Technotools/Technotools (Chestnut CD-ROM)(1993).ISO/unix/lin95aux/relnotes.95a

Text File | 1992-03-14 | 15.3 KB | 369 lines

        RELEASE NOTES FOR LINUX v0.95
                Linus Torvalds, March 7, 1992
                REV A March 14, 1992 by tgm

This is file mostly contains info on changed features of Linux, and
using old versions as a help-reference might be a good idea.


        COPYRIGHT

Linux-0.95 is NOT public domain software, but is copyrighted by me.  The
copyright conditions are the same as those imposed by the GNU copyleft:
get a copy of the GNU copyleft at any major ftp-site (if it carries
linux, it probably carries a lot of GNU software anyway, and they all
contain the copyright).

The copyleft is pretty detailed, but it mostly just means that you may
freely copy linux for your own use, and redistribute all/parts of it, as
long as you make source available (not necessarily in the same
distribution, but you make it clear how people can get it for nothing
more than copying costs).  Any changes you make that you distribute will
also automatically fall under the GNU copyleft.

NOTE! The linux unistd library-functions (the low-level interface to
linux: system calls etc) are exempt from the copyright - you may use
them as you wish, and using those in your binary files won't mean that
your files are automatically under the GNU copyleft.  This concerns
/only/ the unistd-library and those (few) other library functions I have
written: most of the rest of the library has it's own copyrights (or is
public domain).  See the library sources for details of those.


        INSTALLATION

This is a SHORT install-note.  The installation is very similar to 0.11
and 0.12, so you should read RELNOTES.11 too.  There are a couple of
programs you will need to install linux: something that writes disk
images (rawrite.exe or NU or...) and something that can create harddisk
partitions (fdisk under xenix or older versions of dos, edpart.exe or
something like that).

NOTE! Repartitioning your harddisk will destroy all data on it (well,
not exactly, but if you know enough to get back the data you probably
didn't need this warning).  So be careful.

READ THIS THROUGH, THEN READ RELNOTES.11, AND IF YOU ARE SURE YOU KNOW
WHAT YOU ARE DOING, CONTINUE.  OTHERWISE, PANIC.  OR WRITE ME FOR
EXPLANATIONS.  OR DO ANYTHING BUT INSTALL LINUX - IT'S VERY SIMPLE, BUT
IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING YOU'LL PROBABLY BE SORRY.  I'D
RATHER ANSWER A FEW UNNECESSARY MAILS THAN GET MAIL SAYING "YOU KILLED
MY HARDDISK, BASTARD.  I'M GOING TO FIND YOU, AND YOU'LL BE SORRY WHEN I
DO".

Minimum files needed:

    RELNOTES.95 (this file)
    RELNOTES.12
        RELNOTES.11 (plus any other docs you might find: the FAQ etc)
    boot.img    (version 0.95)
    root.img    (version 0.95)
    auxtool.img (for tar, compress, uncompress, vi)
    rawrite.exe
    some disk partitioning software, eg fdisk, edpart.exe etc.

Optionally:
        root.img     (version 0.12, for files you might wish to copy)
        other binaries, GCC, PERL, linbin, etc.

1) back up everything you have on your harddisk - linux-0.95 is still in
   beta and might do weird things.  The only thing I guarantee is that
   it has worked fine on /my/ machine - for all I know it might eat your
   harddisk and spit it out in small pieces on any other hardware.

   Linux-0.95 can easily be booted by getting the 2 files `boot.img'
   and `root.img' from the linux zip archive and writing them out to disks
   of the SAME size (i.e two 1.44M floppies or two 1.2M floppies).
   Writing the disks is done with the "rawrite.exe" program
   from dos. Linux is then booted simply by inserting the boot diskette in
   drive A, and rebooting the machine. If everything goes well, linux will
   ask you to insert the root-disk after loading the system. Hopefully
   linux will then correctly load the shell executable, and allow you to
   login as root (no password). After logging in the system prompt `#'
   should be displayed.

   You can get a complete list of available commands by pressing <tab>
   twice: the root-disk contains mostly setup-programs needed to install
   the system on a harddisk.  You can test them a bit, reading directories
   etc.

   PROBLEMS: should you be unable to boot Linux, you may have to reconfigure
   your computer's CMOS setup. You must disable EMS memory, telling CMOS
   to use all your RAM as extended memory. Linux may not be compatible with
   shadow ram either, so you may want to disable it also. If Linux's
   fdisk command doesn't show any hard disk partitions you may have to
   check you CMOS setup to be sure that a hard drive type is selected.
   Remember Linux requires an AT type hard disk controller and a 386 or
   better CPU.

2) Test out the linux boot-disk with the root file system.  If it
   doesn't work, check the hardware requirements, and mail me if you
   still think it should work.  I might not be able to help you, but
   your bug-report would still be appreciated.

