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# FreeBSD Wifibox/Alpine
The purpose of this repository is to maintain all the configuration
files and scripts that are used for rolling out a [FreeBSD Wifibox]
guest based on [Alpine Linux].
## Warning
*This is a work-in-progress experimental software project without any
guarantees or warranties. It is shared in the hope that is going to
be useful and inspiring for others.*
## Prerequisites
For building the virtual disk image, the following third-party
software is employed, which must be installed beforehand.
- [Squashfs-tools] or the `sysutils/squashfs-tools` FreeBSD package.
- [PatchELF] or the `sysutils/patchelf` FreeBSD package.
## Installation
Whenever possible, use the `net/wifibox-alpine` FreeBSD port from the
[freebsd-wifibox-port] repository, which aims to automate the tasks
described below and offers proper removal of the install files.
### Manual Installation
There is a `Makefile` present in the root of the repository that could
be used to drive the installation process. It is mostly recommended
for development and testing.
```console
# make install \
PREFIX=<prefix> \
LOCALBASE=<prefix of third-party software> \
MINIROOTFS=<Alpine minimal root file system tarball> \
PACKAGES=<Alpine package set> \
FIRMWARE_FILES=<List of firmware files to keep> \
SQUASHFS_COMP=<Squashfs compression type>
```
The following `make(1)` variables are available to control the build
process:
- `PREFIX` is optional, it is set to `/usr/local` by default. This is
the prefix under which the guest's file system will be constructed,
in the `share/wifibox/guest` sub-directory. It is possible to set
the `LOCALBASE` variable as well to tell if the prefix under which
various third-party utilities, such as `git` and `mksquashfs` were
installed is different.
- `MINIROOTFS` should point to the Alpine minimal root file system
tarball for the `x86_64` architecture, which is going to be used in
the bootstrapping phase. Such tarballs can be retrieved from the
Alpine Linux [web site](https://alpinelinux.org/downloads/). By
default, that is set to `alpine-minirootfs.tar.gz`.
- `PACKAGES` should tell which Alpine Linux packages to install for
the guest. Those are all must be local files with the `.apk`
extension. By default, that is `*.apk`, which means that all
available packages are looked up in the current directory and
utilized during the installation process.
- `FIRMWARE_FILES` is tell which exact firmware files to keep to
reduce further the size of the disk image. It is optional, mostly
recommended in case of `iwlwifi`.
- `SQUASHFS_COMP` configures the compression method used for building
the Squashfs file system. By default, that is the rather
conservative `lzo` setting, but `lz4`, `gzip`, `xz`, and `zstd` are
also available.
Besides these, it is considered that the `guest/lib/firmware`
directory may be present for holding further firmware files that shall
be added to the virtual disk image, under `/lib/firmware`.
## Documentation
There is a manual page available that describes how the guest can be
used once installed.
```console
# man wifibox-alpine
```
[FreeBSD Wifibox]: https://github.com/pgj/freebsd-wifibox
[Alpine Linux]: https://alpinelinux.org/
[Squashfs-tools]: https://github.com/plougher/squashfs-tools
[PatchELF]: https://github.com/NixOS/patchelf
[freebsd-wifibox-port]: https://github.com/pgj/freebsd-wifibox-port/tree/squashfs-root
|
