bernhard Fischer]

On Mon, Dec 11, 2006 at 09:45:36PM -0800, Joe Pruett wrote:
>i haven't found any obvious hits on the web yet, but it seems like this 
>shouldn't be too hard.  i want to make a very small vmware image using 
>buildroot.  has anyone else done this and have suggestions?  i figure i'll 
>just start with defaults for 386 and see where i get...

There is no difference whether you build a rootfs for real hardware or
for any simulator, be it vmware, bochs, plex86, qemu, you-name-it). Just
build your rootfs, install a bootloader into an empty "disk" (you'd
normally use a file for this) and put your rootfs into a partition on
your "disk". Boot and enjoy.

[Buildroot] targetting buildroot at vmware

[Ulf Samuelsson]

> On Mon, Dec 11, 2006 at 09:45:36PM -0800, Joe Pruett wrote:
>>i haven't found any obvious hits on the web yet, but it seems like this 
>>shouldn't be too hard.  i want to make a very small vmware image using 
>>buildroot.  has anyone else done this and have suggestions?  i figure i'll 
>>just start with defaults for 386 and see where i get...
> 
> There is no difference whether you build a rootfs for real hardware or
> for any simulator, be it vmware, bochs, plex86, qemu, you-name-it). Just
> build your rootfs, install a bootloader into an empty "disk" (you'd
> normally use a file for this) and put your rootfs into a partition on
> your "disk". Boot and enjoy.

I think he wants to create a complete disk for VMware, 
and I believe that is it not possible.
Once a complete disk is available, the file system created in 
VMware can be copied to the disk.


Best Regards
Ulf Samuelsson 

[Buildroot] targetting buildroot at vmware

[Bernhard Fischer]

On Tue, Dec 12, 2006 at 12:56:14PM +0100, Ulf Samuelsson wrote:
>> On Mon, Dec 11, 2006 at 09:45:36PM -0800, Joe Pruett wrote:
>>>i haven't found any obvious hits on the web yet, but it seems like this 
>>>shouldn't be too hard.  i want to make a very small vmware image using 
>>>buildroot.  has anyone else done this and have suggestions?  i figure i'll 
>>>just start with defaults for 386 and see where i get...
>> 
>> There is no difference whether you build a rootfs for real hardware or
>> for any simulator, be it vmware, bochs, plex86, qemu, you-name-it). Just
>> build your rootfs, install a bootloader into an empty "disk" (you'd
>> normally use a file for this) and put your rootfs into a partition on
>> your "disk". Boot and enjoy.
>
>I think he wants to create a complete disk for VMware, 
>and I believe that is it not possible.

As long as you can cnofigure vmware to use file as disk or partition it
certainly is possible.
I regularly use qemu to boot a file that acts as disc-image, including
grub as a bootloader etc. If vmware doesn't support using a file as disk
or a spare partition, then bug vmware. It's a commercial program, AFAIK.

>Once a complete disk is available, the file system created in 
>VMware can be copied to the disk.

create a file, partition it, format the partitions. Install a bootloader
if you want (qemu can also boot a given kernel/initrd, so that's
optional) and untar the rootfs on it. Done, no magic involved :)

qemu is free software and may also work on windows or BSD-apple, so just
use that instead of vmware.

HTH,

[Buildroot] targetting buildroot at vmware

[Joe Pruett]

> >> There is no difference whether you build a rootfs for real hardware or
> >> for any simulator, be it vmware, bochs, plex86, qemu, you-name-it). Just
> >> build your rootfs, install a bootloader into an empty "disk" (you'd
> >> normally use a file for this) and put your rootfs into a partition on
> >> your "disk". Boot and enjoy.
> >
> >I think he wants to create a complete disk for VMware, 
> >and I believe that is it not possible.
> 
> As long as you can cnofigure vmware to use file as disk or partition it
> certainly is possible.
> I regularly use qemu to boot a file that acts as disc-image, including
> grub as a bootloader etc. If vmware doesn't support using a file as disk
> or a spare partition, then bug vmware. It's a commercial program, AFAIK.
> 
> >Once a complete disk is available, the file system created in 
> >VMware can be copied to the disk.
> 
> create a file, partition it, format the partitions. Install a bootloader
> if you want (qemu can also boot a given kernel/initrd, so that's
> optional) and untar the rootfs on it. Done, no magic involved :)
> 
> qemu is free software and may also work on windows or BSD-apple, so just
> use that instead of vmware.

i am also looking for info about tweaks i might need to make to get 
networking, disks, etc to work.  i currently ran into the same limits.h 
issue i see being talked about on the list.  i'm going to try again with 
non-snapshot versions.

i have looked at qemu, but i think vmware is more amenable to my desires.