6 grml-debootstrap - wrapper around debootstrap for installing plain Debian
10 grml-debootstrap [ _options_ ]
12 image:images/screenshot.png[Screenshot]
17 grml-debootstrap is a wrapper suite around debootstrap (and cdebootstrap if you
18 want) for installing a plain Debian system (e.g. via Grml) very fast and easy.
20 All you have to do is adjust a few variables in the configuration file
21 /etc/debootstrap/config or specify some command line options and invoke
22 grml-debootstrap. If invoked without any configuration modifications or command
23 line options a dialog based frontend will be available to control some basic
24 configuration options.
26 A plain and base Debian system will be installed on the given device, directory
27 or virtual image file then. Customization of this process is possible as well.
29 CAUTION: The Grml team does not take responsibility for loss of any data!
31 Options and environment variables
32 ---------------------------------
34 *--arch* _architecture_::
36 Set target architecture you want to install. Defaults to the architecture
37 you are currently running. If you're running an amd64 kernel and want to
38 deploy an i386 system use this option. Note: deploying amd64 from an i386
39 kernel does *not* work. Example: "_--arch i386_"
43 Enable Debian's Backports repository (squeeze: http://backports.debian.org/
44 and others: http://http.debian.net/) via the
45 /etc/apt/sources.list.d/backports.list configuration file. This provides the
46 option to install Debian packages from Debian's backports repository.
48 *--bootappend* _appendline-for-the-kernel_::
50 Specify appendline for the kernel.
53 *-c*, *--config* _file_::
55 Use specified configuration file, defaults to /etc/debootstrap/config.
57 *--chroot-scripts* _directory_::
59 Execute chroot scripts from specified directory. This allows customisation
60 of the chroot setup, the executable script(s) present in the given directory
61 are executed at the end of the chroot procedure.
62 Default directory: /etc/debootstrap/chroot-scripts/
64 *-d*, *--confdir* _path_::
66 Place of configuration files for debootstrap, defaults to /etc/debootstrap.
70 Use specified file for preseeding Debian packages instead of using
71 the default <confdir>/debconf-selections.
75 Extra parameters passed to the debootstrap command.
77 *--filesystem* _filesystem_::
79 Filesystem that should be created when installing to a partition.
80 If unset defaults to ext3. Valid values are all filesystems that
81 can be created through mkfs._filesystem_.
85 Skip user acknowledgement and do not prompt for user input.
89 Enable Grml.org's Debian repository (http://deb.grml.org/) via the
90 /etc/apt/sources.list.d/grml.list configuration file. This provides the
91 option to install Debian packages from Grml's repository.
95 Device where grub should be installed to. Note that only the MBR (master
96 boot record) can be used (/dev/sda, /dev/sdb,...). Partitions (like
97 /dev/sda1, /dev/sdb2,...) are NOT supported because grub2 doesn't support
98 installation into the PBR (partition boot record) anymore. Usage example:
99 '--grub /dev/sda'. Note: just do not set this option to avoid installation
104 Show summary of options and exit.
106 *--hostname* _hostname_::
108 Use specified hostname instead of the default (being 'grml').
110 *-i*, *--iso* _/mntpoint_::
112 Specify mount point where you have a Debian ISO mounted loopback.
113 Using this option instead of the mirror option gives you the possibility
114 to install the base-system without network access. Make sure you
115 mounted the according Debian-ISO to the given _/mntpoint_. See section
116 'Usage examples' for a demonstration.
120 Do not overwrite user provided /etc/apt/sources.list.
122 *-m*, *--mirror* _URL_::
124 Specify mirror which should be used for apt-get/aptitude.
125 Corresponding with configuration variable MIRROR.
129 Skip debootstrap, only do configuration to the target.
133 Skip installation of packages defined in /etc/debootstrap/packages.
137 Do not prompt for the root password. Note: Use the '--password' option if
138 you want to set the root password during an automatic installation but don't
139 want to use the interactive dialog.
141 *-p*, *--mntpoint* _/mntpoint_::
143 Specify mount point that should be used for mounting the target system.
144 Corresponding with configuration variable MNTPOINT.
145 Note: this option has no effect if option -t is given and represents a
148 *--packages* _file_::
150 Use specified file as list for packages that should be installed instead of
151 the default package list file <confdir>/packages.
