vmdebootstrap for creation of live images¶
Role of vmdebootstrap¶
vmdebootstrap
is limited to the role of generating the rootfs for
the live image - the architecture-specific part. vmdebootstrap
then
copies the kernel files out of the rootfs and runs mksquashfs
.
The files in the directory specified by the --squash
option are not
themselves sufficient to create a live image. Remaining steps include
configuration of grub and EFI, addition of other components (like a menu
or Debian Installer) and packaging up into a isohybrid image.
vmdebootstrap features¶
Architecture support¶
vmdebootstrap has explicit support for foreign architecture bootstraps using qemu static binformat handling as well as support for Debian releases from wheezy onwards.
- This is not intended to provide support for all packages in the Debian archive. Some packages do not install correctly with binfmt handling and
vmdebootstrap
should be run natively when the package list is to include these packages.
Whether to use the binfmt_handler or build natively depends on:
- the availability of a working default kernel for the images built for that architecture and how to configure the bootloader(s) to provide the relevant dtb where needed.
- the complexity of the package set and compatibility with configuring those packages using qemu-user. Some packages fail if the emulator cannot provide threading support or other mechanisms - package sets with such requirements would need to be built natively. Test with a smaller package set where possible.
live-support package¶
vmdebootstrap can support adding specific packages but a
simpler approach is to use the existing task-* packages and
only add packages manually where explicitly needed for a live
image, using the live-support
package.
Running vmdebootstrap for debian-cd¶
debian-cd runs vmdebootstrap inside a VM in a similar manner to how debian-live currently operates, as both debian-live and vmdebootstrap need to call debootstrap which involves making device nodes and needs to run as root. This outer VM is specific for the release of Debian being built. vmdebootstrap can build older releases and it may be necessary to use a newer version of vmdebootstrap than is present in jessie to build jessie and to use that version to build wheezy.
Remember to use http://cdbuilder.debian.org/debian/
for the bootstrap
operations (–mirror option) and http://httpredir.debian.org/debian
for
the mirror to be used after the image has booted (–apt-mirror option).
Ensure that a user is created (--user 'user/live'
) and that sudo
is
added to the set of packages to install and the –sudo option is passed
to vmdebootstrap to ensure that the user is added to the sudo group. The
root user password should also be locked (–lock-root-password).
- Consider using a blank password and enforcing a password to be set upon login for those images which can support this.
mksquashfs
can fail without indication of why and when it does, the image
file can be 4Kb or so of junk. vmdebootstrap
will fail if the
squashfs output is less than 1MB. This can occur if the drive runs
out of space but squashfs does not report an error.
Customisation hooks¶
vmdebootstrap uses a single config file per image type and each config file can have a single customisation script. The config file specifies the architecture of the image and the binformat handler for that architecture (if used), so the customisation hook script can be architecture-specific.
Customisation hook scripts are shell scripts which will be passed a single parameter - the directory which represents the root directory of the final image. These scripts can use standard shell support to include other common functions or call out to utilities known to be installed in the outer VM running vmdebootstrap.
Customisation hooks clearly need to live in a VCS - examples will
be carried in the examples
directory of vmdebootstrap
and
in the /usr/share/vmdebootstrap/examples
directory. Working
scripts based on these examples will likely be within the debian-cd
git repo.
Unlike standard vmdebootstrap example scripts, the scripts calling vmdebootstrap itself do not need to use sudo as the call is made inside the outer VM which already has root. Using sudo will work but will output a message: sudo: unable to resolve host JESSIE-debian-live-builder
The building of live images doesn’t appear to need changes in the vmdebootstrap package itself. The changes to isolinux to add the menu config, splash screen and to provide access to the install menus can all be done after the generation of the squashfs.
Installing task packages using debootstrap omits Recommended
packages,
resulting in a much smaller image which is not expected for a live image.
Task selection needs to be done in the customisation hook using the chroot
command, at which point the default apt configuration will install the
Recommends as well as the Depends packages. Ensure that the image size is
big enough.
Use the helpers¶
vmdebootstrap
provides helpers for customisation hooks - typically
you call a series at the start, do your customisations and call a parallel
set before the customisation script finishes. See Developing live scripts and customisation hooks.
export_env - When installing using apt in the customisation script, ensure that the debconf non-interactive settings are exported to prevent the install waiting for keyboard interaction:
``DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive``
mount_proc - The customisation script needs to mount proc (and possibly other locations like
/sys/
,/dev/
and/dev/pts/
) before starting the apt install.cleanup - cleanup mountpoints at the end of the script.
Calls to apt should also not output the progress bar but the actual package installation steps should be logged.
prepare_apt_source - Move the image apt sources aside and set the cdimage apt source instead. Use
http://cdbuilder.debian.org/debian/
.replace_apt_source - At the end of the customisation hook, remove that source and replace the original.
disable_daemons - any daemons installed into the system need to know that the daemon should not be started until boot.
remove_daemon_block - allow installed daemons to start, once all package installations are complete.