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 or \-\-grub options are specified, the
  64 image will use
  65 .BR extlinux (1)
  66 as a boot loader.
  67 The image has an empty root password and will not have networking
  68 configured by default. Set the root password before you configure
  69 networking.
  70 .SH OPTIONS
  71 .IP \-\-output=FILE
  72 write output to FILE, instead of standard output
  73 .IP \-\-verbose
  74 report what is going on
  75 .IP \-\-image=FILE
  76 put created disk image in FILE
  77 .IP \-\-size=SIZE
  78 create a disk image of size SIZE (1000000000)
  79 .IP \-\-tarball=FILE
  80 tar up the disk's contents in FILE
  81 .IP \-\-mirror=URL
  82 use MIRROR as package source (http://cdn.debian.net/debian/)
  83 .IP \-\-arch=ARCH
  84 architecture to use (amd64)
  85 .IP \-\-distribution=NAME
  86 release to use (stable)
  87 .IP \-\-package=PACKAGE
  88 install PACKAGE onto system
  89 .IP \-\-custom-package=DEB
  90 install package in DEB file onto system (not from mirror)
  91 .IP \-\-no-kernel
  92 do not install a linux package
  93 .IP \-\-enable-dhcp
  94 enable DHCP on eth0
  95 .IP \-\-root-password=PASSWORD
  96 set root password
  97 .IP \-\-customize=SCRIPT
  98 run SCRIPT after setting up system. If the script does not exist in the current
  99 working directory, /usr/share/vmdebootstrap/examples/ will be checked as a
 100 fallback. The script needs to be executable and is passed the root directory of
 101 the debootstrap as the only argument. Use chroot if you need to execute binaries
 102 within the debootstrap.
 103 .IP \-\-hostname=HOSTNAME
 104 set name to HOSTNAME (debian)
 105 .IP \-\-user=USER/PASSWORD
 106 create USER with PASSWORD
 107 .IP \-\-owner=OWNER
 108 change the owner of the final image from root to the specified user.
 109 .IP \-\-serial\-console
 110 configure image to use a serial console
 111 .IP \-\-serial-console-command
 112 set the command to manage the serial console which will be appended to
 113 /etc/inittab. Default is "/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 115200 vt100", resulting in a line
 114 .BR "S0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 115200 vt100"
 115 .IP \-\-sudo
 116 install sudo, and if user is created, add them to sudo group
 117 .IP \-\-bootsize=BOOTSIZE
 118 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.
 119 .IP \-\-boottype=FSTYPE
 120 Filesystem to use for the /boot partition. (default ext2)
 121 .IP \-\-foreign=PATH
 122 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.
 123 .IP \-\-no\-extlinux
 124 Skip installation of extlinux. needs a customize script to make the image bootable. Useful for architectures where extlinux is not supportable.
 125 Depending on how the image is to be booted, the \-\-mbr option may also be
 126 necessary with extlinux.
 127 .IP \-\-squash
 128 Run mksquashfs against the final image using xz compression - requires
 129 squashfs-tools to be installed. The final file will have the .squashfs suffix.
 130 By default, mksquashfs is allowed to use all processors which may result
 131 in high load. Run mksquashfs separately if you need to control the number
 132 of processors used per run.
 133 .IP \-\-configure\-apt
 134 Use the specified mirror and distribution to create a suitable apt source inside
 135 the VM. Can be useful if debootstrap fails to create it automatically.
 136 .IP \-\-grub
 137 Disable extlinux installation and configure grub2 instead. grub2 will be added to
 138 the list of packages to install. update-grub will be called once the debootstrap is
 139 complete and grub-install will be called in the image. Versions of grub2 in wheezy
 140 can fail to install in the VM, at which point vmdebootstrap will fall back to
 141 extlinux. It may still be possible to complete the installation of grub2 after
 142 booting the VM as the problem may be related to the need to use loopback
 143 devices during the grub-install operation. Details of the error will appear in the
 144 vmdebootstrap log file, if enabled with the \-\-log option.
 145 .SH Configuration files and settings:
 146 .IP \-\-dump-config
 147 write out the entire current configuration
 148 .IP \-\-no-default-configs
 149 clear list of configuration files to read
 150 .IP \-\-config=FILE
 151 add FILE to config files
 152 .SH Logging:
 153 .IP \-\-log=FILE
 154 write log entries to FILE (default is to not write log files at all);
 155 use "syslog" to log to system log, or "none" to disable logging
 156 .IP \-\-log-level=LEVEL
 157 log at LEVEL, one of debug, info, warning, error, critical, fatal (default: debug)
 158 .IP \-\-log-max=SIZE
 159 rotate logs larger than SIZE, zero for never (default: 0)
 160 .IP \-\-log-keep=N
 161 keep last N logs (10)
 162 .IP \-\-log-mode=MODE
 163 set permissions of new log files to MODE (octal;  default 0600)
 164 .SH Peformance:
 165 .IP \-\-dump-memory-profile=METHOD
 166 make memory profiling dumps using METHOD, which is one of:
 167 none, simple, meliae, or heapy (default: simple)
 168 .IP \-\-memory-dump-interval=SECONDS
 169 make memory profiling dumps at least SECONDS apart
 170 .SH EXAMPLE
 171 To create an image for the stable release of Debian:
 172 .nf
 173 .IP
 174 sudo vmdebootstrap --image test.img --size 1g \\
 175     --log test.log --log-level debug --verbose \\
 176     --mirror http://mirror.lan/debian/
 177 .PP
 178 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:
 179 .IP
 180 sudo chmod a+w ./test.img
 181 .PP
 182 Execute using qemu, e.g. on amd64 using qemu-system-x86_64:
 183 .IP
 184 qemu-system-x86_64 ./test.img
 185 .PP
 186 (This loads the image in a new window.)
 187 .PP
 188 For further examples, including u-boot support for beaglebone-black, see /usr/share/vmdebootstrap/examples
 189 .SH NOTES
 190 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.
 191 .PP
 192 .B debootstrap
 193 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.
 194 .PP
 195 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.
 196 .PP
 197 It is advisable to change the mirror in the example scripts to a mirror closer to your location,
 198 particularly if you need to do repeated builds.
 199 .PP
 200 .SH "SEE ALSO"
 201 .BR debootstrap (8)
 202 ,
 203 .BR qemu-system-x86_64 (1)
 204 ,
 205 .BR grub-install (8)
 206 .
 207 .SH BUGS
 208 Please provide the config section of the logfile when reporting bugs, as well as the complete command line.