Provided by: grml-debootstrap_0.103_all 
NAME
grml-debootstrap - wrapper around debootstrap for installing plain Debian
SYNOPSIS
grml-debootstrap [ options ]
[IMAGE][1] [Screenshot]
INTRODUCTION
grml-debootstrap is a wrapper suite around debootstrap (and cdebootstrap and mmdebstrap if
you want) for installing a plain Debian system very fast and easy.
All you have to do is adjust a few variables in the configuration file
/etc/debootstrap/config or specify some command line options and invoke grml-debootstrap.
If invoked without any configuration modifications or command line options a dialog based
front end will be available to control some basic configuration options.
A plain and base Debian system will be installed on the given device, directory or virtual
image file then. Customization of this process is possible as well.
Caution
The Grml team does not take responsibility for loss of any data!
OPTIONS AND ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
--arch architecture
Set target architecture you want to install. Defaults to the architecture you are
currently running. If you’re running an amd64 kernel and want to deploy an i386 system
use this option. Note: deploying amd64 from an i386 kernel does not work. Example:
"--arch i386"
--backportrepos
Enable Debian’s Backports repository via the /etc/apt/sources.list.d/backports.list
configuration file. This provides the option to install Debian packages from Debian’s
backports repository.
--bootappend appendline-for-the-kernel
Specify appendline for the kernel. E.g. "pci=nomsi"
-c, --config file
Use specified configuration file, defaults to /etc/debootstrap/config.
--chroot-scripts directory
Execute chroot scripts from specified directory. This allows customisation of the
chroot setup, the executable script(s) present in the given directory are executed at
the end of the chroot procedure. Default directory: /etc/debootstrap/chroot-scripts/
--contrib
Enable the contrib repository in COMPONENTS. By default only the main repository is
enabled.
-d, --confdir path
Place of configuration files for debootstrap, defaults to /etc/debootstrap.
--debconf file
Use specified file for preseeding Debian packages instead of using the default
<confdir>/debconf-selections.
--debopt params
Extra parameters passed to the debootstrap command.
--debug
Execute in very verbose way. Useful for debugging possible problems with
grml-debootstrap or identify what’s actually executed.
--defaultinterfaces
Install a default /etc/network/interfaces file (enabling DHCP for all local Ethernet,
WLAN and WWAN interfaces using predictable network interface names and using eth0 as
traditional interface name for backward compatibility) instead of taking over config
from host system. This option is automatically enabled when using --vm or --vmfile.
--efi device
Partition where EFI boot manager should be installed to. If the specified device
doesn’t use a FAT filesystem yet grml-debootstrap automatically creates the
filesystem. If a FAT filesystem is already present the filesystem creation is skipped.
Please ensure that it’s a valid FAT32 filesystem and the partition has the boot and
esp flags enabled. This option requires EFI support on the running system and the
option is NOT supported for Virtual Machine deployments.
--filesystem filesystem
Filesystem that should be created when installing to a partition. If unset defaults to
ext4. Valid values are all filesystems that can be created through mkfs.filesystem.
--force
Skip user acknowledgement and do not prompt for user input.
--grmlrepos
Enable Grml.org’s Debian repository (http://deb.grml.org/) via the
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/grml.list configuration file. This provides the option to
install Debian packages from Grml’s repository.
--grub device
Device where grub should be installed to. Note that only the MBR (master boot record)
can be used (/dev/sda, /dev/sdb,...). Partitions (like /dev/sda1, /dev/sdb2,...) are
NOT supported because grub2 doesn’t support installation into the PBR (partition boot
record) anymore. Usage example: --grub /dev/sda. Note: just do not set this option to
avoid installation of grub.
--help, -h
Show summary of options and exit.
--hostname hostname
Use specified hostname instead of the default (being $HOSTNAME or if unset grml).
-i, --iso /mntpoint
Specify mount point where you have a Debian ISO mounted loopback. Using this option
instead of the mirror option gives you the possibility to install the base-system
without network access. Make sure you mounted the according Debian-ISO to the given
/mntpoint. See section Usage examples for a demonstration.
--keep_src_list
Do not overwrite user provided /etc/apt/sources.list.
-m, --mirror URL
Specify mirror which should be used for apt-get/aptitude. Corresponding with
configuration variable MIRROR.
--nodebootstrap
Skip debootstrap, only do configuration to the target.
