vmdebootstrap.8.in

   1 .\" Copyright 2011 Lars Wirzenius <liw@liw.fi>
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  15 .\"
  16 .TH VMDEBOOTSTRAP 8
  17 .SH NAME
  18 vmdebootstrap \- install basic Debian system into virtual disk image
  19 .SH SYNOPSIS
  20 .B vmdebootstrap
  21 --image=FILE --size=SIZE [--mirror=URL] [--distribution=NAME]
  22 .PP
  23 .B vmdebootstrap
  24 [--output=FILE] [--verbose | --no-verbose] --image=FILE --size=SIZE
  25 [--tarball=FILE] [--mirror=URL] [--arch=ARCH] [--distribution=NAME]
  26 [--package=PACKAGE] [--custom-package=DEB] [--no-kernel]
  27 [--enable-dhcp | --no-enable-dhcp] [--root-password=PASSWORD]
  28 [--customize=SCRIPT] [--hostname=HOSTNAME] [--user=USER/PASSWORD]
  29 [--serial-console | --no-serial-console] [--sudo | --no-sudo] [--owner=OWNER]
  30 [--bootsize=BOOTSIZE] [--boottype=FSTYPE] [--foreign=PATH] [--variant=VARIANT]
  31 [--no-extlinux] [--squash] [--configure-apt] [--grub]
  32 .SH DESCRIPTION
  33 .B vmdebootstrap
  34 installs a basic Debian system into a virtual disk image,
  35 for use with virtual machines,
  36 such as KVM, Qemu, or VirtualBox.
  37 It is like
  38 .BR debootstrap (8),
  39 which does the same thing, but puts the system into a directory,
  40 for use with
  41 .BR chroot (8).
  42 (In fact,
  43 .B vmdebootstrap
  44 is a wrapper around
  45 .BR debootstrap ).
  46 .PP
  47 You need to run
  48 .B vmdebootstrap
  49 as root. If the \-\-verbose option is not used, no output will be
  50 sent to the command line. If the \-\-log option is not used, no
  51 output will be sent to any log files either.
  52 .PP
  53 To use the image,
  54 you probably want to create a virtual machine using your preferred
  55 virtualization technology, such as
  56 .BR kvm (1),
  57 or
  58 .BR qemu (1).
  59 Configure the virtual machine to use the image you've created.
  60 Then start the virtual machine,
  61 and log into it via its console to configure it.
  62 .PP
  63 Unless the \-\-no\-extlinux option is specified, the image will use
  64 .BR extlinux (1)
  65 as a boot loader.
  66 The image has an empty root password and will not have networking
  67 configured by default. Set the root password before you configure
  68 networking.
  69 .SH OPTIONS
  70 .IP \-\-output=FILE
  71 write output to FILE, instead of standard output
  72 .IP \-\-verbose
  73 report what is going on
  74 .IP \-\-image=FILE
  75 put created disk image in FILE
  76 .IP \-\-size=SIZE
  77 create a disk image of size SIZE (1000000000)
  78 .IP \-\-tarball=FILE
  79 tar up the disk's contents in FILE
  80 .IP \-\-mirror=URL
  81 use MIRROR as package source (http://cdn.debian.net/debian/)
  82 .IP \-\-arch=ARCH
  83 architecture to use (amd64)
  84 .IP \-\-distribution=NAME
  85 release to use (stable)
  86 .IP \-\-package=PACKAGE
  87 install PACKAGE onto system
  88 .IP \-\-custom-package=DEB
  89 install package in DEB file onto system (not from mirror)
  90 .IP \-\-no-kernel
  91 do not install a linux package
  92 .IP \-\-enable-dhcp
  93 enable DHCP on eth0
  94 .IP \-\-root-password=PASSWORD
  95 set root password
  96 .IP \-\-customize=SCRIPT
  97 run SCRIPT after setting up system
  98 .IP \-\-hostname=HOSTNAME
  99 set name to HOSTNAME (debian)
 100 .IP \-\-user=USER/PASSWORD
 101 create USER with PASSWORD
 102 .IP \-\-owner=OWNER
 103 change the owner of the final image from root to the specified user.
 104 .IP \-\-serial\-console
 105 configure image to use a serial console
 106 .IP \-\-serial-console-command
 107 set the command to manage the serial console which will be appended to
 108 /etc/inittab. Default is "/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 115200 vt100", resulting in a line
 109 .BR "S0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 115200 vt100"
 110 .IP \-\-sudo
 111 install sudo, and if user is created, add them to sudo group
 112 .IP \-\-bootsize=BOOTSIZE
 113 If specified, create a /boot partition of the given size within the image. Debootstrapping will fail if this is too small for the selected kernel package.
