The Hurd Installation Guide
This document aims to provide an easy and relatively painless set of
instructions on how to get the Hurd up and running with a minimum
amount of effort.
1. Overview Where we are going
2. Real Estate or Finding A Home Finding a Home
3. The Boot Loader Getting Grub
4. Cross Install Cross Installing the Hurd
5. Booting the Hurd
6. Native Install Finishing the Installation
7. Configuration Making the System Usable
8. Final Words The FAQ
9. Works Cited Referenced Materials
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1. Overview
The Debian GNU Hurd distribution, unlike distributions of other
operating systems, does not have a nice installation program. One day
it will and maybe you will help design and implement it; however,
until that day, installing the GNU Hurd requires another operating
system, specifically, another Unix-like system(1). Users have
indicated successful installations using different flavors of
GNU/Linux as well as the BSDs. The minimum requirements of the
bootstrap operating system are the ability: to create an ext2 file
system; to extract a tar archive on to it; and to install GNU Grub.
The GNU Hurd is similar in nature to any Unix-like system: after
logging in, the user is presented with a shell and the familiar Unix
VFS, virtual filesystem. Although GNU tries to be POSIX compliant, it
is not Unix. The Hurd builds upon many of the Unix concepts and
extends them to either add new functionality or to fix what has been
perceived as flaws in the original design. The most noticeable
difference is translators, user space programs which interact with the
VFS. These filesystems do not live living in the kernel nor do they
need to be run as root; they only need access to the backing store and
the mount point. Another difference is that processes, rather having a
single user identity fixed at creation time, have identity tokens
which are disjoint from the process, i.e. they may be added with the
appropriate permission from an authority or destroyed.
Being familiar with the Unix environment is an imperative for feeling
at ease in GNU. Having experience with the Debian tools will also
prove invaluable to the configuration and maintenance of a GNU/Hurd
box.
This guide endeavors to make installing the Hurd as painless a process
as possible. If there are errors, they are most certainly the
author's. Please report them, along with any other suggestions or
criticisms, to him; all are gladly accepted.
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2. Real Estate or Finding A Home
If you do not have an available partition or an extra hard drive, this
can be the longest step. In this case, you will need to repartition
the hard drive. One solution is to use GNU's partition editor, Parted.
It features not only basic partition editing but also partition
resizing and moving functionality. It can be found at
http://www.gnu.org/software/parted. The manual is quite complete and
includes several tutorials.
The Hurd can only support partition sizes of up to approximately two
gigabytes; anything larger than this will not work. This limitation is
due to a design decision that was made several years ago in which the
filesystem server maps the entire filesystem into virtual memory. As
the amount of virtual memory available on an ia32 is only four
gigabytes of which Mach allocates three gigabytes to the application
and, of that, a significant portion is reserved for the code, the
stack and the heap, the final, maximum contiguous virtual memory area
that remains is generally about two gigabytes. This limitation is
scheduled to be removed.
Having said that, a single two gigabyte filesystem is more than enough
for a working system. Many, however, prefer at least two filesystems:
a root filesystem and a second for `/home'. This latter scheme is
highly advised for developers: compiling the Hurd can take up quite a
bit of space.
The Hurd supports several extensions to the ext2fs filesystem format.
Foremost among these are passive translators and a fourth set of
permission bits for unknown users (users without an identity--not the
other user). To use these extensions, the owner of the partition must
be set to hurd. mke2fs, unless specifically overridden on the command
line, will set the owner to whatever operating system it is running
on. As the Hurd will diligently respect this setting, care must be
taken to set this appropriately or the Hurd will fail in subtle ways.
Be aware that even if a file system is owned by a particular operating
system, others may still use it; they just may not be able to use
certain extensions.
To create a filesystem, use mke2fs and pass it `-o hurd' to designate
the Hurd as the owner of the new file system. For instance, assuming
the parition is `/dev/hda2':
# mke2fs -o hurd /dev/hda2
3. The Boot Loader
Unlike GNU/Linux and the BSDs, the Hurd does not have its own boot
loader; any boot loader that supports the multiboot standard can be
used to load the Hurd. At the moment, there is only one project which
that satisfies these requirements: Grub, the GRand Unified Boot
loader.
A word about Grub. Unlike traditional boot loaders on the x86, such as
LILO, Grub is very powerful. It has a command line interface, bootp,
dummy terminal support and a plethora of other features. In addition,
it can boot most any operating system. If you have ever booted an
alpha or sparc, you will understand what Grub can do. Therefore, do
not be scared: Grub is better. You will like it. You will not go back.
