System Tree essentials UNDERSTANDING the system

Brooks Davis brooks at one-eyed-alien.net
Thu Sep 8 13:54:29 PDT 2005 

On Thu, Sep 08, 2005 at 08:26:04PM +0000, Sandro Noel. wrote:
> Hey Brooks, thanks for leting me know i'm not the only one :) 
> i was starting to feel kind 0f weird.
> 
> There must be a way for me to find out, 
> somehow the relations between the files -> functionality relating to system 
> -> dependencies ( config files libraries or other programs )
> I might have a look at the source, but then again it's so easy to skip something in there.

There's no easy way to do this.  You will indeed need to analyze the
source of each component as well as understanding it's config files.  It
might be possible to use the audit framework (once committed) to create
a partial dependency graph of config files, but it would only report
files a program touches, not logical groups (such as the resolver) or
files realted to features not currently activated.

-- Brooks

> If I can find that, I will build such documentation. 
> This would be highly valuable information to any embedded developper trying his hands at FreeBSD.
> not to mention, teching a much better unerstanding for everyone involved.
> 
> cheers.
> 
> Sandro Noel.
> 

> From: "Brooks Davis" <brooks at one-eyed-alien.net>
> Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 16:59:00 +0000
> To: "Sandro Noel." <snoel at gestosoft.com>
> Cc: "Nathan Littlepage" <nathan at iwantka.com>, freebsd-small at freebsd.org
> Subject: Re: System Tree essentials UNDERSTANDING the system
> 
> [Please don't top post or use lines longer than 78 characters.]
> 
> On Thu, Sep 08, 2005 at 03:41:28PM +0000, Sandro Noel. wrote:
> > Nathan,
> > thank you for the pointer, unfortunately, it does not help me. and
> > i've tried it, the scripts are great, and i actualy use the mklibs.pl
> > script the one that walks the tree and pick's up the libraries on the
> > way, it's a very nice script to have :)
> >
> > You see my ultimate goal is to build my system; sleek, slim, and
> > polished, with strictly only what is needed to fill the task. but I
> > also do not want to forget anything, in the sense that i couldforget
> > a configuration file that would cause the system to work ondefault
> > values, and notice it later when i bump into a problem, so ineed to
> > understand it as much as possible.
> >
> > what i need are pointers to hard to find documentation about the
> > building blocks of the system.(maybe it does not exist) Not the
> > architecture, i've read it, and it helps in understanding theinner
> > mecanics, but then again that is way to deep for my needs. and it's
> > not the handbook either, read that too, and while it is great for a
> > user perspective, it's to shalow for my needs.  I am not talking about
> > the man page for a perticular application, thatis way to specific,
> > tough it's somewhat sometimes usefull to figure outthe configuration
> > options and the configuration files that shouldfollow, but there not
> > always acurate.
> >
> > I need something in the middle.
> >
> > more like on the lines of ,
> > the basic core system is the kernel and this and that file, this
> > configuration and that setting. for the modules you need to include
> > this nad configure that, and here are some options. if you want to
> > add networking to the core system, you need to add these files, and
> > configura this and that. if you want IPV6 then you need this and that,
> > and you need to configure this and that file.
> >
> > Mainly the information would not leave the scope of the core system,
> > I do not need more info on how to install samba or Xorg, That info
> > is available all over the place, and BSD makes it really painless to
> > install them anyways.
> >
> > I'm sure, or at least i hope i'm not the only one who would like such
> > documentation.
> 
> We'd love to have such documenation, but creating it would be a massive
> task and keeping it up to date would be nearly as much work so no one
> has done it.
> 
> -- Brooks
> 
> > 
> > Thank you Nathan.
> > 
> > Sandro Noel.
> > 
> 
> > From: "Nathan Littlepage" <nathan at iwantka.com>
> > Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 00:56:00 +0000
> > To: "Sandro Noel" <snoel at gestosoft.com>
> > Subject: Re: System Tree essentials UNDERSTANDING the system
> > 
> > Try here for a good break down on building your own small version of 
> > FreeBSD.
> > 
> > https://neon1.net/misc/minibsd.html
> > 
> > Hope that gets you what you're looking for.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Sandro Noel wrote:
> > > Greetings Embedded Gurus.
> > > 
> > > 
> > > I'm trying to build a system, so this is a brain dump of my needs and  
> > > questions.
> > > 
> > > For the past 3 month i have been scratching the net and book stores  to 
> > > collect as much information as possible about the FreeBSD system,  tough 
> > > the amount of information is quite satisfactory, and repeated  many 
> > > times in all kinds of format, i'm still missing some information  to 
> > > make me completely comfortable with what i want to achieve.
> > > 
> > > So far PicoBSD configuration and building it, makes it easy to build  a 
> > > system, but i need more than that
> > > the information i would really need to understand it all is:
> > > 
> > > I got myself Embedded FreeBSD cookbook  it's good if you want to  build 
> > > a firewall. and some drivers (  not my wish at this time )
> > > 
> > > -What files are needed to build a bare system.
> > >     the kernel and it's modules,
> > >     configuration files,
> > >     start-up scripts
> > >     what else am i forgetting.
> > > 
> > >     What files are needed for WLAN networking to work, with or  without 
> > > DHCP client.
> > >     what are the files involved into video and sound output.
> > > 
> > > - and then there would be the explanation of what are the files in  the 
> > > /bin and /sbin directories what are they used for.
> > >     yes i know the meaning of the directory structure, and of course  i 
> > > know about the ones i use,
> > >     in a regular shell, but i want to know about the ones the system  
> > > can't live without.
> > >     the ones that make it tick, and why.
> > > 
> > > I found that LDD is a magical tool.. :) to find lib dependencies.
> > > I know i can find application dependencies into the port makefile,  
> > > witch is a BIG THAKNK YOU THE BSD team.
> > > 
> > > Yes i know i could use some else's efforts and copy their thing like  
> > > everyone else is doing, but i like to understand what i do before  
> > > getting into it.
> > > this way, I know where my are mistakes when they happen, and it's  much 
> > > faster to fix.
> > > 
> > > Thank you for any help you fine people can provide.
> > > 
> > > Sandro Noel
> > > snoel at gestosoft.com
> > > 
> > > 
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > > 
> > > 
> > 
> > 
> 
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> 



-- 
Any statement of the form "X is the one, true Y" is FALSE.
PGP fingerprint 655D 519C 26A7 82E7 2529  9BF0 5D8E 8BE9 F238 1AD4
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