> On Sun, Feb 07, 1999 at 09:48:07PM -0800, Jeff Knox wrote:
>
> > I have been contemplating making a custom linux install of my
> > machine for a long time. I find that all linux distrobutions come with
> > too much crap that waste hd space, and I like to know exactly what is on
> > my machine. So may question is What does the Linux kernel require to
> > boot? Are does a very basic base distrobution need? What should I
> > include to start with? I figure I will look at some of the floppy linux
> > distros and see what they use for a start. Any help would be
> > appreciated, thanks.
>
> the absolute minimum is
>
> - a boot loader (LOADLIN.EXE if you have a DOS handy, LILO else)
> - a binary that can install LILO if necessary
> - the kernel itself
> - a shell that integrates most of the standard commands, like kiss
> (ls, cp, mv, rm, etc. are all in the shell - no other bins needed)
>
> Thats it. start Linux with the loader and kernel parameter "init=/bin/kiss"
> (or wherever you have the shell) and there you are. Single machine, single
> console, single shell, single everything (well, almost.)
Just because this is vaguely interesting, and I hope on topic, it's
a good idea for your replacement init process to do a few things as
it boots. Such as mounting disks, firing up bdflush if necessary.
And you'll need a bunch of /dev entries, of course.
I recently built an embedded system using Linux for the kernel. You
got the specs dead on: modified LILO booted the kernel which ran my
custom statically linked /sbin/init replacement.
It made for an extremely quick boot process!
It'd be very interesting to get a minimal shell into the kernel. It
needn't be fancy, perhaps similar in usability to the open firmware
on powermacs or the boot bios on sparc gear.
Though I'm already hearing shouts of "user space"...
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