Document support for grub2 with fallback to extlinux on wheezy.

[forks/vmdebootstrap.git] / vmdebootstrap.8.in

diff --git a/vmdebootstrap.8.in b/vmdebootstrap.8.in
index 2de1a955b5a322ee65cff0cf800eb184af02042b..43cd944bfb58b3583db884e94f9c6e08c824fdbf 100644 (file)
--- a/vmdebootstrap.8.in
+++ b/vmdebootstrap.8.in
@@ -106,7 +106,6 @@ configure image to use a serial console
 set the command to manage the serial console which will be appended to
 /etc/inittab. Default is "/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 115200 vt100", resulting in a line
 .BR "S0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 115200 vt100"
-Requires the \-\-serial\-console option.
 .IP \-\-sudo
 install sudo, and if user is created, add them to sudo group
 .IP \-\-bootsize=BOOTSIZE
@@ -123,6 +122,18 @@ squashfs-tools to be installed. The final file will have the .squashfs suffix.
 By default, mksquashfs is allowed to use all processors which may result
 in high load. Run mksquashfs separately if you need to control the number
 of processors used per run.
+.IP \-\-configure\-apt
+Use the specified mirror and distribution to create a suitable apt source inside
+the VM. Can be useful if debootstrap fails to create it automatically.
+.IP \-\-grub
+Disable extlinux installation and configure grub2 instead. grub2 will be added to
+the list of packages to install. update-grub will be called once the debootstrap is
+complete and grub-install will be called in the image. Versions of grub2 in wheezy
+can fail to install in the VM, at which point vmdebootstrap will fall back to
+extlinux. It may still be possible to complete the installation of grub2 after
+booting the VM as the problem may be related to the need to use loopback
+devices during the grub-install operation. Details of the error will appear in the
+vmdebootstrap log file, if enabled with the \-\-log option.
 .SH Configuration files and settings:
 .IP \-\-dump-config
 write out the entire current configuration
@@ -165,6 +176,16 @@ Execute using qemu, e.g. on amd64 using qemu-system-x86_64:
 qemu-system-x86_64 ./test.img
 .PP
 (This loads the image in a new window.)
+.SH NOTES
+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.
+.PP
+.B debootstrap
+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.
+.PP
+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.
+.PP
+It is advisable to change the mirror in the example scripts to a mirror closer to your location,
+particularly if you need to do repeated builds.
 .PP
 .SH "SEE ALSO"
 .BR debootstrap (8)