[ELDK] ELDK questions (compared to Emdebian)

[Wolfgang Denk]

Dear Brendan,

in message <49D2ABD7.7030706 at etrix.com.au> you wrote:
> 
> I read that ELDK is based on Fedora 7 packages.
> Does that mean that the target system will be a true Fedora 7 system ?

No. ELDK is a distribution for Embedded Systems based on Fedora
packages.

> Does that mean it requires things like perl (eg. for adduser from 
> coreutils) ??

ELDK provides such packages, but it does not  require  these.  In  an
embedded  system  there  is  usually no need for "adduser" at all, so
ELDK does not require it. It is you who defines the  minimum  set  of
tools in the root file system. In the extreme, you just have a single
application binary which gets started as init process...

> Do I have to run any kind of second-stage script on the target system to 
> complete the contents of the rootfs ???

No, you don;t. You can build a root file system, install it on the
target, and boot from it.

> If I install ELDK _once_, can I create multiple rootfs images with 
> different packages ??

Yes, of course youc an do that. 

But note that ELDk usually does not install "packages" on the target
(you could do that, but for most embedded systems it would just be
avoidable overhead); you install selected files only.

> eg. on the same hardware I may want to create an embedded web server 
> rootfs, or a media player, or a robot controller.
> 
> They require vastly different rootfs contents for each application.
> So can I create those different images from the one ELDK installation, 
> or do I have to install ELDK multiple times for each project ???

A single installation of ELDK is sufficient to do this.

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
Quantum Mechanics is God's version of "Trust me."