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https://github.com/openmainframeproject/sysload

Mirror of the Linux on System z System Loader (sysload).
https://github.com/openmainframeproject/sysload

linux mainframe mirror s390x

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Mirror of the Linux on System z System Loader (sysload).

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README 

        
====================================================================

 System Loader README file 

 by Stephan Mann

====================================================================

 1. Introduction

 2. Authors

 3. Build System Loader

 3.1 Dependencies

 3.2 Building tools

 3.3 Building manually

 3.4 Building an RPM

 4. Install System Loader

 5. Setup System Loader

 5.1 Create a ramdisk

 5.2 Configure System Loader

 5.3 Adjust first stage boot loader

 6. Start using System Loader

 7. Known issues 

====================================================================



1. Introduction

===============

System Loader is a second stage boot loader. Invoked by a system 

specific first stage boot loader, it provides a feature rich Linux 

boot environment which serves as a comfortable boot loader reachable 

even from a remote machine or as a rescue system that is always 

available in the boot sequence.



System Loader is based on the concept of having a Linux kernel with 

kexec support as boot loader and boot the actual kernel through the 

kexec system call.



This is a short step-by-step manual which aims to get new users of 

System Loader started. For more detailed documentation, please refer 

to the Design and the HOWTO documents provided with System Loader.



2. Build System Loader

======================

There are currently two ways to build System Loader. Either by 

manually executing `make' or by using `rpmbuild'. There are some 

dependencies which need to be fulfilled in either case. If `make' 

is executed manually, these dependencies need to be compiled and 

installed before `make' is run. `rpmbuild' will take care of this 

automatically, provided it can find the archives.



To remove these dependencies is an item on the to-do list.



2.1 Dependencies

----------------

As stated above, these dependencies don't need to be built or 

installed if `rpmbuild' is used. 



libssh-0.11 can be installed using the following commands. Be sure 

to get version 0.11 since version 0.2 won't work.



	wget http://0xbadc0de.be/libssh/libssh-0.11.tgz

	tar xvfz libssh-0.11.tgz

	cd libssh-0.11

	./configure && make

	su

	make install



get_kernel_version can be obtained through a Suse repository.



	wget ftp://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/suse/opensuse/distribution/10.3/\

	     repo/src-oss/suse/src/aaa_base-10.3-90.src.rpm

	rpm2cpio aaa_base-10.3-90.src.rpm | cpio -i get_kernel_version.c

	gcc -o get_kernel_version get_kernel_version.c

	su

	cp get_kernel_version /usr/local/bin/



2.2 Building tools 

------------------

The following tools are required to build System Loader from source:



	* bison

	* flex

	* make

	* gcc



To build the documentation, two additional tools are required:



	* fig2dev

	* pdflatex



2.3 Building manually

---------------------

If all dependencies mentioned above are properly built and installed, 

the build process can be started by simply executing `make'.



There is a Makefile in the sysload root dir which builds all parts of 

System Loader. It is also possible to build parts of sysload by using 

the Makefiles in the respective subdirs.



2.4 Building an RPM

-------------------

If all dependencies mentioned above and `rpmbuild' is available, 

gather the following files into one directory.



	* sysload-X.Y.Z.tar.gz

	* libssh-0.11.tgz (see dependencies section)

	* get_kernel_version.c (see dependencies section)



Now the rpm building process can be started by executing



	rpmbuild -tb sysload-X.Y.Z.tar.gz



If this fails, move all the files to your rpm building directory 

(something like /usr/src/rpm/SOURCES/), extract the sysload.spec 

file from the System Loader archive and execute 



	rpmbuild -bb sysload.spec



Read the last few lines of the output carefully to determine where 

the RPMs were written to. If no error occurred, there will be 

something like 



	Wrote: /usr/src/rpm/RPMS//sysload-X.X..rpm



If there is any trouble building the RPM please refer to 



	http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-rpm1/

	http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-rpm2/



(The command is `rpmbuild' now, not `rpm'. Besides this, the HOWTO 

is very straight forward and very helpful.)



3. Install System Loader

========================

If System Loader was built manually as described above, it can be 

installed with the make target `install' and removed again with the 

target `uninstall'.



A rpm package can be installed with 



	rpm -i sysload-X.X.rpm



or via `alien' on a non-rpm system like Debian



	alien -i sysload-X.X.rpm



4. Setup System Loader

======================

To actually use System Loader, there are a few things left to do. 

For all configuration files that need adjustment, there are examples 

provided by System Loader which can be found next to the 

documentation in the doc/ directory or in 



	/usr/share/doc/sysload/



if System Loader has been installed properly.



4.1 Create a ramdisk

--------------------

sysload_admin is the administration tool which allows to administer 

ramdisks needed by System Loader. The following tools need to be 

available for sysload_admin to run:



	* perl

	* cpio

	* rsync

	* get_kernel_version

	* libssh.o



If System Loader was installed via an RPM, the last two dependencies 

are fulfilled automatically.



To create a ramdisk, there needs to be a system and distribution 

specific sysload_admin.conf file (default location is /etc/). Because

this config tends to differ for every system and for every

distribution, the installation process puts only an empty config file

to /etc. More complete config files are provided as examples.



After the config file has been adjusted (or an example has been 

copied to /etc/sysload_admin.conf), a ramdisk can be created by 

running sysload_admin:



	sysload_admin local



4.2 Configure System Loader

---------------------------

To tell System Loader what should be displayed as a boot menu, there 

needs to be a System Loader configuration file (sysload.conf). There 

are multiple examples for this too. Start with a basic boot menu to 

check whether System Loader is working. 



4.3 Adjust first stage boot loader

----------------------------------

System Loader needs to be initialized by a system specific first 

stage boot loader like `lilo', `grub' oder `zipl'. Again, there are 

multiple examples which should explain what is needed. The most 

important part is, that there needs to be a kernel parameter telling 

System Loader where it can find its configuration file, for example 



	sysload=block://(/dev/hda2,ext3)/boot/sysload.conf



Also, the kernel might need some modules to access the configuration 

file in the first place so you need to add a second parameter to the 

kernel parameters. For example, on SLES10 on i386, the following 

modules are required to access an IDE disk



	kset=mod(ide-disk),mod(piix)



Obviously, these modules need to be in the ramdisk. See section 5.1



Remember that some boot loader (like `lilo' or `zipl') need to be 

reinitialized after the config file has been changed.



5. Start using System Loader

============================

If all was done right, the system specific boot loader should display

a boot entry for System Loader during the next reboot. If System 

Loader has been configured properly, it should boot into the ramdisk 

environment and display the boot menu.



6. Known Issues

===============

Depending on the used distribution and on the existing knowledge 

about kernel modules, it can be rather difficult to identify the 

modules needed to access a specific resource (e.g. IDE disks) from 

within the ramdisk. To identify the required modules, change the

sysload_admin.conf so it puts the sysload.conf as well as all 

available kernel modules into the ramdisk. After this, System 

Loader can be started without any modules and the config file 

contained in its ramdisk



	sysload=file:///path/in/ramdisk/sysload.conf



Once System Loader is running, modules can be added from the shell 

to find the required ones.