From: Florian La Roche <florian@jurix.jura.uni-sb.de>
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce
Subject: jurix Linux-Distribution
Date: 22 Jul 1995 14:48:26 +0300
Organization: ?
Sender: wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi
Approved: linux-announce@news.ornl.gov (Lars Wirzenius)
Message-ID: <3uqoia$6vp@kruuna.helsinki.fi>
Keywords: binary Linux distribution


Now that I have convertet to XFree86 3.1.1, I feel that also some other people
could use my Linux distribution.


Main Ideas and Features of the jurix-Distribution:
==================================================

* Kernel is 1.2.9.

* C library is 4.7.4 with utmp in the old place /etc/utmp. This library is
  the stablest C library, I have seen for Linux until now.
  I have also collected all changes from H.J. Lu to various GNU programs to
  use the newest version of the regular expression library (rx 0.7.x), which
  is part of libc 4.7.4.
  libc 4.7.4 can not be used to compile Motif programs. But running Motif
  programs that are compiled on another machine is no problem. So anybody
  who does not have Motif, can use it without problems.

* Elf is not yet stable (5.2.3), I think. For sure it will be soon...
  Then I will recompile the whole distribution for Elf. (I'll keep
  my eyes on the gcc development mailing-list.)

* shadow password system installed and also as few security-holes as possible

* XFree86 3.1.1 with all patches from the newest "README.late". I have
  added some patches like having no setuid "root" xterm, but only setgid "tty".
  Also the "startx" script complains, if a user who is logged in via
  network wants to do "startx". (Well, just one experience I made with my
  local linux users...)

* I have used gcc 2.5.8 until 2.7.0 was out. 2.7.0 had no problems for me,
  though I know about the problems posted to the GNU newsgroups.
  It is much better for C++ and I will immediately upgrade to 2.7.1, as
  soon as it is out.
  So: 2.7.0 is ok, though 2.7.[123...] will be better  :-)

* This distribution has as first goal stability and robustness with all
  packages being installed very cleanly...
  That doesn't hinder me to update it nearly daily to newer versions of
  some source-packages. Packages with lots of changes get tested. Also
  looking at the ChangeLog or at the context diffs shows me how stable
  that version will be.
  Also reading most linux newsgroups, the gnu newsgroups and the linux
  mailing-lists gives some pretty good patches...

* I have a server, which is installed about once per two months with the
  newest version of this distribution. I have several other macines, that
  get installed more often to test new versions. So get get pretty good
  feedback about the stability...
  Re-installation is pretty easy for me. I have a root/boot-disk combo,
  with which I can install and configure all machines automagically.
  Just boot with them and type in setup. (Bootp and a script will do
  the rest for me...) If someone writes me documentation, I will pass on
  the magic of those disks...

* The server is a 486-dx2-66 localbus, 16 MB, 800 MB IDE-disks and does:
  - all my email and some mailing-lists with majordomo
  - news-server for a few newsgroups
  - all linux mailing-lists are gated to newsgroups for me
  - german irc-server for the linuxnet
  - http- and gopher-server
  - caching nameserver for all my linux-machines
  - open guest-account for the whole university

* Install via NFS or from your harddisk (CDROM could be easily added...).
  Installation only from Linux ext2 partitions, not M$-DO$ partitions.

* I have a complete source tree for all binaries. All changes to the official
  source code releases are in separate files, so it is easy to upgrade to
  a newer source version or just rebuild everything. If you want to submit
  something for this Linux distribution, you have to submit context diffs.
  Makeing binary tar files is not the problem.
  On the other hand, I could need some more people who work on this Linux
  distribution. There is a long enough TODO-list. Just pick something, check
  everything and pass it on to me.

* I have started to make a config tool called "setup". For an ethernet-
  connected host, this should already be quite nice, but it currently doesn't
  work in other environments.
  Some things are nice to be configured with a config tool. But I don't want
  to handle things like /etc/lilo.conf. You should read the documentation and
  learn about what to write into that file. You can put all changed config files
  into a tar file before upgrading to a newer version of this distribution.
  (The included script PkgTool will do that for you. Just wait for the
  documentation. It is at least the script I myself use...)

* The distribution contains everything I need myself. I don't want to
  make it too small, but I also don't want to include everything I see on
  the linux ftp sites. And putting in lots of things, I cannot even test,
  doesn't make sense for a good distribution. If other people use those
  missing programs a lot, they have to prepare them for inclusion.
  But most probably you will find nearly everything you need. You can take
  the missing programs from other distributions or compile them yourself,
  preferable into /usr/local/.

* File system layout is roughly according to what the FSSTDN suggests.
  It does not really follow the FSSTDN closely. (It does not conform to it.)

* Mail (sendmail v8) works out of the box. mirror, irc, archie and many other
  nice internet tools are available.

* To download the complete binary distribution, you need less than 70 MB
  disk space. Source code is less than 300 MB.



