[pocket-linux] Proof reading help needed for Pocket Linux Guide

[Michael Ondrechak]

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Horton" <dhorton at megsinet.net>
To: "Support for Pocket Linux Guide" <pocket-linux at ufo.chicago.il.us>
Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2003 10:04 AM
Subject: Re: [pocket-linux] Proof reading help needed for Pocket Linux
Guide


> > David:
> >
> > I took a quick look at the update and noted you will point people to
> > coreutils iso the fileutils, textutils, and sh-utils.  I'd ask that you
> > reconsider the change.  Building coreutils takes more resources than
> > building each of the three separate packages.  For example, I have an
old
> > Pentium 90mhz system with 64M RAM that can't build the coreutils
package
> > (it core dumps and while I haven't examined the core file, I suspect
that
> > it the system needed more memory than was available).  That machine has
no
> > problems building each of the 3 smaller packages.  In the very least, I
> > believe you should provide a footnote stating that reader should
download
> > and build the 3 packages if the coreutils package won't build.
> >
>
> I chose coreutils because it is now the latest version and I'm trying to
> stay current with all of the packages.  I'm guessing that the problems
> with building it might be workstation related.  I have had no problems
> building on a P-133/64M machine.
>
> > One other note, while working through the PL guide the first time I
> noticed
> > that a number of the packages contain nls support as a default.  In
> fact, I
> > noticed this because one package (I don't recall which) generated
> errors as
> > the po files were being processed.  You can reduce the size of each
> package
> > by disabling nls when running configure.  That is, add
the --disable-nls
> > command line switch to the ./configure command line.  The reduced
package
> > size means you can fit more onto the root disk.
> >
>
> How much does this reduce the size of the binary?  Is it a significant
> amount?  I've never actually done a side-by-side comparison.  If the
> resulting binary is not that much different in size I'd like to keep the
> NLS support in.  Just for the fact that I don't want people to start
> thinking that NLS is bad and should be taken out in all cases.

$ du -b pl/bin nlspl/bin
1928192 pl/bin
1168384 nlspl/bin

There is no difference in the sizes of the sbin directory.  The numbers for
bin may be a little off of what you get with pl because I've added a few
commands.

>
>
> > I've looked over local_fs script and it looks different from the
previous
> > version of the document.  I don't understand the rationale for some of
the
> > changes, for example, why did you find it necessary to wipe out
/etc/mtab?
> > I also feel that the method you use ("echo -n > /etc/mtab") warrants at
> > least a comment in the script.
> >
>
> What about an FAQ for each chapter?  Do you think something like this
> could provide answers without making the guide too wordy?

Yeah, the FAQ would be a good idea.  Do you want the faq written against
the new, version or the current version?

>
> > Anyway, I hope I'm not becoming too annoying with the comments.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Michael.
> >
>
> Comments are always good.  That how things get fixed and improved.
>
>
> Dave
>
>
>
>
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