Christos Margiolis: plan9

Git on 9front

Sun, 13 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +1200

This article is also mirrored on the 9front Wiki.

Resources

User configuration

; mkdir $home/lib/git
; cat > $home/lib/git/config
[user]
	name=Your Name
	email=me@example.org
^D

Examples

Create, commit and push a repo:

; cd repo
; git/init
# add a remote in .git/config...
; git/add .
; git/commit -m 'commitmsg' foo.c
heads/front: 817a3f121083091291c45f1ddfcd1b042343efab
; git/push

Clone and push changes to a repo:

; git/clone git://git.example.org/repo
; cd repo
# make changes...
; git/commit foo.c
; git/push

Make a patch:

# make changes...
; git/commit -m 'commitmsg' foo.c
heads/front: 817a3f121083091291c45f1ddfcd1b042343efab
; git/export > patch.diff

Apply a patch:

; git/import < patch.diff
applying commitmsg

See which files have changed:

; git/diff -s
M foo.c
M bar.c

Shithub usage

First ask Ori (ori AT eigenstate DOT org) for a user.

Create and push a repository:

; rcpu -u $user -h shithub.us -c \
	newrepo -d 'description' -c 'me@example.org' reponame
; git/push -u hjgit://shithub.us/$user/reponame

Repositories live under /usr/git/$user. Each repo contains editable files in /usr/git/$user/repo/.git:

webpublish: If this file exists, then the repository is published in the public web list of repositories.
desc, description: The short description of the repository. It shows up in the repo list.
contact: Contact information for submitting patches. Shows up on the repository info page.

9front CPU server setup

Mon, 07 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +1200

The contents of /net/ndb will be useful throughout the whole process; have them visible in another window:

; ip/ipconfig
; cat /net/ndb
ip=192.168.1.152 ipmask=255.255.255.0 ipgw=192.168.1.3
	sys=cirno
	dns=192.168.1.1
	dns=192.168.1.1

Boot settings

The 9fat partition contains the kernel, bootloader and boot settings. Add the following lines to plan9.ini. Make sure the values match your own configuration:

; 9fs 9fat
; cd /n/9fat
; cat >> plan9.ini

user=glenda
cpu=192.168.1.152
auth=192.168.1.152
authdom=someauth
service=cpu
^D

user is kinda like the root user on UNIX systems, cpu and auth define the IP addresses for the CPU and auth server respectively, authdom is the domain name of our the server, and service=cpu starts the CPU listener at boot time.

9front needs to boot hands-free, so the bootargs prompt has to be skipped. To do that, change the bootargs variable (its values might be different) in plan9.ini:

bootargs=local!/dev/sdE0/fs
# change to...
noobootprompt=local!/dev/sdE0/fs -m 291 -A -a tcp!*!564

Auth server

Set up the auth server hostowner’s name and password; authid and authdom have to match the values in plan9.ini:

; auth/wrkey
bad nvram des key
bad authentication id
bad authentication domain
authid: glenda
authdom: someauth
secstore key:
password: <your_pass>

Add glenda’s password. This has to be the same as the one you typed in wrkey(8). Always run keyfs(4) before modifying keys:

; auth/keyfs
; auth/changeuser glenda
Password: <your_pass>
Confirm password: <your_pass>
assign new Inferno/POP secret? [y/n]: y
make it the same as Plan 9 password? [y/n]: y
Expiration date (YYYYMMDD or never)[never]:
Post id:
User's full name: 
Department #:
User's email address:
user glenda installed for Plan 9

; auth/enable glenda

Network database

Add the following lines to /lib/ndb/local (pay close attention to detail, especially ip=):

; cat >> /lib/ndb/local

authdom=someauth auth=192.168.1.152

ipnet=iphome ip=192.168.1.0 ipmask=255.255.255.0
	ipgw=192.168.1.3
	auth=192.168.1.152
	authdom=someauth
	fs=192.168.1.152
	cpu=192.168.1.152
	dns=192.168.1.1
^D

ipnet can be anything.

