grml-live(8) ============ Name ---- grml-live - build process script for generating a (grml based) Linux Live-ISO Synopsis -------- grml-live [-c ] [-t ] [-F] [-h|--help] ******************************************************************************* Important! grml-live is under heavy construction, your feedback is highly appreciated. This document is growing as requested. If you have questions which aren't answered by this document yet please let me (mika@grml.org) know! ******************************************************************************* Description ----------- grml-live provides the build system for creating (a grml based) live-cd. The build system is based on link:http://www.informatik.uni-koeln.de/fai/[FAI] (Fully Automatic Installation). FAI uses a class based system. This gives you the flexibility to choose the packages you would like to include on your very own Linux live-cd without having to deal with all the details of a build process. CAUTION: grml-live does not use /etc/fai for configuration but instead provides and uses /etc/grml/fai. This ensures that it does not clash with default FAI configuration and packages, so you can use grml-live and FAI completely independent! [NOTE] Please notice that you should have a fast network connection as all the Debian packages will be installed via network. If you want to use a local mirror (strongly recommended!) checkout mkdebmirror (see /usr/share/doc/grml-live/examples/mkdebmirror) debmirro(1) and reprepro(1) (check out /usr/share/doc/grml-live/examples/reprepro/ for a sample configuration). To avoid downloading of the base system check out FAI's NFSROOT (check docs for ../fai/nfsroot/live/filesystem.dir/var/tmp/base.tgz). Options ------- -c **CLASSES**:: Specify the CLASSES to be used for building the ISO via fai. By default only the classes GRML and I386 are assumed, resulting in a small base system (being about ~150MB ISO size). -t **TARGET_DIRECTORY**:: Output directory of the build process of FAI - being the chroot used for building the ISO. -F:: Force execution and do not display summary of configuration details. -h|--help:: Display short usage information and exit. additional_arguments_for_fai:: Any additional argument(s) to grml-live will be given to the FAI commandline (being basically "fai dirinstall ...). This might become a temporary solution (due to security reasons), if you need an option please let us know so we can implement it. How to get your own live-cd - the easy, fast and simple way ----------------------------------------------------------- To get a small, Debian-stable and grml based live-cd: # TARGET="/grml/grml_uncompressed" # CDDIR="/grml/grml_cd" # grml-live -c GRML -t $TARGET # mksquashfs $TARGET/* $CDDIR/live/grml.squashfs -noappend # cd $CDDIR # mkisofs -V "my personal grml" -l -r -J -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 \ -boot-info-table -c boot/isolinux/boot.cat \ -b boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin -o /grml/grml.iso . (TODO: provide the content of /grml/chroot/grml_cd through the package grml-live, in the meanwhile get the content from a current grml-ISO) The class concept ----------------- grml-live uses FAI and its class based concept for adjusting configuration according to your needs. This gives you flexibility and strength without losing the simplicity in the build process. The main and base class provided by grml-live is named GRML. It's strongly recommended to **always** use the class GRML when building an ISO using grml-live as well as the architecture dependend class (being 'I386' for x86_32 currently only). The following files and directories are relevant for class GRML by default: /etc/grml/fai/config/scripts/GRML/ /etc/grml/fai/config/debconf/GRML /etc/grml/fai/config/class/GRML.var /etc/grml/fai/config/hooks/instsoft.GRML /etc/grml/fai/config/package_config/GRML Take a look at the next section for information about the concept of those files/directories. If you want to use your own configuration, extend an existing configuration and/or add additional packages to your ISO just invent a new class. For example if you want to use your own class named "FOOBAR" just extend CLASSES="GRML" inside /etc/grml/grml-live.conf to CLASSES="GRML,FOOBAR" or invoke grml-live using the classes option: "grml-live -c GRML,FOOBAR ...". More details regarding the class concept can be found in the documentation of FAI (available at /usr/share/doc/fai-doc/). Files ----- Notice that grml-live ships FAI configuration files that do not use the same namespace as the FAI packages itself. This ensures that grml-live does not clash with your usual FAI configuration, so instead of /etc/fai/fai.conf (package fai-client) grml uses /etc/grml/fai/fai.conf instead. For more details see below. To get an idea how another configuration or example files could look like check out /usr/share/doc/fai-doc/examples/simple/ (provided by Debian package fai-doc). /usr/share/doc/fai-doc/fai-guide.html/ch-config.html also provides documentation regarding configuration possibilities. /usr/sbin/grml-live Script for the main build process (being a wrapper around FAI currently). Requires root permissions for execution. /etc/grml/fai/fai.conf Main configuration file which specifies where all the configuration files and scripts for FAI/grml-live can be found. By default it is FAI_CONFIGDIR=/etc/grml/fai/config, a directory shipped by grml-live out-of-the-box so you shouldn't have to configure anything in this file. /etc/grml/fai/make-fai-nfsroot.conf TODO /etc/grml/fai/NFSROOT TODO /etc/grml/fai/apt/sources.list This file specifies which mirrors should be used for retreiving the Debian packages used for creating the ISO. If you want to use a local mirror you have to adjust this file. /etc/grml/fai/config/ The main directory for configuration of FAI/grml-live. More details below. /etc/grml/fai/config/class/ This directory contains files which specify main configuration variables for the FAI classes. /etc/grml/fai/config/debconf/ This directory provides the files for preseeding/configuration of debconf through files. /etc/grml/fai/config/hooks/ This directory provides files for customizing the build process through hooks. Hooks are user defined programs or scripts, which are called during the installation process. /etc/grml/fai/config/package_config/ File with lists of software packages to be installed or removed. The different classes describe what should find its way to your ISO. When running 'fai -v -C /etc/grml/fai -cGRML dirinstall ...' only the files from the directory GRML/ will be taken, if you use 'fai -v -C /etc/grml/fai -cGRML,FOOBAR dirinstall ...' then the files of GRML/ **plus** the files from FOOBAR/ will be taken. So just create a new class to adjust it to your needs. Please notice that the directory GRML contains a package list defining a minimum but still reasonable package configuration. /etc/grml/fai/config/scripts/ Scripts for customising the ISO within build process. /etc/grml/fai/live-initramfs/ This directory provides the files used for building the initramfs/initrd via live-initramfs(8). Requirements for the build system --------------------------------- * any Debian based system should be sufficient (if not please send a bug report), for example a grml2hd harddisk installation ships all you need * enough free disk space, at least 700MB are required for a minimal grml-live run (~400MB for the chroot [$CHROOT_TARGET], ~150MB for the build target [$BUILD_TARGET] and ~150MB for the resulting ISO [$ISO_TARGET]). * fast network access for retreiving the Debian packages used for creating the chroot (check out "local mirror" and "NFSROOT" to workaround this problem as far as possiblbe) Known TODOs ----------- * extend the grml-live wrapper script so it runs all the necessary command in a single run (boot/isolinux, mksquashfs and mkisofs stuff is missing currently) * really support signed apt repositories * explain (and provide configuration for) the use of NFSROOT * support setting stuff like ISO name, version,... (especially for stuff inside x86_files/boot/isolinux) * identify all packages that are arch specific * support different flavours and architectures of Debian (currently it defaults to Debian/stable x86_32) * use hooks of FAI in grml-live script? * the GRML class(es) should send output as used inside FAI as well (so it's not as verbose unless you specify it) * provide possibility for cleanup of all created build directories Bugs ---- Please report feedback, link:http://grml.org/bugs/[bugreports] and wishes link:http://grml.org/contact/[to the grml-team]! Authors ------- Michael Prokop .