   Linux-0.95 now has an init/login: there should be 4 logins started on
   the first 4 virtual consoles.  Log in as root (no password), and test
   it out.  Change to the other logins by pressing left-alt + FN[1-4].
   Note that booting up with a floppy as root is S..L..O..W..  - the
   floppy driver has been optimized for sequential access (backups etc),
   and trashes somewhat with demand-loading.

   Test that linux can read your harddisk at least partly: run the fdisk
   program on the root-disk, and see if it barfs.  If it tells you about
   any partitions at all, linux can successfully read at least part of
   your harddisk.

   NOTE! Harddisk device names and numbers have changed between versions
   0.12 and 0.95: the new numbering system was needed for the extended
   partitions, and a new naming scheme was in order so that people
   wouldn't confuse the old devices with the new ones.

   The new harddisk device names are: /dev/hd followed by an 'a' for the
   first drive, or a 'b' for the second one.  After that comes the
   partition number, 1-4 for the primary partitions, 5- for possible
   extended partitions.  No number means the complete disk. Like this:

    /dev/hda    the whole first harddisk (old: /dev/hd0)
    /dev/hdb3    partition nr 3 on the second disk (old: /dev/hd8)

3) Make sure that you have a free /primary/ partition.  There can be 4
   primary partitions per drive: newer DOS fdisks seem to be able to
   create only 2 (one primary and one extended).  In that case use some
   other partitioning software: edpart.exe etc.  Linux fdisk currently
   only tells you the partition info - it doesn't write to the disk.

   Remember to check how big your partitions are, as that can be used to
   tell which device Linux thinks it is. AFTER PARTITIONING ALWAYS USE
   LINUX'S OWN FDISK TO READ THE PARTITIONS SO THAT YOU WILL KNOW HOW
   LINUX LABELS THE PARTITIONS. Do not assume that Linux numbers always
   agree with numbers reported by other partitioning software. For example,
   what DOS's fdisk refers to as partition number 2 may be viewed by Linux
   as /dev/hd4. It all depends on your particular unique circumstances and
   is of no importance EXCEPT that when you tell Linux to make a file system
   on your disk OR patch the Linux boot image to tell it to use the hard
   drive as root. If you and Linux aren't both "on the same page" conceptually,
   you will unintentionally overwrite the wrong partition, or be unable to
   boot from the hard drive.

   NOTE! Linux-0.95 /might/ recognize extended partitions: but the code
   for this is utterly untested, as I don't have any of those.  Do NOT
   use the extended partitions unless you can verify that they are
   indeed correctly set up - if my routines are wrong, writing to the
   extended partitions might just overwrite some other partition
   instead.  Not nice.

4) Boot up linux again, fdisk to make sure you now have the new
   partition, and use mkfs to make a filesystem on one of the partitions
   which Linux's OWN fdisk reports.


   Write "mkfs -c /dev/hdX nnn" where X
   is the device number reported by linux fdisk, and nnn is the size - also
   reported    by fdisk.  nnn is the size in /blocks/, ie kilobytes.  You
   should be able to use the size info to determine which partition is
   represented  by which device name.

5) Mount the new disk partition and copy over the
   root filesystem to the harddisk, eg like this:

          cd /
          mkdir user
          mount /dev/hdaX /user
          cd /user
          for i in bin dev etc usr tmp
      do
      cp +recursive /$i /user
          done
          umount /dev/hdaX

   You cannot use just "cp +recursive / /user", as that will result in a
   loop.

6) Sync the filesystem after you have played around enough, and reboot.

         sync
         sync
     lo

    (none) login: sync
    <wait for it to sync>
    ctrl-alt-del

   THIS IS IMPORTANT! NEVER EVER FORGET TO SYNC BEFORE KILLING THE MACHINE.

7) Change the bootdisk to understand which partition it should use as a
   root filesystem.  See RELNOTES.11: it's still the word at offset
   508 into the image. You should be up and running.

8) When you've successfully started up with your harddisk as root, you
   can install auxtool.img and the other disk images (i.e. root.img ver. 0.12 )
   from a floppy, and copy over any files you find there. First use rawrite
   to copy auxtool.img over to a blank formatted diskette. Then mount
   the diskette.

   Mounting a floppy is easy, proceed as follows:

         cd /
         mkdir floppy
         mount /dev/PS0 /floppy    (if you have a 3.5" drive)

   or
        cd /
        mkdir floppy
    mount /dev/at0 /floppy    (for 5.25" floppies)

   After that the files can be copied to your harddisk, eg:

            cd /floppy
            cp compress /usr/bin
            cp uncompress /usr/bin
            cp tar /usr/bin
            cp vi /usr/bin
            sync
            sync
            sync
            umount /dev/PS0 (or /dev/at0 for 5.25" floppies)


Now, you may follow the same technique to copy files over from the
version 0.12 root image, if you so desire.