153 *--password* _password_::
155 Use specified password as password for user root. Use with caution, as your
156 command line might be visible in the process list and the shell history.
157 It's meant for automatic installation only.
159 *-r*, *--release* _releasename_::
161 Specify release of new Debian system. Supported releases names: lenny,
162 squeeze, wheezy (note: requires current version of debootstrap) and sid.
163 Corresponding with configuration variable RELEASE.
165 *--pre-scripts* _directory_::
167 Execute scripts from specified directory before executing the chroot
168 script. This allows customisation of the system before the chroot has
169 been set up. The environment variable $MNTPOINT is available inside the
170 scripts for direct access of the chroot.
171 Default directory: /etc/debootstrap/pre-scripts/
173 *--scripts* _directory_::
175 Execute scripts from specified directory. This allows customisation of
176 the system after the chroot has been set up. The environment variable
177 $MNTPOINT is available inside the scripts for direct access of the chroot.
178 Default directory: /etc/debootstrap/scripts/
180 *-t*, *--target* _target_::
181 Target partition (/dev/...) or directory (anything else without /dev at the
182 beginning). To install grub using *--grub* make sure to use a _device_
183 instead of a directory as _target_ (installation of grub as bootloader when
184 using directories is NOT supported).
190 Set up a Virtual Machine instead of installing to a partition or directory.
191 This allows deployment of a Virtual Machine. The options needs to be
192 combined with the --target option.
193 Usage example: --vmfile --target /mnt/sda1/qemu.img
196 Use specified size for size of Virtual Machine disk file. If not specified it
197 defaults to 2G (being 2GB). Syntax as supported by qemu-img (see manpage
198 qemu-img(1) for details.
199 Usage example: --vmsize 3G
202 Show version of program and exit.
204 WARNING: the command line parsing of grml-debootstrap does not validate the provided
205 arguments for the command line options. Please be careful and check docs and
206 /etc/debootstrap/config for further information.
211 grml-debootstrap --target /dev/sda1 --grub /dev/sda
213 Install default Debian release (wheezy) on /dev/sda1 and install bootmanager
214 Grub in MBR (master boot record) of /dev/sda and use /dev/sda1 as system partition.
216 grml-debootstrap --target /dev/sda6 --grub /dev/sda --release sid
218 Install Debian unstable/sid on /dev/sda6, install bootmanager Grub in MBR
219 (master boot record) of /dev/sda and use /dev/sda6 as system partition.
221 mount /dev/sda1 /data/chroot
222 grml-debootstrap --target /data/chroot
224 Install default Debian release (wheezy) in directory /data/chroot (without
227 grml-debootstrap --target /dev/sda3 --grub /dev/sda --mirror ftp://ftp.tugraz.at/mirror/debian
229 Install default debian release (wheezy) in a Virtual Machine file with
230 3GB disk size (including Grub as bootmanager in MBR of the virtual disk file):
232 mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1
233 grml-debootstrap --vmfile --vmsize 3G --target /mnt/sda1/qemu.img
235 Install default Debian release (wheezy) on /dev/sda3 and install bootmanager
236 Grub in MBR (master boot record) of /dev/sda and use /dev/sda3 as system partition.
237 Use specified mirror instead of the default (ftp://ftp.debian.de/debian) one.
239 mount -o loop /mnt/sda6/debian-CD-1.iso /mnt/iso
240 grml-debootstrap --target /dev/sda1 --grub /dev/sda --iso file:/mnt/iso/debian/
242 Install Debian on /dev/sda1 using the loopback mounted Debian-ISO
243 for the base-system and install bootmanager Grub in MBR (master boot record) of
244 /dev/sda and use /dev/sda1 as system partition. Please notice, that the chroot
245 system requires network access for all packages which are not part of the
251 /etc/debootstrap/config
253 Main configuration file. You have to adjust it according to your needs
254 if you want to execute grml-debootstrap in the non-interactive mode without
255 any special command line arguments.
257 /etc/debootstrap/chroot-script
259 The script executed within the new Debian system as soon as the main system
260 has been installed via [c]debootstrap.