List of used Versions:
======================

apps:
arcers: Info-ZIPs unzip 5.12, ncompress 4.2.4, Info-ZIP's zip 201
editors: easyedit 1.42, elvis 1.8pl3, emacs 19.29, joe 2.8, nvi 1.49, vim 3.0
printing: a2ps 4.3, psutils
spreadsheets: oleo 1.6, sc 6.1
dosemu 0.60.3

compile:
bin86 0.3, binutils 2.5.2.7 (binutils 950606 is in the "new"-directory),
bison 1.24, cvs 1.5, diffutils 2.7, flex 2.5.2, gcc 2.7.0, gdb 4.14,
make 3.74, patch 2.1, perl 4.036, (perl5.001m is in the "new"-directory
as a tar-file), strace 3.0, Berkeley yacc 1.9

doc:
man-pages-1.6, fsstnd-1.0, linuxdoc-sgml 1.1p7

games:
gnuchess 4.0.pl75beta, gnushogi 1.2p03, xblast 1.11, xboard 3.2.pl2, xjewel 1.6,
xmine, xpat2 1.03, xshogi 1.2p03, xsok 1.00, xtetris 2.6, xvier 1.0 (connect IV)

gnu:
autoconf 2.3, bc 1.03, cpio 2.3, dejagnu 1.2, ecc 1.2.1, ed 0.2,
fileutils 3.12 with color-ls 3.12.0.2, findutils 4.1, gawk 2.15.5,
ghostview-1.5, grep 2.0, groff 1.09, ghostscript 2.6.2, gzip 1.2.4,
indent 1.9.1, less 290, m4 1.4, ptx 0.4, rcs 5.7, recode 3.4.1,
screen 3.6.2, sed 2.05, sh-utils 1.12, sharutils 4.1.4, tar 1.11.8,
texinfo 3.6, textutils 1.12, time 1.6, wdiff 0.5

kernel:
linux-1.2.9, modules 1.2.8

libc:
ElectricFence 2.0.5,
des-linux-1.0, dialog 0.5, dld 3.2.6, libc 4.7.4, libg++ 2.7.0a,
ld.so 1.5.3, ncurses 1.9.3, tools 2.17, info files from glibc 1.08.1,

misc:
bdflush 1.5, cron 3.0pl1, dump 0.2e, e2fsprogs 0.5b, file 3.15, gpm 0.94,
kbd 0.90, lilo 16, man_db 2.3.5, man-perl, mc 2.1, mtools 2.0.7, mt-st 0.1,
procps 0.97, selection 1.7, shadow 3.3.1, sysklogd1.2, sysvinit 2.4,
util-linux 2.4, yamm 2.5.4

networking:
amd upl102, archie 1.4.1, arena 0.96s, bind 4.9.3-BETA23, chimera 1.65,
elm 2.4.24, gopher 2_1_3, inn 1.4sec, ircii 2.8.2, lynx 2-4-1, majordomo 1.93,
minicom 1.71, mirror 2.3, mm 2.7, mush 7.2.5, ncftp 2.0.7, NetKit-A 0.09,
NetKit-B 0.06, netscape 1.1, nov, ppp 2.1.2d, procmail 3.10, rdist 6.1.0,
sendmail 8.6.11, tcpdump 3.0.3, tin 1.3beta-950621, trn 3.6,
xarchie 2.0.10, xgopher 1.3.2, xntp 3.4v
(httpd_1.4.2 is in the "new" directory as normal tar-file)
(samba 1.9.13 is in the "new"-directory as normal tar-file)

shells:
bash 1.14.5, pdksh 5.1.3, tcsh 6.06

tcl: (tcl support should be totally redone..., I won't do it...)
tcl7.3, tk3.6p1
tk applications: tkinfo 0.6, tkman 1.5, tkmines 1.5

X11:
I used the official XFree86 Version 3.1.1 with all patches from README.late.
More about each package on installation...
Additionally, I installed: fvwm pre-2.0-pl24, xpixmap 2.6, xpm 3.4f,
xv 3.10a, Xaw3d 1.1, xfm 1.3.2, ImageMagick 3.6.5

TeX:
main base: xpathsea-2.6 with dviljk 2.5, dvipsk 5.58f, web2c-6.1, xdvik 18f
also: auctex 9.2y, makeindex 2.12, xfig 3.1.3, transfig 3.1.1



Where to get this distribution:
===============================

* The newest binary distribution is on sunsite.unc.edu in the directory
  /pub/Linux/distributions/jurix.

* The complete source code is available on jurix.jura.uni-sb.de:/pub/linux/
  source. (With nicely separated context diffs to original source.)
  You can for sure also use only the source code, even if you don't have my
  distribution installed...

* If you want to put in new programs or want to add more documentation,
  please contact me. Help is always appreciated :-)
  Files can also be uploaded to rw22floh.jura.uni-sb.de:/pub/linux/source/
  Incoming.

* Even if you don't install this distribution, you might want to help me
  by uploading new source packages.



On how many Partitions should I Install Linux ?
===============================================

I would suggest to have one big partition for the whole distribution and
mount another partition on /local for the user-files and make also a link
from /usr/local to /local/local.
Then you have all your private data and additionaly installed software on
an extra partition and by keeping a list of changed config files, you
can easily upgrade to a newer Linux distribution.
The main headache is only the /var dir. That should probably also go on
an extra partition. On the other hand, most people will only have to save
the mail and the /var/adm directory to keep the logging files.



Help !  How does program XXX work?
==================================

The distribution is only made of compressed tar files. The install utility
writes a list of all extracted files into the dir /var/installed/packages.
The filename is the same as the name of the tar file.

So if you want to find out about the program "/usr/bin/info", go into the
dir /var/installed/packages and do a "grep usr/bin/info * | less" to find
the name of the tar-file, this program belongs to. You will find the file
"texinfo" for this. Then do a "less texinfo" to see, what other programs
and what documentation and setup files belong to it. Just try it out, it
is really easy, yet a very powerful feature...

If that isn't enough for you, then you should get the source code and see, if
you can find more information in it or you can read the source code to find
out...



Do you want to help with this distribution?
===========================================

- Just look at the TODO file and start doing it. Also look at my source tree.
  Just look at the .dif-files and send me newer versions, if you want to
  update something.
- If any included program is not updated to the newest stable version,
  please email to the mailing list.
- Read through /usr/bin/Make and /usr/bin/PkgTool to understand how
  I upgrade/install source code. (Also take a look at the source tree.)


Florian La Roche     florian@jurix.jura.uni-sb.de
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