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<TITLE>RE: [Haifux] Announcing a new project - fakeroot-ng</TITLE>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>Hi,<BR>
<BR>
>The real issue here, however, is testing embedded setups.<BR>
<BR>
>With fakeroot I can run the entire build script as a regular user, >which is great<BR>
<BR>
Most embedded Linux-based I encountered are working as root and do not have such a thing as a regular user. It seems to me that this is usually so, but again I could be wrong.<BR>
<BR>
Did you encounter any embedded setups where it is<BR>
different ?<BR>
<BR>
Regards,<BR>
Yossi Arbel<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
-----Original Message-----<BR>
From: haifux-bounces@haifux.org on behalf of Shachar Shemesh<BR>
Sent: Mon 12/31/2007 7:01 AM<BR>
To: alon@8ln.org<BR>
Cc: Haifa Linux Club<BR>
Subject: Re: [Haifux] Announcing a new project - fakeroot-ng<BR>
<BR>
alon@8ln.org wrote:<BR>
<BR>
> That being said, I don't really know why fake a chroot jail within<BR>
> fakeroot. I can understand why you'd like a userspace chroot jail, but<BR>
> you won't usually need to fake root at the time.<BR>
> <BR>
<BR>
Actually, the two really come together. You use the same technology for<BR>
both chroot and fakeroot.<BR>
<BR>
The real issue here, however, is testing embedded setups. I have a<BR>
script that builds a directory structure (with different owners and<BR>
device files), that then gets automatically compressed into a SQUASHFS<BR>
image and saved. When you boot from it, it turns into a real<BR>
environment. It's real useful, however, to test whether this environment<BR>
has all the devices, libraries and mounts that are required to, say, run<BR>
a certain program. The obvious solution is to chroot into it, and try<BR>
running the program.<BR>
<BR>
With fakeroot I can run the entire build script as a regular user, which<BR>
is great because I don't want to compile a whole system as root, I don't<BR>
want to leave a passwordless sudo on my machines, the script runs for so<BR>
long (ever times compiling of wxWidgets or glibc? They take a LONG time<BR>
to compile) that a sudo with password expires, and that's before I start<BR>
talking about bugs in the DESTDIR mechanism, which, if run as real root,<BR>
may hose your entire system. fakeroot is ideal for those cases. I had to<BR>
write a whole set of wrapper scripts around fakeroot to make it store<BR>
its state (i.e. - the lies it tells the programs) between runs in a<BR>
reliable way (and let me tell you, that stretches fakeroot's abilities<BR>
to the limit).<BR>
<BR>
However, once the environment is set up using fakeroot two things<BR>
happen. The first is that you don't want to use a real root in order to<BR>
chroot into it. You get used to good things :-). The second, and more<BR>
important one, is that you cannot use a real root. All the files there<BR>
have the wrong owners and none of the device files are actual devices.<BR>
Sometimes it doesn't matter. Sometimes it does.<BR>
<BR>
And that, actually, is the real reason fakeroot-ng was written.<BR>
<BR>
Shachar<BR>
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