Week 2

June - 1

  1. Checkout httpfs, may be it can be used to mount file-system from server http://httpfs.sourceforge.net/
My understanding of HTTP boot with HTTPFS
  1. Download the Linux kernel with fuse support ( or insert fuse module later )
  2. download initramfs with
    1. fuse module
    2. httpfs executable
    3. Network setup tools and modules script to set root filesystem to the HTTPFS.
  3. Boot with this setup.

It seems I am missing many things here, let me try out booting over NFS first

Problems with mounting with httpfs

Check out HttpFSProbs for details

few worries :

  1. If FUSE is used to mount root partition, then when actual user logs in, he may not see any of those files as they are mounted by root.
  2. Need to find FUSE option which will allow everyone to see the file.
  3. httpfs program does not accept any option :-(, How can I pass options ?

PS: One way out can be that, root mounts iso over HTTP, then uses the local loop to mount that ISO. I guess that, the ISO mounted by root is mounted using normal mount command, and hence should be readable by all. and can also support other mount options if needed.
I have not done this experiment yet, need to confirm before proceeding on this path.
Done with this experiment, any user can view files if root remounts the iso file from httpfs with loop.

June - 2

Done nothing useful, just some random reading

June - 3

  1. Writing PHP code to support booting and using pxelinux from machines with static IP address.
  2. Stuck with issue of permissions regarding opening files in write mode :-(

June -4

  1. Suddenly enlightened by the memory that I have code for rom-o-matic :-)
  2. Got it running on my machine.
  3. Wrote and sent the patch so that it will be easy to host rom-o-matic on any machine.
  4. Patched rom-o-matic is hosted at http://www.alien.doesntexist.org/rom-o-matic/
  5. Modifying rom-o-matic to support pxeknife PxeKnifeRomOMatic

June - 5-6

  1. Done with pxe-generation for both static and dynamic networks
  2. modified rom-o-matic code to provide user with option to have add inbuilt BKO support.

June - 9

  1. Getting up rom-o-matic with BKO support on etherboot. done [http://etherboot.org/share/pravin/BKO/rom-o-matic/]
  2. Because of some wired reason, even original rom-o-matic code is not producing any output. – solved, the bin/NIC target was not compiled in and error reporting was turned off.
  3. The latest gpxe code, and gpxe version used by rom-o-matic, both are creating trubble while booting. ProbsBKORomOMatic

June - 10

  1. Trying to fix the problem with BKO and Rom-O-Matic integration ProbsBKORomOMatic
  2. Adding DSL to pxeknife PxeKnifeDSL
  3. Trying to boot it over http.
  1. http://httpfs.sourceforge.net/net_boot.htm