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releases:3.2.0:developersguide:usefultools [2014/11/11 14:52] (current)
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 +====== 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]].
  
releases/3.2.0/developersguide/usefultools.txt · Last modified: 2014/11/11 14:52 (external edit)