[DEV] MINIX From Scratch

[Kochise]

Up-to-date toolchain to compile Minix : https://github.com/o-oconnell/minixfromscratch

[stux2000]

Hi Kochise,

Thank you for your enthusiasm in this project but I don't see how that repository helps with the compilation toolchain. I tried to examine the code and scripts and so far was only able to determine the following:

• The "minix-3.1.0" subfolder is an exact copy of the "R3.1.0" branch of this repository (i checked both out and ran two diff tools which reported the same thing)
• Similarly, I did not find any build-related tools aimed at modern compilers anywhere in the repository
• All the shell scripts found at the root of the repository does is to mount the releases image and run qemu with it.
• The only thing that might "work" in a modern system is the binary image that is attached to the release folder. There are no instructions on how it was built nor supporting file to replicate the build locally.

It's this last item that concerns me. We're basically given a black-box VM image of unknown origins to run that we can't even build ourselves. It could have a malicious payload and nobody would know without careful analysis.

So, unfortunately, I don't see that repository contributing much to the project and I think better vetting of what they provide would be prudent prior to any widespread distribution.

[stux2000]

It was brought to my attention that the instructions to "reproduce" the image can be found here:

• https://github.com/o-oconnell/minixfromscratch#making-your-own-hard-disk-image

However, this requires the pre-built 3.1.0 image hosted on the minix3.org site. Unfortunately, this does not help with actually building the image from source.