201 lines
7.1 KiB
Plaintext
201 lines
7.1 KiB
Plaintext
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INTRO
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-----
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livemedia-creator uses Anaconda, kickstart and Lorax to create bootable media
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such as live iso's that use the same install path as a normal system install.
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The general idea is to use virt-install to install into a disk image and then
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use the disk image to create the bootable media.
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livemedia-creator --help will describe all of the options available. At the
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minimum you need:
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--make-iso to create a final bootable .iso
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--iso to specify the Anaconda install media to use with virt-install
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--ks is the kickstart to use to install the system
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QUICKSTART
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----------
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sudo livemedia-creator --make-iso \
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--iso=/extra/iso/Fedora-16-x86_64-netinst.iso --ks=./fedora-livemedia.ks
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If you are using the lorax git repo you can run it like so:
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sudo PATH=./src/sbin/:$PATH PYTHONPATH=./src/ ./src/sbin/livemedia-creator \
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--make-iso --iso=/extra/iso/Fedora-16-x86_64-netinst.iso \
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--ks=./docs/livemedia-example.ks --lorax-templates=./share/
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If you want to watch the install you can pass '--vnc vnc' and use a vnc
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client to connect to localhost:0
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This is usually a good idea when testing changes to the kickstart. It tries
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to monitor the logs for fatal errors, but may not catch everything.
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HOW IT WORKS
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------------
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The --make-* switches define the final output. Currently only --make-iso
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and --make-disk are working.
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You then need to either pass --iso and --ks in order to create a disk image
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using virt-install, or --disk-image to use a disk image from a previous run
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to create the .iso
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virt-install boots using the passed Anaconda installer iso and installs the
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system based on the kickstart. The %post section of the kickstart is used to
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customize the installed system in the same way that current spin-kickstarts
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do.
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livemedia-creator monitors the install process for problems by watching the
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install logs. They are written to the current directory or to the base directory
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specified by the --logfile command. You can also monitor the install by passing
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--vnc vnc and using a vnc client. This is recommended when first modifying a
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kickstart, since there are still places where Anaconda may get stuck without
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the log monitor catching it.
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The output from this process is a partitioned disk image. kpartx can be used
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to mount and examine it when there is a problem with the install. It can also
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be booted using kvm.
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Once the disk image is created it copies the / partition into a formatted
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disk image which is then used as the input to lorax for creation of the
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final media.
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The final image is created by lorax, using the templates in /usr/share/lorax/
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or the directory specified by --lorax-templates
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Currently the standard lorax templates are used to make a bootable iso, but
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it should be possible to modify them to output other results. They are
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written using the Mako template system which is very flexible.
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KICKSTARTS
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----------
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Existing spin kickstarts can be used to create live media with a few changes.
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Here are the steps I used to convert the XFCE spin.
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1. Flatten the xfce kickstart using ksflatten
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2. Add zerombr so you don't get the disk init dialog
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3. Add clearpart --all
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4. Add swap and biosboot partitions
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5. bootloader target
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6. Add shutdown to the kickstart
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7. Add network --bootproto=dhcp --activate to activate the network
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This works for F16 builds but for F15 and before you need to pass
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something on the cmdline that activate the network, like sshd.
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livemedia-creator --kernel-args="sshd"
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8. Add a root password
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rootpw rootme
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network --bootproto=dhcp --activate
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zerombr
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clearpart --all
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bootloader --location=mbr
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part biosboot --size=1
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part swap --size=512
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shutdown
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9. In the livesys script section of the %post remove the root password. This
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really depends on how the spin wants to work. You could add the live user
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that you create to the %wheel group so that sudo works if you wanted to.
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passwd -d root > /dev/null
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10. Remove /etc/fstab in %post, dracut handles mounting the rootfs
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cat /dev/null > /dev/fstab
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11. Don't delete initramfs files from /boot in %post
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12. Have grub-efi in the package list
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One drawback to using virt-install is that it pulls the packages from
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the repo each time you run it. To speed things up you either need a local
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mirror of the packages, or you can use a caching proxy. When using a proxy
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you pass it to livemedia-creator like so:
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--kernel-args="proxy=http://proxy.yourdomain.com:3128"
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You also need to use a specific mirror instead of mirrormanager so that the
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packages will get cached:
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url --url="http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/development/16/x86_64/os/"
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You can also add an update repo, but don't name it updates. Add --proxy to
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it as well.
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ANACONDA IMAGE INSTALL
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----------------------
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You can create images without using virt-install by passing --no-virt on the
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cmdline. This will use Anaconda's image install feature to handle the install.
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There are a couple of things to keep in mind when doing this:
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1. It will be most reliable when building images for the same release that the
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host is running. Because Anaconda has expectations about the system it is
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running under you may encounter strange bugs if you try to build newer or
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older releases.
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2. Make sure selinux is set to permissive or disabled. It won't install
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correctly with selinux set to enforcing yet.
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3. It may totally trash your host. So far I haven't had this happen, but the
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possibility exists that a bug in Anaconda could result in it operating on
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real devices. I recommend running it in a virt or on a system that you can
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afford to lose all data from.
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The logs from anaconda will be placed in an ./anaconda/ directory in either
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the current directory or in the directory used for --logfile
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Example cmdline:
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sudo livemedia-creator --make-iso --no-virt --ks=./fedora-livemedia.ks
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DEBUGGING PROBLEMS
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------------------
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Cleaning up an aborted (ctrl-c) virt-install run (as root):
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virsh list to show the name of the virt
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virsh destroy <name>
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virsh undefine <name>
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umount /tmp/tmpXXXX
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rm -rf /tmp/tmpXXXX
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rm /tmp/diskXXXXX
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The logs from the virt-install run are stored in virt-install.log,
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logs from livemedia-creator are in livemedia.log and program.log
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You can add --image-only to skip the .iso creation and examine the resulting
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disk image. Or you can pass --keep-image to keep it around after lorax is
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run.
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Cleaning up aborted --no-virt installs can sometimes be accomplished by running
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the anaconda-cleanup script.
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THE FUTURE
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----------
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The current release only supports creating live iso's. In the future
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I want it to be able to create ami images as well as appliance images.
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It is also limited to x86 architectures because of it's use of virt-install.
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I hope to be able to support other arches by using Anaconda's image install
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feature instead of virt-install. This will require that livemedia-creator
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be running on the same release as is being created in order to avoid odd
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problems.
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I would like to provide a set of alternate lorax template scripts to create
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other media.
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HACKING
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-------
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Development on this will take place as part of the lorax project, and on the
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anaconda-devel-list mailing list.
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Feedback, enhancements and bugs are welcome.
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You can use http://bugzilla.redhat.com to report bugs.
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