grml-live - build framework based on FAI for generating a grml and Debian based Linux Live system (CD/ISO)
grml-live [-a <architecture>] [-c <classe[s]>] [-C <configfile>] [-g <grml_name>] [-i <iso_name> ] [-o <output_directory>] [-r <release_name>] [-s <suite>] [-t <template_directory>] [-v <version_number>] [-bFhuVz]
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Please check out the Current state of grml-live with squashfs-tools and kernel section for details about current state of involved tools before starting with grml-live or if you encounter any problems. |
grml-live provides the build system for creating a grml and Debian based Linux Live-CD. The build system is based on 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 sections for further details) and provides the framework 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 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.
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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! |
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Please notice that you should have a fast network connection as all the Debian packages will be downloaded and installed via network. If you want to use a local mirror (strongly recommended if you plan to use grml-live more than once) 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), apt-cacher(1) and approx(8). To avoid downloading the base system again and again check out FAI's NFSROOT (see FAQ of this document for details). |
Use the specified architecture instead of the currently running one. This allows building a 32bit system on a 64bit host (though you can't build a 64bit system on a 32bit system/kernel of course). Please notice that real crosscompiling (like building a ppc system on x86) isn't possible due to the nature and the need of working in a chroot. Currently supported values: i386 and amd64.
Build the ISO without updating the chroot via FAI. This option is useful for example when working on stable releases: if you have a working base system/chroot and do not want to execute any further updates (via "-u" option) but intend to only build the ISO.
Specify the CLASSES to be used for building the ISO via FAI. By default only the classes GRMLBASE, GRML_SMALL and I386 are assumed, resulting in a small base system (being about ~150MB total ISO size). If using a non-I386 system (like amd64) you should specify the appropriate architecture as well. Additionally you can specify a class providing a grml-kernel (see the CLASSES section in this document for details about available classes). So instead of GRML_SMALL you can also use GRML_MEDIUM and GRML_FULL.
The specified file is used as configuration file for grml-live. By default /etc/grml/grml-live.conf is used for main configuration. If a file named /etc/grml/grml-live.local exists it is used as well (sourced after reading /etc/grml/grml-live.conf to allow overriding settings). As a last option the specified configuration file is sourced so it is possible to override settings of /etc/grml/grml-live.conf as well as of /etc/grml/grml-live.local. Please notice that all configuration files have to be adjusted during execution of grml-live, so please make sure you use /etc/grml/grml-live.conf as a base for your own configuration file. Please also notice that the configuration file specified via this option is not (yet) supported inside the scripts/hooks/classes at /etc/grml/fai/config. Instead use /etc/grml/grml-live.conf and/or /etc/grml/grml-live.local for configuration stuff used inside /etc/grml/fai/config.
Force execution and do not prompt for acknowledgment of configuration.
Set the grml flavour name. Common usage examples: grml, grml-small, grml64. Please do NOT use blanks and any special characters like /, ; inside GRML_NAME, otherwise you might notice problems with booting.
Display short usage information and exit.
Specify name of ISO which will be available inside $OUTPUT_DIRECTORY/grml_isos by default.
Main output directory of the build process of FAI. Some directories are created inside this target directory, being: grml_cd (where the files for creating the ISO are located, including the compressed squashfs file), grml_chroot (the chroot system) and grml_isos (where the resulting ISO is stored).
Specify name of the release.
Specify the Debian suite you want to use for your live-system. Defaults to "etch" (being current Debian/stable). Supported values are: etch, lenny, sid.
Specify place of the templates used for building the ISO. By default (and if not manually specified) this is /usr/share/grml-live/templates/.
Update existing chroot instead of rebuilding it from scratch. This option is based on the softupdate feature of FAI.
Specify version number of the release.
Increase verbosity in the build process.
Use ZLIB instead of LZMA compression in mksquashfs part of the build process.