262 /etc/debootstrap/locale.gen
264 Defines the default locales used for generating locales via locale-gen.
266 /etc/debootstrap/packages
268 Defines the software packages which should be installed in the new
269 Debian system by default.
271 /etc/debootstrap/extrapackages/
273 Debian Packages dropped in this directory will be installed into the new Debian
274 system by default (Control variable: EXTRAPACKAGES)
276 /etc/debootstrap/stages/
278 The default directory for storing information about executed stages. Every
279 single function of grml-debootstrap will write 'done' to the stages directory
280 into a file named as the function itself if it has been executed successfully.
281 You can adjust the location of the directory via configuration variable STAGES
282 via /etc/debootstrap/config. Please notice that you have to remove the stages
283 directory on your own if you want to re-execute grml-debootstrap after running it
284 successfully once. This should avoid recurrent execution by error of
285 grml-debootstrap (which might delete present data).
290 You can control execution of grml-debootstrap via adjusting
291 /etc/debootstrap/config for some main stuff or via setting some selected
292 variables via command line. The packages which should be installed in the new
293 Debian system can be defined via the file /etc/debootstrap/packages. If you
294 want to put existing files to the new Debian system you can place them into the
295 (by default non-existing) directories boot, etc, share, usr and var in
296 /etc/debootstrap/. Every existing directory will be copied to the new Debian
297 system then. If you want to install additional packages that are not available
298 via the Grml or Debian mirror drop them into /etc/debootstrap/extrapackages and
299 make sure that EXTRAPACKAGES is set to "yes".
301 Automatic installation
302 ----------------------
304 If environment variable AUTOINSTALL is set grml-debootstrap can be executed in a
305 full automatic mode. While this mode isn't really useful for interactive
306 execution (just configure /etc/debootstrap/configure or specify the relevant
307 variables on the command line instead) it is meant for use via boot option
308 debian2hd on the Grml live system. The boot option debian2hd (more precise: the
309 kernelname at the bootprompt) supports the following boot options (they
310 correspond with the command line options mentioned above):
314 The target partition/directory of the new Debian system. Usage example:
319 Where do you want to install grub to? Usage example: grub=/dev/sda
323 Specify release of new Debian system. Defaults to Debian wheezy. Supported
324 relases: lenny, squeeze, wheezy and sid. Usage example: release=sid
328 Specify mirror which should be used for apt-get/aptitude instead
329 of the default one (http://http.debian.net/debian).
330 Usage example: mirror=ftp://ftp.tugraz.at/mirror/debian
334 Set password of user root without prompting for it but set it to the given
335 argument. Usage example: password=AiTh5ahn
337 Usage example for automatic installation:
338 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
340 debian2hd target=/dev/sda1 grub=/dev/sda mirror=ftp://ftp.tugraz.at/mirror/debian password=foobar
342 You have to enter this command line at the bootprompt of the Grml live system.
343 Please make sure that /dev/sda1 is the partition where you really want to
344 install your new Debian system.
347 Automatic installation within booting process is done in grml-autoconfig via
348 setting environment variable AUTOINSTALL and creation of
349 /usr/bin/grml-debootstrap_noninteractive with the available and relevant
350 boot options for grml-debootstrap.
355 include::releasetable.txt[]
359 ================================================================================
360 [1] Please notice that lenny is the current old-stable release within Debian.
361 grml-debootstrap can handle the release but you really should not use lenny
362 anymore unless you really know what you are doing. Choose Debian 6.0 (squeeze)
363 or Debian 7.0 (wheezy) instead.
365 Notice that you need to specify a mirror providing the lenny release, the
366 default (http://http.debian.net/debian) doesn't provide it any longer nowadays.
367 Set the mirror to e.g. http://archive.debian.org/debian/ if you don't have
368 your own lenny mirror.
370 When installing lenny to a new mdraid, grml-debootstrap will use md metadata
371 format version 0.90. This limits the device to a maximum size of 2TB, but has
372 the advantage of grub-legacy actually being able to boot from it.
373 ================================================================================
377 ================================================================================
378 [2] Please notice that sid is Debian/unstable and due to its nature might not be
379 always installable. What _might_ work instead is deploying a stable or testing
380 release and upgrade it after installation finished.
381 ================================================================================
386 Probably. Please send bugreports to Michael Prokop <mika@grml.org>.
391 debootstrap (8), cdebootstrap (1).
395 Michael Prokop <mika@grml.org>