[arch-dev-public] Punishment needed for not building in a chroot

[Aaron Griffin]

On Wed, Dec 23, 2009 at 12:48 PM, Thayer Williams <thayerw at gmail.com> wrote:
> OK so I'm done with school and now catching up on dev stuff.  Want to update
> some packages, but I don't want to be beaten for my good deeds =)
>
> After reading this thread I still have questions...and I'll preface this by
> saying I have no previous experience with chroot environments (maybe I'm the
> only one?):
>
> On Dec 06, 2009 at 05:58 PM, Allan McRae <allan at archlinux.org> wrote:
>> Paul Mattal wrote:
>> >I agree that it's pretty simple, but not simple enough to have
>> >removed the barrier to everyone doing it. So why not make it
>> >easier and get rid of more of the mystery?
>
> I assumed we are suppose to build our packages in the svn-packages directory
> which resides outside the chroot (as specified in the 'HOWTO Be A Packager'
> article).  This was a bit ambiguous in the chroot article and should probably
> be clarified.

makechrootpkg is smart. You can replace "makepkg" with "makechrootpkg"
wherever you may be and it will use your chroot. That's what it was
made for - it handles copying files back and forth, entering the
chroot, and all that other stuff. You just need a chroot for it to
work.

>> >Then I should decide-- if I have i686 and x86_64 boxes, is it
>> >better to do all my builds on 1 machine, or on separate boxes? Can
>> >I build i686 on x86_64? Can I build x86_64 on i686? If I'm going
>> >to set all this up, I'm probably going to set it up on several
>> >machines-- how can I do that easily?
>>
>> Up to you...   I build for x86_64 and i686 on my i686 comp (running
>> x86_64 kernel).  I know many people build for i686 on x86_64.  I
>> used to have a separate build machine for x86_64.  All combinations
>> can work.
>
> Do we have a x86_64 build box at our dispoosal yet?

Nope, had one for a while. I ended up donating that hardware as it was
half functional and collecting dust.

> If not, is anyone voluntarily building 64-bit packages?
>
> If not, what are we to do if all we have is i686?  I read Allan's blog post
> about userland x86_64 kernels, but that doesn't sound like a solution I want
> to pursue.

Ask a kind dev to help you out? I guess it'd depend on the volume.

>> >I'm not saying people can't/won't/shouldn't do this. I'm saying
>> >it's not a particularly kept-simple part of a distro that prides
>> >itself on keeping things simple. People will do it if they trust
>> >it and it's simple and elegant, just like the rest of Arch.
>>
>> In all honesty, I rarely ever create a new chroot but that is
>> definitely the most difficult part of the lot. You should only need
>> to create a chroot once...
>
> So, if I'm understanding the advice from others, we should technically have
> at least two chrootdirs...one for [testing] and one for everything else.  Is
> that right?

Yes. I keep them in /var as /var/archroot and /var/archroot-testing


> Seeing how this is all mandatory now, we should really add another step to
> the HOWTO Be A Packager article, along with a link to the chroot article.  I
> can take care of that (and other minor edits) once I have a solid
> understanding of the overall process.

Tis a wiki, good sir. It can always be edited and redited