/dev, /proc support in a chrooted Linux emulation environment

[Brooks Davis]

On Tue, Sep 14, 2004 at 08:55:13PM -0500, Conrad Sabatier wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 14, 2004 at 11:52:36AM -0700, Brooks Davis wrote:
> > On Tue, Sep 14, 2004 at 01:35:35PM -0500, Conrad J. Sabatier wrote:
> > > I've been exploring running Linux binaries under a chrooted Linux shell
> > > (entering the environment via "chroot /compat/linux /bin/bash").  I've
> > > had remarkable success in installing and running quite a few rpms beyond
> > > those found in the linux_base port, but have found that /dev support (as
> > > well as /proc) doesn't work as expected when running Linux apps within
> > > such an environment.
> > > 
> > > Programs/scripts attempting to access, for example, /dev/null complain
> > > about no such file or device.  The same for /dev/ttyX, /dev/zero, etc.
> > > 
> > > Similar problems occur attempting to use /proc/*.  I'm also experiencing
> > > some networking problems, mainly with DNS resolution, but for now, my
> > > main concern is /dev and /proc.
> > >
> > > I realize that the method I'm using for running Linux apps is not what
> > > was intended with FreeBSD's Linux emulation mode, but it's interesting
> > > enough that I want to continue delving into it.  My goal is to have as
> > > near-complete a working Linux environment as possible, one that would
> > > support running practically any Linux app within this chrooted
> > > environment and would, for all intents and purposes, appear as a "real"
> > > Linux to any programs running within it.
> > > 
> > > Are there any suggestions as to how I might remedy some of these
> > > problems?  Or is this simply beyond the scope/capabilities of the Linux
> > > emulator at this time?
> > 
> > You can provide a fairly complete linux /proc with linprocfs.
> 
> Yes, I am using linprocfs.  But even so, certain parts are either missing 
> or not working properly.

If you know what you need, it may be possiable to implement.  Given that
StarOffice and Java run I wouldn't think there could be that much left
that a sane process could need.

> > For the moment, you can also make
> > nodes like /dev/null and /dev/zero with mknod, but I believe that
> > functionality will be going away.
> 
> I've tried doing that, but the devices still don't function properly.  I've 
> installed Linux's MAKEDEV package as well (into the chrooted environment), 
> and even with all the devices being created by the package's install script, 
> they still don't work.

If you use Linux's MAKEDEV to make them your 100% certain to fail.  They
need to be FreeBSD devices, not Linux ones.

-- Brooks

-- 
Any statement of the form "X is the one, true Y" is FALSE.
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