2 questions: setld format, and vmunix vs. genvmunix

[Alan's Home for Wayward Notes File.]

In article <74430 at bu.edu.bu.edu>, jdubb at bucsf.bu.edu (jay dubb) writes:
> 
> 1) What kind of format does the setld utility use? 

	A setld(8) tape consists of the subset files written
	as seperate files on the tape.  For the most part the
	blocksize used (and expected) is 10 KB.  In many cases
	the files are compressed tar archives.  The exceptions
	are the first four files of the tape.

	The first and 2nd file depend on the architecture.  On
	the base ULTRIX distribution they are bootable files
	and use a 512 byte blocksize.  I think the VAX uses two
	boot files and the DEC{stations,systems} use one.  On
	other setld(8) tapes they are empty files of one 10KB
	block.  You can create one of these empty files with:

		% touch space
		% tar cf SPACE space

	The 3rd file is a dump(8) of the installation root file
	system.  It also uses a 10 KB block size.  On other tapes
	it will be a SPACE file.

	The 4th files is always a tar archive of the installation
	control files, often called INSTCTRL.  To create one:

		% cd {kit-directory}/instctrl
		% tar cf ../INSTCTRL .

	One of the files in this subset (and the installation control
	directory) is a .image, typically ULT.image.  It lists the
	checksums of the subsets and the order of the subset files
	on the tape.

	This is probably all documented in the "Guide to Creating
	Software for Distribution on ULTRIX" (or something close to
	that).
	
> 2) Which of vmunix or genvmunix does the uVax II/RC Ultrix 4.1 machine
> use when it automatically boots up to multi-user DecWindows mode, and
> what would happen (and why) if the other one were to be deleted?

	/vmunix.  Genvmunix is used by the installation procedure
	to build a specific kernel for the configuration.  If it
	is missing then doconfig won't work correctly if you ever
	plan to use it.  It's also nice to have as a backup in
	case /vmunix breaks.

> Thanks in advance. Please reply directly.

	I'll try.
> 
> 				Mike Levin (mlevin at jade.tufts.edu)


-- 
Alan Rollow				alan at nabeth.cxn.dec.com