While there are independent instructions on how to put together the complete PMR2 stack from scratch on running hardware, they are scattered around the independent parts that compose the entire system. While the buildout does build the core completely, it however does not ensure the rest of the operating system is at a state where this can even work, nor does it touch upon the installation and setup of the additional backends that the production instance now uses.
Instead of just providing documentation on how to build the whole thing, having a script that does it all inside a virtual machine will serve the purpose much better. Not to mention that the result can be deployed as a working instance either locally or onto a cloud computing platform. The script was constructed based on documentation that was originally done on top of Gentoo.
Do note that this relies on
vboxtools. Documentation
on how these scripts actually work (and how to make them work) to come.
In brief, follow the instructions on creating a base Gentoo system, and
then call activatevm to spawn a new bash session. Before executing
gentoo/script.sh, ensure that all relevant variables are filled with
a defined value.
Roughly speaking, the whole build process may be achieved by doing:
$ git clone https://github.com/metatoaster/vboxtools.git
Cloning into 'vboxtools'...
...
$ git clone https://github.com/PMR2/pmr2vbox.git
Cloning into 'pmr2vbox'...
...
$ # the create-gentoo command defaults to checking for the correct
$ # signature of the downloaded images; the following commands will
$ # acquire the right signatures; please verify this against the
$ # Gentoo installation handbook linked in the documentation on the
$ # landing page of the vboxtools repository
$ gpg --keyserver hkp://keys.gnupg.net --recv-keys 0xBB572E0E2D182910
gpg: requesting key 0xBB572E0E2D182910 from hkp server ...
...
$ gpg --keyserver hkp://keys.gnupg.net --recv-keys 0xDB6B8C1F96D8BF6D
gpg: requesting key 0xDB6B8C1F96D8BF6D from hkp server ...
...
$ # create the vm; this process will take a while, a snack and/or
$ # drink is suggested.
$ vboxtools/bin/createvm-gentoo -U -n pmr_demo
2018-10-04 16:00:00 URL:http://distfiles.gentoo.org/...
...
gpg: Signature made Thu 04 Oct 2018 13:51:26 NZDT
gpg: using RSA key E1D6ABB63BFCFB4BA02FDF1CEC590EEAC9189250
gpg: Good signature from "Gentoo ebuild repository signing key ...
...
completing installation, removing installation script
Waiting for VM "pmr_demo" to power on...
VM "pmr_demo" has been successfully started.
Once the VM is fully booted, connect to it with the following command:
vboxtools/bin/connectvm "pmr_demo"
...
$ # installation completed, but instead of connecting to the VM once
$ # it fully boots up, it may be activated using:
$ vboxtools/bin/activatevm pmr_demo
spawning new shell (ctrl-d to exit)
$ # the shell should actually be prefixed with the name of the VM
$ # the prompt should appear as `(pmr_demo) $`
$ pmr2vbox/gentoo/script.sh
* Bringing up interface eth1
* dhcp ...
...Once all that is done, it should result in a VirtualBox instance that contain an instance with a base set of models. The instance may be opened with a web browser; one possible method is:
$ xdg-open http://${VBOX_IP}:8280/pmrAlternatively, replace xdg-open with echo and then copy/paste
the URL to the address bar of a web browser.