System management for the Linux kernel project
CS 273 (OS), Fall 2019
VirtualBox virtualization, Ubuntu 14.04.4 Linux distribution, Linux kernel version 4.14.37 (for project development)
Creating a boot RAMdisk
Linux boots create a RAMdisk (disk device that is implemented
within main memory) to serve as the root file system during the boot
process. On our setup, the mountable RAMdisk image is located at
/boot/initrd.img-Ubuntu 14.04.4 on your virtual OS's
file system
After recompiling the kernel, look for that RAMdisk image. If it is missing, you can create or update one using
$ sudo update-initramfs -u -k 4.14.37If that fails, create a new one using
$ sudo update-initramfs -c -k 4.14.37
System management
$ apt update and $ apt upgrade — These
two commands are used to update the versions of already installed
packages on the machine
$ apt install — used for installing new
packages
Install the following packages: w3m, iptables, openssh-client, wget, nano, info, man-db, manpages, friendly-recovery, tmux, grub2, traceroute, bash-completion, command-not-found, dnsutils, lshw, lsof, mtr, psmisc, tcpdump, apt-transport-https, update-manager-core, gcc, g++, libtool, gedit, emacs, ssh, sshpass, xorg
If you are new to the Linux Command Line, you may find this link useful to get familiar with the basic commands.