first proofreading pass

This commit is contained in:
Daniel Barlow 2023-09-15 00:32:18 +01:00
parent 0f31afee2b
commit 9223fa7ec4

View file

@ -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