Re: GSoC Project: Replacement for Apropos

[Abhinav Upadhyay <er.abhinav.upadhyay%gmail.com@localhost>]

Hi,

Thanks for the pointers regarding the build tools used and the coding
guidelines.  I will be using C for creating this utility, so that's no
concern.

I have installed NetBSD on my hard disk as well as on QEMU with Linux
as the host OS. I am currently trying to play and configure the
development environment inside qemu, so that I can repeat the same on
the actual installation of netbsd and switch to it permanently, as for
some strange reasons I am not able to make my system dual boot.

I installed gnome ,  I ran gdm on the terminal, it started gnome, but
after logging in it gave an error, and went back to the terminal.

Rather than troubling you with the problem, I want to know how do you
guys do development usually ? What desktop environment you use and are
there any documentation for this ?

Thanks & Regards
Abhinav Upadhyay




On Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 2:45 PM, Marc Balmer <mbalmer%netbsd.org@localhost> 
wrote:
> Abhinav,
>
>> Thanks for your detailed reply. So I have installed NetBSD on QEMU as
>> well as on my hard disk. Next thing I am going to try to do is to
>> track the current version of NetBSD from CVS and build the kernel.
>>
>>  I want to get started trying to do experiments with some of the
>> implementation ideas. So I wanted to know, where can I get the man
>> docs so that I can analyze their structure etc.
>>
>> Also as you mentioned that this project will be part of the base
>> system, so are there any recommended tools that I should set up for
>> building the development environment ? Although I have experience of
>> working with the tools used in the GNU/Linux environment.
>
> The NetBSD toolchain is similar to the Linux toolchain, with some
> noteworthy differences.  Unlike Linux, we don't use GNU autotools.
> Instead we have a collection of Makefile fragments, which reside in
> /usr/share/mk.  Working with these make building software on NetBSD
> easy:  In the Makefile that accompanies your library/binary/etc. you
> mostly use a declarative style, telling the Makefile system WHAT to
> build, but not HOW to build it.
>
> Invest a little time and look at existing Makefiles in /usr/src/usr.bin,
> /usr/src/bin, /usr/src/lib etc.
>
> It basically boils down to declare what to build and to include the
> right Makefile fragment.
>
> As for the source code formatting style (an area of endless discussions)
> I recommend that you read the file /usr/share/misc/style, but take it
> with a grain of salt, it is a RECOMMENDATION only, not the a strict rule
> or even the law.  But there certainly is some wisdom and experience in
> these recommendations.
>
> Besides the usual GNU debugger, ktrace(1) can be helpful when debugging.
>
> Oh, and one last word:  Please use the C language for commands in the
> base system.  Although we have Lua in base, it's purpose is to extend C
> software mostly, not to write commands in it (again, that is only my
> recommendation and not the law either).
>
> Have fun!
>
> - Marc
>