Installing Inferno

I found that the installation procedure on the Inferno website didn't quite work for me, so I've made these notes. They come with the usual "follow at your own risk" caveat - please don't take them to be gospel!

Obtaining the installation files

Go to http://www.vitanuova.com/inferno/downloads.html, download the CD image and burn to a CD.

Linux

1. Insert the cd. We'll assume that the mount point for the CD is /mnt/cdrom.
2. Create a user inferno in the group inferno.
3. Create a directory for the installation (say /usr/inferno) and change the ownership and group of this directory to inferno.
4. Log on as user inferno and run /mnt/cdrom/install/Linux-386.sh /usr/inferno.
   • In Red Hat 9, you'll probably get a lot of messages about not being able to set modes (I ignored these).
5. From now on, $INFERNO_HOME will be used to refer to /usr/inferno.
6. Add $INFERNO_HOME/Linux/386/bin to the PATH.
7. You'll have to run things as the user inferno unless you create a new user by copying $INFERNO_HOME/usr/inferno to $INFERNO_HOME/usr/_username_. Change the ownership and group of $INFERNO_HOME/usr/_username_ to username. Change the permissions of /usr/inferno/tmp to 777 so that the new user can use this directory.
   • You might find that you also need to change permissions of the $INFERNO_HOME/Linux/386/bin directory so that users apart from inferno can run the programs therein.
8. If you want the graphical interface to occupy a bigger window, set the environment variable EMU to be "-g1024x768".

Windows XP

The installation for XP seems quite straightforward: I used the ISO CD image of the Inferno Fourth Edition from http://www.vitanuova.com/inferno/net_download4T.html to burn an installation CD, and ran the setup program (drive:\install\setup.exe) directly from the CD; this copies files, updates the registry, and adds an item to the Start Menu.

From NeilCaithness:

It seems that the file system on the CD is incomplete, though what the consequences are, if any, is unclear. The setup program gives a "fail" message as follows: (I've tried several different CD burners and two different drives, all with the same result.)

> ..
> installing directory /doc/limbotk
> installing directory /doc/perform
> installing directory /doc/realinferno
> installing directory /emu
> installing directory /emu/port
> too few fields in file header
> install: 47 "Inst":fail: eof
>
> EOF from Emu
>
> Moving emu.new to emu.exe ........... DONE
> Saving Inferno root in Registry ..... DONE
> Creating start-menu item ............ DONE
>
> Installation completed

So, even though setup claims the installation is complete, there may be some missing files (yes - you're probably missing a lot of utilities in the utils directory - JB). Running EMU from the Start Menu gives the Inferno prompt ";" as expected. I've emailed VitaNuova to ask if they know about the problem.

-- NeilCaithness - 05 Apr 2004

Neil - I strongly suspect that there is something wrong with the CD you burned. I have installed on XP with no problems on a few machines. I seem to remember that when I burned the ISO image under Windows (using a version of the Nero software) it didn't work - I then burned the image using x-cdroast under Linux and all was well. I have a copy of the CD if you want to borrow/copy it.

-- JonBlower - 21 Apr 2004

Windows 2000

1. Run D:\install\setup.exe (assuming D: is the drive letter of your CD drive). Should install with no problems or error messages.
2. Copy C:\Inferno\usr\inferno to C:\Inferno\usr\your_username. This creates a user space for you.

-- JonBlower - 21 Apr 2004

Other OS

If anyone has any hints for installing on another OS, please add them here! (Click "Edit" below)

-- JonBlower - 20 Mar 2004