add mbr back to support extlinux and check for installation of mbr.

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

diff --git a/vmdebootstrap.8.in b/vmdebootstrap.8.in
index 2c411b7091bcfab43bca8af729486953126385d9..60e08cd52dfd7959ec91396cc5edb778726bab6c 100644 (file)
--- a/vmdebootstrap.8.in
+++ b/vmdebootstrap.8.in
@@ -57,15 +57,30 @@ virtualization technology, such as
 or
 .BR qemu (1).
 Configure the virtual machine to use the image you've created.
-Then start the virtual machine,
+Then start the virtual machine, (see
+.B EXAMPLES
+)
 and log into it via its console to configure it.
-.PP
-Unless the \-\-no\-extlinux option is specified, the image will use
-.BR extlinux (1)
-as a boot loader.
 The image has an empty root password and will not have networking
 configured by default. Set the root password before you configure
 networking.
+.SH BOOTLOADERS
+Unless the \-\-no\-extlinux or \-\-grub options are specified, the
+image will use
+.BR extlinux (1)
+as a boot loader.
+.B bootsize
+is not recommended when using
+.B extlinux
+- use grub instead.
+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. Note that
+.B grub-legacy
+is not supported.
 .SH OPTIONS
 .IP \-\-output=FILE
 write output to FILE, instead of standard output
@@ -94,7 +109,11 @@ enable DHCP on eth0
 .IP \-\-root-password=PASSWORD
 set root password
 .IP \-\-customize=SCRIPT
-run SCRIPT after setting up system
+run SCRIPT after setting up system. If the script does not exist in the current
+working directory, /usr/share/vmdebootstrap/examples/ will be checked as a
+fallback. The script needs to be executable and is passed the root directory of
+the debootstrap as the only argument. Use chroot if you need to execute binaries
+within the debootstrap.
 .IP \-\-hostname=HOSTNAME
 set name to HOSTNAME (debian)
 .IP \-\-user=USER/PASSWORD
@@ -117,6 +136,8 @@ Filesystem to use for the /boot partition. (default ext2)
 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.
 .IP \-\-no\-extlinux
 Skip installation of extlinux. needs a customize script to make the image bootable. Useful for architectures where extlinux is not supportable.
+Depending on how the image is to be booted, the \-\-mbr option may also be
+necessary with extlinux.
 .IP \-\-squash
 Run mksquashfs against the final image using xz compression - requires
 squashfs-tools to be installed. The final file will have the .squashfs suffix. 
@@ -129,12 +150,7 @@ 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.
+complete and grub-install will be called in the image.
 .SH Configuration files and settings:
 .IP \-\-dump-config
 write out the entire current configuration