To get a small, Debian-stable and grml-based Live-CD using /grml/grml-live as build and output directory just run:
# grml-live
To get a small Debian-unstable and grml-small based Live-CD using /home/mika/grml-live as build and output directory just use:
# grml-live -s sid -c GRMLBASE,GRML_SMALL,I386 -o /home/mika/grml-live
To get a medium sized, Debian-unstable and grml-based Live-CD for i386 architecture using /grml/grml-live as build and output directory just run:
# grml-live -s sid -a i386 -c GRMLBASE,GRML_MEDIUM,I386
To get a small, Debian-unstable and grml-based Live-CD using /tmp as build and output directory and use grml_0.0-3.iso as ISO name (placed inside /tmp/grml_isos) just invoke:
# grml-live -o /tmp -c GRMLBASE,GRML_SMALL,I386 -s sid -i grml_0.0-3.iso
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If you have about 700MB of free space inside /dev/shm (being a tmpfs, usually you should 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 use another directory for $CHROOT_OUTPUT, $BUILD_OUTPUT and $ISO_OUTPUT if you plan to create more persistent output. :) |
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 simple use of Debian repositories
native support of FAI features
multi-arch support (work in progress)
grml-live uses FAI and its class based concept for adjusting configuration and setup 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 dependent class which provides the kernel (being I386 for x86_32 and AMD64 for x86_64) and a GRML_* class (like GRML_SMALL, GRML_MEDIUM or GRML_FULL). The following files and directories are relevant for class GRMLBASE 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 (or extend an existing one). For example if you want to use your own class named "FOOBAR" just extend CLASSES="GRMLBASE,GRML_SMALL,I386" inside /etc/grml/grml-live.conf to CLASSES="GRMLBASE,GRML_SMALL,I386,FOOBAR" or invoke grml-live using the classes option: "grml-live -c GRMLBASE,GRML_SMALL,I386,FOOBAR …".
More details regarding the class concept can be found in the documentation of FAI itself (being available at /usr/share/doc/fai-doc/).
The package selection part of the classes can be found in /etc/grml/fai/config/package_config whereas some further classes are defined for example in /etc/grml/fai/config/scripts/ so specific feature sets can be selected. The following classes are predefined:
DEBORPHAN: get rid of all packages listed in output of Deborphan
GRMLBASE: the main class responsible for getting a minimal subset of what's defining a grml system. Important parts of the buildprocess are specified in this class as well, so unless you have a really good reason you should always use this class.
GRML_FORENSIC: tools for forensic investigations which has been created by people from forensic-geeks.org.
GRML_FULL: full featured grml, also known as the "normal", full grml.
GRML_MEDIUM: medium sized grml version, known as grml-medium
GRML_POWERPC: grml for PowerPC architecture, not supported yet (still work in progress)
GRML_SMALL: minimum sized grml version, known as grml-small
LATEX_CLEANUP: get rid of several very large LaTeX directories (like some /usr/share/doc/texlive-*, /usr/share/doc/texmf,…)
LOCALES: use full featured locales setup (see /etc/locale.gen.grml)
NO_ONLINE: do not run scripts during the chroot build process which require a network connection
RELEASE: run some specific scripts and commands to provide the workflow for an official grml release
REMOVE_DOCS: get rid of documentation directories (like /usr/share/doc, /usr/share/man/, /usr/share/info,…)
XORG: providing important packages for use with a base grml-featured X.org setup
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). Furthermore /usr/share/doc/fai-doc/fai-guide.html/ch-config.html provides documentation regarding configuration possibilities.
/usr/sbin/grml-live
Script for the main build process. Requires root permissions for execution.
/etc/grml/grml-live.conf
Main configuration file for grml-live. All the important steps can be configured at this stage.
/etc/grml/fai/fai.conf
Main configuration file for FAI which specifies where all the configuration files and scripts for FAI/grml-live can be found. By default it is set to 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
This file is used by make-fai-nfsroot(8) only. Usually you don't have to change anything inside this file. If you want to modify NFSROOT though you can adjust it there.
/etc/grml/fai/NFSROOT
This file specifies the package list for creating the NFSROOT.
/etc/grml/fai/apt/sources.list
This file specifies which mirrors should be used for retreiving the Debian packages used for creating the main chroot (including all the software you would like to see included). If you want to use a local mirror you either have to adjust this file or use the GRML_LIVE_SOURCES variable inside /etc/grml/grml-live.conf which modifies /etc/grml/fai/apt/sources.list on-the-fly then.
/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 customising 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/
Directory with lists of software packages to be installed or removed. The different classes describe what should find its way to your ISO. When running "grml-live -c GRMLBASE,GRML_SMALL,I386 …" only the configuration of GRMLBASE, GRML_SMALL and and I386 will be taken. If you use grml-live -c GRMLBASE,GRML_SMALL,I386,FOOBAR … then the files of GRMLBASE, GRML_SMALL, I386 plus the files from FOOBAR will be taken. So just create a new class to adjust the package selection according to your needs. Please notice that the directory GRMLBASE contains a package list defining a minimum but still reasonable package configuration.
/etc/grml/fai/config/scripts/
Scripts for customising the ISO within the 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).
grml-live itself logs to /var/log/grml-live.log. Unless you set ZERO_LOGFILE in /etc/grml/grml-live.conf the output is appended to the file. If you set the ZERO_LOGFILE configuration option the logfile will be truncated on each new invocation of grml-live.
The FAI part of grml-live logs to /var/log/fai/$HOSTNAME/ - so the default being /var/log/fai/grml/.
