------------
grml-debootstrap is a wrapper suite around debootstrap (and cdebootstrap if you
-want) for installing a plain Debian system (e.g. via Grml) very fast and easy.
+want) for installing a plain Debian system very fast and easy.
-All you have to do is adjust a few variables in configuration file
-/etc/debootstrap/config (or specify some variables via command line) and invoke
-grml-debootstrap without any further options then.
+All you have to do is adjust a few variables in the configuration file
+/etc/debootstrap/config or specify some command line options and invoke
+grml-debootstrap. If invoked without any configuration modifications or command
+line options a dialog based frontend will be available to control some basic
+configuration options.
-A plain and base Debian system will be installed on the given device (or
-directory) then. Customization of this process is possible as well.
+A plain and base Debian system will be installed on the given device, directory
+or virtual image file then. Customization of this process is possible as well.
CAUTION: The Grml team does not take responsibility for loss of any data!
deploy an i386 system use this option. Note: deploying amd64 from an i386
kernel does *not* work. Example: "_--arch i386_"
+*--backportrepos*::
+
+ Enable Debian's Backports repository (http://backports.debian.org/) via the
+ /etc/apt/sources.list.d/backports.list configuration file. This provides the
+ option to install Debian packages from Debian's backports repository.
+
*--bootappend* _appendline-for-the-kernel_::
Specify appendline for the kernel.
are executed at the end of the chroot procedure.
Default directory: /etc/debootstrap/chroot-scripts/
+*--contrib*::
+
+ Enable the 'contrib' repository in COMPONENTS. By default only
+ the 'main' repository is enabled.
+
*-d*, *--confdir* _path_::
Place of configuration files for debootstrap, defaults to /etc/debootstrap.
Extra parameters passed to the debootstrap command.
+*--debug*::
+
+ Execute in very verbose way. Useful for debugging possible problems
+ with grml-debootstrap or identify what's actually executed.
+
*--filesystem* _filesystem_::
Filesystem that should be created when installing to a partition.
- If unset defaults to ext3. Valid values are all filesystems that
+ If unset defaults to ext4. Valid values are all filesystems that
can be created through mkfs._filesystem_.
*--force*::
*--hostname* _hostname_::
- Use specified hostname instead of the default (being 'grml').
+ Use specified hostname instead of the default (being $HOSTNAME or if unset 'grml').
*-i*, *--iso* _/mntpoint_::
Skip debootstrap, only do configuration to the target.
+*--nointerfaces*::
+
+ Do not copy /etc/network/interfaces from host system to the target.
+ This option is automatically enabled when using --vm or --vmfile.
+
+*--nokernel*::
+
+ Skip installation of default kernel images. This option might be
+ interesting for you if you want a Debian system which doesn't
+ need to provide regular boot, e.g. a system which provides
+ ISOs for booting via GRUB using grml-rescueboot.
+
+*--non-free*::
+
+ Enable the 'non-free' repository in COMPONENTS. By default only
+ the 'main' repository is enabled.
+
*--nopackages*::
Skip installation of packages defined in /etc/debootstrap/packages.
command line might be visible in the process list and the shell history.
It's meant for automatic installation only.
-*-r*, *--release* _releasename_::
+*--post-scripts* _directory_::
- Specify release of new Debian system. Supported releases names: lenny,
- squeeze, wheezy (note: requires current version of debootstrap) and sid.
- Corresponding with configuration variable RELEASE.
+ Execute scripts from specified directory after executing the chroot script.
+ This allows customisation of the system after the chroot has been set up.
+ The environment variable $MNTPOINT is available inside the scripts for
+ direct access of the chroot.
+ Default directory: /etc/debootstrap/post-scripts/
*--pre-scripts* _directory_::
scripts for direct access of the chroot.
Default directory: /etc/debootstrap/pre-scripts/
-*--scripts* _directory_::
+*-r*, *--release* _releasename_::
+
+ Specify release of new Debian system. Supported releases names: lenny,
+ squeeze, wheezy, jessie, stretch (note: requires a recent version of debootstrap)
+ and sid. Corresponding with configuration variable RELEASE.
+
+*--remove-configs*::
- Execute scripts from specified directory. This allows customisation of
- the system after the chroot has been set up. The environment variable
- $MNTPOINT is available inside the scripts for direct access of the chroot.
