====== Useful tools ======

MINIX comes with several tools that were created to ease configuration 
and development on MINIX that are not part of any standard and are therefore
unlikely to be known to people familiar with other POSIX systems. This page
describes these tools. For more in-depth information consult their man pages.

===== dev2name =====

The //dev2name// tool converts major/minor device numbers into device names.

===== dosread and friends =====

//dosread//, //doswrite// and //dosdir// allow one to manipulate FAT filesystems.
Such tools are needed because they cannot (yet) be mounted.

===== isoread and friends =====

//isoread// and //isodir// allow one to read files from CD-ROM ISO filesystems.
These tools were created before it was possible to mount such filesystems,
but can still occasionally be useful to obtain files quickly or test whether
a given device has an ISO filesystem.

===== netconf =====

The //netconf// utility allows one to change the networking configuration
from the options you selected when installing. It allows disable networking,
select a different network card (PCI cards are detected, if you have a 
non-PCI card you should find out what type of card you have first) and allows
one to enable or disable DHCP.

===== pkgin =====

//pkgin// is available on MINIX 3.1.8 onwards. It allows one to install binary pkgsrc packages. Use //pkgin up// before the first use, then //pkgin av// to find packages and //pkgin in// to install them.

===== unstack =====

//unstack// is a debugging tool which converts a stack trace with addresses, such as the one printed
to the console when a segmentation fault occurs, into a one with names. It obtains
symbols from the symbol table of the binary from which the stack trace originated.

===== release.sh =====

This script is not installed, but found in the tools sub-directory of the source tree. It can be used to create ISO images for installing MINIX. The script is mostly self-documenting, but it may give you some errors due to changes in the pkgsrc deployment that have been made over time. If you get the following error:

 Error: package ''sqlite3-3.7.4' was built with a newer pkg_install version

You'll need to install the newest version of the pkgsrc tools and prevent the system from using the old version. Something like this should fix it:
  * pkgin in pkgin-0.3.3.4 pkg_install-20101212
  * pkg_add /usr/var/db/pkgin/cache/pkg_install-20101212.tgz
  * mv /usr/sbin/pkg_add /usr/sbin/pkg_add.old

====== Obsolete tools ======

In addition to these tools which are useful nowadays, MINIX used several
other specific tools. Theirs descriptions have been moved into
[[.:obsoletetools| a separate page]].