Update wiki about archives to download and tooling

[frno7]

• Write guide on how to download and boot precompiled kernels.
• Write guide on how to make use of precompiled initramfs archives.
• Move guides on tooling, etc. to the gentoo-mipsr5900el repo.
• Discuss moving source build guides to a separate repo with @Arch91.

For some brief details, see also #33 (comment).

[Arch91]

Hey, who set me into the issue?!?))
I see you all are involved into building the gentoo, building WITH gentoo, and building FOR gentoo... I understand it as your goal will be to keep the same structure as to install everything using the command "apt-get" on the future PS2 gentoo system, am I right?.. I thought to keep a tarball to unpack with everything precompiled OR to keep a USB/partitions image to restore - would be better, but "mom knows better" :D

Discuss moving source build guides to a separate repo - you mean you will be removing the next guides from your wiki:
Building and installing->Building an R5900 cross compiler->building an R5900 cross compiler from sources
Building and installing->Building an R5900 Busybox->building an R5900 Busybox from sources
Building and installing->building programs for PlayStation 2 Linux
and an appropriate note here: Building and installing->installing PlayStation 2 Linux
?

• then if you see it the way your kernel should be compiled only by the gentoo toolchain/crossdev - only this way, other ways are "a kiddish jokes" - remove them like they never existed.

[frno7]

This kernel repo doesn’t host the scripts, patches, or configurations for source builds or Gentoo, which is a good reason to relocate the wiki articles on how to use those things to the repos that do have them, I think. It’ll work better with their Github issues, pull requests, and so on too. Consider the gentoo-mipsr5900el repo issues, as an example.

The difference I propose is that we’d still have articles on for example building an R5900 cross compiler presenting various alternatives, but the links would go to the corresponding repo actually hosting the alternative.

[Arch91]

@frno7, once again, I'm impressed by your tough Order, no offense. For my minding that is quite unacceptable... I prefer when every trifle is working despite some places may be seem like a 'mess' to someone. But maybe truth is yours, and every thing should be in it's place even that 'radical' way...
Alright, I'll relocate/replicate

Building and installing->Building an R5900 cross compiler->building an R5900 cross compiler from sources
Building and installing->Building an R5900 Busybox->building an R5900 Busybox from sources
Building and installing->building programs for PlayStation 2 Linux
and an appropriate note here: Building and installing->installing PlayStation 2 Linux

them to the account of mine, to it's wiki section (more reading for me about how to do that... :/ ), but the corresponding links in your sections you'll edit by yourself the way of your vision. I'll be involved in that later, and when I done, I'll note.

Github issues, pull requests, and so on

I'm guessing that the wiki of your linux source will be the theories and the links only.

[frno7]

@Arch91, thank you. There’s no rush, so relocate them at your convenience. It may take a while before the rest of the wiki is updated and relocated with the latest progress on tooling, etc.

[Arch91]

@frno7, done.

Building and installing->Building an R5900 cross compiler->building an R5900 cross compiler from sources
Building and installing->Building an R5900 Busybox->building an R5900 Busybox from sources
Building and installing->building programs for PlayStation 2 Linux

they are now replicated in the repository of the account of mine in it's wiki. However, they are not standalone - some of them includes the links to the articles in your wiki, such as

• building an R5900 cross compiler with Musl from sources
• Linux kernel
• IOP modules
• issue #3
• building an R5900 Busybox using Gentoo Linux
• Building a PlayStation 2 Linux INITRAMFS root filesystem
• Building an R5900 cross compiler from sources

so, please, let me know if they moved somewhere too. Also, let me know if you'll be "threaten" to remove a linux from scratch pull request thread - there are the answers for me for the many aspects of your kernel... I will be thinking what to do with it , but only in case if you'll decide to remove it either.

[frno7]

The Gentoo articles will be relocated too, so those links will change eventually. I think the wiki for this repo should focus on the Linux kernel, with articles on both beginner and advanced topics, and practical guides for example on how to download and install precompiled kernels. Many articles are for kernel developers, or people who aspire to become developers. Other than that I think this wiki should also have a good selection of links to related topics in other repos, especially various alternatives specifically made for Linux/R5900 (your sources, Gentoo, Yocto, etc.). Gentoo/R5900 grew a lot recently, so it became too big and caused confusion to have everything Gentoo mixed up here in this kernel repo.

Also, let me know if you'll be "threaten" to remove a linux from scratch pull request thread - there are the answers for me for the many aspects of your kernel... I will be thinking what to do with it , but only in case if you'll decide to remove it either.

We’ve talked about closed items before. Click on the Closed button to find them, after they’ve been closed.

[frno7]

All articles specific to Gentoo have now been moved to the gentoo-mipsr5900el/wiki. Things remain to be cleaned-up, and so on...

