grml-live [-a <architecture>] [-c <classe[s]>] [-g <grml_name>] [-i <iso_name> ]
[-o <output_directory>] [-r <release_name>] [-s <suite>] [-t
-<template_directory>] [-v <version_number>] [-FVh]
+<template_directory>] [-v <version_number>] [-bFVhuz]
*******************************************************************************
-Important! This document is growing as requested. If you have questions which
+Important: squashfs-tools in Debian (version 1:3.3-6 for example) currently
+don't work as expected for grml-live. Please install grml's version 1:3.2r2-9exp1 from
+http://grml.org/squashfs/squashfs-tools_3.2r2-9exp1_i386.deb (for x86) or
+http://grml.org/squashfs/squashfs-tools_3.2r2-9exp1_amd64.deb (for amd64)
+on your build-system instead.
+*******************************************************************************
+
+*******************************************************************************
+Notice! This document is growing as requested. If you have questions which
aren't answered by this document yet please let me know: <mika@grml.org>!
-This document currently applies to grml-live 0.0.4/0.0.5
*******************************************************************************
Description
-a **ARCHITECTURE**::
Use the specified architecture instead of the currently running one. This
-allows building a 32bit system on a 64bit host. Please notice that real
+allows building a 32bit system on a 64bit host (though you can't build a 64bit
+system on a 32bit system/kernel of course). Please notice that real
crosscompiling (like building a ppc system on x86) isn't possible due to the
-nature and the need of working in a chroot.
+nature and the need of working in a chroot. Currently supported values: i386
+and amd64.
+
+ -b::
+
+Build the ISO without updating the chroot via FAI. This option is useful for
+example when working on stable releases: if you have a working base
+system/chroot and do not want to execute any further updates (via "-u" option)
+but intend to only build the ISO.
-c **CLASSES**::
system (being about ~150MB total ISO size). If using a non-I386 system (like
amd64) you should specify the appropriate architecture as well. Additionally you
can specify a class providing a grml-kernel (see
-/etc/grml/fai/config/package_config/ for a full list). So instead of GRML_SMALL
-you can also use GRML_MEDIUM and GRML_FULL instead.
+<<X7,the 'CLASSES' section in this document>> for details about available classes).
+So instead of GRML_SMALL you can also use GRML_MEDIUM and GRML_FULL.
+
+ -C **CONFIGURATION_FILE**::
+
+The specified file is used as configuration file for grml-live. By default
+/etc/grml/grml-live.conf is used for main configuration. If a file named
+/etc/grml/grml-live.local exists it is used as well (sourced after reading
+/etc/grml/grml-live.conf to allow overriding settings). As a last option the
+specified configuration file is sourced so it is possible to override settings
+of /etc/grml/grml-live.conf as well as of /etc/grml/grml-live.local. Please
+notice that all configuration files have to be adjusted during execution of
+grml-live, so please make sure you use /etc/grml/grml-live.conf as a base for
+your own configuration file. Please also notice that the configuration file
+specified via this option is **not** (yet) supported inside the
+scripts/hooks/classes at /etc/grml/fai/config. Instead use
+/etc/grml/grml-live.conf and/or /etc/grml/grml-live.local for configuration
+stuff used inside /etc/grml/fai/config.
-F::
-g **GRML_NAME**::
Set the grml flavour name. Common usage examples: grml, grml-small, grml64.
+Please do NOT use blanks and any special characters like '/', ';' inside
+GRML_NAME, otherwise you might notice problems with booting.
-h::
-t **TEMPLATE_DIRECTORY**::
-Specify place of the templates used for building the ISO. By default
+Specify place of the templates used for building the ISO. By default
(and if not manually specified) this is /usr/share/grml-live/templates/.
+ -u::
+
+Update existing chroot instead of rebuilding it from scratch. This option is
+based on the softupdate feature of FAI.
+
-v **VERSION_NUMBER**::
Specify version number of the release.
Increase verbosity in the build process.
+ -z::
+
+Use ZLIB instead of LZMA compression in mksquashfs part of the build process.
+
Usage examples
--------------
To get a small Debian-unstable and grml-small based Live-CD using
/home/mika/grml-live as build and output directory just use:
- # grml-live -c GRMLBASE,GRML_SMALL,I386 -o /home/mika/grml-live
+ # grml-live -s sid -c GRMLBASE,GRML_SMALL,I386 -o /home/mika/grml-live
+
+To get a medium sized, Debian-unstable and grml-based Live-CD for i386
+architecture using /grml/grml-live as build and output directory just run:
+
+ # grml-live -s sid -a i386 -c GRMLBASE,GRML_MEDIUM,I386
To get a small, Debian-unstable and grml-based Live-CD using /tmp as build and
output directory and use grml_0.0-3.iso as ISO name (placed inside
you should have >=1GB of RAM) just run "mount -o remount,suid,dev,rw /dev/shm"
and use /dev/shm as build and output directory - resulting in very fast build
process. But please be aware of the fact that rebooting your system will result
-in an empty /dev/shm, so please another directory for $CHROOT_OUTPUT,
+in an empty /dev/shm, so please use another directory for $CHROOT_OUTPUT,
$BUILD_OUTPUT and $ISO_OUTPUT if you plan to create more persistent output. :)
Main features of grml-live
More details regarding the class concept can be found in the documentation of
FAI itself (being available at /usr/share/doc/fai-doc/).
