Name

grml-debootstrap - wrapper around debootstrap for installing plain Debian via grml

Synopsis

grml-debootstrap [ _options_ ]

Screenshot

Introduction

grml-debootstrap is a wrapper suite around debootstrap (and cdebootstrap if you want) for installing a plain Debian system via grml very fast and easy.

All you have to do is adjust a few variables in configuration file /etc/debootstrap/config (or specify some variables via commandline) and invoke grml-debootstrap without any further options then.

A plain and base Debian system will be installed on the given device (or directory) then. Customization of this process is possible as well.

Caution The grml team does not take responsibility for loss of any data!

Options and environment variables

-h, —help

Show summary of options and exit.

-v, —version

Show version of program and exit.

—grub <_device_>

Where do you want to install grub to? Use grub syntax for specifying. Do not forget to set groot as well. Leave empty to avoid installation of grub.

—groot <_device_>

Specify root device for usage in grub (corresponds with $TARGET). Again, use grub syntax for specifying. Corresponding with configuration variable GROOT.

—boot_append <_appendline for the kernel_>

Specify appendline for the kernel. E.g. "_pci=nomsi_"

-m, —mirror <_URL_>

Specify mirror which should be used for apt-get/aptitude. Notice that specifying the mirror also sets the chrootmirror to the given value. Corresponding with configuration variables MIRROR and CHROOTMIRROR.

-i, —iso <_/mntpoint_>

Specify mountpoint where you have a Debian ISO mounted loopback. Using this option instead of the mirror option gives you the possibility to install the base-system without network access. Make sure you mounted the according Debian-ISO to the given <_/mntpoint_>. See section Usage examples for a demonstration.

-p, —mntpoint <_/mntpoint_>

Specify mountpoint that should be used for mounting the target system. Corresponding with configuration variable MNTPOINT.

—password <_password_>

Use specified password as password for user root. Use with caution, as your commandline might be visible in the process list and the shell history. It's meant for automatic installation only.

-r, —release <_releasename_>

Specify release of new Debian system. Supported releases: sarge, etch, lenny and sid. Corresponding with configuration variable RELEASE.

-t, —target <_target_>

Target partition (/dev/…) or directory (anything else without /dev at the beginning).

Warning the commandline parsing of grml-debootstrap does not validate the provided arguments for the commandline options. Please be careful and check docs and /etc/debootstrap/config for further information.

Usage examples

grml-debootstrap --target /dev/hda1 --grub hd0 --groot hd0,0

Install default Debian release (stable/etch) on /dev/hda1 and install bootmanager Grub in MBR (master boot record) of /dev/hda and use /dev/hda1 as system partition.

grml-debootstrap --target /dev/hda6 --grub hd0 --groot hd0,5 --release sid

Install Debian unstable/sid on /dev/hda6, install bootmanager Grub in MBR (master boot record) of /dev/hda and use /dev/hda6 as system partition.

grml-debootstrap --target /data/chroot

Install default Debian release (stable/etch) in directory /data/chroot (without any bootloader).

grml-debootstrap --target /dev/sda3 --grub hd0 --groot hd0,2 --mirror ftp://ftp.tugraz.at/mirror/debian

Install default Debian release (stable/etch) on /dev/sda3 and install bootmanager Grub in MBR (master boot record) of /dev/sda and use /dev/sda3 as system partition. Use specified mirror instead of the default (ftp://ftp.debian.de/debian) one.

mount -o loop /mnt/hda6/debian-40r0-i386-CD-1.iso /mnt/iso
grml-debootstrap --target /dev/hda1 --grub hd0 --groot hd0,0 --iso file:/mnt/iso/debian/

Install Debian stable/etch on /dev/hda1 using the loopback mounted Debian-ISO for the base-system and install bootmanager Grub in MBR (master boot record) of /dev/hda and use /dev/hda1 as system partition. Please notice, that the chroot system requires network access for all packages which are not part of the ISO.

