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Many instructions here are mirrored from Toby Schneider's instructions at http://gobysoft.org/wiki/InstallOnGumstixOvero.  

Root filesystem preparation

Follow these steps to create a debian wheezy root filesystem.  In this section we will use # host to indicate commands run on the host machine, and # chroot for commands commands run inside the chroot filesystem.  

1. Install dependencies:

   Code Block
   # host sudo apt-get install multistrap qemu-user-static

2. Pick a working folder, in this case ~/duovero
 

3. Create a directory to hold the root filesystem:

   Code Block
   # host cd ~/duovero mkdir rootfs

4. Create a configuration file debian.conf in ~/duovero and paste in the following.  Additional packages can be included here or installed later using apt-get.  

   Code Block

   [General] arch=armel directory=~/duovero/rootfs retainsources=~/duovero/sources cleanup=true noauth=true unpack=true bootstrap=Wheezy Net Utils aptsources=Wheezy [Wheezy] packages=apt locales udev adduser sudo nano build-essential less source=http://debian.lcs.mit.edu/debian suite=wheezy [Net] packages=netbase ifupdown iproute net-tools iputils-ping ntp source=http://debian.lcs.mit.edu/debian [Utils] packages=wget source=http://debian.lcs.mit.edu/debian

5. Run multistrap to create the root filesystem.  

   Code Block
   # host multistrap -a armel -d ~/duovero/rootfs -f debian.conf

6. Copy the QEMU ARM emulator into the new root filesystem so it is on the path when we chroot in.  

   Code Block
   # host sudo cp /usr/bin/qemu-arm-static ~/duovero/rootfs/usb/bin/

7. (Optional) If you need /dev/random (for installing openssh-server for example), mount /dev in the chroot.  

   Code Block
   # host sudo mount -o bind /dev ~/gumstix/rootfs/dev

8. Chroot into the new filesystem.  

   Code Block
   # host sudo chroot ~/duovero/rootfs /bin/bash

9. Finish setting up packages 

   Code Block
   # chroot dpkg --configure -a

   Answer "no" when prompted to use "dash" as "/bin/sh".  If any packages fail to configure (possibly ifupdown), just run dpkg again.  

10. Set the root user password.

    Code Block
    # chroot passwd

11. (Optional) Add a new user and give it sudo permissions 

    Code Block
    # chroot adduser mit printf "mit ALL=(ALL) ALL" >> /etc/sudoers

12. Configure locales.  Choose 136 for en_US.UTF-8.  

    Code Block
    # chroot dpkg-reconfigure locales

13. Add a DNS server 

    Code Block
    # chroot printf "nameserver 8.8.8.8" > /etc/resolv.conf

14. Add a static network entry for eth0 (install the isc-dhcp-client package for dhcp support) 

    Code Block
    # chroot nano /etc/network/interfaces   auto eth0 iface eth0 inet static address 192.168.1.102 netmask 255.255.255.0 gateway 192.168.1.1

15. Restart networking to apply the new interface. 

    Code Block
    # chroot /etc/init.d/networking restart

    This might yield an error, but try pinging something anyways and it should work.   

16. Update the apt repositories 

    Code Block
    # chroot apt-get update

17. Assign a hostname and update the hosts file 

    Code Block
    # chroot printf "nostromo" > /etc/hostname printf "127.0.0.1 nostromo\n" >> /etc/hosts

18. Add the serial console (specific to gumstix overo and duovero) 

    Code Block
    # chroot printf "T0:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty -L 115200 ttyO2 vt102\n" >> /etc/inittab

19. Add a proc filesystem to fstab 

    Code Block
    # chroot nano /etc/fstab   # /etc/fstab: static file system information. # # <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass> proc /proc proc defaults 0 0

Using the root filesystem

After setting up the root filesystem, chroot should now log you in as root by default.  To log in as a different user, use chroot with the --userspec option.  You'll need to provide the user and group id, not name though.  To find the id, chroot in as root and look in /etc/passwd

# host
sudo chroot ~/duovero/rootfs
 
# chroot
cat /etc/passwd
 
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
...                                                                                              
mit:x:1000:1000:,,,:/home/mit:/bin/bash

Now to login as the user mit: 

# host
sudo chroot --userspec=1000:1000 ~/duovero/rootfs

To avoid permission issues, you should use your user account (not the root account) to check out subversion or git repos.  Sudo may not work in the chroot environment, so you may still need to use the root account for operations that require root access.