Hi Vector.

There are two new packages you may want to try.
1. setup scripts (files under VL-On-Crack/setup-test)
Installed in the initrd.img of isolinux.
Important changes:
- It has BACK feature (press ESC).
- Select partitions by menu. No typing /dev/xxx anymore.
- Allows /home.

2. vasm2 package (vasm2-4.3.0-noarch-1.tgz)
Installed in the bulks (veclinux.bz2).

There are 3 things here.
a. CHROOTED portion of setup.
b. VASM
c. VLINIT.

2.a. CHROOTED setup.
Called by setup for second stage configuration.
/sbin/setup-config :
This script will be called on chrooted environment to
configure the system. It calls :
- liloconf
- vlautosetup
- vpasswd and vuseradd to add users.

/sbin/vlautosetup  :
This is from VL 4.3beta2, I have modified it a little bit for
Xorg and also modem. I marked my modification.


2.b. VASM
I have cleaned many modules. Important changes are:
- Rename all modules with v-prefix.
(e.g: vcdset, vnetconf, vkmapset, etc ...).
All installed under /sbin.

- VASM has new menu structure.
I think VASM grows, so I organized it into 8 top level menu,
and more for sub menu.

- X-Window configuration.
Since X.org is looming, we need a new configurator.
I made a simple vxconf for X.org.
But I cannot mastered your mkfx86conf, and also sax.
(I even can not find where to download sax).
So I guess, you have to put a hand on vxmenu.

- Network configuration.
Now we can have many network connections.
Easy to make virtual server, internet gateway, etc.
Simple firewall is also provided, if gshield is overkill.

- Hardware
Allows user to enable/disable HW initialisation
(pcmcia, hotplug, etc).


- Services
Allows to set services for 4 run levels.
Provides launcher for samba and cups web configurator.

- Admin
Dialog based user administration

- liloconf
On simple mode, add 3 boot menu: Linux, Linux-tui, Linux-gui.
Also setup GUI mode boot if the bitmap is provided.


2.c. VLINIT.
This is the evolution of the one I proposed to you a long time ago.
I have developed it for months and confident that it has matured enough.
Some hightlight:
- rc.S ready for kernel 2.6. load udev, init /proc first before anything else.
- rc.M now launched from inittab, not from rc.S anymore.
Thus rc.M is not launched when VL is booted to single mode.
rc.M also has more logical initialisation for hardware, network,
firewall, network FS etc.

- Improved rc.inet?.
Allows PROBE mode for detecting network environment.
I made it special for my laptop :)

- Two version on init: sysvinit ad vlinit.
Both call init.d/* scripts with redirection to a log file
(/var/log/boot.log). Moreover, we can control the [OK] and [FAILED]
display consistently now.


That's the theory. Now the how-to.
I tried in a local system. Not in a CDROM yet.

I made 5 partitions.
$DEV    -> development system
$MASTER -> the developed VL
$SOURCE -> fake CD-ROM (empty preferred)
$TARGET -> /root for installation (will be formated)
$HOME   -> /home for installation (might be formated)


A. Prepare the $MASTER
----------------------------
1. Install Vector Linux 4.3.
2. Install vasm2 package on it.
Edit /sbin/setup-config and /sbin/vlautosetup
as needed.

B. MAKE BULKS
----------------------------
1. Boot $DEV
2. Mount $MASTER to /mnt/master
3. Mount $SOURCE to /mnt/source
4. mkdir -p /mnt/source/veclinux
5. cd /mnt/master
6. tar -xjf /mnt/source/veclinux/veclinux.bz2 .
7. cd /mnt/source/veclinux
8. mcedit filelist.txt
The filelist.txt contains bulk explanation
------------------------------
# bulk name : size : description
# size is the extracted space, in KByte
veclinux.bz2:999999:The base system (required)
-------------------------------
9. Unmount $SOURCE


C. MAKE INITRD.IMG
----------------------------
1. Copy initrd.img from VL CD (under /isolinux dir)
to any directory. e.g: /root/test.
2. mv initrd.img initrd.img.gz
3. gunzip initrd.img.gz
4. mkdir loop
5. mount -o loop initrd.img loop
6. Copy the setup scripts to loop/sbin
(setup, setup-install, setup-keymap, setup-fdisk, setup-resize, dfgauge)
7. Copy the setup.conf to loop/etc.
Edit as appropriate
8. Copy the rc.S to loop/etc/init.d


D. TEST
------------------------------
1. chroot loop /bin/sh
2. /sbin/setup

Enjoy ....
When asked for ROOT and HOME, select the partition as appropriate


E. MAKE CD
--------------
After successfull test, we can repack the initrd
I'm silly if tell you the rest :)

Could you teach me how to make the kernel for isolinux ?