Swinging SlackHammer in a different direction...
 

Some of the more adventurous among you are already aware of using NetBSD's pkgsrc as a replacement for the Slackware packaging system. Well I'm going to suggest an alternative method which directly reverses the process.

Instead of installing Slackware and then stripping it down to install the pkgsrc system, I suggest the alternative of doing the exact reverse. Installing DragonflyBSD with a minimal set of packages, and then building a Slackware system on top of Dragonfly. That way you'll have the Hammer filesystem fully deployed in it's natural environment using the Dragonfly cluster kernel and all that comes with it, while still maintaining your familiar Slackware environment. You wouldn't notice any difference in your system. The only thing that would be different, is the kernel. And since the kernel essentially functions in the background without any user interaction other than to load modules, it really won't matter to you.

So then you can have the Hammer filesystem immediately, while using things like slapt-get or slackpkg for package management. All of your SlackBuilds would work just as they did before.

Enjoy the challenge!
And let the games begin...
Shingoshi

EDIT: And if any of you appreciated this suggestion, please thank me to show how many have actually considered or are using it.

And how much Space is your dragonfly taking up Shingoshi?

and how many partitions does dragonfly require?

I don't have a system to install DragonflyBSD on...
 

I would suggest reading the details of the DragonflyBSD installation. One thing that's for certain here is that none of the other issues mentioned in the first thread about SlackHammer would apply here. And you'll have FULL R/W capabilities right from the start.

In fact, this would be so seamless that your system would show up as Slackware for package management. Only the boot process would tell you the system is DragonflyBSD. Other than that, you would never know anything's different.

Shingoshi

OK
I'm down with doing it in the morning
what Exactly do I gotta download and install?

do I gotta burn it to cd /dvd

or can it go on usb and install from there to hd?

I can do slack easy, just need help with DF cause I installed it once,long ago
and it made partitions I didn't want/need:)

I'll get the docs tonight too

I think you should start with a clean system...
 

First of all, go here:
http://www.dragonflybsd.org/download/
At least that was the idea of this. There were too many variables in trying to build Hammer on a Slackware system. But starting out with DragonflyBSD as the base will eliminate all of the previous issues.

Although, this might work as well:
http://www.nabble.com/New-instructio...d21550610.html
Hopefully that should help!
Shingoshi

Hi,

I think your definition concerning the kernel functionality is way off. :)

What gains will I get doing something like this just to get Hammer;

I wouldn't want to bastardize my Slackware just to get 'Hammer'.
Not a valid challenge.

So a big 'Thumbs Down' from me! :hattip:

You need to recognize the most important point of this...
 

We don't want anything more than the ability to boot DragonflyBSD. The only packages you'll need from DragonflyBSD to begin with, are those that give you decompression tools and network ability. There will be a few others. But you'll have access to them from the installation disk for DragonflyBSD. However, if you have the Slackware installation cd, you'll only need it to install your Slackware packages without a network. Start out by untarring pkgtools into your DragonflyBSD root directory. After that, you'll be able to install anything else you need.

Shingoshi

I have a feeling this will be a lot more difficult than you are making it sound.

The big advantage isn't just the Hammer filesystem...
 

The other main advantage is having a native cluster kernel. Linux doesn't yet provide that. And I don't know when it ever will. Dragonfly is dedicated to large enterprise systems. So for the majority of you, none of this matters. The point is for anyone who needs enterprise-level features immediately. And the Hammer filesystem is the foundation of that.

So if you don't like it, who cares? I happen to be one of the many who are anxiously awaiting a stable replacement for openMosix. DragonflyBSD will be that replacement.

Shingoshi

If you have NO experience with installing pkgsrc...
 

The inexperienced need not apply!
If you've never installed pkgsrc on Slackware, then there's no point in talking about it. You might NOT be qualified to consider doing something like this. But for those of us who have the experience, this is NO issue.

Shingoshi

I've been searching for something dependable for my spare box so I'll give it a shot.
Is there a link you can provide for any extra cuss words in case they are needed?:D

I read this and broke up laughing!!
 

Hey guys! Remember this. Use a clean system!
If you try installing this on anything other than a clean system, you're going to wind up with headaches. BIG headaches! And then don't come blaming me because of it. This is probably one of the only few cases where I definitely recommend having a CLEAN system.

Use a clean system!

Shingoshi

What about LinuxPMI? Plus, the native clustering for the DragonflyBSD kernel is still not complete or even functional. HammerFS is considered complete, but will doubtlessly find its way to Linux anyway if it's any good. Most good, open file systems do.

What you are proposing would (mostly) work, but you'd be essentially building from scratch a slackware-like BSD distro using the Dragonfly kernel . . . all of the slack builds would not work as-is; many compromises would have to be made along the way.

All that said, good luck! I hope you succeed.

Well, I spoke to soon.
This box I'm typing on is my main box and I had to take the video card out of my spare box for this one.
Oh well, I'll be watching this thread with interest to see how things pan out.

No video at all?
 

I don't know how a network install would go with DragonflyBSD. That might be a consideration. But probably not for someone who's never done that before.

I take that means you have no built-in onboard graphics. I hate having to scavenge parts from one system to another. So I know how that goes. You don't have an old pci graphics card laying around? I try to always keep some of those just for situations like this. Although, all of my newer boards have built-in graphics. Most of my boards are servers. Although I also have two Intel socket-775 boards with built-in graphics too.

But one thing that anyone reading this needs to know is, you need large disks to make this work. If you have old systems, stop reading this until you upgrade your components. As I said, DragonflyBSD is intended for enterprise systems. And most of you don't have anything close to that requirement.

Shingoshi