(OLD) (ARCHIVED) Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[s243a]

Is there an environmental variable in Linux that says where to search for the kernel source? Per my previous thread, I'm following the instructions here:
http://my-techno-arena.blogspot.ca/2014/07/installing-latest-virtualbox-4312-in.html
to install fatdog64 on a virtual machine. I've made the following changes so far to the procedure.
-- I chose a windows 8.1 instead as the host for the virtual machine because that is the operating system that I'm running under.
-- I've copied the kernel source from the sfs mount using:

[s243a]

So looking further at the log file I'm suppose to set the variable "KERN_DIR" to the location of the source:

[Peterm321]

Firstly I'm wondering if the questions posed are ideal for a beginners forum?

When I have recompiled a kernel, which I should add seems rather different from what I think you are trying to do with virtualbox, the DEVX and Kernel sources have to be loaded at absolute locations otherwise there would need to be a fair bit of tweaking. This is because things like the gcc compiler, GNU Make and so on have to be somewhere in the PATH to be found and run on a Puppy system. Now it could be that there are only certain header files that virtualbox needs and these are already present in the DEVX archive or maybe there are certain elements of it that need to be extracted in the kernel sources archive as well?

It does seem that the source code of the kernel itself and its modules are not needed so if they are not needed its a question of finding what is needed for a manual copy from the DEVX / kernel archives to the system. There is information on this if you use a search engine for KERN_dir and virtualbox. This information may tend to be geared to other distros, however. The virtualbox forums is another source of information and the question is whether the headers discussed there are already within a typical Puppy DEVX archive.

http://mandrivausers.org/index.php?/topic/52824-virtualbox-kern-dir-error/

http://superuser.com/questions/499059/unable-to-install-virtualbox-specify-kern-dir-directory-installing-vir

A post for example to the fatdog forum or the compiling forum may be more suitable places to find out about these kinds of problems.

NB by typing in a terminal window

[jamesbond]

Peterm321 is right, this is probably not for the beginner's forum.

It is easier to do it on the host, not on the guest. See here: http://www.lightofdawn.org/wiki/wiki.cgi/MakingVBoxGuestAdditionForFatdog.

[s243a]

[jamesbond]

s243a, there are a few pre-conceptions here. Let me try to straighten it out.

Firstly, you don't have to deal with /aufs/pup_multi. In most cases you never need to deal with /aufs/* folders unless you know what you are doing (or trying to do some advanced stuff). The behaviour of Fatdog64 in multisession mode is almost identical with when you use it with savefile/savefolder. All files, anywhere from root (/) downwards (except those in external partitions) will be saved in the session file. Try it - create a file in /root and then save it, and reboot - you will get it back.

When you want to use SFS in multisession mode, you should put the SFS file in "/" and then load them using load_sfs. If you accept the suggestion that they be loaded at boot, the will be loaded at boot. This works because files created in "/" is also saved to the session-file, including the SFS files too. (You can actually put it elsewhere too but this practice of putting SFS files in "/" for multisession mode is consistent with standard Puppies).

Secondly, ignore /mnt/home in multisession mode (and /aufs/pup_multi). I kind of regret now that I created that link, I should not have as it seems to create more confusion than help. The only reason for me to create that link is so that legacy scripts can detect that Fatdog is not running in a live-CD mode; the proper source of information is /etc/BOOTSTATE but many Puppy scripts simply check the presence of /mnt/home link. Please note that everything that you put in /mnt/home *directly* will *NOT* be saved in the session at all. /aufs/pup_multi (and /mnt/home) holds an active copy of the session, an amalgamation of all the session SFS files, but itself is not saved back.

Thirdly, you don't need to unsquashfs the kernel-source SFS and copy them over. Doing this will require more memory than if you use kernel-source.sfs as is.

So the conclusion, if you want to compile the guest addition in multisession-mode while Fatdog is running inside VBox, this is how you do it:
a) bring over devx and kernel SFS into the guest Fatdog, putting both of them in "/"
b) load_sfs.sh both of them
c) insert the guest addition CD
d) mount the disk from within guest Fatdog
e) run "sh /mnt/sr0/VBoxLinuxAdditions.run", and adjust some paths, if you like, as explained in my previous article (or you can do it later). No need to specify --target etc - just install it like normal.
f) reboot to save the session (or press the "session-save" button).

And the session file will contain the installed guest additions, with the extra SFS.
You can extract this session savefile, edit out the files you don't need (devx and kernel sfs), adjust paths if necessary, and then re-pack the rest for later usage.

Oh, and as suggested by Semme on the other thread - don't use 700rc, use the 700 final.

Hope that helps.

[s243a]