--nointerfaces
Do not copy /etc/network/interfaces from host system to the target.
--nokernel
Skip installation of default kernel images. This option might be interesting for you
if you want a Debian system which doesn’t need to provide regular boot, e.g. a system
which provides ISOs for booting via GRUB using grml-rescueboot.
--non-free
Enable the non-free repository in COMPONENTS. For bookworm and newer Debian releases
also the non-free-firmware repository gets enabled. By default only the main
repository is enabled.
--nopackages
Skip installation of packages defined in /etc/debootstrap/packages.
--nopassword
Do not prompt for the root password. Note: Use the --password option if you want to
set the root password during an automatic installation but don’t want to use the
interactive dialog.
-p, --mntpoint /mntpoint
Specify mount point that should be used for mounting the target system. Corresponding
with configuration variable MNTPOINT. Note: this option has no effect if option -t is
given and represents a directory.
--packages file
Use specified file as list for packages that should be installed instead of the
default package list file <confdir>/packages.
--password password
Use specified password as password for user root. Use with caution, as your command
line might be visible in the process list and the shell history. It’s meant for
automatic installation only.
--post-scripts directory
Execute scripts from specified directory after executing the chroot script. This
allows customisation of the system after the chroot has been set up. The environment
variable $MNTPOINT is available inside the scripts for direct access of the chroot.
Default directory: /etc/debootstrap/post-scripts/
--pre-scripts directory
Execute scripts from specified directory before executing the chroot script. This
allows customisation of the system before the chroot has been set up. The environment
variable $MNTPOINT is available inside the scripts for direct access of the chroot.
Default directory: /etc/debootstrap/pre-scripts/
-r, --release releasename
Specify release of new Debian system. Supported releases names: lenny, squeeze,
wheezy, jessie, stretch, buster, bullseye, bookworm and sid. Corresponding with
configuration variable RELEASE. Default release: bookworm
--remove-configs
Delete grml-debootstrap configuration files (/etc/debootstrap/*) from installed
system. Useful for reproducible builds or if you don’t want to leak information.
--sshcopyauth
Use locally available $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys to authorise root login on the target
system. This installs $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys as /root/.ssh/authorized_keys on the
target system. If a different file than $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys should be used, the
environment variable AUTHORIZED_KEYS_SOURCE can be used.
--sshcopyid
Use locally available public keys to authorise root login on the target system.
Similar to ssh-copy-id(1) (without the -i option) it checks if ssh-add -L provides any
output, and if so those keys are appended to /root/.ssh/authorized_keys (creating the
file and directory (with mode 0700)).
-t, --target target
Target partition (/dev/...) or directory (anything else without /dev at the
beginning).
-v, --verbose
Increase verbosity.
--vm
Set up a Virtual Machine on an existing block device, which will be partitioned. This
allows deployment of a Virtual Machine. The options needs to be combined with the
--target option. This option automatically enables the --defaultinterfaces option.
Usage example: --vm --target /dev/mapper/your-vm-disk
--vmfile
Set up a Virtual Machine using a regular file instead of installing to a
partition/block device or directory. This allows deployment of a Virtual Machine. The
options needs to be combined with the --target option (qemu-img create -f raw ... is
executed on the specified target). This option automatically enables the
--defaultinterfaces option. Usage example: --vmfile --target /mnt/sda1/qemu.img
--vmsize size
Use specified size for size of Virtual Machine disk file. If not specified it defaults
to 2G (being 2GB). Syntax as supported by qemu-img (see manpage qemu-img(1) for
details. Usage example: --vmsize 3G
-V, --version
Show version of program and exit.
Warning
the command line parsing of grml-debootstrap usually does not validate the provided
arguments for the command line options. Please be careful and check docs and
/etc/debootstrap/config for further information.
NETWORKING
By default (that is, if none of the options --nointerfaces, --defaultinterfaces, --vmfile
or --vm are given) /etc/network/interfaces will be copied from the host to the target
system.
USAGE EXAMPLES
grml-debootstrap --target /dev/sda1 --grub /dev/sda
Install default Debian release (bookworm) on /dev/sda1 and install bootmanager GRUB in MBR
(master boot record) of /dev/sda.
grml-debootstrap --release stretch --target /dev/sda1 --grub /dev/sda --hostname debian01 --password changeme
Install Debian release stretch on /dev/sda1 and install bootmanager GRUB in MBR (master
boot record) of /dev/sda. Set hostname to debian01 and password for user root to changeme.
grml-debootstrap --target /dev/sda6 --grub /dev/sda --release sid
Install Debian unstable/sid on /dev/sda6 and install bootmanager GRUB in MBR (master boot
record) of /dev/sda.
