linux-embedded: which shell, termcap or ncurses ?

linux-embedded: which shell, termcap or ncurses ?

[Brendan Simon]

I am trying to get a powerpc embedded system up and running.  I have
compiled the kernel and can mount a root filesystem using initrd or
nfs.  I now need to get a shell running so I can call shell scripts to
setup the IP addresses etc via ifconfig (is there any other way ?).

I got the latest version of bash(2.0.3) and ncurses(5.0).  Bash requires
termcap but apparently termcap is obsolete and is replaced by ncurses.

I had some trouble getting ncurses to cross-compile but I manged to hack
around with configure, make and the source code and eventually get it to
compile and install.  Bash is proving more difficult.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a good shell and termcap that
cross-compiles without too much effort ?  If so, where can I get them
and are they maintained ?

Has anyone cross-compiled a recent version of bash and ncurses ?  Are
they huge ?  Will they fit on a 4MB initrd image ?

Thanks,
Brendan Simon.


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Re: linux-embedded: which shell, termcap or ncurses ?

[Dan Malek]

Brendan Simon wrote:


> ... I now need to get a shell running so I can call shell scripts to
> setup the IP addresses etc via ifconfig (is there any other way ?).


Why don't you just use the binaries from a standard distribution?
I try to use as much of this as I can, and it seems to make the
job easier for me.



	-- Dan

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Re: linux-embedded: which shell, termcap or ncurses ?

[Brendan Simon]

Dan Malek wrote:

> Brendan Simon wrote:
>
> > ... I now need to get a shell running so I can call shell scripts to
> > setup the IP addresses etc via ifconfig (is there any other way ?).
>
> Why don't you just use the binaries from a standard distribution?
> I try to use as much of this as I can, and it seems to make the
> job easier for me.

I want to use Linux in a commercial product.  It's  a security product
and some of our clients require that the source code be available and
that all code can be maintained using a source configuration mangement
system.  All files must be compilable from the SCM using set procedures.
These requirements are part of an evaluation specification that we must
conform to.

I guess one could argue that the procedures would be to compile on a
powerpc machine and transfer the binaries.  At this stage it is not an
option but I will be getting a G4 server in January so life might be
easier.

I'd still prefer to be able to compile all the source for our product.

Brendan Simon.


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Re: linux-embedded: which shell, termcap or ncurses ?

[Scott Wood]

Brendan Simon wrote:

> I am trying to get a powerpc embedded system up and running.  I have
> compiled the kernel and can mount a root filesystem using initrd or
> nfs.  I now need to get a shell running so I can call shell scripts to
> setup the IP addresses etc via ifconfig (is there any other way ?).
> 
> I got the latest version of bash(2.0.3) and ncurses(5.0).  Bash requires
> termcap but apparently termcap is obsolete and is replaced by ncurses.
> 

You can still use an earlier 1.x version of bash which is linked to
libtermcap.
It will be much smaller and you probably don't need much functionality in
your 
shell if you're just setting up networking and running simple scripts.

> Has anyone cross-compiled a recent version of bash and ncurses ?  Are
> they huge ?  Will they fit on a 4MB initrd image ?

My bash, from the yellowdog distro, stripped, is about 400k.
If you're worried about space, strip all your binaries and libraries, 
and look at possibly using a more minimal shell like ash.

> 
> Thanks,
> Brendan Simon.

-- 
Scott Wood

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