uClibc, mkfs.minix problem

kievari · 01-24-2010, 08:47 AM

Hi,
I'm new to Linux and it's my first time of building LFS using Erik Andersen's article.

I have a Redhat 9 box on which I'm experimenting. The article starts by:
# dd if=/dev/zero of=root_fs bs=1k count=600
this works well, but this next line:
# mkfs.minix /tmp/root_fs
does not

output: no such file or directory.

Could anyone please let me know how to solve this? May be there is a better article online, to use uClib/Busybox step by step to build LFS?

Any suggestion is very welcomed!

crts · 01-24-2010, 11:27 AM

Hi,

It might be helpful if you could post a link to the article you are referring to. Makes it easier to help if one knows what steps preceeded the problem.

Anyway, did you already rule out some standard mistakes? Make sure you have write access to /tmp directory. Make sure /dev/zero is copied to the right location by specifying the absolute path of the destination, i. e. try,

Code:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/tmp/root_fs bs=1k count=600

carbonfiber · 01-24-2010, 12:27 PM

1. If you are new to Linux, why are you attempting LFS?
2. RedHat Linux 9 is fairly old, and this makes it somewhat difficult to help with.
3. Does RH9's version of util-linux (or whatever it used) provide mkfs.minix? Is your PATH variable 'appropriate' (`echo $PATH`)? Do you have locate installed? Update its database (run `updatedb`, perhaps) and then try to `locate mkfs.minix`.

kievari · 01-25-2010, 04:10 AM

To Crts:
Thank you for your help!

>...post a link to the article...
http://www.slideshare.net/emcelettro...x-distribution

>...did you already rule out some standard mistakes?...
Yes! I am the su and /dev/zero at right location. Also the code you suggested is indeed executed. Will be happy to have your further support and appreciate it.
----------------------------------

To Carbonfiber:
Thank you for the support!

1. If you are new to Linux , why are you attempting LFS?
I am only new to Linux, but not to such a process.
I meant by "new to Linux" that I only finished this book:
[Advanced Linux Programming, by Mark Mitchell, Jeffrey Oldham,
and Alex Samuel]
and for having some real practices with Linux, I changed the firmware of a router to become a Linux box and programmed it for wireless controlling a servo motor that directs a camera (under OpenWRT, with Linksys WRT54GL). I still don't form intuition for Linux (what I'm trying for).

2. RedHat Linux 9 is fairly old,
Ok, would you please give me a link to download a Linux (being Fedora, Debian, anything) that you prefer for what I am doing?

3. Does RH9's version ...
I'll go for these after I know your answer for the above said. Will be happy to have your further support and appreciate it.

carbonfiber · 01-25-2010, 04:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kievari

I still don't form intuition for Linux (what I'm trying for).

I have no idea what that means.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kievari

Ok, would you please give me a link to download a Linux (being Fedora, Debian, anything) that you prefer for what I am doing?

I'm unsure if you are asking me which distribution I would pick in order to perform the task you have set for yourself. Something that has been updated sometime in the past 2 years or so would be nice. Admittedly, it is fairly difficult to find such a distribution.. but since you successfuly read such an impressive book as "Advanced Linux Programming" *yawn*, I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding the homepages of projects such as: Arch, CentOS, Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, OpenSUSE, Slackware, Ubuntu.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kievari

I'll go for these after I know your answer for the above said.

Perhaps you should have remembered that I'm trying to do you a favor by helping you (not the other way around). As such, you don't get to set conditions. You have the answer you were looking for, however, I am no longer willing to help you solve this issue.

crts · 01-26-2010, 05:16 AM

Hi,

Quote:

Yes! I am the su and /dev/zero at right location. Also the code you suggested is indeed executed. Will be happy to have your further support and appreciate it.

So were you able to create the minix filesystem?
I reproduced these steps in the article and I got a minix filesystem created and mounted.

kievari · 01-26-2010, 06:41 AM

[QUOTE=carbonfiber;3839567]
>I have no idea what that means.
Just to "feel" things in Linux by heart. A condition when things happens and you know why, and you know what is located where by heart.

>I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding the homepages of projects...
sure! I've got Fedora live dvd for instance, but I thought may be the process is easier in one of them for a novice (in LFS).

>I am no longer willing to help you solve this issue.
Well then thank you for the support till now, and just to let you know I didn't mean "conditioning" in the sense you are interpreting. Please don't hurt yourself. Actually English is not my native language and I use some words sometimes in a slightly different meaning and find out about them late

Anyway, I appreciate the suggestions you made and thank you for paying your time. Also I apologize if I wrote the way you didn't like.

kievari · 01-26-2010, 06:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crts

Hi,

So were you able to create the minix filesystem?
I reproduced these steps in the article and I got a minix filesystem created and mounted.