Sync the changes and reboot the system:

; echo sync >> /srv/hjfs.cmd
; fshalt -r

On reboot

Enable networking:

; bind -a '#l0' /net
; ip/ipconfig
; ip/ipconfig ether /net/ether0

Drawterm as glenda:

$ drawterm -u glenda
cpu[cpu]: 192.168.1.152
auth[192.168.1.152]:
glenda@someauth dp9ik password: <your_pass>

Start a rio(1) instance:

cpu% rio -s -i riostart

/cfg/$sysname/cpustart contains commands that run on boot. You can put whatever you want in it — I’m going to just add the same commands I ran after we rebooted to make my life easier.

; mkdir /cfg/$sysname
; cat > /cfg/$sysname/cpustart
bind -a '#l0' /net
ip/ipconfig
ip/ipconfig ether /net/ether0
cat /net/ndb
^D

New user

Add the new user to the file server, add it to some standard groups and assign it a password:

; echo newuser christos >> /srv/hjfs.cmd
; echo newuser sys +christos >> /srv/hjfs.cmd
; echo newuser adm +christos >> /srv/hjfs.cmd
; echo newuser upas +christos >> /srv/hjfs.cmd
; echo newuser cron +christos >> /srv/hjfs.cmd
; auth/keyfs
; auth/changeuser christos
...
; auth/enable christos

Let the new user “speak for” for other users by adding the following lines to /lib/ndb/auth:

; cat >> /lib/ndb/auth
hostid=christos
	uid=!sys uid=!adm uid=*
^D

Reboot for the changes to take effect:

; fshalt -r

Drawterm as christos and run newuser(8) to set up his home directory:

$ drawterm -u christos
...
; /sys/lib/newuser

Acme editor notes

Sun, 06 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +1200

Resources

The Acme User Interface for Programmers
A Tour of the Acme Editor - Watch this if you’re completely new.
Plan9 Acme Intro - Part 1
The Tao of Acme
Extensibility in the Acme text editor

Mouse

Acme needs a 3-button mouse to work properly. All buttons can be used to select text, but their function is different upon release. The left button is used for just selecting text. The middle button is used for executing text. The right button is for searching text and loading files or directories. Text doesn’t have to first be selected when using button 2 and 3 (middle and right) if the selection is only one word.

Acme also makes use of mouse chording (e.g pressing more than one button).

Button 1-2	Cut.
Button 1-3	Paste.
Select text + Button 2-1	Execute with selection as argument.

Move around

`:2`	Go to 2nd line.
`:0`	Go to beginning of file.
`:$`	Go to end of file.
`CTRL-A`	Go to beginning of line.
`CTRL-E`	Go to end of line.
`CTRL-F`	Filepath autocompletion.
`Edit =`	Find current line number.

Search and select

`:,` `Edit ,`	Select all lines.
`:1,5` `Edit 1,5`	Select lines 1 to 5.
`:/regexp/`	Select lines matching regexp.
`:/regexp1/,/regexp2/`	Select lines between regexp1 and regexp2.
`Edit +/foo` `:/foo` `:foo` Right click on word.	Forward search.
`Edit -/foo` `:-/foo` `:-foo`	Backward search.

Edit text

`CTRL-U`	Delete from cursor to beginning of line.
`CTRL-W`	Delete before cursor.
`CTRL-H`	Delete character before cursor.
`Edit , d`	Clear window.
`Edit , s/foo/bar/g` `Edit , \| sed 's/foo/bar/g'`	Global replace.
`Edit s/foo/bar/g`	Replace in selection.
`Edit 2 d`	Delete 2nd line.
`Edit 2 c/foo`	Change 2nd line.
`Edit 2 a/foo`	Append after 2nd line.
`Edit 2 i/foo`	Insert before 2nd line.