If you are using the grml-live buildd you will find the logs of the grml-live run at /var/log/grml-buildd.stdout and /var/log/grml-buildd.stderr.
any Debian based system should be sufficient (if not it's a bug, so please send us a bug report then) [a usual 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 [$CHROOT_OUTPUT], ~150MB for the build target [$BUILD_OUTPUT] and ~150MB for the resulting ISO [$ISO_OUTPUT] plus some temporary files), if you plan to use GRML_FULL you should have at least 4GB of total free disk space
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)
For further information see next section.
To make it easier to track problems this section documents current state of grml-live playing together with squashfs-tools / squashfs-lzma-tools (for building the compressed file) and the kernel version. Documentation of this section is up2date by 27th of september 2008.
grml-live, version 0.9.4
building grml-medium (Debian/unstable)
software versions used in the ISO (being installed automatically, recorded just as a reference):
ii busybox 1:1.10.2-2 Tiny utilities for small and embedded systems ii initramfs-tools 0.92f.grml01 tools for generating an initramfs ii klibc-utils 1.5.12-2 small utilities built with klibc for early boot ii live-initramfs 1.139.1-2grml.01 Debian Live initramfs hook ii lvm2 2.02.39-2 The Linux Logical Volume Manager ii mdadm 2.6.7-3.1 tool to administer Linux MD arrays (software RAID) ii udev 0.125-6grml0 /dev/ and hotplug management daemon
squashfs-lzma-tools from the grml repository supports kernel 2.6.26-grml (version >=grml.05) using both lzma and zlib (-nolzma) compression. It's the recommended package for building ISOs with grml-live currently.
squashfs-tools 1:3.3-7 is available via Debian/unstable and Debian/testing (lenny) pool running:
# aptitude install squashfs-tools=1:3.3-7
or directly via downloading the files http://grml.org/squashfs/squashfs-tools_3.3-7_i386.deb (for x86) or http://grml.org/squashfs/squashfs-tools_3.3-7_amd64.deb (for amd64) [both build on and for Debian/etch but working with testing and unstable as well].
Please notice that squashfs-tools 1:3.3-7 does NOT support LZMA compression at all. The -nolzma option of mksquashfs is not available therefore (even though grml-live will deactivate it for you automatically anyway). Please use squashfs-lzma-tools instead.
Kernel 2.6.23-grml: does NOT work, please use squashfs-tools 1:3.2r2-9exp1 instead if you still want to use kernel 2.6.23
Kernel 2.6.26-grml: works
squashfs-tools 1:3.2r2-9exp1 is available via the grml-testing repository, running:
# aptitude install squashfs-tools=1:3.2r2-9exp1
or directly via downloading the files http://grml.org/squashfs/squashfs-tools_3.2r2-9exp1_i386.deb (for x86) or http://grml.org/squashfs/squashfs-tools_3.2r2-9exp1_amd64.deb (for amd64).
Versions with ZLIB compression (SQUASHFS_OPTIONS=-nolzma or -z option in grml-live cmdline):
Kernel 2.6.23-grml: works
Kernel 2.6.26-grml: works
Versions with LZMA compression:
Kernel 2.6.23-grml: works
Kernel 2.6.26-grml: does NOT work, please use zlib mode instead
wget http://www.informatik.uni-koeln.de/fai/download/etch/fai-client_3.2.8_all.deb \
http://www.informatik.uni-koeln.de/fai/download/etch/fai-server_3.2.8_all.deb \
http://www.informatik.uni-koeln.de/fai/download/etch/fai-doc_3.2.8_all.deb
dpkg -i fai-client_3.2.8_all.deb fai-server_3.2.8_all.deb fai-doc_3.2.8_all.deb
or check out the FAI-homepage for further details.
Check out the logs inside /var/log/fai/… If you don't have the time to debug the problem in further detail or don't know how to proceed just send a copy of your config, logs and the commandline with a short problem description to <mika@grml.org>:
# history | grep grml-live > /etc/grml/grml_live.cmdline
# tar zcf grml_live_problem.tar.gz /etc/grml/grml-live.conf \
/etc/grml/grml-buildd.conf /var/log/fai /etc/grml/fai
Sure. Just adjust the variables GRML_LIVE_SOURCES and FAI_DEBOOTSTRAP (if not already using NFSROOT's base.tgz) inside /etc/grml/grml-live.conf according to your needs. Please don't forget that you should use the grml servers as well (see default configuration) so all the grml packages can be downloaded as well.
If you want to use a local (for example NFS mount) mirror additionally, just adjust MIRROR_DIRECTORY and MIRROR_SOURCES inside /etc/grml/grml-live.conf as well.
