Re: Generic manual install instructions for CVS version?

Scott Walters wrote:
> Hi John,
>
> "Fiendishly difficult" does change my strategy for the moment, but I'm still
> curious what goes into converting a system to run OpenSSI.  Obviously, one
> man's curiosity doesn't justify the work involved in someone actually typing
> that up.  A rough overview might be fun in the unlikely case that you're
> bored.
>
> bash-3.1$ ps ax | grep -e udev -e hal
> bash-3.1$ 
>
> No problem there.
>   
On my OpenSSI system:

$ dpkg -l | grep '\.ssi' | wc -l
33

Most (all?) OpenSSI modified packages get ".ssi" in the version field.

Of course there are fewer source packages than that, but still quite a few.

What gets modified in an OpenSSI system and why?

   1. The kernel - gets the ci (cluster interconnect), vproc (cross node
      proc access), cfs (cluster filesystem), clusterised ipc
      (semaphores, shared memory and queues), clusterised unix domain
      sockets, clusterised IP.
   2. The bootup sequence - the init node has to boot up and start init,
      other nodes have to connect to the init node.
   3. Various system daemons and utilities have to be modified for a
      cluster environment - should we start one copy that works for all
      nodes, or should each node have its own copy.

> My strategy for the moment is to snapshot FC3 before and after the package
> install and dig through the diffs and use that to gauge to the scope of work
> involved in a one-off Slackware conversion.  Hardware is dedicated to the 
> task, and I'm not afraid of broken eggs >=)
>   
I cannot over-emphasise the usefulness of kvm/qemu for the process of
developing and debugging the OpenSSI kernel and iniramdisk stuff - there
is little more dispiriting than making one of the many stupid errors
that can make your system unbootable.
> I might just settle on the FC3 rpms, but I thought taking a stab at this
> would be fun.
>   
The hardest bit will probably be the initial ramdisk.  Once you've got
that going everything else is just one little hack at a time.
> Thank you very much for your comments, and please pardon my unsolicited
> elaboration.
>   
No problemo.


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