[gentoo-catalyst] 'stage4 tarball'

[gentoo-catalyst] 'stage4 tarball'

[Matthias Langer]

Hi, i'm completely new to this list and catalyst. So maybe my questions
are trivial ... What i want to do is the following:

I want to install a fully functional and tweaked gentoo-desktop system
on a legacy pentium3 box in a minimal amount of time.

While thinking about how to achieve this, i stumbled over catalyst.
Unfortunaltly calalysts documentation is rather minimal, but i think
that this tool is what i need. What i want to know is:

Is it possible to somehow build the complete p3 system with custom use
and cflags with my athlon-xp at home to get some kind of
'stage4-tarball' that i just have to unpack to the hardisk of the
p3-system (instead of the stage3 tarball) ?

Matthias 

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Re: [gentoo-catalyst] 'stage4 tarball'

[Andrew Gaffney]

Matthias Langer wrote:
> Is it possible to somehow build the complete p3 system with custom use
> and cflags with my athlon-xp at home to get some kind of
> 'stage4-tarball' that i just have to unpack to the hardisk of the
> p3-system (instead of the stage3 tarball) ?

Yes, but you don't need catalyst to do it. You can easily extract a stage3 
tarball into a directory, chroot into it, do whatever you want, exit the chroot, 
and then tar up the directory. The result is essentially a "stage4".

-- 
Andrew Gaffney                            http://dev.gentoo.org/~agaffney/
Gentoo Linux Developer                                   Installer Project

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Re: [gentoo-catalyst] 'stage4 tarball'

[Matthias Langer]

On Mon, 2006-03-13 at 15:50 -0600, Andrew Gaffney wrote:
> Matthias Langer wrote:
> > Is it possible to somehow build the complete p3 system with custom use
> > and cflags with my athlon-xp at home to get some kind of
> > 'stage4-tarball' that i just have to unpack to the hardisk of the
> > p3-system (instead of the stage3 tarball) ?
> 
> Yes, but you don't need catalyst to do it. You can easily extract a stage3 
> tarball into a directory, chroot into it, do whatever you want, exit the chroot, 
> and then tar up the directory. The result is essentially a "stage4".
> 
Thanks for your tip; However, two small questions remain:
1.) What options should i pass to tar when packing the chrooted
environment ?

2.) Is there a way to eject the live-cd after booting, so that i can
insert a cd with my custom "stage 4" ?

Matthias

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gentoo-catalyst@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-catalyst] 'stage4 tarball'

[Andrew Gaffney]

Matthias Langer wrote:
> On Mon, 2006-03-13 at 15:50 -0600, Andrew Gaffney wrote:
>> Matthias Langer wrote:
>>> Is it possible to somehow build the complete p3 system with custom use
>>> and cflags with my athlon-xp at home to get some kind of
>>> 'stage4-tarball' that i just have to unpack to the hardisk of the
>>> p3-system (instead of the stage3 tarball) ?
>> Yes, but you don't need catalyst to do it. You can easily extract a stage3 
>> tarball into a directory, chroot into it, do whatever you want, exit the chroot, 
>> and then tar up the directory. The result is essentially a "stage4".
>>
> Thanks for your tip; However, two small questions remain:
> 1.) What options should i pass to tar when packing the chrooted
> environment ?

tar -C /path/to/chroot/dir -cjpf /path/to/stage4.tar.bz2 .

> 2.) Is there a way to eject the live-cd after booting, so that i can
> insert a cd with my custom "stage 4" ?

Add 'docache' (or something like that) to the kernel command line. It's 
documented somewhere :) Although, if both machines are on the same network, it'd 
probably be easier to just transfer the tarball via NFS, scp, http, etc. once 
the CD is booted.

-- 
Andrew Gaffney                            http://dev.gentoo.org/~agaffney/
Gentoo Linux Developer                                   Installer Project
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Re: [gentoo-catalyst] 'stage4 tarball'

[Matthias Langer]

On Mon, 2006-03-13 at 19:19 -0600, Andrew Gaffney wrote:
> Matthias Langer wrote:
> > On Mon, 2006-03-13 at 15:50 -0600, Andrew Gaffney wrote:
> >> Matthias Langer wrote:
> >>> Is it possible to somehow build the complete p3 system with custom use
> >>> and cflags with my athlon-xp at home to get some kind of
> >>> 'stage4-tarball' that i just have to unpack to the hardisk of the
> >>> p3-system (instead of the stage3 tarball) ?
> >> Yes, but you don't need catalyst to do it. You can easily extract a stage3 
> >> tarball into a directory, chroot into it, do whatever you want, exit the chroot, 
> >> and then tar up the directory. The result is essentially a "stage4".
> >>
> > Thanks for your tip; However, two small questions remain:
> > 1.) What options should i pass to tar when packing the chrooted
> > environment ?
> 
> tar -C /path/to/chroot/dir -cjpf /path/to/stage4.tar.bz2 .
> 
> > 2.) Is there a way to eject the live-cd after booting, so that i can
> > insert a cd with my custom "stage 4" ?
> 
> Add 'docache' (or something like that) to the kernel command line. It's 
> documented somewhere :) Although, if both machines are on the same network, it'd 
> probably be easier to just transfer the tarball via NFS, scp, http, etc. once 
> the CD is booted.

