Scratchbox Porting

Toni Willberg

This document describes how to port Scratchbox to unsupported Linux distributions.

Version 0.1 Last modified by twillber at 2004-04-21


Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1. Introduction to Scratchbox Porting
1.2. Supported distributions
2. Portability status
2.1. Kernel modules
2.2. Host utilities
2.3. Conclusion
List of Tables
1-1. Supported distributions

Chapter 1. Introduction

1.1. Introduction to Scratchbox Porting

This document describes what the issues need to be addressed when porting Scratchbox for new Linux distrobutions.


1.2. Supported distributions

Table 1-1. Supported distributions

Fedora Core 1
SuSe 9.0
Mandrake 9.2
Gentoo
Slackware 9.1
Debian 3.0r2 (non-us)
Debian Unstable
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 WS

Chapter 2. Portability status

2.1. Kernel modules

Most Linux distributions currently ship with pre-built kernel which includes the required binmisc_fmt module. For example the kernel of Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 3.0 doesn't contain binmisc_fmt module, but it's available as a separate package included in the distribution.

Also the required NFS support is usually shipped with all kernels, or is available as separate daemon.

In case the module is missing, it's usually possible to find it from a separate vendor provided package, or by building custom kernel with the module.


2.2. Host utilities

Scratchbox doesn't require any exotic utilities from the host system.

All Linux distributions usually ship with a NFS server suitable for Scratchbox. If not, it's possible to build a NFS server and it's required dependencies from sources.


2.3. Conclusion

There are no modifications needed for Scratchbox. It should be usable on all Linux installations.