[comp.os.minix] building a new minix

mpl@sfsup.UUCP (07/07/87)

HELP!  I'm trying to recompile the hard disk fixes into minix.  I currently
have a PC6300 with 1 floppy and 1 hard disk (which is inoperable under minix).
I'm trying to recompile the thing with a single floppy.  Here's what I've
done so far:

	1. make a filesystem on a blank diskette
	2. make kernel, h, and lib directories
	3. put /usr/lib/opt and /usr/lib/cg on the floppy
	4. put .h files into h and kernel
	5. for each file in the kernel, copy it over
	   and compile it, then remove the copy of the source (this
	   is the only way to fit it all on one diskette).

The result: all the ".s" files in /usr/kernel on the floppy.
Next:

	1. rm /lib/* /bin/[everything I'm not using]
	2. put /usr/lib/*.[as] on floppy
	3. put /usr/bin/asld on floppy
	4. asld -o kernel blah.s libc.a end.s

At this point, the ram disk runs out of space, and the floppy file system
gets damaged somehow, wiping out /usr/kernel and all my precious ".s"
files.  I'm not sure why the floppy file systems gets damaged, since it
seems to be the ram disk which craps out, so I thought I'd try making a
bigger ram disk, so I tried:

	1. put tools/proto.ram in /tmp
	2. put mkfs in /bin
	3. mined /tmp/proto.ram
	   changed "240" to "280"
	   changed ../commands/ etc. to the right paths
	4. put blank formatted floppy in the drive
	5. mkfs -L /dev/fd0 /tmp/proto.ram
	   I get the usual description of what it's doing - no errors,
	   and fsck likes the file system built - oh, and all the files
	   that should be there are.
	6. reboot, insert the new filesystem as root

Result?  I get a message telling me to remove the root filesystem, but
no message to insert /usr!  It just hangs from that point on.  Anybody
got any ideas (either about the filesystem damage or the inability to
change the ram disk size)?

Thanks in advance,
Mike Lindner
....!ihnp4!attunix!mpl