Re: OS X packaging is an embarrassment

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From: Peter da Silva
Subject: Re: OS X packaging is an embarrassment
Date: 11:39 on 22 May 2006
On May 22, 2006, at 2:55 AM, Martin Ebourne wrote:
> Whatever are you doing that requires you to configure the kernel??

Building a custom boot floppy to do remote installs with a special spin.

PicoBSD turned out to be just the thing.

> I run Fedora on a range of hardware and really don't recognise any of
> the problems you're reporting. But then you don't seem to have used any
> Linux machines seriously since, well, five years ago?

Last June was the last time, but I get roped in to hacking up Linux for 
projects on a distressingly regular basis, when the Linux fanboys in 
the office can't figure out how to get something particularly twisted 
working.

I suppose the fact that I only get involved with Linux when something's 
already broken means I get to see more of the hateful stuff, and 
certainly I'd rather deal with Linux than Windows (which I also get 
called in to troubleshoot on a distressingly regular basis).

> PS. I actually found linux kernel config really rather easy last time I
> did it. Download the .src.rpm, install it (using the normal package
> install command), tweak the .config file and rpmbuild it. Then it
> installs using my normal package manager and is handled just like a
> distro package. I've never seen any other OS I could do that on in less
> than 4 steps.

FreeBSD:
# vi /sys/i386/conf/CONFIGNAME
# config CONFIGNAME
# cd /sys/compile/CONFIGNAME
# make install

Tru64:
# vi /usr/sys/conf/CONFIGNAME
# echo n | doconfig -c CONFIGNAME
# cp /usr/sys/CONFIGNAME/vmunix /vmunix

Most any BSD-derived system is similar. Having to "echo n" to doconfig 
to keep it from throwing you into "vi" or hanging on "Do you want to 
edit the config file" is hateful, but since doconfig is just a wrapper 
around config I could avoid that tiny hate if I hated it enough.

There's stuff above here

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