Files

/etc/debootstrap/config

Main configuration file. You have to adjust it according to your needs before you are able to run grml-debootstrap.

/etc/debootstrap/chroot-script

The script executed within the new Debian system as soon as the main system has been installed via [c]debootstrap.

/etc/debootstrap/locale.gen

Defines the default locales used for generating locales via locale-gen.

/etc/debootstrap/packages

Defines the software packages which should be installed in the new Debian system by default.

/etc/debootstrap/extrapackages

Debian Packages dropped here will be installed into the new Debian system by default (Controlvariable: EXTRAPACKAGES)

/etc/debootstrap/stages/

The default directory for storing information about executed stages. Every single function of grml-debootstrap will write done to the stages directory into a file named as the function itself if it has been executed successfully. You can adjust the location of the directory via configuration variable STAGES via /etc/debootstrap/config. Please notice that you have to remove the stages directory on your own if you want to re-execute grml-debootstrap after running it successfully once. This should avoid recurrent execution by error of grml-debootstrap (which might delete present data).

Customization

You can control execution of grml-debootstrap via adjusting /etc/debootstrap/config for some main stuff or via setting some selected variables via commandline. The packages which should be installed in the new Debian system can be defined via the file /etc/debootstrap/packages. If you want to put existing files to the new Debian system you can place them into the (by default non-existing) directories boot, etc, share, usr and var in /etc/debootstrap/. Every existing directory will be copied to the new Debian system then. If you want to install additional packages that are not available via the grml or debian mirror drop them into /etc/debootstrap/extrapackages and take sure that EXTRAPACKAGES is set to "yes".

Automatic installation

If environment variable AUTOINSTALL is set grml-debootstrap can be executed in a full automatic mode. While this mode isn't really useful for interactive execution (just configure /etc/debootstrap/configure or specify the relevant variables on the commandline instead) it is meant for use via bootoption debian2hd. The bootoption debian2hd (more precise: the kernelname on bootprompt) supports the following bootoptions (they correspond with the commandline options mentioned above):

target=...

The target partition/directory of the new Debian system. Usage example: target=/dev/hda1

grub=...

Where do you want to install grub to? Use grub syntax for specifying. Usage example: grub=hd0

groot=...

Specify root device for usage in grub (corresponds with $TARGET). Again, use grub syntax for specifying. Usage example: groot=hd0,0

release=...

Specify release of new Debian system. Defaults to Debian stable. Supported relases: sarge, etch, lenny and sid. Usage example: release=sid

mirror=...

Specify mirror which should be used for apt-get/aptitude instead of the default one (ftp://ftp.debian.de/debian). Usage example: mirror=ftp://ftp.tugraz.at/mirror/debian

password=...

Set password of user root without prompting for it but set it to the given argument. Usage example: password=AiTh5ahn

Usage example for automatic installation:

debian2hd target=/dev/hda1 grub=hd0 groot=hd0,0 mirror=ftp://ftp.tugraz.at/mirror/debian password=foobar

You have to enter this commandline at the bootprompt of grml. Please make sure that /dev/hda1 is the partition where you really want to install your new Debian system.

Note Automatic installation within booting process is done in grml-autoconfig via setting environment variable AUTOINSTALL and creation of /usr/bin/grml-debootstrap_noninteractive with the available and relevant bootoptions for grml-debootstrap.

Supported Releases

Table: Current status
Release / Tool debootstrap cdebootstrap
Sarge works[1] works[1]
Etch works works
Lenny works works
Sid works works
Note
Sarge-Release

[1] Please notice that Sarge is the current old-stable within Debian. grml-debootstrap can handle the release but you really should not use Sarge anymore unless you really know what you are doing. Choose Etch instead.

Bugs

Probably. Please send bugreports to Michael Prokop <mika@grml.org>.

See also

debootstrap (8), cdebootstrap (1).

Author

Michael Prokop <mika@grml.org>