commit 9223fa7ec424a71e16316dfbd3745508831650f8
parent 0f31afee2b72a3817b46b41bbaf918de430c6e10
Author: Daniel Barlow <dan@telent.net>
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2023 00:32:18 +0100
first proofreading pass
Diffstat:
1 file changed, 16 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)
diff --git a/doc/new.rst b/doc/new.rst
@@ -24,17 +24,18 @@ Requirements
************
You will need a reasonably powerful computer running Nix. Devices
-that run Liminix are unlikely tohave the CPU power and disk space to
+that run Liminix are unlikely to have the CPU power and disk space to
be able to build it in situ, so the build process is based around
"cross-compilation" from another computer. The build machine can be
any reasonably powerful desktop/laptop/server PC running NixOS.
-Standalone Nixpkgs installations on other Linux distribuions or MacOS
-also ought to work (but I haven't tested that configuration)
+Standalone Nixpkgs installations on other Linux distributions - or on
+MacOS - also ought to work but are untested.
Running in Qemu
***************
+You can do this without even having a router to play with.
Clone the Liminix git repository and change into its directory
@@ -50,13 +51,13 @@ Now build Liminix
nix-build -I liminix-config=./examples/hellonet.nix \
--arg device "import ./devices/qemu" -A outputs.default
-In this command ``liminix-config`` points to the configuration for the
-device (services, users, filesystem, secrets) and ``device`` is the
-file for your hardware device definition. ``outputs.default`` tells
-Liminix to build the appropriate image output appropriate to
-flash to the hardware device: for the qemu "hardware" it's an alias
-for ``outputs.vmbuild``, which creates a directory containing a root
-filesystem image and a kernel.
+In this command ``liminix-config`` points to the desired software
+configuration (e.g. services, users, filesystem, secrets) and
+``device`` describes the hardware (or emulated hardware) to run it on.
+``outputs.default`` tells Liminix that we want the default image
+output for flashing to the device: for the Qemu "hardware" it's an
+alias for ``outputs.vmbuild``, which creates a directory containing a
+root filesystem image and a kernel.
.. tip:: The first time you run this it may take several hours,
because it builds all of the dependencies including a full
@@ -70,10 +71,11 @@ Now you can try it:
nix-shell --run "mips-vm ./result/vmlinux ./result/rootfs"
-This starts the Qemu emulator to run the Liminix configuration you
-just built. It connects the Liminix serial console and the `QEMU
-monitor <https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/monitor.html>`_ to
-stdin/stdout. Use ^P (not ^A) to switch to the monitor.
+This starts Qemu emulator with a bunch of useful options, to run
+the Liminix configuration you just built. It connects the Liminix
+serial console and the `QEMU monitor
+<https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/monitor.html>`_ to
+stdin/stdout.
You should now see Linux boot messages and after a few seconds be
presented with a login prompt. You can login on the console as
