Creating rootfs

Creating rootfs

[Jeff Angielski]

So how are people creating the rootfs for their embedded target these
days?  Busybox?  PTX?  Strip down some existing filesystem?

I have an opportunity to start "fresh" with our current rootfs and could
not find anything definitive when google-ing for solutions.  So I am
curious to hear what the rest of the community is using.


Jeff Angielski

Re: Creating rootfs

[Dan Malek]

On Oct 11, 2004, at 1:22 PM, Jeff Angielski wrote:

> So how are people creating the rootfs for their embedded target these
> days?  Busybox?  PTX?  Strip down some existing filesystem?

Those are the solutions, choose whatever works best for you.
Some commercial distributions have tools for creating a file
system that meets the requirements of the applications.

> I have an opportunity to start "fresh" with our current rootfs and 
> could
> not find anything definitive when google-ing for solutions.

The methods are as you described above.  The results are as
varied as the embedded systems upon which they are used.


	-- Dan

Re: Creating rootfs

[Jon Masters]

On Mon, 11 Oct 2004 14:42:40 -0400, Dan Malek <dan@embeddededge.com> wrote:
> 
> On Oct 11, 2004, at 1:22 PM, Jeff Angielski wrote:
> 
> > So how are people creating the rootfs for their embedded target these
> > days?  Busybox?  PTX?  Strip down some existing filesystem?

[ This wants to go to linuxppc-embedded from now on. ]

I use PTXdist but with a crosstool generated toolchain at the moment.
I then package up stuff that isn't in PTXdist - but you could
experiment with embedded Debian et al.

> Those are the solutions, choose whatever works best for you.

There's a whole bunch of distributions out there too. However rolling
your own is the best bet for a small filesystem if you're not buying
commercial tools at this point. Otherwise, go pay Monta, DENX, or one
of the other embedded developer supporting companies for a flashy
solution.

Jon.

Re: Creating rootfs

[Wolfgang Denk]

In message <35fb2e59041011151463b2a4bf@mail.gmail.com> you wrote:
>
> There's a whole bunch of distributions out there too. However rolling
> your own is the best bet for a small filesystem if you're not buying
> commercial tools at this point. Otherwise, go pay Monta, DENX, or one
> of the other embedded developer supporting companies for a flashy
> solution.

Just for the record: our solutions are available  for  free.  All  of
them. You pay DENX for professional services (which may result in new
solutions, which in turn will be available for free).

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

-- 
Software Engineering:  Embedded and Realtime Systems,  Embedded Linux
Phone: (+49)-8142-4596-87  Fax: (+49)-8142-4596-88  Email: wd@denx.de
At the source of every error which is blamed on the computer you will
find at least two human errors, including the error of blaming it  on
the computer.

Re: Creating rootfs

[Jon Masters]

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Wolfgang Denk wrote:

| In message <35fb2e59041011151463b2a4bf@mail.gmail.com> you wrote:
|
|>There's a whole bunch of distributions out there too. However rolling
|>your own is the best bet for a small filesystem if you're not buying
|>commercial tools at this point. Otherwise, go pay Monta, DENX, or one
|>of the other embedded developer supporting companies for a flashy
|>solution.

| Just for the record: our solutions are available  for  free.

Sorry if it sounded any different.

| You pay DENX for professional services (which may result in new
| solutions, which in turn will be available for free).

That's what I was getting at. The important thing is to get people who
have budgets to spend, to do so with folks that are doing something useful.

Jon.

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Re: Creating rootfs

[Marc Leeman]

> commercial tools at this point. Otherwise, go pay Monta, DENX, or one
> of the other embedded developer supporting companies for a flashy
> solution.

The MV solution is neither small nor flashy.  The filesystem is too
large and contains relatively much crud. If you use it as a
development environment, you can use it as a starting point, but I
would not recommend for a final solution.

If you know what you are doing, roll your own distribution, if you
have little GNU/Linux experience, you can use commercial embedded
distrib vendors. Of course, if you ask unbiassed vendor advice, they
will always claim that you _need_ their distrib (mainly because of
reasons which have little to do with technical ones).

I would recommend crosscompiling your toolchain (e.g. makeroot) and
start from there. There are also several good howtos for debian based
packages.

--=20
ash nazg durbatul=FBk, ash nazg gimbatul,
ash nazg thrakatul=FBk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul

Re: Creating rootfs

[Marius Groeger]

On Mon, 11 Oct 2004, Jeff Angielski wrote:

> So how are people creating the rootfs for their embedded target these
> days?  Busybox?  PTX?  Strip down some existing filesystem?
>
> I have an opportunity to start "fresh" with our current rootfs and could
> not find anything definitive when google-ing for solutions.  So I am
> curious to hear what the rest of the community is using.

For the records, see my_signature->urls[1] for what I'm using. Feel 
free to PM me for details.

Note that I'm biased. :-)

Regards,
Marius

-- 
Marius Groeger <mgroeger@sysgo.com>
SYSGO AG                      Embedded and Real-Time Software
Voice: +49 6136 9948 0                  FAX: +49 6136 9948 10
www.sysgo.com | www.elinos.com | www.osek.de | www.imerva.com