grml-live(8) ============ Name ---- grml-live - build framework for generating a grml and Debian based Linux Live system (CD/ISO) Synopsis -------- grml-live [-c ] [-t ] [-F] [-h|--help] ******************************************************************************* Important! grml-live is under heavy construction, though 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 know: ! ******************************************************************************* Description ----------- grml-live provides the build system for creating a grml and Debian based Linux live-cd. The build system is based on link:http://www.informatik.uni-koeln.de/fai/[FAI] (Fully Automatic Installation). grml-live uses the "fai dirinstall" feature to generate a chroot system based on the class concept of FAI (see later section for further details) and provides all the details to be able to generate a full-featured ISO. It does not use all the FAI features by default though and you don't have to know FAI to be able to use it. The use of FAI behind the curtains 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 at the same time! [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), debmirror(1), reprepro(1) (see /usr/share/doc/grml-live/examples/reprepro/ for a sample configuration) and approx(8). 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 GRMLBASE and I386 are assumed, resulting in a small base system (being about ~150MB ISO size). -s **SUITE**:: Specify the Debian suite you want to use for your live-system. Defaults to "etch"; support values are: etch, lenny, sid, stable, testing, unstable. -t **TARGET_DIRECTORY**:: Main output directory of the build process of FAI. Three directories are created inside the target directory, being: grml_cd/ - where the files for creating the ISO are located (including the compressed squashfs file), grml_chroot/ - the generated chroot system and grml_isos/ - where the resulting ISO is stored. -F:: Force execution and do not prompt for / display summary of configuration details. -h:: Display short usage information and exit. -v:: Increase verbosity in the build process. How to get your own live-cd - the easy, fast and simple way ----------------------------------------------------------- To get a small, Debian-stable and grml based live-cd using /grml/grml-live as build and output directory: # grml-live To get a small Debian-unstable and grml-small based live-cd using /home/mika/grml-live as build and output directory: # grml-live -c GRMLBASE,GRML_SMALL,I386 -t /home/mika/grml-live [NOTE] If you have about 700MB of free space inside /dev/shm (being a tmpfs, usually you 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_TARGET, $BUILD_TARGET and $ISO_TARGET if you plan to create more persistent output. :) Features -------- * create a grml-/Debian-based Linux Live-CD with one single command * class based concept, providing a maximum of flexibility * supports integration of own hooks, scripts and configuration * supports use and integration of own Software and/or Kernels via use of Debian repositories * native support of FAI features * multi-arch support (work in progress) 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 GRMLBASE. It's strongly recommended to **always** use the class GRMLBASE 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/GRMLBASE/ /etc/grml/fai/config/debconf/GRMLBASE /etc/grml/fai/config/class/GRMLBASE.var /etc/grml/fai/config/hooks/instsoft.GRMLBASE /etc/grml/fai/config/package_config/GRMLBASE 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="GRMLBASE" inside /etc/grml/grml-live.conf to CLASSES="GRMLBASE,FOOBAR" or invoke grml-live using the classes option: "grml-live -c GRMLBASE,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: documentation /etc/grml/fai/NFSROOT TODO: documentation /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 -cGRMLBASE dirinstall ...' only the files from the directory GRML/ will be taken, if you use 'fai -v -C /etc/grml/fai -cGRMLBASE,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/files/ This directory provides files used inside the scripts of /etc/grml/fai/config/scripts/*. For a full documentation what happens with the files please refer to the source of the scripts. /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 800MB 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] plus some temporary files) * 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 ----------- * document the available classes in more detail * make sure $TARGET is mounted rw,suid,dev * write a step-by-step guide **how** to adjust **what** at **which** place * add support for amd64 [gebi?] + ppc [formorer?] (and identify all packages that are arch specific so we have a clean package list in all classes) * support different grml-flavours through classes right out-of-the-box (being: grml, grml64, grml-small (done) for at least x86, amd64 and ppc) * support signed apt repositories (currently it's deactivated via FAI's FAI_ALLOW_UNSIGNED=1 for some packages in the toolchain) * explain (and provide configuration for) use of NFSROOT * support setting stuff like ISO name, version,... on-the-fly (especially for stuff inside boot/isolinux/*) * support "final builds" (including stuff like generating md5sums, gpg,... - create something like grml_release including all the details about the build like dpkg selection, logs,...) * the grml-live class(es) should send output as used inside FAI as well (so it's not as verbose unless you specify it, make it configurable) * provide possibility for cleanup of all created build directories and a smart summary of the buildprocess (including "took ... minutes/seconds to build...) * support hooks to allow further customisation of the build process Debian package -------------- Debian packages will be available through the grml-repository at link:http://deb.grml.org/[http://deb.grml.org/] as soon as the grml-team considers grml-live as stable enough. In the meantime just build the package on your own: hg clone http://hg.grml.org/grml-live cd grml-live debuild -us -uc Source ------ The source of grml-live is available at link:http://hg.grml.org/grml-live/[http://hg.grml.org/grml-live/] Bugs ---- Please report feedback, link:http://grml.org/bugs/[bugreports] and wishes link:http://grml.org/contact/[to the grml-team]! Authors ------- Michael Prokop . ///////////////////////////////////// // vim:ai tw=80 ft=asciidoc expandtab /////////////////////////////////////