- Default directory: /etc/debootstrap/scripts/
+ Delete grml-debootstrap configuration files (/etc/debootstrap/*) from installed
+ system. Useful for reproducible builds or if you don't want to leak information.
*-t*, *--target* _target_::
+
Target partition (/dev/...) or directory (anything else without /dev at the
- beginning). To install grub using *--grub* make sure to use a _device_
- instead of a directory as _target_ (installation of grub as bootloader when
- using directories is NOT supported).
+ beginning).
*-v*, *--verbose*::
+
Increase verbosity.
-*--vmfile*::
- Set up a Virtual Machine instead of installing to a partition or directory.
+*--vm*::
+
+ Set up a Virtual Machine on an existing block device, which will be
+ partitioned.
This allows deployment of a Virtual Machine. The options needs to be
combined with the --target option.
+ Usage example: --vm --target /dev/mapper/your-vm-disk
+
+*--vmfile*::
+
+ Set up a Virtual Machine using a regular file instead of installing to a
+ partition/block device or directory. This allows deployment of a Virtual
+ Machine. The options needs to be combined with the --target option
+ ('qemu-img create -f raw ...' is executed on the specified target).
Usage example: --vmfile --target /mnt/sda1/qemu.img
*--vmsize* _size_::
+
Use specified size for size of Virtual Machine disk file. If not specified it
defaults to 2G (being 2GB). Syntax as supported by qemu-img (see manpage
qemu-img(1) for details.
Usage example: --vmsize 3G
*-V*, *--version*::
+
Show version of program and exit.
-WARNING: the command line parsing of grml-debootstrap does not validate the provided
-arguments for the command line options. Please be careful and check docs and
-/etc/debootstrap/config for further information.
+WARNING: the command line parsing of grml-debootstrap usually does not validate
+the provided arguments for the command line options. Please be careful and check
+docs and /etc/debootstrap/config for further information.
Usage examples
---------------
grml-debootstrap --target /dev/sda1 --grub /dev/sda
-Install default Debian release (stable/squeeze) on /dev/sda1 and install bootmanager
+Install default Debian release (jessie) on /dev/sda1 and install bootmanager
Grub in MBR (master boot record) of /dev/sda and use /dev/sda1 as system partition.
grml-debootstrap --target /dev/sda6 --grub /dev/sda --release sid
mount /dev/sda1 /data/chroot
grml-debootstrap --target /data/chroot
-Install default Debian release (stable/squeeze) in directory /data/chroot (without
+Install default Debian release (jessie) in directory /data/chroot (without
any bootloader).
grml-debootstrap --target /dev/sda3 --grub /dev/sda --mirror ftp://ftp.tugraz.at/mirror/debian
-Install default debian release (stable/squeeze) in a Virtual Machine file with
-3GB disk size (including Grub as bootmanager in MBR of the virtual disk file):
+Install default Debian release (jessie) on /dev/sda3 and install bootmanager
+Grub in MBR (master boot record) of /dev/sda and use /dev/sda3 as system partition.
+Use specified mirror instead of the default (http://http.debian.net/debian) one.
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1
grml-debootstrap --vmfile --vmsize 3G --target /mnt/sda1/qemu.img
-Install default Debian release (stable/squeeze) on /dev/sda3 and install bootmanager
-Grub in MBR (master boot record) of /dev/sda and use /dev/sda3 as system partition.
-Use specified mirror instead of the default (ftp://ftp.debian.de/debian) one.
+Install default debian release (jessie) in a Virtual Machine file with
+3GB disk size (including Grub as bootmanager in MBR of the virtual disk file):
- mount -o loop /mnt/sda6/debian-40r0-i386-CD-1.iso /mnt/iso
+ mount -o loop /mnt/sda6/debian-CD-1.iso /mnt/iso
grml-debootstrap --target /dev/sda1 --grub /dev/sda --iso file:/mnt/iso/debian/
-Install Debian stable/squeeze on /dev/sda1 using the loopback mounted Debian-ISO
+Install Debian on /dev/sda1 using the loopback mounted Debian-ISO
for the base-system and install bootmanager Grub in MBR (master boot record) of
/dev/sda and use /dev/sda1 as system partition. Please notice, that the chroot
system requires network access for all packages which are not part of the
/etc/debootstrap/config
-Main configuration file. You have to adjust it according to your needs
-if you want to execute grml-debootstrap in the non-interactive mode without
-any special command line arguments.
