Chapter 1. System Requirements

Table of Contents

Development System
Kernel Considerations
Acquiring Source Code
Via Tarball
Via Anonymous CVS
CVS Checkout
Configuring Your Build Environment
Building The Network Security Toolkit

The requirements for a development system are much more involved. At a minimum, you should have:

  • A system with a FULL Fedora 8 Linux distribution installed (hopefully you've kept up with the latest security patches).

  • At least 2GB of free disk space.

  • The ability to burn a CD.

  • Unfortunately, you will need root access in order to build the Network Security Toolkit (Paul wishes there were a way to build the ISO without root access, but we haven't come up with a solution).

You need to be careful about the kernel which is used on your development system. When you install Fedora 8, you'll discover that the installation chooses the kernel which is best for the system you are installing it on. For example, if you install Fedora 8 onto a Anthlon™ system, it will choose a version of the kernel built with support for the AnthlonCPU. If you then build the Network Security Toolkit on this system, you'll end up with a ISO image that only works on Anthlon™ systems.

The following check list will prove helpful when updating the kernel on your development system

  • Don't allow the up2date utility to automatically update your kernel. Instead, choose to do it by hand using commands like:

    [root@quesadilla root]# rpm -ivh /lan/download/linux/RedHat/kernel-2.4.20-20.9.i586.rpm
  • If you have access to the Red Hat Network, you can search the RPMs using the keyword "kernel" to locate the most recent binary versions of the kernel. For portability, it is recommended to choose a i386 or i586 version.

  • If you make the mistake of installing the wrong version, it probably won't boot on all systems. Paul wrote this section after burning a Network Security Toolkit with a kernel compiled for Anthlon™ processors, and then discovering that it wouldn't boot on a laptop with a CeleronCPU.

    Its a bit tricky to remedy this situation. I would not recommend forcing a kernel install over an existing kernel, instead, follow these steps:

    • Install an older version of the kernel (you should be able to use the original on disk 1 of your Fedora 8 CD).

    • Reboot your system using the older kernel which you just installed.

    • Remove the kernel that you want to replace.

    • You should now be able to install the version of the kernel which you originally wanted.

  • If you are building your own custom kernels, then you won't need to worry about this issue (but you will have to worry about rebuilding the kernel each time a new security patch is released).