Unless you specify GRML_LIVE_SOURCES and/or FAI_DEBOOTSTRAP the default from /etc/grml/fai/apt/sources.list and /etc/grml/fai/make-fai-nfsroot.conf will be taken. If you customise the variables in /etc/grml/grml-live.conf then the two files will be adjusted during runtime automatically.
If MIRROR_DIRECTORY and MIRROR_SOURCES are specified the local mirror will be taken as first entry in the generated sources.list so it's prefered over non-local mirrors. Using a fallback mirror (via providing several mirrors in GRML_LIVE_SOURCES as used by default) is a recommended setting.
Just create a new class (using the package_config directory):
# cat > /etc/grml/fai/config/package_config/MIKA << EOF PACKAGES aptitude
vim another_name_of_a_debian_package and_another_one EOF
and specify it when invoking grml-live then:
# grml-live -c GRMLBASE,GRML_SMALL,I386,MIKA
Notice: this deletes all your grml-live configuration files. If that's really what you are searching for just run:
rm -rf /etc/grml/fai /etc/grml/grml-live.conf dpkg -i --force-confnew --force-confmiss /path/to/grml-live_..._all.deb
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If you don't control your /etc using a version control system (VCS) yet it's a good chance to start using it now. Check out http://michael-prokop.at/blog/2007/03/14/maintain-etc-with-mercurial-on-debian/ for more details how to maintain /etc using the mercurial VCS. |
First of all build the chroot system:
mkdir /tmp/nfsroot && cd /tmp/nfsroot debootstrap etch /tmp/nfsroot/ http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian tar zcf base.tgz ./
Then check out where your NFSROOT is located:
# grep '^NFSROOT' /etc/grml/fai/make-fai-nfsroot.conf NFSROOT=/grml/fai/nfsroot
So as /grml/fai/nfsroot is your NFSROOT place the file under /grml/fai/nfsroot/live/filesystem.dir/var/tmp/:
mv base.tgz /grml/fai/nfsroot/live/filesystem.dir/var/tmp/base.tgz
or even better use /etc/grml/fai/config/basefiles/$CLASSNAME.tar.gz instead. Use I386 as $CLASSNAME for i386 builds and AMD64 for amd64 builds.
Now running "grml-live …" will use this file as main system instead of executing debootstrap. Check out the output for the following lines if using NFSROOT:
[...] Calling task_extrbase Unpacking Debian base archive Extracting /grml/fai/nfsroot/live/filesystem.dir/var/tmp/base.tgz Calling task_mirror [...]
or if using /etc/grml/fai/config/basefiles/$CLASSNAME.tar.gz for:
[...] ftar: extracting /etc/grml/fai/config/basefiles///AMD64.tar.gz to /grml-live/grml-live_20071029.22138/grml_chroot// [...]
Make sure /etc/grml/grml-live.conf provides according GRML_LIVE_SOURCES and FAI_DEBOOTSTRAP:
# cat /etc/grml/grml-live.conf [...] GRML_LIVE_SOURCES=" deb http://localhost:3142/deb.grml.org grml-stable main deb http://localhost:3142/deb.grml.org grml-testing main deb http://localhost:3142/ftp.de.debian.org/debian etch main contrib non-free " [...] FAI_DEBOOTSTRAP="etch http://localhost:3142/ftp.de.debian.org/debian etch main contrib non-free"
Make sure apt-cacher is running (/etc/init.d/apt-cacher restart). That's it. All downloaded files will be cached in /var/cache/apt-cacher/ now.
Make sure /etc/grml/grml-live.conf provides according GRML_LIVE_SOURCES and FAI_DEBOOTSTRAP:
# cat /etc/grml/grml-live.conf [...] GRML_LIVE_SOURCES=" deb http://localhost:9999/grml grml-stable main deb http://localhost:9999/grml grml-testing main deb http://localhost:9999/debian etch main contrib non-free " FAI_DEBOOTSTRAP="etch http://localhost:9999/debian"
Configure approx:
# cat /etc/approx/approx.conf [...] debian http://ftp.at.debian.org/debian grml http://deb.grml.org/
Don't forget to restart approx (/etc/init.d/approx restart). That's it. All downloaded files will be cached in /var/cache/approx now.
Don't hesitate to ask on IRC (channel #grml on irc.oftc.net) or just drop me a mail: <mika@grml.org>
Debian packages are available through the grml-repository at deb.grml.org. If you want to build a Debian package on your own (using for example a specific version or the current development tree), just execute:
hg clone http://hg.grml.org/grml-live cd grml-live debuild -us -uc
The source of grml-live is available at http://hg.grml.org/grml-live/
Check out grml-live@grml-wiki for details.
Please report feedback, bugreports and wishes to the grml-team!
Michael Prokop <mika@grml.org>