bionic (8) debootstick.8.gz

NAME

       debootstick - Generate a bootable image from a Debian-based chroot environment

SYNOPSIS

       debootstick [options] SOURCE DEST

DESCRIPTION

       debootstick generates a bootable image (at DEST) from a Debian-based chroot environment (at SOURCE).

       SOURCE  must  be a directory containing a standard Debian-based chroot environment (such as one generated
       with debootstrap(8)).  The output image generated at DEST should then be copied to a USB stick or disk.

       The embedded system is:
       - ready to be used (no installation step)
       - viable in the long-term, fully upgradable (kernel, bootloader included)
       - compatible with BIOS and UEFI systems

       debootstick can also generate installer media. See option --system-type below.

OPTIONS

       debootstick follows the usual GNU command line syntax, with long options starting with two dashes  (`-').
       A summary of options is included below.

       -h, --help
              Show summary of options.

       -v, --version
              Show version of program.

       --help-os-support
              Describe which chroot environments are supported.

       --system-type [live|installer]
              Specify  which  kind  of  system  is  targeted.  The default is live.  When booting a system where
              installer was selected, the system will try to migrate to a larger device on  first  startup.   If
              live  was  selected,  or  if  no  such option was specified, no migration will occur.  See section
              INSTALLER MEDIA below.

       --kernel-package PACKAGE_NAME
              Specify the kernel that should be installed. Without  this  option,  debootstick  will  install  a
              common one (depending on the embedded distribution).

       --config-hostname HOSTNAME
              Specify the hostname the embedded system will have.

       --config-kernel-bootargs BOOTARGS
              Specify  boot  arguments  to  be  added  to  the  kernel. (You may specify several arguments, e.g.
              --config-kernel-bootargs "console=ttyS0 acpi=off".)

       --config-root-password-ask
              Prompt for the root password of the embedded system and set it accordingly.

       --config-root-password-none
              Remove the root password of the embedded system (root login will not prompt any password).

       --config-root-password-first-boot
              Ask for the root password when the system will be booted for the first time.

       --config-grub-on-serial-line
              Update grub configuration to show boot menu on serial line.

EXAMPLES

       The most common workflow is the following.

       1- Generate a chroot environment:
       debootstrap --variant=minbase jessie /tmp/jessie_tree

       2- (Optionally) customize it:
       chroot /tmp/jessie_tree; [...]; exit

       3- Generate the bootable image:
       debootstick --config-root-password-ask /tmp/jessie_tree /tmp/img.dd
       Enter root password:
       Enter root password again:
       OK
       [...]

       4- Test it with kvm.
       cp /tmp/img.dd /tmp/img.dd-test    # let's work on a copy, our test is destructive
       truncate -s 2G /tmp/img.dd-test    # simulate a copy on a 2G-large USB stick
       kvm -hda /tmp/img.dd-test          # the test itself (BIOS mode)

       5- Copy the boot image to a USB stick or disk.
       dd bs=10M if=/tmp/img.dd of=/dev/your-device

       The USB device may now be booted on any BIOS or UEFI system.

CPU ARCHITECTURES

       debootstick expects a chroot environment built for amd64 or i386 systems.  Of course, the resulting image
       will reflect this initial architecture, and thus it should be booted on a compatible system.
       debootstick  also  needs  that the host system is able to execute binaries in the chroot environment. For
       example, trying to run it with an amd64 chroot environment on an i386 host will fail.
       debootstick will check this kind of things on startup.

INSTALLER MEDIA

       When first booting a system built with the --system-type installer option, it will look for a larger disk
       and  move  to  that  disk.   This  operation  does  not require a reboot. Once done, the system will just
       continue its bootup procedure (and the initial device can be removed).
       CAUTION: Any data on the target disk will be lost.
       Also note that the system is moved, not copied. Thus the initial device cannot be used anymore after  the
       migration, unless you copy an image again, of course.

NOTES

       It  is  also  possible  to test the UEFI boot with kvm, if you have the ovmf package installed, by adding
       -bios /path/to/OVMF.fd to the kvm command line.

       Many Live distributions propose a highly compressed system based on a squashfs image.  They handle writes
       using  an  overlay  based  on  a filesystem union.  While this allows the system to remain compact in the
       first times, this also has disavantages:
       - Some important files remain read-only and cannot be upgraded (that is the case of the linux kernel  and
       the bootloader) which quickly leads to security issues or upgrade problems.
       -  Storing  modified files in an overlay and never releasing the room needed for the original versions in
       the squashfs image is counter-productive in the long term.
       One of the objectives behind debootstick was to provide a viable long-term live  system,  therefore  this
       kind of setup has been discarded.

AUTHOR

       Etienne Duble (etienne.duble@imag.fr)

SEE ALSO

       debootstrap(8), kvm(1).

                                                 August 24, 2015                                  DEBOOTSTICK(8)