DEBOOTSTRAP=mmdebstrap grml-debootstrap --target /dev/sda1 --grub /dev/sda
Install default Debian release (bookworm) on /dev/sda1 and install bootmanager GRUB in MBR
(master boot record) of /dev/sda. Use mmdebstrap instead of default debootstrap tool for
bootstrapping.
grml-debootstrap --target /dev/mapper/vg0-rootfs --grub /dev/sda
Install default Debian release (bookworm) on LVM device /dev/mapper/vg0-rootfs and install
bootmanager GRUB in MBR (master boot record) of /dev/sda.
grml-debootstrap --efi /dev/sda1 --target /dev/sda2 --grub /dev/sda
Install default Debian release (bookworm) on /dev/sda2 and install bootmanager GRUB in MBR
(master boot record) of /dev/sda. Use /dev/sda1 as EFI partition (requires EFI support in
booted system).
mount /dev/sda1 /data/chroot
grml-debootstrap --target /data/chroot
Install default Debian release (bookworm) in directory /data/chroot (without any
bootloader).
grml-debootstrap --target /dev/sda3 --grub /dev/sda --mirror ftp://ftp.tugraz.at/mirror/debian
Install default Debian release (bookworm) on /dev/sda3 and install bootmanager GRUB in MBR
(master boot record) of /dev/sda. Use specified mirror instead of the default
(http://deb.debian.org/debian) one.
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1
grml-debootstrap --vmfile --vmsize 3G --target /mnt/sda1/qemu.img
Install default debian release (bookworm) in a Virtual Machine file with 3GB disk size
(including GRUB as bootmanager in MBR of the virtual disk file):
mount -o loop ./debian-CD-1.iso /media/cdrom
grml-debootstrap --target /dev/sda1 --grub /dev/sda --iso /media/cdrom
Install Debian on /dev/sda1 using the loopback mounted Debian-ISO for the base-system and
install bootmanager GRUB in MBR (master boot record) of /dev/sda. Please notice, that the
chroot system requires network access for all packages which are not part of the ISO.
FILES
/etc/debootstrap/config
Main configuration file. Adjust it according to your needs if you want to execute
grml-debootstrap in the non-interactive mode without any special command line arguments.
/etc/debootstrap/chroot-script
The script executed within the new Debian system as soon as the main system has been
installed via [c]debootstrap.
/etc/debootstrap/locale.gen
Defines the default locales used for generating locales via locale-gen.
/etc/debootstrap/packages
Defines the software packages which should be installed in the new Debian system by
default.
/etc/debootstrap/extrapackages/
Debian Packages dropped in this directory will be installed into the new Debian system by
default (Control variable: EXTRAPACKAGES)
CUSTOMIZATION
You can control execution of grml-debootstrap via adjusting /etc/debootstrap/config for
some main stuff or via setting some selected variables via command line. The packages
which should be installed in the new Debian system can be defined via the file
/etc/debootstrap/packages. If you want to put existing files to the new Debian system you
can place them into the (by default non-existing) directories boot, etc, share, usr and
var in /etc/debootstrap/. Every existing directory will be copied to the new Debian system
then. If you want to install additional packages that are not available via the Grml or
Debian mirror drop them into /etc/debootstrap/extrapackages and make sure that
EXTRAPACKAGES is set to "yes".
AUTOMATIC INSTALLATION
If environment variable AUTOINSTALL is set grml-debootstrap can be executed in a full
automatic mode. While this mode isn’t really useful for interactive execution (just
configure /etc/debootstrap/configure or specify the relevant variables on the command line
instead) it is meant for use via boot option debian2hd on the Grml live system. The boot
option debian2hd (more precise: the kernelname at the bootprompt) supports the following
boot options (they correspond with the command line options mentioned above):
target=...
The target partition/directory of the new Debian system. Usage example: target=/dev/sda1
grub=...
Where do you want to install grub to? Usage example: grub=/dev/sda
release=...
