Re: [gentoo-dev] Gentoo Embedded

[Vano D]

On Wed, 2003-10-29 at 21:29, Spider wrote:
> > I wonder if it would be possible to somehow remotely "mount" the rest
> > of
> > the stuff such as gcc/python etc.. as with portage. So this way the
> > system would be completely clean and when it needs to be updated a
> > script would mount/link the tools from a remote system and after its
> > done upgrading it would unlink and we are left with a lean clean
> > system.
>
> http://ovlfs.sf.net/  (if I recall correctly)  might be the thing here.

What an idea! Never thought of such a thing. Definitly worth a look.

> Another alternative is to use a staging machine to build binaries, then
> simply untar the .tbz2 files, instead of using portage to do it. (evil
> solution actually ;)

> After that, some manual pruning should get the things in order.

Yeah really evil. I guess this is what some people do. But I would
prefer to have portage do the stuff instead of getting worries that I
might have forgotten to fix a file or something..

> Though, for a server you don't gain anything in security by removing
> compilers and development tools. perhaps in complexity and size, though.

Well. Regarding security that is a bit relative. You do gain in the
sense that the cracker has one less tool/option at hand and hence you
gain a little bit more of the higher ground against the attacker. The
less options/possibilites the cracker has the harder (even if its only a
little bit) it gets to penetrate (although not impossible of course). 

Also as you state it is nice to have a simple clean lean system with a
small footprint.

I really don't know how valid my assumptions are, but I am willing to
give it a shot to see what comes out of a de-Gentooizable Gentoo ;)

Cheers,

Vano


--
gentoo-dev@g.o mailing list