Debian-Installer support for GNU/kFreeBSD
Mentor: AurelienJarno with help from ColinWatson
Summary: replace the currently used FreeBSD sysinstall with Debian-Installer running possibly under a FreeBSD kernel
Required skills:
- Familiarity with debian-installer, FreeBSD, QEMU or other emulators, porting...
Description: GNU/kFreeBSD is currently using a hacked version of the FreeBSD installer combined with crosshurd as its own installer. While this works more or less correctly for standard installations (read the exact same installation as in the documentation), it does not allow any changes in the installation process except the hard disk partitioning. This project is about porting debian-installer on GNU/kFreeBSD, and to a bigger extent, make debian-installer less Linux dependant. This includes the following tasks:
- Kernel udebisation (partly done)
Write the code for the boot process from the CD-ROM up to the debian-installer prompt, and integrate it in the current debian-installer code. Part of this code is already available from the (outdated) Ging LiveCD.
- Make debootstrap working
- Adapt the whole debian-installer process to GNU/kFreeBSD. Some steps could be disabled at the beginning, as anyway they are already disabled in the current installer. This includes:
- keyboard selection
- hardware detection and module loading
- network configuration
- bootloader installer
- partitioning
- kernel installation It is really recommended to use an emulator (QEMU, KVM, Virtualbox, etc.) in this project, though it is a good idea to test it from time to time in a real machine.
Interested student: Luca Favatella "slackydeb at gmail dt com"
See also: http://www.debian.org/ports/kfreebsd-gnu/ http://lists.debian.org/debian-bsd/2009/03/msg00007.html