To find Grub, visit
http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/. Here, there is
a source tarball and a floppy image. If you choose to download the
tarball, it is a normal configure, make and make install. Included is
a wonderfully complete manual on how Grub works. Read it. If, on the
other hand, you choose to download the floppy image, it is sufficient
to dump it to a floppy disk to get a working Grub, for example:
# dd if=grub-boot-image of=/dev/fd0
You can always install Grub onto your hard drive at a later date.
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4. Cross Install
The next step is to download the base system at:
ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/hurd/contrib/marcus/gnu-latest.tar.gz.
The tarball is setup to extract everything into the current directory.
After the filesystem is mounted, the archive can be extracted.
Assuming that the filesystem is on `/dev/hda2', the mount point is
`/gnu' and archive is in current user's home directory, the following
is required:
# mount -t ext2 /dev/hda2 /gnu
# cd /gnu
# tar --same-owner -xvzpf ~/gnu-latest.tar.gz
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5. Booting the Hurd
All is now in readiness to boot the Hurd for the first time. After
verifying that the Grub boot disk is in the drive, reboot. If all goes
well, either a Grub menu or command line will be displayed. If
presented with a menu, press c to go to the command line.
First, GNU Mach needs to be loaded. This requires knowing the
filesystem and the path to GNU Mach. Grub uses a partition
nomenclature that is a bit different from both Linux and the Hurd:
both IDE and SCSI drives are named `(hdN,M)'. N is the drive number
(zero based) as enumerated by the BIOS. That is, Grub makes no
distinction between IDE and SCSI disks. M identifies the partition on
the drive. It is also zero based index. If this sounds confusing,
relax: Grub is also helpful.
To determine on which filesystem a particular file resides, Grub
provides the find command. When this command is issued along with a
filename, Grub searches on each filesystem for the specified file and
prints where it was found. For example, to search for the kernel,
`/boot/gnumach.gz':
grub> find /boot/gnumach.gz
(hd0,0)
Here, Grub is indicates that `/boot/gnumach.gz' is on `(hd0,0)'.
Before loading the kernel, at least one option, the root partition,
must be specified on the command line. This will be used by the Hurd
itself (i.e. not Grub). As such, it must be in terms that the Hurd can
understand.
GNU Mach enumerates disks starting at zero. IDE drives are prefixed
with hd, while SCSI disks are prefixed with sd. Like Linux, drives are
number by their position on the controller. For instance, the primary
master is hd0 and the secondary slave is hd3. Partitions use the BSD
slice naming convention and append sM to the drive name to indicate a
given partition. Note that M is a one, not zero, based index. The
slice number is simple to calculate: just increment what was used for
Grub by one.
Since the Hurd has not yet been configured, it must be started in
single user mode. Adding a `-s' to the kernel command line is all that
is required.
Assuming that the first drive (i.e. `(hd0)') is the master on the
secondary controller, we would have:
grub> kernel (hd0,0)/boot/gnumach.gz root=device:hd2s1 -s
[Multiboot-elf, ...]
Next, the root filesystem server and the exec server must be loaded.
This is done using Grub's boot module capability. The ${var} are
filled in by GNU Mach. The arguments are used by the Hurd to indicate
what type of information is being provided. Since the ext2fs command
line is very long, it can be broken up by escaping the newline
character in the normal Unix fashion. Be sure that there is not space
after the slash at the end of each line. Also be sure to differentiate
{ and } from ( and ).
grub> module (hd0,0)/hurd/ext2fs.static \
--multiboot-command-line=${kernel-command-line} \
--host-priv-port=${host-port} \
--device-master-port=${device-port} \
--exec-server-task=${exec-task} -T typed ${root} \
$(task-create) $(task-resume)
[Multiboot-module 0x1c4000, 0x2cfe6a bytes]
grub> module (hd0,0)/lib/ld.so.1 /hurd/exec $(exec-task=task-create)
[Multiboot-module 0x494000, 0x27afe bytes]
Once the GNU Hurd is running, process can be automated by adding the
appropriate commands to Grub's `/boot/grub/menu.lst' configuration
file.
The GNU Hurd can be now booted:
grub> boot
Sit back and watch the messages. This is actually more important than
most people believe: there is a bug in GNU Mach whereby hitting a key
during the boot process causes the kernel to panic.
If the Hurd fails to boot, it could be due to shared IRQs: GNU Mach
does not play well with these. You can verify your situation by
looking at, for instance, the `/proc/interrupts' file under GNU/Linux.
