Testing : Minirc And Busybox

[greguu]

Hi all,

some may have already noticed that the current systemd on ArchLinuxARM uses a lot of the available 64MB RAM.
This thread is about testing and implementing minirc and busybox to replace most of systemd.

Note :
- systemd will be still required for systemd-udev at this stage.
- Keep in mind that moving away from systemd may bring some changes for users that are not familiar with a "traditional" init system.
- The following steps are just a brief guide and may not work if you have a customized setup.
- You will find more information on this topic using the ArchLinux Wiki : https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Minirc
- Stick with the systemd setup on the current rootfs if you do not have a reason to change!
- A new rootfs without systemd or partly used systemd will be released at a later stage after more testing.  
- If you like to help testing, take it a step further and compile eudev or test using mdev from busybox !

Code: [Select]

1. Boot to a new rootfs installation on a SD or CF card.
2. Make sure you have a backup if you choose to install minirc and busybox on you current system !
3. On a fresh rootfs or your current setup with network access do the following steps :
    3.1 Log on as root and set up your network
    3.2 pacman -Syu
    3.3 pacman -S busybox syslog-ng crond
    3.4 copy/download the attached file (minirc-git) to a SD or CF card
    3.5 install it using "pacman -U minirc-git-rest-of-filename.tar.xz"
    3.6 agree to remove systemd-syscompat package
    3.7 edit /etc/minirc.conf (eg: nano /etc/minirc.conf)
    3.8 uncomment UDEV="systemd" (minirc.conf)
    3.9 save and reboot using "systemctl reboot"
4. Boot back into ArchLinuxARM and you may notice quite a bit more free RAM and a very quick boot up process.
5. Continue your initial setup (alsa, other packages etc). X11 may not work with this setup as dbus may rely on systemd. Testing and feedback welcome.
6. Keep in mind that from now on many instructions in ArchLinux guides will not apply as they refer to a systemd setup.
7. You are on you own now. Feel free to ask here but have a look at the ArchLinux forums first if you have issues as this is not a Zaurus specific topic.
Cheers!

[greguu]

Just some memory usage observations using minirc vs systemd :

- minirc, busybox, systemd-udev, dhcpd and sshd ~ 12M used

- minirc, busybox, mdev, dhcpd, sshd ~8M used

- systemd, journald (Storage=none), dropbear ~ 16M used

- systemd, ssh (ArchLinuxARM default) ~20M used

[DiTBho]

Very interesting topic! Not only for my Zaurus PDA, but also for my embedded PPC board.
Thanks!