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 .IP \-\-sudo
 110 install sudo, and if user is created, add them to sudo group
 111 .IP \-\-bootsize=BOOTSIZE
 112 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.
 113 .IP \-\-boottype=FSTYPE
 114 Filesystem to use for the /boot partition. (default ext2)
 115 .IP \-\-foreign=PATH
 116 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.
 117 .IP \-\-no\-extlinux
 118 Skip installation of extlinux. needs a customize script to make the image bootable. Useful for architectures where extlinux is not supportable.
 119 .IP \-\-squash
 120 Run mksquashfs against the final image using xz compression - requires
 121 squashfs-tools to be installed. The final file will have the .squashfs suffix.
 122 By default, mksquashfs is allowed to use all processors which may result
 123 in high load. Run mksquashfs separately if you need to control the number
 124 of processors used per run.
 125 .IP \-\-configure\-apt
 126 Use the specified mirror and distribution to create a suitable apt source inside
 127 the VM.
 128 .SH Configuration files and settings:
 129 .IP \-\-dump-config
 130 write out the entire current configuration
 131 .IP \-\-no-default-configs
 132 clear list of configuration files to read
 133 .IP \-\-config=FILE
 134 add FILE to config files
 135 .SH Logging:
 136 .IP \-\-log=FILE
 137 write log entries to FILE (default is to not write log files at all);
 138 use "syslog" to log to system log, or "none" to disable logging
 139 .IP \-\-log-level=LEVEL
 140 log at LEVEL, one of debug, info, warning, error, critical, fatal (default: debug)
 141 .IP \-\-log-max=SIZE
 142 rotate logs larger than SIZE, zero for never (default: 0)
 143 .IP \-\-log-keep=N
 144 keep last N logs (10)
 145 .IP \-\-log-mode=MODE
 146 set permissions of new log files to MODE (octal;  default 0600)
 147 .SH Peformance:
 148 .IP \-\-dump-memory-profile=METHOD
 149 make memory profiling dumps using METHOD, which is one of:
 150 none, simple, meliae, or heapy (default: simple)
 151 .IP \-\-memory-dump-interval=SECONDS
 152 make memory profiling dumps at least SECONDS apart
 153 .SH EXAMPLE
 154 To create an image for the stable release of Debian:
 155 .nf
 156 .IP
 157 sudo vmdebootstrap --image test.img --size 1g \\
 158     --log test.log --log-level debug --verbose \\
 159     --mirror http://mirror.lan/debian/
 160 .PP
 161 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:
 162 .IP
 163 sudo chmod a+w ./test.img
 164 .PP
 165 Execute using qemu, e.g. on amd64 using qemu-system-x86_64:
 166 .IP
 167 qemu-system-x86_64 ./test.img
 168 .PP
 169 (This loads the image in a new window.)
 170 .SH NOTES
 171 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.
 172 .PP
 173 .B debootstrap
 174 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.
 175 .PP
 176 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.
 177 .PP
 178 It is advisable to change the mirror in the example scripts to a mirror closer to your location,
 179 particularly if you need to do repeated builds.
 180 .PP
 181 .SH "SEE ALSO"
 182 .BR debootstrap (8)
 183 ,
 184 .BR qemu (1)
 185 .
 186 .SH BUGS
 187 Please provide the config section of the logfile when reporting bugs, as well as the complete command line.