LEAF Bering-uClibc is based on the well-known Bering distribution
from Jacques Nilo (<jnilo at users.sourceforge.net>) and Eric
Wolzak (<leaf at wolzak.de>). It provides the same features
and functionalities. The main difference to the original Bering release,
is that all binaries have been compiled with uClibc instead of glibc
2.0.7; but Bering-uClibc also supports ipv6, uses the latest sources, has
some improvements and is significantly smaller.
You may also read Bering installation guide and user's guide chapter.
uClibc is a modern, stable, highly compatible replacement for Glibc. uClibc is developed for embedded systems and is therefore intended to be complete but lightweight. Trade-offs between speed and size were decided in the direction of size.
Therefore uClibc libraries are significant smaller than the comparing glibc libraries. This results in more than 100kb free space on the current Bering-uClibc image, even with additional features compared to the original Bering distribution.
The uClibc libraries are actively developed and maintained, including bugfixes, security-related fixes and new features as well.
With Bering-uClibc v 2.0 IPv6 support is available.
Bering-uClibc v 2.3.x is based on Linux kernel version 2.4.31.
Bering-uClibc v 2.4.x is based on Linux kernel version 2.4.32.
To find more information about uClibc, look at www.uclibc.org .
LEAF Bering-uClibc is available as floppy image, booatble ISO image to boot from a CDROM drive, bootable USB image and supports booting from HD and CF.
The floppy image comes with the same packages as Bering plus dropbear, a small sshd replacement. All packages have been recompiled with uClibc. There are a few differences besides the complete change of the libraries, mostly related to the fact that uClibc is targeted at minimal and embedded systems. There are also a few enhancements - most notably IPv6 support, and some cleanups. None of the changes leads to less features. Please take a look at the Changelog to find out what has changed between the releases.
The remaining images also include the complete repository of additional packages to enhance LEAF Bering-uClibc. You'll find more information how to use and install those images in later chapters of this guide.
In the cvs repository you'll find all sourcecode, patches etc. needed to get the sources compiled with uClibc, just in case you are interested to do it yourself.
The Bering-uClibc's Developer Guide documents buildtool, a toolchain to compile the packages and the companion buildpacket, which does the packaging to a lrp.