Hello, > > What is the vision for the root file-system build? I assume that > > everyone is familiar with uclibc's BuildRoot. Should we make something > > like that? Does it fit into the Debian mold? > > 1. I think that such a cross compilation script would be interesting. We > are using something like that for our firmware.
The idea is to use a modified Debian build system. I made a proof of concept about it last year. It works nicely with dpkg-cross. I am working on a new version as we speak, because the last one was outdated by the changes in debhelper, dpkg, and dpkg-cross. I have to modify one more file tonight and I can start debugging. It should do native builds, but throw out docs, man, examples of debian packages automatically, or cross-compile using dpkg-cross. Eventually using a new meta-data dir (emdebian instead of debian) to solve cross-compilation problems. > 2. The question if it fits within the Debian mold follows an answer to > the definition of embedded and to which systems GNU/Debian fits. IMHO, > buildroot is intended for more 'deeply embedded' systems: busybox/uclibc > covers most of the basics; ensuring a very small root filesystem (< 1 MB). Actually E. Andersen managed to build a full debian in there (but with uclibc) but only natively. If we can do the same with the modified tools we could maybe do this natively and cross-compiled. > I think GNU/EmDebian is rather intended for slightly higher level > systems, where the choice is made to remove 'crud' from a normal system