No I am going to get another Linux distro. Could you please tell me the distro under which you succeeded (and it's version)?

Thank you!

carbonfiber · 01-26-2010, 07:11 AM

Hello. Perhaps you could make good use of the official Linux From Scratch LiveCD. This way you do not have to actually install another distribution http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/livecd/. Before you do that, please tell us the output of the following commands:

Code:

echo $PATH

and:

Code:

ls -al /{,usr}/{bin,sbin}/mkfs.minix

crts · 01-26-2010, 07:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kievari

No I am going to get another Linux distro. Could you please tell me the distro under which you succeeded (and it's version)?

Thank you!

I am currently using ubuntu 9.10 (karmic koala). But I don't think that it is necessary for you to switch. As far as I can tell from the infos you have given you just created your root_fs NOT in the /tmp directory.
Let me point out that I did not work through the whole tutorial.
This is what I did:

Code:

cd /tmp
dd if=/dev/zero of=root_fs bs=1k count=600
ls -sh /tmp/root_fs
mkfs.minix /tmp/root_fs
mount /tmp/root_fs /mnt -o loop -t minix

Try this commands first before switching to another distro. If they work you can pick up the tutorial from this point.

kievari · 01-28-2010, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carbonfiber

Hello. Perhaps you could make good use of the official Linux From Scratch LiveCD. Before you do that, please tell us the output of the following commands:

Code:

echo $PATH

and:

Code:

ls -al /{,usr}/{bin,sbin}/mkfs.minix

Carbonfiber! Thank you for your kind suggestion! I downloaded the LiveCD and I'm quite happy with it!

Next I did as you told and these are the results:

Code:

echo $PATH
/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin


ls -al /{,usr}/{bin,sbin}/mkfs.minix
ls: cannot access //bin/mkfs.minix: No such file or directory
ls: cannot access /usr/bin/mkfs.minix: No such file or directory
ls: cannot access /usr/sbin/mkfs.minix: No such file or directory
-rwxr-xr-x l root root 14460 Dec 29 2007 //sbin/mkfs.minix

It seems that I still don't have mkfs.minix

Please guide if possible!
What is your favorite Linux book(s)?

kievari · 01-28-2010, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crts

Try this commands first before switching to another distro. If they work you can pick up the tutorial from this point.

Crts! Thank you!

This is my result:

>dd if=/dev/zero of=root_fs bs=1k count=600
600+0 records in
600+0 records out
>ls -sh /tmp/root_fs
604K /tmp/root_fs
>mkfs.minix /tmp/root_fs
bash: mkfs.minix: command not found

as you see, I am still having problems with my Redhat 9. I just downloaded the LiveCD of LFS. Any further suggestion is very welcomed!

Would you please tell me, what is your favorite Linux book(s)?

kievari · 01-29-2010, 04:05 AM

Thank you very much for help and support! I am finally one step further! This live CD did the job!

>mkfs.minix /tmp/root_fs
224 inodes
600 blocks
Firstdatazone=11 (11)
Zonesize=1024
Maxsize=268966912

Now I can finally go through the other steps of LFS. If you let me, I'll post my further question here to finish that article. Thank you again!

kievari · 01-29-2010, 03:09 PM

Hi again!

This command:
wget -q ftp://oss.lineo.com/uClibc-snapshot.tar.gz

does not work on the LFS live CD. Do I need to obtain an rpm and install it or else reason? If rpm, could you please tell me what/where?

this is my output for the command:

root [/]# wget
Invalid command operation code -- (asc=0x20, ascq=0x00)
The failed "Read 10" packet command was:
Invalid command operation code -- (asc=0x20, ascq=0x00)
The failed "Read 10" packet command was:
-bash: /usr/bin/wget: Input/output error

crts · 01-29-2010, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kievari

Hi again!

This command:
wget -q ftp://oss.lineo.com/uClibc-snapshot.tar.gz

does not work on the LFS live CD. Do I need to obtain an rpm and install it or else reason? If rpm, could you please tell me what/where?

this is my output for the command:

root [/]# wget
Invalid command operation code -- (asc=0x20, ascq=0x00)
The failed "Read 10" packet command was:
Invalid command operation code -- (asc=0x20, ascq=0x00)
The failed "Read 10" packet command was:
-bash: /usr/bin/wget: Input/output error

Try the following:

Code:

wget http://uclibc.org/downloads/snapshots/uClibc-snapshot.tar.bz2

But you might run into some trouble with uClibc-snapshot since this is the latest development version. Depending on what else you want to install there is a chance that you encounter compatibility issues. I guess you just try it and see how it works out.