Work with external commands

`cmd`	Run cmd with the file as argument.
`\|cmd`	Pipe selection through cmd and also apply changes.
`>cmd`	Send selection to cmd and see result in a temporary window.
`<cmd`	Paste output of cmd in current window (no selection required).

Any command can be used, these are just a few examples.

`Edit , < echo foo`	Replace window body with some text (works with any command).
`echo foo \| 9p write acme/$winid/body`	Append to end of current window body.
`Edit , > wc -l`	Count lines.
`Edit , \| sort`	Sort lines.
`Edit ,x/regexp/ < date`	Replace regexp with the output of date(1).
Select text + `\| sed '' > foo.txt`	Cut to foo.txt.
Select text + `> sed '' > foo.txt`	Copy to foo.txt.

Files

As mentioned earlier, files are opened using the right mouse click.

`foo.c`	Open file.
`foo.c:3`	Open file to line 3.
`foo.c:3:9`	Open file to line 3 column 9.
`foo.c:/^func`	Open file to the line starting with "func".
`foo.c:/bar/,/baz/`	Open file with a selection from "bar" to "baz".

Useful Acme commands

`win`	Spawn shell as a window.
`web URL`	Open URL in browser.
`Dump`	Save current state.
`Load`	Load dump.
`Tab 8`	Set tab width to 8.

Variables

`$%` `$samfile`	Current file name.
`$winid`	Current window.

9front using bhyve(8) on FreeBSD

Tue, 23 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +1200

This article is also mirrored on the FreeBSD Wiki. and 9front Wiki.

Required ports:

sysutils/bhyve-firmware
sysutils/uefi-edk2-bhyve
sysutils/uefi-edk2-bhyve-csm
net/tigervnc-viewer

Add the following lines to /etc/rc.conf. Replace re0 with your own network interface. It’s good practice to assign each VM a unique tap interface in case you need to run multiple VMs at the same time. For simplicity’s sake, this setup uses only one tap:

if_bridge_load="YES"
if_tap_load="YES"
cloned_interfaces="bridge0 tap0"
ifconfig_bridge0="DHCP addm re0 addm tap0"
ifconfig_bridge0_alias0="inet 10.0.0.1/24"

Reboot your machine and then grab a 9front ISO.

Make a directory where you’ll store everything 9front-related. I usually keep all my bhyve(8) VMs under a ZFS dataset:

$ cd /path/to/vms/
$ mkdir 9front
$ mv /path/to/9front_iso 9front.iso

Create an empty file to be used as the VM’s hard drive. 10G will be more than enough:

$ truncate -s 10G disk.img

Make a startup script. Feel free to tweak the variable values to match your own setup. Obviously, when you’re done installing 9front from the ISO, you’ll be running the script without the -s 3,... line:

$ cat 9front_start

#!/bin/sh

name="9front"
cpu="2"
mem="2G"
iso="9front.iso"
disk="disk.img"
tap="tap0"

ifconfig ${tap} up

bhyve -c ${cpu} -m ${mem} -wH \
	-s 0,hostbridge \
	-s 3,ahci-cd,${iso} \
	-s 4,ahci-hd,${disk} \
	-s 5,virtio-net,${tap} \
	-s 29,fbuf,tcp=0.0.0.0:5900,w=800,h=600,wait \
	-s 30,xhci,tablet \
	-s 31,lpc \
	-l bootrom,/usr/local/share/uefi-firmware/BHYVE_UEFI.fd \
	${name}

Make a shutdown script in order for bhyve(8) to shutdown properly:

$ cat 9front_stop

#!/bin/sh

name="9front"
tap="tap0"

ifconfig ${tap} down
bhyvectl --force-poweroff --vm=${name}
bhyvectl --destroy --vm=${name}

Make the scripts executable and start the VM:

$ chmod +x 9front_start 9front_stop
# ./9front_start; ./9front_stop

Run vncviewer(1) to connect to the VNC display:

$ vncviewer 0.0.0.0

When prompted for the monitor type during boot, choose xga.