Specify release of new Debian system. Defaults to Debian bookworm. Supported releases:
lenny, squeeze, wheezy, jessie, stretch, buster, bullseye, bookworm and sid. Usage
example: release=bullseye
mirror=...
Specify mirror which should be used for apt-get/aptitude instead of the default one
(http://deb.debian.org/debian). Usage example: mirror=ftp://ftp.tugraz.at/mirror/debian
password=...
Set password of user root without prompting for it but set it to the given argument. Usage
example: password=AiTh5ahn
Usage example for automatic installation
debian2hd target=/dev/sda1 grub=/dev/sda mirror=ftp://ftp.tugraz.at/mirror/debian password=foobar
You have to enter this command line at the bootprompt of the Grml live system. Please make
sure that /dev/sda1 is the partition where you really want to install your new Debian
system.
Note
Automatic installation within booting process is done in grml-autoconfig via setting
environment variable AUTOINSTALL and creation of
/usr/bin/grml-debootstrap_noninteractive with the available and relevant boot options
for grml-debootstrap.
SUPPORTED RELEASES
Table 1. Current status
┌─────────┬──────────┐
│Release │ Status │
├─────────┼──────────┤
│ │ │
│lenny │ works[1] │
├─────────┼──────────┤
│ │ │
│squeeze │ works[1] │
├─────────┼──────────┤
│ │ │
│wheezy │ works[1] │
├─────────┼──────────┤
│ │ │
│jessie │ works[1] │
├─────────┼──────────┤
│ │ │
│stretch │ works[1] │
├─────────┼──────────┤
│ │ │
│buster │ works[1] │
├─────────┼──────────┤
│ │ │
│bullseye │ works │
├─────────┼──────────┤
│ │ │
│bookworm │ works │
├─────────┼──────────┤
│ │ │
│sid │ works[2] │
└─────────┴──────────┘
lenny/squeeze/wheezy/jessie/stretch/buster release
[1] Please notice that releases like lenny, squeeze, wheezy, jessie, stretch and
buster are unsupported releases within Debian nowadays. grml-debootstrap can handle
the releases but you really should not use them anymore unless you really know what
you are doing. Choose the current Debian stable version instead. See
https://wiki.debian.org/DebianReleases for the list of supported releases.
Notice that you need to specify a specific mirror providing old releases, the default
(http://deb.debian.org/debian) doesn’t provide them any longer. Set the mirror to e.g.
http://archive.debian.org/debian/ if you don’t have your own Debian mirror.
Older releases might also fail to install when running on top of recent kernel
versions, throwing segfaults during debootstrap. This can be identified by the
following messages inside kernel log (check with dmesg):
dpkg[...] vsyscall attempted with vsyscall=none ip:[...]
dpkg[...]: segfault at [...]
To work around this issue boot your system with the kernel boot option
vsyscall=emulate.
You also need to specify a filesystem that’s supported by lenny, e.g. --filesystem
ext3 since grml-debootstrap’s current default (ext4) isn’t supported by lenny.
Also when debootstrapping lenny on a live system with a kernel version like
"3.16-1-grml-amd64" lenny’s libc will fail to install with:
[...]
/var/lib/dpkg/tmp.ci/preinst: line 265: [: 3.16-1-grml-amd64: integery expression expected
/var/lib/dpkg/tmp.ci/preinst: line 231: 3.16-1-grml-amd64: syntax error: invalid arithemtic operator (error token is ".16-1-grml-amd64")
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libc6_2.7-18lenny7_amd64.deb (--install):
[....]
To workaround this either debootstrap from a system with an according kernel version
or use the "fake uname" workaround (just google for it).
When installing lenny to a new mdraid, grml-debootstrap will use md metadata format
version 0.90. This limits the device to a maximum size of 2TB, but has the advantage
of grub-legacy actually being able to boot from it.
unstable and testing releases
[2] Please notice that Debian/testing and Debian/unstable (sid) might not be always
installable due to their nature. What might work instead is deploying a stable release
and upgrade it after installation finished.
BUGS
Please report bugs towards https://github.com/grml/grml-debootstrap/issues
SEE ALSO
debootstrap (8), cdebootstrap (1), mmdebstrap(1).
AUTHOR
Michael Prokop <mika@grml.org[2]>
NOTES
1. https://grml.org/grml-debootstrap/images/screenshot.png
2. mika@grml.org
mailto:mika@grml.org
02/20/2023 GRML-DEBOOTSTRAP(8)