-
Download and install a stable ruby snapshot newer than 2004-01-14
(Rubyx hits some bugs in ruby 1.8.1 which have been fixed in recent stable
snapshots)
-
Register, download and install bitkeeper from
http://www.bitmover.com/cgi-bin/download.cgi
-
Clone a local copy of rubyx
bk clone bk://bk.rubyx.org/rubyx
cd rubyx
bk -r co
-
Make sure you have unrar installed and in your path. (All rubyx sources are
maximally rar compressed to reduce download time. Its better even than bz2)
-
Take a look around. rubyx is the main deal, init is the ruby init script
and the package build instructions are in packages/.
Now if you run ‘./rubyx’ you should see something like:
Rubyx andrew@atlas|rubyx|20040201205716|03969
--rd/root-dir path
--cf/configure group|package <attrib 'setting'> ...
--in/install group|package ...
--up/upgrade group|package ...
--re/reinstall group|package ...
--un/uninstall group|package ...
--cl/clean
--tp/target-processor <cpu>
--bj/build-jobs <###>
--mj/make-jobs <###>
--sp/source-path path
--rf/read-file filename
--ef/expand-file filename
--md/make-devices
--nd/no-download
--nb/no-build
--nk/no-keep
--io/include-options
--rt/run-tests
--di/distributed
--sd/strip-debug
--vb/verbose
--qg/query-group <pattern>
--qp/query-package <pattern>
--cd/check-dependancies
Now you’ll need an empty partition (or just a directory if you like) to
bootstrap rubyx into. 2Gb should be ample. Eg /my/rubyx/rootdir
Next, pick a rubyx supported vanilla kernel (2.4.20-24, 2.6.0-1) and create
a .config file for it (unpack the source then do make menuconfig). If you’re
already running a supported kernel, just take a copy of your current .config
file. Eg linux-2.4.24.config
Ok, we’re almost ready to start the bootstrap. Here is the commandline; I’ve
split it over several lines for clarity, but they should all be one line when
you run it. You can also use the short options for brevity (see above)
./rubyx
–root-dir /my/rubyx/rootdir
–configure linux version 2.4.24 config --read-file linux-2.4.20.config
–target-processor pentium3
–build-jobs 1
–make-jobs 2
–make-devices
–install All
The first line says where to bootstrap the distro.
The second line chooses linux 2.4.24 and reads your .config file
–target-processor selects a cpu. ‘./rubyx --tp’ will show you a list
–build-jobs sets the maximum number of packages that will be built in
parallel. 1 is good for a slow machine with limited ram. Increase to taste 
–make-jobs option selects the max number of make threads allowed on each
package build (like doing make -j#). 2 is a good minimum.
–make-devices will populate the /dev directory. You don’t need to do this if
you would be using devfs or udev
–install All installs all available packages. Note the capital ‘A’ in All.
individual packages start with lower case (eg samba). Groups start with a
Capital (eg All Net, Disk, Server, Workstation, Development)
Try it. You’ll get an error with some instructions on howto setup a bitkeeper
authority file. You’ll only have to do this once
Try it again. This time, all being well, a full blooded rubyx distro will
begin to take shape. If not, well, thats why I wanted some testing 
Andrew