Program:  gBootRoot  pronounced "bOOtrOOt"
License:  GNU General Public License

The Makefile included with this source package doesn't figure out whether 
your installation has the proper requirements.  However, it isn't difficult to 
understand what is necessary to get gbootroot to work.  First type "make",
follow the instructions in the "Important Configurations" section near the
bottom of this page, and then run gbootroot.  The program will indicate to you
whether anything is missing.  If it doesn't work at all, it's generally due to
not having gtk-perl installed.  If the user-mode-linux kernel doesn't work, it
may be an architecture issue.  If you need to customize the kernel, there are 
general directions in the README.  If a boot or root method are missing 
required programs, pop-up dialog boxes and information from the verbosity box 
will give a good indication of what is causing the problem.  

Out of the box this program works with the i386 architecture, for other 
architectures genext2fs and user-mode-linux will need to be compiled if
full functionality is desired.  Eventually, the Advanced Kernel Section in
this program will be able to help with the uml compile.


Perl Modules:
#############

Gtk-Perl
--------

Version 0.7002 or greater.
http://freshmeat.net/projects/gtk-perl


Binaries:
#########  

Genext2fs
---------
genext2fs/genext2fs ( included and already compiled for i386 )
cd genext2fs; make  ( other architectures )

User-Mode-Linux
---------------
user-mode-linux/usr/bin/{linux,uml_*}     ( included and already compiled 
	                                                         for i386 )
user-mode-linux/usr/lib/uml/{modules*tar} ( included and already compiled 
                                                                 for i386 )
user-mode-linux/usr/lib/uml/config        ( kernel .config defaults )

If you use a different architecture you will need to read 
http://user-mode-linux.sourceforge.net/arch-port.html.  

Here the basic instructions to compile uml stuff:

Get kernel sources from www.kernel.org, and then a matching uml-patch from 
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=429.  If you want to 
match the kernel version used by gbootroot check Changes to find out which 
version of uml if being used.  You may want to use config as your .config at 
the base of the sources as a starting point, and then modify the kernel 
configuration in whatever way required.  There are good instructions on how to
compile a uml kernel at http://user-mode-linux.sourceforge.net/UserModeLinux-HOWTO-2.html.  
Then put the uml kernel in the directory cited above and call it linux; you can
put the modules in a Replacements directory later on (see FAQ).  

The helper uml_* tools need to be checked out from cvs and compiled with make:

(Instructions for cvs at http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=429.)
cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.user-mode-linux.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/user-mode-linux login
cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.user-mode-linux.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/user-mode-linux co tools

cd tools/mconsole; make;
cd ../uml_net; make; chown 0:0 uml_net; chmod 4755 uml_net;
cd ../uml_router; make;
cd ../uml_moo; make;

Put the uml kernel in the directory cited above with the same names.  When
you run gbootroot's Makefile everything will be put in the proper places.

Note:  Please send the user-mode-linux-devel and gbootroot-devel lists your 
experiences if you successfully get another architecture working so they can 
be shared with the community.


Boot Methods:
#############

2 disk compression
------------------

This method will tell you when any of these utilities are missing:

ash  lilo  bzip2  file


Root Methods:
#############

Yard
----

Watch the verbosity box, it will be obvious when a required command is missing.
Make sure you have this file installed on your system:

file


Important Configurations:
#########################

"chown 0:0 /usr/bin/uml_net; chmod 4755 /usr/bin/uml_net" so normal users can 
have network capabilities.


Documentation:
#############

Documentaion and FAQ are in doc/html/index.html


Have fun!

 -Jonathan

Please infuse your suggestions, bug reports, insults, and patronage back to:
        Jonathan Rosenbaum <freesource@users.sourceforge.net>