vmdebootstrap.8.in

   1 .\" Copyright 2011 Lars Wirzenius <liw@liw.fi>
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  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]
  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 imagehas an empty root password and will not have networking configured.
  67 Set the root password before you configure networking.
  68 .SH OPTIONS
  69 .IP \-\-output=FILE
  70 write output to FILE, instead of standard output
  71 .IP \-\-verbose
  72 report what is going on
  73 .IP \-\-image=FILE
  74 put created disk image in FILE
  75 .IP \-\-size=SIZE
  76 create a disk image of size SIZE (1000000000)
  77 .IP \-\-tarball=FILE
  78 tar up the disk's contents in FILE
  79 .IP \-\-mirror=URL
  80 use MIRROR as package source (http://cdn.debian.net/debian/)
  81 .IP \-\-arch=ARCH
  82 architecture to use (amd64)
  83 .IP \-\-distribution=NAME
  84 release to use (stable)
  85 .IP \-\-package=PACKAGE
  86 install PACKAGE onto system
  87 .IP \-\-custom-package=DEB
  88 install package in DEB file onto system (not from mirror)
  89 .IP \-\-no-kernel
  90 do not install a linux package
  91 .IP \-\-enable-dhcp
  92 enable DHCP on eth0
  93 .IP \-\-root-password=PASSWORD
  94 set root password
  95 .IP \-\-customize=SCRIPT
  96 run SCRIPT after setting up system
  97 .IP \-\-hostname=HOSTNAME
  98 set name to HOSTNAME (debian)
  99 .IP \-\-user=USER/PASSWORD
 100 create USER with PASSWORD
 101 .IP \-\-owner=OWNER
 102 change the owner of the final image from root to the specified user.
 103 .IP \-\-serial\-console
 104 configure image to use a serial console
 105 .IP \-\-serial-console-command
 106 set the command to manage the serial console which will be appended to
 107 /etc/inittab. Default is "/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 115200 vt100", resulting in a line
 108 .BR "S0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 115200 vt100"
 109 Requires the \-\-serial\-console option.
 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 .SH Configuration files and settings:
 127 .IP \-\-dump-config
 128 write out the entire current configuration
 129 .IP \-\-no-default-configs
 130 clear list of configuration files to read
 131 .IP \-\-config=FILE
 132 add FILE to config files
 133 .SH Logging:
 134 .IP \-\-log=FILE
 135 write log entries to FILE (default is to not write log files at all);
 136 use "syslog" to log to system log, or "none" to disable logging
 137 .IP \-\-log-level=LEVEL
 138 log at LEVEL, one of debug, info, warning, error, critical, fatal (default: debug)
 139 .IP \-\-log-max=SIZE
 140 rotate logs larger than SIZE, zero for never (default: 0)
 141 .IP \-\-log-keep=N
 142 keep last N logs (10)
 143 .IP \-\-log-mode=MODE
 144 set permissions of new log files to MODE (octal;  default 0600)
 145 .SH Peformance:
 146 .IP \-\-dump-memory-profile=METHOD
 147 make memory profiling dumps using METHOD, which is one of:
 148 none, simple, meliae, or heapy (default: simple)
 149 .IP \-\-memory-dump-interval=SECONDS
 150 make memory profiling dumps at least SECONDS apart
 151 .SH EXAMPLE
 152 To create an image for the stable release of Debian:
 153 .nf
 154 .IP
 155 sudo vmdebootstrap --image test.img --size 1g \\
 156     --log test.log --log-level debug --verbose \\
 157     --mirror http://mirror.lan/debian/
 158 .PP
 159 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:
 160 .IP
 161 sudo chmod a+w ./test.img
 162 .PP
 163 Execute using qemu, e.g. on amd64 using qemu-system-x86_64:
 164 .IP
 165 qemu-system-x86_64 ./test.img
 166 .PP
 167 (This loads the image in a new window.)
 168 .PP
 169 .SH "SEE ALSO"
 170 .BR debootstrap (8)
 171 ,
 172 .BR qemu (1)
 173 .
 174 .SH BUGS
 175 Please provide the config section of the logfile when reporting bugs, as well as the complete command line.