Re: HURD install confusion

[Arguri]

Hi,
> i see there is a HURD install guide available here:
> http://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/ and it says one needs to have an OS
> already installed to install HURD.
It says that for the installation mentioned on 
http://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/hurd-install needs another OS. It 
explicitely says that the current installer for the Debian/Hurd 
Distribution is not very nice. This is true, but you can still use one 
of the two options: Cross-install or CD install.
> now, i also see K14 CDs available and CD-1 is bootable.
Right. CD1 starts a minimal installer which helps you to do the steps 
mentioned on http://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/hurd-install . It starts a 
Linux system and the install program which lets you partition your disk 
and format a partition. It then extracts the archive. After this you 
have to reboot. If you already have grub installed you should add the 
Hurd menu entry and after that start in single user mode (-s in kernel 
line). Run ./native-install, reboot int single mode again, run 
./native-install again, add fstab entrys and then you are ready to 
start. (I'm not sure if I mentioned everything, but this is in very 
short what you have to do).
> i am getting confused on installation methods. when i need a
> pre-installed OS to install HURD, for what purpose boot CD exists ?

It is used as a snapshot to get a more or less useable Hurd installation 
out of the box. You should try the CD method. More or less you should 
consider doing whatever you want to do inside of a vm (like qemu).

> [ i use Linux and have already installed it. i have some free space on
> my ATA disk. i want to install and use HURD so that i can contribute
> to its development]
If you mean S-ATA then there is a little problem, because GNUMach cannot 
handle S-ATA disks. Then you must use a vm (or another pc or another disk).

Regards Arguri.