9) Copying tar files over to Linux: Other Linux software is usually
   distributed in one of two different ways:

           1) tar format, identified by  `.tar' suffix.
           2) tar.Z format identified by `.taz' suffix.

  IF THE SUFFIX IS "tar":

   To transfer a `.tar' file over to Linux use rawrite to copy it
   to a diskette, HOWEVER after booting Linux and inserting the
   diskette holding the tar file, you DO NOT use `mount'. Why?
   Because the tar archive is not a file system as are the image
   files. You use this command to transfer tar archives from the
   diskette:

           tar xvf /dev/PS0    (or /dev/at0 for 5.25" floppies)

  IF THE SUFFIX IS "taz"

   To transfer a `.taz' you must perform some intermediate steps.
   One of the easiest ways is to use a version of tar that runs
   under MS-DOS and then create a temporary tar file which you can
   transfer to Linux using the previously described rawrite
   method. Suppose you wish to transfer a file named  `anyfile.taz'
   to Linux. Use the DOS version of tar a follows:

           tar cvf temp.tar anyfile.taz

   Now copy temp.tar to diskette using rawrite. Once inside Linux
   unarchive it as follows:

           tar xvf /dev/PS0          (this will retrieve `anyfile.taz')
           mv anyfile.taz tmp.tar.Z  (this renames the taz file)
           uncompress tmp.tar.Z      (this uncompresses the taz file)
           tar xvf tmp.tar           (this untars the original taz file)

   Please note that there is an MTOOLS package under development for
   Linux which will allow you to read and write to and from DOS
   directly. Watch for it.


That's it. Now go back and read the INSTALL-0.11, until you are sure you
know what you are doing.


        New features of 0.95, in order of appearance
            (ie in the order you see them)

    Init/login

Yeah, thanks to poe (Peter Orbaeck (sp?)), linux now boots up like a
real unix with a login-prompt.  Login as root (no passwd), and change
your /etc/passwd to your hearts delight (and add other logins in
/etc/inittab etc).

    Bash is even bigger

It's really a bummer to boot up from floppies: bash takes a long time to
load.  Bash is also now so big that I couldn't fit compress and tar onto
the root-floppy: You'll probably want the old rootimage-0.12 just in
order to get tar+compress onto your harddisk.  If anybody has pointers
to a simple shell that is freely distributable, it might be a good idea
to use that for the root-diskette.

Especially with a small buffer-cache, things aren't fun. Don't worry:
linux runs much better on a harddisk.

    Virtual consoles on any (?) hardware.

You can select one of several consoles by pressing the left alt-key and
a function key at the same time. Linux should report the number of
virtual consoles available upon bootup. /dev/tty0 is now "the current"
screen, /dev/tty1 is the main console, and /dev/tty2-8 can exist
depending on your text-mode or card.

The virtual consoles also have some new screen-handling commands: they
confirm even better to vt200 control codes than 0.11. Special graphic
characters etc: you can well use them as terminals to VMS (although
that's a shameful waste of resources), and the PF1-4 keys work somewhat
in the application-key mode.

    Symbolic links.

0.95 now allows symlinks to point to other symlinks etc (the maximum
depth is a rather arbitrary 5 links). 0.12 didn't like more than one
level of indirection.

    Virtual memory.

VM under 0.95 should be better than under 0.12: no more lockups (as far
as I have seen), and you can now swap to the filesystem as well as to a
special partition. There are two programs to handle this: mkswap to set
up a swap-file/partition and swapon to start up swapping.

mkswap needs either a partition or a file that already exists to make a
swap-area. To make a swap-file, do this:

    # dd bs=1024 count=NN if=/dev/hda of=swapfile
    # mkswap swapfile NN

The first command just makes a file that is NN blocks long (initializing
it from /dev/hda, but that could be anything). The second command then
writes the necessary setup-info into the file. To start swapping, write

    # swapon swapfile

NOTE! 'dd' isn't on the rootdisk: you have to install some things onto
the harddisk before you can get up and running.

NOTE2! When linux runs totally out of virtual memory, things slow down
dramatically. It tries to keep on running as long as it can, but at
least it shouldn't lock up any more. ^C should work, although you might
have to wait a while for it..

    Faster floppies

Ok, you don't notice this much when booting up from a floppy: bash has
grown, so it takes longer to load, and the optimizations work mostly
with sequential accesses.  When you start un-taring floppies to get the
programs onto your harddisk, you'll notice that it's much faster now.
That should be about the only use for floppies under a unix: nobody in
their right mind uses floppies as filesystems.

    Better FS-independence

Hopefully you'll never even notice this, but the filesystem has been
partly rewritten to make it less minix-fs-specific. I haven't
implemented all the VFS-patches I got, so it's still not ready, but it's
getting there, slowly.

    And that's it, I think.

Happy hacking.

            Linus ([e-mail])