Also, as GNU Mach does not support loadable kernel modules, many of
the drivers are compiled into the default kernel. If there are old
peripherals, this can be a problem: a device may incorrectly respond
to a probe intended for a completely unrelated device and thereby
cause a crash. Building a new kernel with only the required device
drivers will usually solve this problem. GNU Mach is easily cross
compiled. If you are running Debian, try installing the `gcc-i386-gnu'
package.
If this does not help, explore the resources listed at the end of this
document. Finally, ask on the appropriate mailing list.
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6. Native Install
Once you are presented with a shell prompt, and any time that the the
Hurd is in single user mode, it is necessary to set the terminal type:
# export TERM=mach
Be warned that CONTROL-C and family will not work in single user mode.
We can now run the native-install script. This will configure the
packages and set up several important translators:
# ./native-install
Before the script terminates, it will indicate that it needs to be run
a second time. Follow its instructions and reboot using the reboot
command. Again, go into single user mode and run ./native-install.
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7. Configuration
7.1 The Network
To configure the network, the pfinet translator must be configured.
This is done using the settrans command to attach a translator to a
given filesystem node. When programs access the node by, for example
sending an RPC, the operating system will transparently start the
server to handle the request.
# settrans -fgap /servers/socket/2 /hurd/pfinet -i eth0 \
-a a.b.c.d -g e.f.g.h -m i.j.k.l
Here, settrans is passed several options. The first two, `fg', force
any existing translator to go away. The next two, `ap', make both
active and passive translators. By making the translator active, we
will immediately see any error messages on `stderr'. The latter, saves
the translator and arguments in the node so it can be transparently
restarted later (i.e. making the setting persistent across reboots).
The options are followed by the node to which the translator is to be
attached, then the program (i.e. translator) to run and any arguments
to give it. The `-i' option is the interface pfinet will listen on,
`-a' is the ip address, `-g' is the gateway and `-m' is the network
mask.
Be sure to add name servers to your `/etc/resolv.conf' file:
nameserver 192.168.1.1
To test the configuration, ping -c2 gateway. The `-c' is important to
limit the number of pings; recall, CONTROL-C does not work in single
user mode.
DHCP does not yet work on the Hurd. This is due to limitations of
pfinet: it is based on the Linux' TCP/IP code and unable to listen on
`0.0.0.0'.
Help on settrans can be obtained by passing it the `--help' option.
Help on a specific translator can be gotten by invoking it from the
command line with the same argument, e.g.:
# /hurd/pfinet --help
As there can be a lot of output, consider piping this through a pager
such as less.
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7.2 Other File Systems
Next, edit `/etc/fstab' to add any additional filesystems as well as
swap space. It is very important that swap space be used; the Hurd
will be an order of magnitude more stable. Note that the Hurd can
transparently share a swap partition with Linux but will happily page
to any device including a raw partition such as your home partition.
By default, nano is the only editor installed by the the base
distribution.
Here is an example `/etc/fstab' file:
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
/dev/hd2s1 / ext2 rw 0 1
/dev/hd2s2 /home ext2 rw 0 2
/dev/hd2s3 none swap sw 0 0
Remember to create any devices using the MAKEDEV command:
# cd /dev
# ./MAKEDEV hd2s1 hd2s2 hd2s3
To mount an nfs filesystem, /hurd/nfs translator is used. When run as
non-root, the translator will connect to the server using a port above
1023. By default, GNU/Linux will reject this. To tell GNU/Linux to
accept connections originating from a non-reserved port, add the
`insecure' option to the export line. Here is an example
`/etc/exports' file assuming the client's ip address is `192.168.1.2':
/home 192.168.1.2(rw,insecure)
To mount this from a Hurd box and assuming that nfs server's ip
address is `192.168.1.1':
# settrans -cgap /mount/point /hurd/nfs 192.168.1.1:/home
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7.3 Rebooting
Finally, reboot into multiuser mode, i.e. in the same way single user
mode was brought up minus the `-s' option when loading the kernel. For
details, refer to See section 5. Booting the Hurd.
Happy Hacking!
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8. Final Words
8.1 Documentation
To understand the Hurd, start with the home page on Debian's site:
http://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/ and GNU's site:
http://hurd.gnu.org.
Also consider reading the source code and writing more documentation.
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8.2 The Grub Menu
Having to always load the kernel by hand can be very tedious. Edit the
`/boot/grub/menu.lst' and tailor it appropriately; booting will become
much quicker and easier.
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8.3 Adding Devices
By default, only a few devices are created in the `/dev' directory.
Use the MAKEDEV script to create any needed device nodes.
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8.4 Installing More Packages
There are several ways to add packages. Downloading and using dpkg -i
works but is very inconvenient. The easiest method is to use apt-get.
