README.html


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<h1>Unmatched Patchwork</h1>
<p>
 This is an overlay voor the Gentoo Linux distribution, it is intended for
 owners of the <a href="https://www.sifive.com/boards/hifive-unmatched">SiFive
 HiFive Unmatched RISC-V PC</a>.
</p>
<h2>Why this overlay?</h2>
<p>
 Running Gentoo Linux on the Unmatched requires some modifications to some
 packages. Some are specific to this specific board, others are for RISC-V in
 general.
</p>
<p>
 Instead of keeping all those patches for myself I decided to share and hope it
 will help someone else too. This is actually the first overlay I'm sharing, so
 feedback is appreciated. You're quite likely to find me on the
 <a href="https://forums.gentoo.org">Gentoo forums</a> or the
 <a href="https://forums.sifive.com">SiFive forums</a>.
</p>
<h2>What is in this overlay?</h2>
<p>
 This overlay contains a few packages:
</p>
<ul>
 <li>media-video/mplayer: Mplayer with a patch for it's configure script to accept RISC-V</li>
 <li>sys-apps/sysvinit: Sysvinit patched so that the "reboot" command does the
     same als "halt" because the Unmatched can't reboot and will be stuck
     if you do, also adds the serial console to inittab</li>
 <li>sys-boot/grub: Grub with patches to allow loading linux</li>
 <li>sys-boot/opensbi: OpenSBI with patches from SiFive</li>
 <li>sys-boot/u-boot: U-Boot with patches from SiFive. Also has USE flags to
     set the CPU Frequency and prioritize EFI booting (required for grub)</li>
 <li>sys-kernel/sifive-sources: Gentoo-sources with patches from SiFive</li>
</ul>
<h2>How to use this overlay?</h2>
<p>
 First you'll have to clone this overlay on a place you like, a common place
 these days is <b>/var/db/repos</b>. So cd into that directory and use
 <b>git clone https://code.pa4wdh.nl.eu.org/gentoo/unmatched-patchwork</b>,
 this will create a directory called unmatched-patchwork with the overlay in
 it.
</p>
<p>
 Next you have to make portage aware of the repo, for that you'll have to
 create a config file under <b>/etc/portage/repos.conf</b>. Create a file
 called <b>unmatched-patchwork.conf</b> and give it these contents:
</p>
<pre>
[unmatched-patchwork]
location = /var/db/repos/unmatched-patchwork
sync-type = git
sync-uri = https://code.pa4wdh.nl.eu.org/gentoo/unmatched-patchwork
</pre>
<p>
 If you placed the overlay on a different place than <b>/var/db/repos</b> make
 sure to adapt the <b>location</b> line to your needs.
</p>
<h2>What can i do with this?</h2>
<p>
 For me booting with grub has great value, it allows me to boot different
 kernels via it's menu. This allows me to experiment with different kernel
 versions and configurations, and i don't run into problems if it somehow
 doesn't boot.
</p>
<p>
 Mplayer is my favorite media player and is nice to get quick results. Even
 if you don't have a GPU you can test video with aalib :-).
</p>
<p>
 Have fun!
</p>