The nosh OpenBSD binary packages

nosh pages:

Pre-built binary packages for nosh are available for x86/64 OpenBSD version 5.9 (or compatible).

You can view a list of the packages in the repository via GOPHER or via FTP in EPLF.

Straight installation from some of these packages is still to be tested. Success stories are welcome. ☺ OpenBSD has some limitations, note.

Doco

This is the nosh Guide, in HTML. Open it when installed with

xdg-open /usr/local/share/doc/nosh/index.html
or your favourite HTML viewing tool.

Toolsets

These install the toolsets under /usr/local. However, to avert a problem that otherwise makes systems unbootable, they also install a handful of binaries in /bin: /bin/nosh, /bin/exec, /bin/cyclog, /bin/system-manager, and /bin/system-control.

Service bundles

The service bundles currently do not auto-configure service users and log directories. This is because OpenBSD does not have pkgng.

This is a suite of service bundles. It comprises:

Important notes:

In an ideal world, the world would ship nosh bundles with its softwares itself, of course. ☺

-run packages

"-run" packages do not currently auto-configure things, although they install the necessary presets. This is because OpenBSD does not have pkgng.

The "-run" family of packages require the service bundle collection. They employ services in it; which are not started or enabled unless the packages are installed; and which are stopped, disabled, and unloaded from the service manager when the packages are uninstalled.

Running a fully nosh-managed system with system-manager as process #1

OpenBSD limitations prevent this.

Virtual terminal services

The old-style kernel virtual terminal system auto-starts a ttylogin@ttyCN service on each kernel virtual terminal at startup, as configured by /etc/ttys.

The new-style application-mode virtual terminal auto-starts a console-fb-realizer@head0 service; the "realizer" service that realizes the multiplex VTs via the (head #0) framebuffer and input event devices. This connects to the user-mode virtual terminal that is supplied by console-multiplexor@head0; which in turn multiplexes the user-mode virtual terminals generated by the terminal-emulator@vc0, terminal-emulator@vc1, and terminal-emulator@vc2 services; whose emulated virtual terminals in their turn are employed by the ttylogin@vc0-tty, ttylogin@vc1-tty, and ttylogin@vc2-tty services. The realizer service tells the kernel to disable its built-in terminal emulator program for the duration.

These systems conflict. The head #0 framebuffer and input event device are used by the kernel's virtual terminal emulator. One cannot (without a massive mess of overlapped output and input going to two separate places) realize application-mode virtual terminals onto head #0 whilst simultaneously realizing kernel virtual terminals on the same hardware. So you must only install one of these packages at any one time. The BSD package manager does not provide an easy means of enforcing this, unfortunately.

Freedesktop.org system bus services

This package auto-starts the Freedesktop.org system bus services.

Freedesktop.org "kit" services

This package auto-starts the various Freedesktop.org "kit" services.

Avoid Desktop Bus bus activation.

VirtualBox Guest Additions

This package auto-starts the various services that form the VirtualBox Guest Additions: the VBoxService dæmon and the four "vbox" kernel modules.

kernel log service

This package runs the klogd service, providing logging service to the kernel.

local syslog() service

This package runs the local-syslog-read service, providing old-style logging service to programs that still use /run/log.

Running nosh service management under OpenBSD rc

bcron

This package auto-starts the services for Bruce Guenter's bcron.

This installs various rc.d scripts for running allowing one to use the nosh service management under OpenBSD rc.

It also disables the nosh sysinit standard target, on the basis that rc handles what that target otherwise handles on a nosh-system-managed system. Thus, installing this package will break a nosh-system-managed system.

OpenBSD Limitations

OpenBSD has several limitations that severely impact nosh.

Also note that the framebuffer realizer for console virtual terminals has yet to be tested.


© Copyright 2016,2018 Jonathan de Boyne Pollard. "Moral" rights asserted.
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