Re: problem using netboot and root nfs

[bruce@staff.cs.su.oz.au (Bruce Janson)]

    From netboot-owner@baghira.han.de Fri Jun 27 18:40:16 1997
    ..
    I would suspect, that something with the configuration of your root
    filesystem is wrong. The most common mistakes are:

      - you do not have a private copy of the /, /etc, /var, ... directories

      - your /dev directory is missing entries for /dev/zero and/or
        /dev/null or is sharing device entries from a server that uses
        different major and minor numbers (i.e. a server that is not
        running Linux).

      - your /lib directory is missing libraries (most notably libc*
        and/or libm*) or does not have the loader files ld*.so*

      - you neglected to run ldconfig to update /etc/ldconfig.cache or you
        do not have a configuration file for ldconfig.

      - your /etc/inittab and/or /etc/rc.d/* files have not been
        customized for the clients.

      - your kernel is missing some crucial compile-time feature (such as
        NFS filesystem support, booting from the net, transname
        (optional), ELF file support, networking support, driver for
        your ethernet card).
    ..

Markus,
    Your (excellent) list might include these too:

      - missing init executable (in one of the directories
        known by the kernel: /etc, /sbin, ?)

      - missing /etc/inittab

      - missing /dev/tty?

      - missing /bin/sh

      - system programs that insist on creating/writing to files
        outside of /var (mount and /etc/mtab* is the canonical
	example)

    Your list above could form the basis of a handy FAQ or, turning
it around, suggest various problems with the way people construct
the root filesystems of diskless Linux systems.  Specifically, a root
filesystem that contained only statically linked executables would
avoid many common problems (missing /dev/zero, missing /lib/*.so,
missing ldconfig invocation or cache files).
    Of course, the real problem is that the people who construct Linux
distributions rarely support (hard-)diskless installation (let alone
diskless operation or upgrade of diskless computers).  This is
understandable considering that their primary targets are singleuser
PCs with local hard disks.  However, for larger organisations (like
the computer science department in which I work) where PCs are often
just special purpose network devices, diskless operation is preferable.
    Indeed, there might be a niche here for a new Linux distribution
(Slackware, Debian, Redhat, et al take note! :-)) that caters
specifically for `departmental' users...

Cheers,
Bruce Janson					Email:	bruce@cs.usyd.edu.au
Basser Department of Computer Science		Phone:	+61-2-9351-3423/4
University of Sydney, N.S.W., 2006, AUSTRALIA	Fax:	+61-2-9351-3838