[Hosting] Ben's chroot tip

[Ed Hill]

Ben, you *ROCK* !!!

Thank you *SO MUCH* for describing that gem of a trick!!!  Thats
such a sweet solution to a nagging development annoyance...  I've
been keeping a separate box with RH 6.2 hanging around just because
a particular C++ code I need will *only* compile with the egcs
version that shipped with that distro.  Template and library issues
have prevented compilation with both the RH gcc "2.96" and with
current releases of gcc 3.x.  Complicated C++ template code and libs
containing them are a b*tch, and I was a fool to use them so much...
Live and learn...

Anyway, thanks again for the tip!!!  I'm busy setting this up on my
laptop right now!  ;-)

Ed


Benjamin Reed wrote:

> 
> Yup, doesn't matter what the hosting distribution is, as long as you
> have a 2.4 kernel (because of multiple-mount issues).  The way our
> build box is set up is it hsa a huge /opt/distros directory that I
> put everything in, and then I have a small (2-gig) partition for doing
> new installs.  So I just install the distro (debian, redhat, whatever)
> and let it do everything it wants with that 2-gig partition, then I
> boot back into the host OS and cp -a the whole darn tree into
> /opt/distros/<distro_name>.  Voila, another OS to build with.  =)
> 
> Also, in response to the user-mode linux thing, I actually worked on
> setting that up for this, before realizing the chroot thing is way
> easier.  There are some issues with networking under UML that make it
> kind of a pain to work with.  Not only that, but you have to boot the
> OS inside each tree with UML.  Easier to chroot, especially since
> services aren't much of an issue when you're using for builds.
> Libraries and other files are the real issue.
> 
> And yes, I'd be happy to help set it up...  It's just a matter of
> installing every distro you want and copying it into a directory.
> 
> 



-- 
Edward H. Hill III, PhD
Post-Doctoral Researcher    |  Emails:   <ed.a.t.eh3.com>, <ehill.a.t.mines.edu>
Division of ESE             |  URL:      http://www.eh3.com
Colorado School of Mines    |  Phone:    303-273-3483
Golden, CO  80401           |  Fax:      303-273-3311