 114 .IP \-\-boottype=FSTYPE
 115 Filesystem to use for the /boot partition. (default ext2)
 116 .IP \-\-foreign=PATH
 117 Path to the binfmt_handler to enable foreign support in debootstrap. e.g. /usr/bin/qemu-arm-static - note foreign debootstraps may take a signficant amount of time to complete and that debootstrap will retry five times if packages fail to install by default.
 118 .IP \-\-no\-extlinux
 119 Skip installation of extlinux. needs a customize script to make the image bootable. Useful for architectures where extlinux is not supportable.
 120 .IP \-\-squash
 121 Run mksquashfs against the final image using xz compression - requires
 122 squashfs-tools to be installed. The final file will have the .squashfs suffix.
 123 By default, mksquashfs is allowed to use all processors which may result
 124 in high load. Run mksquashfs separately if you need to control the number
 125 of processors used per run.
 126 .IP \-\-configure\-apt
 127 Use the specified mirror and distribution to create a suitable apt source inside
 128 the VM. Can be useful if debootstrap fails to create it automatically.
 129 .IP \-\-grub
 130 Disable extlinux installation and configure grub2 instead. grub2 will be added to
 131 the list of packages to install. update-grub will be called once the debootstrap is
 132 complete and grub-install will be called in the image. Versions of grub2 in wheezy
 133 can fail to install in the VM, at which point vmdebootstrap will fall back to
 134 extlinux. It may still be possible to complete the installation of grub2 after
 135 booting the VM as the problem may be related to the need to use loopback
 136 devices during the grub-install operation. Details of the error will appear in the
 137 vmdebootstrap log file, if enabled with the \-\-log option.
 138 .SH Configuration files and settings:
 139 .IP \-\-dump-config
 140 write out the entire current configuration
 141 .IP \-\-no-default-configs
 142 clear list of configuration files to read
 143 .IP \-\-config=FILE
 144 add FILE to config files
 145 .SH Logging:
 146 .IP \-\-log=FILE
 147 write log entries to FILE (default is to not write log files at all);
 148 use "syslog" to log to system log, or "none" to disable logging
 149 .IP \-\-log-level=LEVEL
 150 log at LEVEL, one of debug, info, warning, error, critical, fatal (default: debug)
 151 .IP \-\-log-max=SIZE
 152 rotate logs larger than SIZE, zero for never (default: 0)
 153 .IP \-\-log-keep=N
 154 keep last N logs (10)
 155 .IP \-\-log-mode=MODE
 156 set permissions of new log files to MODE (octal;  default 0600)
 157 .SH Peformance:
 158 .IP \-\-dump-memory-profile=METHOD
 159 make memory profiling dumps using METHOD, which is one of:
 160 none, simple, meliae, or heapy (default: simple)
 161 .IP \-\-memory-dump-interval=SECONDS
 162 make memory profiling dumps at least SECONDS apart
 163 .SH EXAMPLE
 164 To create an image for the stable release of Debian:
 165 .nf
 166 .IP
 167 sudo vmdebootstrap --image test.img --size 1g \\
 168     --log test.log --log-level debug --verbose \\
 169     --mirror http://mirror.lan/debian/
 170 .PP
 171 To run the test image, make sure it is writeable. Use the \-\-owner option to set mode 0644 for the specified user or use chmod manually:
 172 .IP
 173 sudo chmod a+w ./test.img
 174 .PP
 175 Execute using qemu, e.g. on amd64 using qemu-system-x86_64:
 176 .IP
 177 qemu-system-x86_64 ./test.img
 178 .PP
 179 (This loads the image in a new window.)
 180 .PP
 181 For further examples, including u-boot support for beaglebone-black, see /usr/share/vmdebootstrap/examples
 182 .SH NOTES
 183 If you get problems with the bootstrap process, run a similar bootstrap call directly and chroot into the directory to investigate the failure. The actual debootstrap call is part of the vmdebootstrap logfile. The debootstrap logfile, if any, will be copied into your current working directory on error.
 184 .PP
 185 .B debootstrap
 186 will download all the apt archive files into the apt cache and does not remove them before starting the configuration of the packages. This can mean that debootstrap can fail due to a lack of space on the device if the VM size is small. vmdebootstrap cleans up the apt cache once debootstrap has finished but this doesn't help if the package unpack or configuration steps use up all of the space in the meantime. Avoid this problem by specifying a larger size for the image.
 187 .PP
 188 Note that if you are also using a separate /boot partition in your options to vmdebootstrap, it may well be the boot partition which needs to be enlarged rather than the entire image.
 189 .PP
 190 It is advisable to change the mirror in the example scripts to a mirror closer to your location,
 191 particularly if you need to do repeated builds.
 192 .PP
 193 .SH "SEE ALSO"
 194 .BR debootstrap (8)
 195 ,
 196 .BR qemu-system-x86_64 (1)
 197 ,
 198 .BR grub-install (8)
 199 .
 200 .SH BUGS
 201 Please provide the config section of the logfile when reporting bugs, as well as the complete command line.