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] [--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. If the script does not exist in the current
  98 working directory, /usr/share/vmdebootstrap/examples/ will be checked as a
  99 fallback. The script needs to be executable and is passed the root directory of
 100 the debootstrap as the only argument. Use chroot if you need to execute binaries
 101 within the debootstrap.
 102 .IP \-\-hostname=HOSTNAME
 103 set name to HOSTNAME (debian)
 104 .IP \-\-user=USER/PASSWORD
 105 create USER with PASSWORD
 106 .IP \-\-owner=OWNER
 107 change the owner of the final image from root to the specified user.
 108 .IP \-\-serial\-console
 109 configure image to use a serial console
 110 .IP \-\-serial-console-command
 111 set the command to manage the serial console which will be appended to
 112 /etc/inittab. Default is "/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 115200 vt100", resulting in a line
 113 .BR "S0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 115200 vt100"
 114 .IP \-\-sudo
 115 install sudo, and if user is created, add them to sudo group
 116 .IP \-\-bootsize=BOOTSIZE
 117 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.
 118 .IP \-\-boottype=FSTYPE
 119 Filesystem to use for the /boot partition. (default ext2)
 120 .IP \-\-foreign=PATH
 121 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.
 122 .IP \-\-no\-extlinux
 123 Skip installation of extlinux. needs a customize script to make the image bootable. Useful for architectures where extlinux is not supportable.
 124 .IP \-\-squash
 125 Run mksquashfs against the final image using xz compression - requires
 126 squashfs-tools to be installed. The final file will have the .squashfs suffix.
 127 By default, mksquashfs is allowed to use all processors which may result
 128 in high load. Run mksquashfs separately if you need to control the number
 129 of processors used per run.
 130 .IP \-\-configure\-apt
 131 Use the specified mirror and distribution to create a suitable apt source inside
 132 the VM. Can be useful if debootstrap fails to create it automatically.
 133 .IP \-\-grub
 134 Disable extlinux installation and configure grub2 instead. grub2 will be added to
 135 the list of packages to install. update-grub will be called once the debootstrap is
 136 complete and grub-install will be called in the image. Versions of grub2 in wheezy
 137 can fail to install in the VM, at which point vmdebootstrap will fall back to
 138 extlinux. It may still be possible to complete the installation of grub2 after
 139 booting the VM as the problem may be related to the need to use loopback
 140 devices during the grub-install operation. Details of the error will appear in the
 141 vmdebootstrap log file, if enabled with the \-\-log option.
 142 .SH Configuration files and settings:
 143 .IP \-\-dump-config
 144 write out the entire current configuration
 145 .IP \-\-no-default-configs
 146 clear list of configuration files to read
 147 .IP \-\-config=FILE
 148 add FILE to config files
 149 .SH Logging:
 150 .IP \-\-log=FILE
 151 write log entries to FILE (default is to not write log files at all);
 152 use "syslog" to log to system log, or "none" to disable logging
 153 .IP \-\-log-level=LEVEL
 154 log at LEVEL, one of debug, info, warning, error, critical, fatal (default: debug)
 155 .IP \-\-log-max=SIZE
 156 rotate logs larger than SIZE, zero for never (default: 0)
 157 .IP \-\-log-keep=N
 158 keep last N logs (10)
 159 .IP \-\-log-mode=MODE
 160 set permissions of new log files to MODE (octal;  default 0600)
 161 .SH Peformance:
 162 .IP \-\-dump-memory-profile=METHOD
 163 make memory profiling dumps using METHOD, which is one of:
 164 none, simple, meliae, or heapy (default: simple)
 165 .IP \-\-memory-dump-interval=SECONDS
 166 make memory profiling dumps at least SECONDS apart
 167 .SH EXAMPLE
 168 To create an image for the stable release of Debian:
 169 .nf
 170 .IP
 171 sudo vmdebootstrap --image test.img --size 1g \\
 172     --log test.log --log-level debug --verbose \\
 173     --mirror http://mirror.lan/debian/
 174 .PP
 175 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:
 176 .IP
 177 sudo chmod a+w ./test.img
 178 .PP
 179 Execute using qemu, e.g. on amd64 using qemu-system-x86_64:
 180 .IP
 181 qemu-system-x86_64 ./test.img
 182 .PP
 183 (This loads the image in a new window.)
 184 .PP
 185 For further examples, including u-boot support for beaglebone-black, see /usr/share/vmdebootstrap/examples
 186 .SH NOTES
 187 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.
 188 .PP
 189 .B debootstrap
 190 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.
 191 .PP
 192 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.
 193 .PP
 194 It is advisable to change the mirror in the example scripts to a mirror closer to your location,
 195 particularly if you need to do repeated builds.
 196 .PP
 197 .SH "SEE ALSO"
 198 .BR debootstrap (8)
 199 ,
 200 .BR qemu-system-x86_64 (1)
 201 ,
 202 .BR grub-install (8)
 203 .
 204 .SH BUGS
 205 Please provide the config section of the logfile when reporting bugs, as well as the complete command line.