Edit `/etc/apt/sources.list' and add the following two entries:
deb
ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/hurd/debian unstable main
deb
ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian unstable main
ftp://alpha.gnu.org contains packages that have hacks or patches that
have not yet been integrated upstream. There are no mirror sites. To
use a local Debian mirror, visit
http://www.debian.org/distrib/ftplist.
If GNU Mach does not recognize your network card or you use a modem,
the only way to upgrade will be to download the packages and then
transfer them to the GNU Hurd system. The easiest way to do this is to
use apt off-line. Refer to `/usr/share/doc/apt/offline' for detailed
instructions.
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8.5 XFree86
XFree86 has been ported and all video cards, which it supports that do
not require a kernel module should work.
First, set up the keyboard translator:
# cd /dev
# ./MAKEDEV kbd
And then the mouse translator. For a serial port mouse, run the
following replace `com0' with the appropriate communication port:
# settrans /dev/mouse /hurd/mouse --device=com0 --protocol=microsoft
Make sure that `/dev/com0' actually exists. If it does not, create it
using MAKEDEV in the usual fashion.
PS/2 so not require a device node. It is simple a matter of:
# settrans /dev/mouse /hurd/mouse --protocol=ps/2
Other mice can be used; run `/hurd/mouse' with the `--help' option for
details.
You will need several X packages. x-window-system-core, rxvt and twm
or fvwm are a good start.
Debconf can be used to configure XFree86, however, it is not Hurd
aware and the configuration file will need to be tweaked. Change the
pointer section to read:
Section "Pointer"
Protocol "osmouse"
Device "/dev/mouse"
EndSection
`Emulate3Buttons' may be optionally added. Nothing else will work.
The GNU Hurd does not use ld.so.conf. Since `/X11R6/lib' is not in the
default library search path, it is necessary to add the following to
either `/etc/profile' or each user's `.profile':
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/X11R6/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
Finally, run startx.
There are several caveats to be aware of. xterm does not work
correctly as it is SETGID (and thus ignores LD_LIBRARY_PATH and fails
to load the appropriate shared libraries); try rxvt. update-menu has
not yet been ported. As such, there are no fine Debian menus. Although
a pthreads implementation exists not all pthread packages have been
ported: do not expect Gnome and KDE to work.
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8.6 Virtual Terminals
The Hurd does not have virtual terminals although it is in
development. Use the screen package in the interim.
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8.7 Mailing Lists
1.
[email protected] Discussion on the Hurd as it relates to
Debian.
1. Archive:
http://lists.debian.org/#debian-hurd
2.
[email protected] Development of the Hurd web pages at
http://hurd.gnu.org.
1. Archive:
http://mail.gnu.org/pipermail/web-hurd/
3.
[email protected] Help on the Hurd in general.
1. Archive:
http://mail.gnu.org/pipermail/help-hurd/
4.
[email protected] Bug reports and general development. Send patches
here.
1. Archive:
http://mail.gnu.org/pipermail/bug-hurd/
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8.8 Other Resources
The Hurd Wiki,
http://hurd.gnufans.org/bin/view/Hurd/WebHome, answers
commonly addressed problems that new users face.
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9. Works Cited
"The Easy Guide to Installing Hurd on a Linux Box" Copyright (C) 1999
Matthew Vernon
[email protected].
http://www.pick.ucam.org/~mcv21/hurd.html
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Footnotes
(1)
Philip Charles has created a set of CDs (available at
http://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/hurd-cd) which contains a live Debian
GNU/Linux system thereby arguably eliding this requirement, however,
we maintain that this is functionally equivalent.
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Table of Contents
1. Overview
2. Real Estate or Finding A Home
3. The Boot Loader
4. Cross Install
5. Booting the Hurd
6. Native Install
7. Configuration
7.1 The Network
7.2 Other File Systems
7.3 Rebooting
8. Final Words
8.1 Documentation
8.2 The Grub Menu
8.3 Adding Devices
8.4 Installing More Packages
8.5 XFree86
8.6 Virtual Terminals
8.7 Mailing Lists
8.8 Other Resources
9. Works Cited
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Short Table of Contents
1. Overview
2. Real Estate or Finding A Home
3. The Boot Loader
4. Cross Install
5. Booting the Hurd
6. Native Install
7. Configuration
8. Final Words
9. Works Cited
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About this document
This document was generated by Neal H. Walfield on January, 21 2003
using texi2html
_________________________________________________________________
This document was generated by Neal H. Walfield on January, 21 2003
using texi2html