[Arch91]

Among articles presented in the wiki page of the repo of mine, the next links changed:
building an R5900 Busybox using Gentoo Linux/building an R5900 cross compiler with Musl from sources --- Installing an R5900 cross compiler with Gentoo
Building a PlayStation 2 Linux INITRAMFS root filesystem --- Installing a PlayStation 2 Linux initramfs root filesystem

[frno7]

Yes, installing is often a better article name than building, now that we have prebuilt downloadable alternatives in the actions menu. All names have not settled yet, though. Expect improvements. :-)

[frno7]

I’ve also moved the article on installing PlayStation 2 IOP modules to the wiki of the iopmod repo. Hopefully there’ll be more IOP wiki articles in its repo further on. There’s much to explain about it.

[frno7]

@Arch91, I’m considering moving the article on installing a PlayStation 2 Linux initramfs root filesystem to the gentoo-mipsr5900el repo too. You might want a source-specific article for it in your wiki too?

Right now it’s broken and I’ll clean it up when moving it. There’ll be several Gentoo-specific parts to it anyway. Where to find the busybox command to copy into /bin of the initramfs, and so on.

[Arch91]

moving the article on installing a PlayStation 2 Linux initramfs root filesystem to the gentoo-mipsr5900el repo
Where to find the busybox command to copy into /bin of the initramfs, and so on

@frno7, alright, note about it here when done. I assume those things - Install Busybox, Create root filesystem, Install /init, Install /sbin/init, Install IOP modules and Install kernel modules - should be the same as they described are now, and should not belong to the Gentoo repo only, as these steps are correct for the both repositories, aren't they?

[frno7]

@Arch91, the initramfs article is currently a mix of Gentoo and non-Gentoo parts, and on top of that one might choose to have statically linked tools, or install libc in /lib, and so on. Since we can expect various flavours and tastes in how one’s initramfs is made up, it seems best to split the article and thereby let each article focus on their specifics and preferences, rather than mixing all of it in the same article. @immolo is about to configure an initramfs for a LiveUSB, see #73 (reply in thread), which is another specific variant, for instance. :-)

[frno7]

@immolo, this wiki is obviously in a flux now, with articles moving to gentoo-mipsr5900el/wiki, and so on, but would you agree that in particular the two articles on

• installing and booting PlayStation 2 Linux, and
• building a PlayStation 2 Linux kernel

are accurate and understandable to be useful?

One thing that I’m keen on changing is ../initramfs/ps2 to simply ../initramfs for the initramfs. This will be changed in arch/mips/configs/ps2_defconfig too.

[immolo]

@immolo, this wiki is obviously in a flux now, with articles moving to gentoo-mipsr5900el/wiki, and so on, but would you agree that in particular the two articles on

• installing and booting PlayStation 2 Linux, and
• building a PlayStation 2 Linux kernel

are accurate and understandable to be useful?

One thing that I’m keen on changing is ../initramfs/ps2 to simply ../initramfs for the initramfs. This will be changed in arch/mips/configs/ps2_defconfig too.

Matches what I followed so seems good, maybe we could add a troubleshooting section to make it easier to spot issues from what I've learnt from both you over the week?

[frno7]

Matches what I followed so seems good, maybe we could add a troubleshooting section to make it easier to spot issues from what I've learnt from both you over the week?

Sure! I’ve added sentences like

The vmlinuz file should be about 4 MB, or less, depending on its configuration, and the size of the initramfs linked within the file.

to manage expectations on a plausible size of the kernel file. :-) I’ve also added

Verify that the CONFIG_INITRAMFS_SOURCE kernel configuration matches INSTALL_MOD_PATH, with grep CONFIG_INITRAMFS_SOURCE .config printing CONFIG_INITRAMFS_SOURCE="../initramfs/ps2".

for similar reasons. We could sprinkle more check-this items, and as you say, write sections for troubleshooting. What issues would you suggest for a start?

[immolo]

Adding the file check for busybox and making sure the modules were installed to the correct location would be help, if you can wait till tonight when my daughter leaves then I can add some parts for you to check over and remove as you see fit.

[immolo]

I've added what I think is needed to the wiki from my own issues, excuse the formatting as I needed to type on mobile as I won't be near a desktop this weekend, I will clean it up Monday if you are happy with the additions.

https://github.com/frno7/linux/wiki/Installing-and-booting-PlayStation-2-Linux
https://github.com/frno7/linux/wiki/Building-a-PlayStation-2-Linux-kernel

[frno7]

Thanks! Let’s wait until Monday then.

By the way, wiki articles are reStructuredText, in common with Linux kernel documentation, as opposed to Markdown which is generally more common on Git Hub.

[AKuHAK]

By the way, wiki articles are reStructuredText, in common with Linux kernel documentation, as opposed to Markdown which is generally more common on Git Hub.

wiki is not limited to that format, someone can use Markdown as well:

[frno7]

wiki is not limited to that format, someone can use Markdown as well

The reason Restructuredtext was chosen for the wiki, among other possible formats, is that the format is used for the Linux kernel documentation. Using the same format makes it easier to share text between both kinds of documentation.

[immolo]

I've only just seen this on my return, thank you both for the tips.