+[[X7]]
Available classes
-----------------
-To be done...
+The package selection part of the classes can be found in
+/etc/grml/fai/config/package_config whereas some further classes are defined for
+example in /etc/grml/fai/config/scripts/ so specific feature sets can be
+selected. The following classes are predefined:
+
+* DEBORPHAN:
+* GRMLBASE: the main class responsible for getting a minimal subset of what's
+defining a grml system. Important parts of the buildprocess are specified in
+this class as well, so unless you have a really good reason you should always
+use this class.
+* GRML_FORENSIC: tools for forensic investigations which has been created
+by people from link:http://www.forensic-geeks.org/[forensic-geeks.org].
+* GRML_FULL: full featured grml, also know as the "normal", full grml.
+* GRML_MEDIUM:
+* GRML_POWERPC:
+* GRML_SMALL:
+* LATEX_CLEANUP:
+* LOCALES:
+* NO_ONLINE:
+* RELEASE:
+* REMOVE_DOCS:
+* XORG:
Files
-----
This directory provides the files used for building the initramfs/initrd via
live-initramfs(8).
+Available log files
+-------------------
+
+grml-live itself logs to /var/log/grml-live.log. Unless you set ZERO_LOGFILE in
+/etc/grml/grml-live.conf the output is appended to the file. If you set the
+ZERO_LOGFILE configuration option the logfile will be truncated on each new
+invocation of grml-live.
+
+The FAI part of grml-live logs to /var/log/fai/$HOSTNAME/ - so the
+default being /var/log/fai/grml/.
+
+If you are using the grml-live buildd you will find the logs of the grml-live
+run at /var/log/grml-buildd.stdout and /var/log/grml-buildd.stderr.
+
Requirements for the build system
---------------------------------
Help, I'm using Debian etch and I don't have FAI version >3.2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- wget http://www.informatik.uni-koeln.de/fai/download/etch/fai-client_3.2.1_all.deb \
- http://www.informatik.uni-koeln.de/fai/download/etch/fai-server_3.2.1_all.deb
- dpkg -i fai-client_3.2.1_all.deb fai-server_3.2.1_all.deb
+ wget http://www.informatik.uni-koeln.de/fai/download/etch/fai-client_3.2.6_all.deb \
+ http://www.informatik.uni-koeln.de/fai/download/etch/fai-server_3.2.6_all.deb \
+ http://www.informatik.uni-koeln.de/fai/download/etch/fai-doc_3.2.6_all.deb
+ dpkg -i fai-client_3.2.6_all.deb fai-server_3.2.6_all.deb fai-doc_3.2.6_all.deb
or check out the link:http://www.informatik.uni-koeln.de/fai/[FAI-homepage] for
further details.
I've problems with the build process. How to start debugging?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-Check out the logs inside /var/log/fai/dirinstall/... If you don't have the time
-to debug the problem in further detail or don't know how to proceed just send a
-copy of your config, logs and the commandline with a short problem description
-to <mika@grml.org>:
+Check out the logs inside /var/log/fai/... If you don't have the time to debug
+the problem in further detail or don't know how to proceed just send a copy of
+your config, logs and the commandline with a short problem description to
+<mika@grml.org>:
# history | grep grml-live > /etc/grml/grml_live.cmdline
# tar zcf grml_live_problem.tar.gz /etc/grml/grml-live.conf \
- /var/log/fai/dirinstall /etc/grml/fai
+ /etc/grml/grml-buildd.conf /var/log/fai /etc/grml/fai
Can I use my own (local) Debian mirror?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(see default configuration) so all the grml packages can be downloaded as well.
If you want to use a local (for example NFS mount) mirror additionally, just
-adjust MIRROR_DIRECTORY and MIRROR_SOURCES insede /etc/grml/grml-live.conf as
+adjust MIRROR_DIRECTORY and MIRROR_SOURCES inside /etc/grml/grml-live.conf as
well.
Unless you specify GRML_LIVE_SOURCES and/or FAI_DEBOOTSTRAP the default from
mv base.tgz /grml/fai/nfsroot/live/filesystem.dir/var/tmp/base.tgz
+or even better use /etc/grml/fai/config/basefiles/$CLASSNAME.tar.gz instead.
+Use I386 as $CLASSNAME for i386 builds and AMD64 for amd64 builds.
+
Now running "grml-live ..." will use this file as main system instead of
-executing debootstrap. Check out the output for the following lines:
+executing debootstrap. Check out the output for the following lines if using
+NFSROOT:
[...]
Calling task_extrbase
Calling task_mirror
[...]
-[NOTE]
+or if using /etc/grml/fai/config/basefiles/$CLASSNAME.tar.gz for:
-Notice that you can also use /etc/grml/fai/config/basefiles/$CLASSNAME.tar.gz if
-you prefer to use /etc as the main configuration directory instead of
-/path/to/nfsroot/.... (Thanks to Thomas Lange for the tip.)
+ [...]
+ ftar: extracting /etc/grml/fai/config/basefiles///AMD64.tar.gz to
+ /grml-live/grml-live_20071029.22138/grml_chroot//
+ [...]
Set up apt-cacher for use with grml-live
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~