coLinux - Cygwin Tools!

This package contains cygwin tools that can be used to setup and manage your
coLinux distributions.  This initial release is considered alpha.  i.e. There
are known bugs and features that are not yet implemented.  However, there are
enough features available to bootstrap a full Linux distribution like 
GenToo.

Installation:
	Extract this package to your colinux directory.  For example I
	installed coLinux at /cygdrive/e/colinux.  So I would run:
		cd /cygdrive/e/colinux
		unzip colinux-cygwin-tools.exe
	The tools would then be available in the directory:
		/cygdrive/e/colinux/cygwin-tools

	Note: Only one version of the cygwin.dll may be running on your system
	at a time.  Consequently, if you plan on using Cygwin, you should
	remove the cygwin.dll included with the coLinux distribution.

Contents of this package:
 - README.txt
	You are reading it now.

 - automount
	A tool to mark a filesystem for mounting when loading from the
        ramdisk.

	Example:
		./mkfs -t ext2 -o rootfs.ext2 4096
		./automount rootfs.ext2 /mnt/rootfs
		./mkconfig ramdisk.iso ramdisk.tar \
			rootfs.ext2 > example.colinux.xml
		./colinux example

 - colinux
	A script to invoke a Linux distribution under coLinux.

 - gpl.txt
	The GPL license.  If you do not accept the terms of this license
	you must contact Foxtrot Technologies Inc. and obtain a different
	license and remove this software from your system until you obtain
	a license which you accept.

 - getScript
        A script to print any script placed at the beginning of a file system
        and print it to standard output.  If the filesystem does not have a 
        script prefix, one will be created.

	Example:
		./mkfs -t swap -o small.swap 16
		./getScript swap > swap.sh
		vi swap.sh
		./putScript swap < swap.sh

 - install-gentoo
	An example script I used to install-gentoo.   Once running it you
        can start "gentoo" with the command "colinux gentoo".  You will
        then need to follow the "gentoo" installation guide to setup networking
        and such.  I had to perform the following steps to get networking
        working:
		1. Setup bridging between the network devices under Windows XP.
		2. Run ./colinux gentoo
		3. Edit the /etc/fstab to refer to cobd0 as ROOT, cobd1 as
		   SWAP, and comment out BOOT.
		4. Run /sbin/dhcpcd eth0
	At that point networking work, and I was able to follow the
	installation guide from their.  (Note: I used a stage3 tarball.)

 - mkconfig
	A script for creating a coLinux configuration file listing the
	desired images.  Currently, output is to standard out and only
	image files are supported.  If you need custom network settings
	or such, edit the script before running it.

	Example:
		./mkconfig ramdisk.iso ramdisk.tar > ramdisk.colinux.xml
		./colinux ramdisk

 - mkfs
	Creates a blocked file which will become the specified 
	filesystem type when booted by the ramdisk.

	Example:
		./mkfs -t swap -o small.swap 16
		./mkconfig ramdisk.iso ramdisk.tar \
			small.swap > example.colinux.xml
		./colinux example

	Note: Currently only ext2 and swap are supported.  When creating
	an ext2 filesystem an interactive shell will startup first.  This
	is a hack to initialize the tty settings.  Just type "exit" to
	complete the process.

 - putScript
	This copies a script into the specified filesystem.

	Example:
		./mkfs -t swap -o small.swap 16
		./getScript swap > swap.sh
		vi swap.sh
		./putScript swap < swap.sh

	Note: Script sizes are limited to 4096 bytes.  If you need something
	larger, you will need to write a script that extracts data from the
	block device.  "$1" will be the device the script was extracted from.

 - ramdisk.iso
	This is a read-only filesystem used for bootstrapping a ramdisk to
	either run commands interactively, or to process scripts added 
	to a file system.  For example, to run interactive commands
	you would use:
		./mkconfig ramdisk.iso ramdisk.tar > ramdisk.colinux.xml
		./colinux ramdisk

	Note1: You must always specify a tar file for use with the iso 
	file.

	Note2: "ramdisk.iso" uses programs and libraries from "RedHat 7.1".
	"sh.c" is the source code for /bin/sh on ramdisk.iso.  Future
	versions may be based on a different Linux distribution.

	Note3: An ISO filesystem is used to avoid the danger of accidentally
	modifying or corrupting your copy of ramdisk.iso.
 
 - ramdisk.tar
	These are the files to place on the root filesystem when booting
	the ramdisk.iso. If you need to modify the contents of this archive
	you can use the following commands:
	
	EXTRACTING:
		mkdir rootfs;cd rootfs;tar xpf ../ramdisk.tar

	ARCHIVING:
		cd rootfs
		tar cpf ../tmp.tar --owner=0 --group=0 \
			--numeric-owner *
		cd ..
		dd if=tmp.tar of=ramdisk.tar bs=4096 conv=sync

	Note: The current version of ramdisk.iso is based on redhat71.  If
	you wish to use applications from a different Linux distribution
	your tar file should include all the required libraries.

 - sh.c
	This is the source code for the /bin/sh program used with ramdisk.iso.
	This is not a shell, but a script intended to bootstrap to a ramdisk.

 - shell
	This is a block device used to invoke an interactive shell as part
	of the colinux startup.

	EXAMPLE:
		./mkfs -t swap -o small.swap 16
		./mkconfig ramdisk.iso ramdisk.tar \
			small.swap shell > example.colinux.xml
		./colinux example

 - untar
	This is a script for extracting a tar file under the ramdisk.  An
	example would be:
		./mkfs -t ext2 -o vmlinux-modules.ext2 32
		./automount vmlinux-modules.ext2 /mnt/modules
		./untar  -o vmlinux-modules.tar -C /mnt/modules \
			../vmlinux-modules.tar.gz
		./mkconfig ramdisk.iso ramdisk.tar vmlinux-modules.ext2 \
			vmlinux-modules.tar shell > example.colinux.xml
		./colinux example

Legal Stuff:
  Copyright (C) 2004 Foxtrot Technologies Inc.
  All right reserved.
 
  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
  modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
  as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
  of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
 
  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
  GNU General Public License for more details.
 
  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
  along with this program;  if not, write to the Free Software
  Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
 
  Contact Foxtrot Technologies Inc. if you desire a different license
  for this software.  http://www.foxtrottechnologies.net
 
  AUTHOR: Bill C. Riemers