[ELDK] Creating small target rootfs in DENX

[Wolfgang Denk]

In message <B7BC4CB64CA090478F283BA589292737175F79 at abtg-mail.ambientcorp.com> you wrote:
> By the way, how was the root fs in the SELF package generated?   Were
> the files just hand picked from the larger distribution, or is there
> some sort of  process that does it?

Well, the SELF source RPM (more precisely, the .spec file) shows
exactly how it gets done. The files were selected manually.

> It's too bad that there isn't a package with just the minimal set of
> library objects that you need for a small distribution.   The

Well, I still think that SELF is a pretty good starting point. We use
it as the base for the root file system in many projects.

> from Fedora?).   If there were an RPM that just contained the basic
> glibc library, I think you could generate an acceptable target rootfs by
> just generating your device files and installing a few RPMs.

Installing RPM's makes no sense here - it will just bloat  your  root
file  system  with zillions of files you never need, and it will show
dependencies and require installation of additional  RPMs  you  never
dremed of.

As I wrote before: you should really understand in detail which  file
you  add,  and why you need it. This is a boring job, but you have to
do it once, and you will end up with file systyems that are much more
efficient (in terms of memory footprint, boot time, etc.)  than  what
you see elsewhere.


We discussed this topic internally today, and decided  that  we  will
release  our  RFSB  (Root  File System Builder) to the public without
further delay. We know very well that it's not  a  perfect  tool  nor
even  close  to production quality, but maybe there is some community
to pick it up...

Stay tuned...

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

-- 
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
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