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@@ -1,235 +1 @@
-Development for Multiple Linux Distributions mini-HOWTO
-!!!Development for Multiple Linux Distributions mini-HOWTO
-!Ed Hill
-
-`ed@eh3.comb
-
-
-
-2001-12-03
-
-
-__Revision History__Revision .92001-12-03Revised by: EH3Initial version.
-
-
-
-
-
-This document outlines a quick hack to aid in developing
-and testing user-space programs for multiple Linux
-distributions.
-
-
-
-
-
-----; __Table of Contents__; 1. Introduction: ; 1.1. Copyright and License; 2. Setup; 3. Using the Secondary Distributions; 4. Credits----
-!!!1. Introduction
-
-As a developer, there is occasionally a need to code and/or
-test programs on multiple Linux distributions. This mini-howto
-outlines a neat chroot trick that can,
-in many cases, obviate the need to reboot into different Linux
-distributions to do testing or development.
-
-
-
-In a nutshell, the "trick" is to place all the files from a
-particular linux distribution into a single directory and then
-chroot into that directory to
-develop/test/debug your program. This approach will work provided
-that:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-#
-
-The kernel version of the "main" or "primary" distribution that you
-are running is (at least somewhat) compatible with the "secondary" or
-chroot'ed distributions, and
-
-
-
-#
-#
-
-Your application is primarily user-space (ie. no kernel modules) and
-does not depend intimately on any particular kernel features
-(ie. /proc behavior).
-
-
-
-#----
-!!1.1. Copyright and License
-
-This document is copyright 2001 by Ed Hill III. Permission is granted
-to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the
-GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version
-published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections,
-with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the
-license is available at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html.
-
-
-----
-!!!2. Setup
-
-We assume that you already have:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-#
-
-One "main" or "primary" Linux distribution installed that is running a
-2.4-series or newer kernel,
-
-
-
-#
-#
-
-a free partition with 2--4Gigs available, and
-
-
-
-#
-#
-
-sufficient disk
-space for the secondary installs (and any subsequent
-development/testing work).
-
-
-
-#
-
-Given those assumptions, the following outline is one way to
-setup the multiple secondary Linux distributions that will be used
-for development, testing, or other purposes:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-#
-
-First, create or locate an unused partition on one of your hard drives
-that is large enough (usually 2--4Gb is sufficient) to do a basic
-install of one of the secondary Linux distributions.
-
-
-
-#
-#
-
-Install the secondary distro into this partition but do not add it to
-your boot configuration. Note that this install need only include the
-packages that your target application (or tests) require. For
-instance, you may be able to ignore applications such as the X server
-or other space-hogs.
-
-
-
-#
-#
-
-Reboot your primary Linux distribution and mount the partition
-containing the freshly-installed "secondary" distro. Copy (preferably
-using tar -cp or some other method that preserves
-permissions) all the files from the secondary distro to a location
-such as /opt/distros/DISTRO_NAME.
-
-
-
-#
-#
-
-Repeat steps 2--3 for any additional distributions that you wish to
-install. The result should be a directory structure resembling:
-
-
-
-/opt/distros/redhat_6.2/
-suse_7.2/
-mandrake_8.1/
-debian-potato/
-slackware_8./
-
-where each directory contains the complete set of files resulting from
-each distribution install.
-
-
-#----
-!!!3. Using the Secondary Distributions
-
-With the secondary distributions installed, the steps to use
-them are:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-#
-
-It is important to use a 2.4-series or newer Linux kernel in the
-"primary" Linux distribution in order to take advantage of the
-multiple mount points feature that the 2.4-series permits. For many
-tasks, the /proc filesystem will have to be
-remounted in the secondary distribution using:
-
-mount --bind /proc /opt/distros/redhat_6.2/proc
-
-
-
-#
-#
-
-Also, it can be helpful to remount (rather than copy) the source tree
-from the primary to the secondary distro:
-
-mount --bind /home/USER/src/PROJECT /opt/distros/redhat_6.2/USER/src/PROJECT
-
-
-
-#
-#
-
-Become root and use:
-
-chroot /opt/distros/redhat_6.2 /bin/bash
-to obtain a shell with one of the secondary distros.
-
-
-
-#
-#
-
-Finally, create a user (if necessary) within the
-chroot-ed shell and develop, build, and/or test
-your application within this "separate" Linux distribution!
-
-
-
-#
-
-Done! You now have a shell that is, for all practical
-purposes, running within the secondary Linux distribution of your
-choice.
-
-----
-!!!4. Credits
-
-The ideas contained in this mini-HOWTO are not mine. They
-are culled from posts by Ben Reed (of OpenNMS ) to one of the
- TriLUG mailing lists.
-I found the information to be so useful that I wanted to document
-the idea for others
.
+Describe [HowToMultiDistroDev] here
.
