| 1 | Some common notes/FAQs: |
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| 2 | ====================== |
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| 3 | |
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| 4 | * when vserver startup/shutdown fails, or when you get |
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| 5 | |
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| 6 | | Error: /proc must be mounted |
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| 7 | |
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| 8 | errors, make sure, that 'vprocunhide' was executed. When installing |
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| 9 | 'util-vserver' with packagemanagement, an appropriate initscript |
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| 10 | should be installed |
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| 11 | |
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| 12 | * the name of old-style vservers is shown on 2.4 kernels only; the |
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| 13 | needed functionality is not implemented for 2.6 kernels. |
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| 14 | |
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| 15 | |
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| 16 | |
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| 17 | Some distribution specific notes: |
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| 18 | ================================= |
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| 19 | |
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| 20 | Red Hat 7.3, Red Hat 9, Fedora Core 1&2 |
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| 21 | --------------------------------------- |
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| 22 | * tested and running successfully as host and guest systems |
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| 23 | |
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| 24 | * it is *strongly* suggested to use the rpm packages which can be |
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| 25 | created from the tarball with |
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| 26 | |
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| 27 | | $ rpmbuild -tb util-vserver-<version>.tar.bz2 |
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| 28 | |
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| 29 | For distributions below Fedora Core 2, additional |
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| 30 | |
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| 31 | | --without dietlibc --without xalan |
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| 32 | |
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| 33 | flags are required for the 'rpmbuild' command. Builds on Red Hat 7.3 |
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| 34 | will require a |
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| 35 | |
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| 36 | | --nodeps |
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| 37 | |
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| 38 | also, since 'vconfig' is not available there. Since it is required |
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| 39 | for path-detection only and paths from RH systems will be assumed by |
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| 40 | default, this should not be a big problem. |
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| 41 | |
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| 42 | * guest systems can be created with the 'apt-rpm' or 'yum' build-methods. |
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| 43 | The first one requires the 'apt' package e.g. from http://fedora.us and |
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| 44 | the configuration of a near mirror in |
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| 45 | |
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| 46 | | /etc/vservers/.distributions/<id>/apt/sources.list |
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| 47 | |
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| 48 | (To avoid slashdotting by the masses of util-vserver-users, there |
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| 49 | does not exist a standard mirror). |
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| 50 | |
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| 51 | The 'yum' method uses the repository configuration shipped by the |
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| 52 | fedora-release package. |
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| 53 | |
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| 54 | * RH/FC uses the 'sysv' initstyle which is assumed by default |
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| 55 | |
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| 56 | * when having existing vservers with RH 9 or Fedora Core 1, the startup |
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| 57 | of the vserver will probably fail. You will have to add |
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| 58 | |
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| 59 | | true |
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| 60 | |
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| 61 | to etc/rc.d/rc (within the vserver root directory) |
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| 62 | |
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| 63 | * when having RH/FC guestsystems, it is *strongly* recommended to use |
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| 64 | a dietlibc linked version of 'rpm-fake-resolver'. Else, package |
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| 65 | installation with 'vrpm', 'vapt-get' or 'vyum' can fail since users |
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| 66 | can not be resolved. |
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| 67 | |
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| 68 | |
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| 69 | |
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| 70 | Debian Woody & Sarge |
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| 71 | -------------------- |
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| 72 | * tested and running successfully as guest systems on FC1/FC2 hosts |
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| 73 | |
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| 74 | * guest systems can be created with the 'debootstrap' method. When |
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| 75 | not already existing, the needed package will be downloaded |
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| 76 | automatically. Since it is updated very often, it can happen |
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| 77 | that a '404 Not found' error occurs; in this case look either |
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| 78 | for a newer util-vserver package, or configure the new URI e.g. with |
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| 79 | |
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| 80 | | echo 'http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/debootstrap/debootstrap_<version>_i386.deb' \ |
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| 81 | | >/etc/vservers/.defaults/apps/debootstrap/uri |
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| 82 | |
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| 83 | You can download a local copy of this tarball also, and register it |
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| 84 | with |
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| 85 | |
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| 86 | | echo '/<path-to-the-tarball>' \ |
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| 87 | | >/etc/vservers/.defaults/apps/debootstrap/uri |
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| 88 | |
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| 89 | * it is known, that warning messages will be created at startup and |
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| 90 | shutdown of guest servers. This is non fatal and can be ignored |
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| 91 | |
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| 92 | * Debian guest systems are running fine with the 'sysv' initstyle; |
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| 93 | success with 'plain' was reported also |
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| 94 | |
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| 95 | * no packages for Debian hosts are known at time of writing (May 2004) |
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| 96 | |