+Main configuration file. Adjust it according to your needs if you want to
+execute grml-debootstrap in the non-interactive mode without any special command
+line arguments.
/etc/debootstrap/chroot-script
Debian Packages dropped in this directory will be installed into the new Debian
system by default (Control variable: EXTRAPACKAGES)
- /etc/debootstrap/stages/
-
-The default directory for storing information about executed stages. Every
-single function of grml-debootstrap will write 'done' to the stages directory
-into a file named as the function itself if it has been executed successfully.
-You can adjust the location of the directory via configuration variable STAGES
-via /etc/debootstrap/config. Please notice that you have to remove the stages
-directory on your own if you want to re-execute grml-debootstrap after running it
-successfully once. This should avoid recurrent execution by error of
-grml-debootstrap (which might delete present data).
-
Customization
-------------
full automatic mode. While this mode isn't really useful for interactive
execution (just configure /etc/debootstrap/configure or specify the relevant
variables on the command line instead) it is meant for use via boot option
-debian2hd. The boot option debian2hd (more precise: the kernelname on bootprompt)
-supports the following boot options (they correspond with the command line options
-mentioned above):
+debian2hd on the Grml live system. The boot option debian2hd (more precise: the
+kernelname at the bootprompt) supports the following boot options (they
+correspond with the command line options mentioned above):
target=...
release=...
-Specify release of new Debian system. Defaults to Debian squeeze. Supported
-relases: lenny, squeeze, wheezy and sid. Usage example: release=sid
+Specify release of new Debian system. Defaults to Debian jessie. Supported
+releases: lenny, squeeze, wheezy, jessie, stretch and sid. Usage example: release=sid
mirror=...
Specify mirror which should be used for apt-get/aptitude instead
-of the default one (ftp://ftp.debian.de/debian).
+of the default one (http://http.debian.net/debian).
Usage example: mirror=ftp://ftp.tugraz.at/mirror/debian
password=...
Set password of user root without prompting for it but set it to the given
argument. Usage example: password=AiTh5ahn
-Usage example for automatic installation:
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Usage example for automatic installation
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
debian2hd target=/dev/sda1 grub=/dev/sda mirror=ftp://ftp.tugraz.at/mirror/debian password=foobar
[NOTE]
.lenny release
================================================================================
-[1] Please notice that lenny is the current old-stable release within Debian.
+[1] Please notice that lenny is an unsupported release within Debian nowadays.
grml-debootstrap can handle the release but you really should not use lenny
-anymore unless you really know what you are doing. Choose stable (squeeze)
-instead.
+anymore unless you really know what you are doing. Choose Debian 7.0 (wheezy) or
+something newer instead.
Notice that you need to specify a mirror providing the lenny release, the
-default (http://cdn.debian.net/debian) doesn't provide it any longer nowadays.
+default (http://http.debian.net/debian) doesn't provide it any longer nowadays.
Set the mirror to e.g. http://archive.debian.org/debian/ if you don't have
your own lenny mirror.
+Also when debootstrapping lenny on a live system with a kernel version
+like "3.16-1-grml-amd64" lenny's libc will fail to install with:
+
+ [...]
+ /var/lib/dpkg/tmp.ci/preinst: line 265: [: 3.16-1-grml-amd64: integery expression expected
+ /var/lib/dpkg/tmp.ci/preinst: line 231: 3.16-1-grml-amd64: syntax error: invalid arithemtic operator (error token is ".16-1-grml-amd64")
+ dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libc6_2.7-18lenny7_amd64.deb (--install):
+ [....]
+
+To workaround this either debootstrap from a system with an according
+kernel version or use the "fake uname" workaround (just google for it).
+
When installing lenny to a new mdraid, grml-debootstrap will use md metadata
format version 0.90. This limits the device to a maximum size of 2TB, but has
the advantage of grub-legacy actually being able to boot from it.
================================================================================
[NOTE]
-.sid release
+.unstable and testing releases
================================================================================
-[2] Please notice that sid is Debian/unstable and due to its nature might not be
-always installable. What _might_ work instead is deploying stable (squeeze) or
-testing (wheezy) and upgrade it after installation finished.
+[2] Please notice that Debian/testing and Debian/unstable (sid) might
+not be always installable due to their nature. What _might_ work instead is
+deploying a stable release and upgrade it after installation finished.
================================================================================
Bugs