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| 97 | |
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| 98 | |
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| 99 | Gentoo |
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| 100 | ------ |
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| 101 | * Gentoo guest systems are very complicated and are requiring lots of |
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| 102 | modifications in the initscripts. Currently, no step-by-step guide |
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| 103 | can be provided |
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| 104 | |
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| 105 | * 'sysv' initstyle is probably not working for Gentoo guests (e.g. you |
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| 106 | will see messages about missing 'utmp' files); 'gentoo' should be |
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| 107 | used instead of: |
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| 108 | |
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| 109 | | echo 'gentoo' >/etc/vservers/<id>/apps/init/style |
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| 110 | |
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| 111 | * there does not exist a build-method for Gentoo guests; instead of, |
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| 112 | create a skeleton with |
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| 113 | |
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| 114 | | # vserver <id> build -m skeleton --initstyle gentoo <other-opts>* |
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| 115 | |
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| 116 | and fill the vserver directory at /etc/vservers/<id>/vdir/ manually. |
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| 117 | |
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| 118 | |
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| 119 | |
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| 120 | Notes for distributors: |
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| 121 | ======================= |
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| 122 | |
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| 123 | To generate FHS compliant paths, call configure with |
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| 124 | |
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| 125 | | ./configure --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man \ |
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| 126 | | --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var \ |
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| 127 | | --with-vrootdir=<an FHS compliant path for /vservers> |
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| 128 | |
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| 129 | Except the '--with-vrootdir' option, rpm's '%configure' option will |
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| 130 | expand to this. |
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| 131 | |
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| 132 | |
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| 133 | There exists a 'make install-distribution' target which installs |
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| 134 | files outside of the configured 'prefix'. In particular, these files are: |
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| 135 | |
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| 136 | * the /sbin/vshelper symlink |
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| 137 | * the /vservers and related directories (or whatever you configured |
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| 138 | with '--with-vrootdir') |
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| 139 | |
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| 140 | Without this rule, 'make distcheck' would fail. |
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| 141 | |
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| 142 | |
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| 143 | It might be needed also, to call 'setattr --barrier /vservers' in an |
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| 144 | after-installation script. |
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| 145 | |
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| 146 | |
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| 147 | |
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| 148 | Which version shall I use? |
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| 149 | ========================== |
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| 150 | |
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| 151 | As you probably know, two branches of 'util-vserver' are existing: the |
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| 152 | 'stable' one, and the 'alpha' one. This terms are to be understood as |
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| 153 | a level of the featureset stability but not of the software stability. |
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| 154 | |
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| 155 | E.g. 'stable' is not really stable: it has huge security problems and |
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| 156 | missing functionality. But you can expect that the current configuration |
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| 157 | will work in future versions also. This version is untested on author's |
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| 158 | side and it will be hard to bring patches/fixes in, since it must be |
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| 159 | proofed that they will not break anything. |
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| 160 | |
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| 161 | In the opposite, the 'alpha' branch does not have known security issues |
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| 162 | and works well (at least on author's system ;)). But it may happen |
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| 163 | that some behavior or configuration options change. |
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| 164 | |
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| 165 | With 'alpha' you should be still able to use vservers created with the |
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| 166 | 'stable' branch, but you may encounter some oddities -- especially on |
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| 167 | kernel 2.6 systems (e.g. 'vserver-stat' will not show the names of old |
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| 168 | vservers). |
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| 169 | |
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| 170 | |
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| 171 | So let me summarize: |
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| 172 | |
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| 173 | * when you have productive vservers running for some years already, stay |
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| 174 | at the 'stable' branch. A change to 'alpha' will need a completely |
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| 175 | rewritten configuration which must be perhaps changed again. |
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| 176 | |
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| 177 | * when you are new at vservers, use the 'alpha' branch. You will have |
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| 178 | to learn the principles of vserver configuration for both branches |
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| 179 | but 'alpha' makes some things easier. |
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| 180 | |
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| 181 | * when you have existing vservers and want all the new kernel 2.6 |
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| 182 | functionality, use the 'alpha' branch. |
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| 183 | |
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| 184 | |
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| 185 | A last note: the 'alpha' branch works both with the stable 2.4 and the |
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| 186 | development 2.6 kernel patch. |
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| 187 | |
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| 188 | |
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| 189 | |
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| 190 | ## $Id$ |
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