Well, unfortunatly the machines aren't on the same network, but
hopefully it will work with 'docache' ...

Thanks for your tipps, and sorry for posting a bit off topic.
Matthias



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Re: [gentoo-catalyst] 'stage4 tarball'

[Matthias Langer]

On Tue, 2006-03-14 at 02:35 +0100, Matthias Langer wrote:
> On Mon, 2006-03-13 at 19:19 -0600, Andrew Gaffney wrote:
> > Matthias Langer wrote:
> > > On Mon, 2006-03-13 at 15:50 -0600, Andrew Gaffney wrote:
> > >> Matthias Langer wrote:
> > >>> Is it possible to somehow build the complete p3 system with custom use
> > >>> and cflags with my athlon-xp at home to get some kind of
> > >>> 'stage4-tarball' that i just have to unpack to the hardisk of the
> > >>> p3-system (instead of the stage3 tarball) ?
> > >> Yes, but you don't need catalyst to do it. You can easily extract a stage3 
> > >> tarball into a directory, chroot into it, do whatever you want, exit the chroot, 
> > >> and then tar up the directory. The result is essentially a "stage4".
> > >>
> > > Thanks for your tip; However, two small questions remain:
> > > 1.) What options should i pass to tar when packing the chrooted
> > > environment ?
> > 
> > tar -C /path/to/chroot/dir -cjpf /path/to/stage4.tar.bz2 .
> > 
> > > 2.) Is there a way to eject the live-cd after booting, so that i can
> > > insert a cd with my custom "stage 4" ?
> > 
> > Add 'docache' (or something like that) to the kernel command line. It's 
> > documented somewhere :) Although, if both machines are on the same network, it'd 
> > probably be easier to just transfer the tarball via NFS, scp, http, etc. once 
> > the CD is booted.
> 
> Well, unfortunatly the machines aren't on the same network, but
> hopefully it will work with 'docache' ...

As my 'stage4' is now more or less complete, i looked a bit after the
'docache' option. For docache to work one needs at least twice as much
ram than data is stored on the live-cd. With 64MB there is no chance to
do this ... 

So i have two choices:
1.) Do a minimalistic installation from a stage-3 tarball, boot into the
new system, insert the cd with the stage-4 tarball, copy it to the
harddisk - reboot with the live cd - clean up and extract ...

2.) Pack my 'stage4' (which is about 300MB) image on the live-cd itself.
I guess this should be possible with catalyst ...

Personally i would strongly prefer method 2.) as it seems less error
prone and should be much faster; Last but not least i've done most of
the necessairy configuration work allready inside my 'stage4'. 

Thanks,
Matthias


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Re: [gentoo-catalyst] 'stage4 tarball'

[Chris Gianelloni]

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On Tue, 2006-03-14 at 22:53 +0100, Matthias Langer wrote:
> 2.) Pack my 'stage4' (which is about 300MB) image on the live-cd itself.
> I guess this should be possible with catalyst ...

You don't need catalyst for this and would be wasting your time.

What I would do is this:

#1. extract the CD contents to a temporary directory, let's say /tmp/cd
#2. mkdir /tmp/cd/stages
#3. cp stage4.tar.bz2 /tmp/cd/stages
#4. mkisofs -J -R -l -V "My 2006.0 w/ stage4" -o /tmp/mycd.iso -b
isolinux/isolinux.bin -c isolinux/boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size
4 -boot-info-table /tmp/cd
#5 burn /tmp/mycd.iso to a CD

-- 
Chris Gianelloni
Release Engineering - Strategic Lead
x86 Architecture Team
Games - Developer
Gentoo Linux

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Re: [gentoo-catalyst] 'stage4 tarball'

[Matthias Langer]

On Wed, 2006-03-15 at 07:49 -0500, Chris Gianelloni wrote:
> On Tue, 2006-03-14 at 22:53 +0100, Matthias Langer wrote:
> > 2.) Pack my 'stage4' (which is about 300MB) image on the live-cd itself.
> > I guess this should be possible with catalyst ...
> 
> You don't need catalyst for this and would be wasting your time.
> 
> What I would do is this:
> 
> #1. extract the CD contents to a temporary directory, let's say /tmp/cd
> #2. mkdir /tmp/cd/stages
> #3. cp stage4.tar.bz2 /tmp/cd/stages
> #4. mkisofs -J -R -l -V "My 2006.0 w/ stage4" -o /tmp/mycd.iso -b
> isolinux/isolinux.bin -c isolinux/boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size
> 4 -boot-info-table /tmp/cd
> #5 burn /tmp/mycd.iso to a CD
> 

Well, thanks a lot for pointing this out; However, i guess this may be a
silly question, but how should i exactly perform #1 ?

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Re: [gentoo-catalyst] 'stage4 tarball'

[Chris Gianelloni]

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On Wed, 2006-03-15 at 14:17 +0100, Matthias Langer wrote:
> On Wed, 2006-03-15 at 07:49 -0500, Chris Gianelloni wrote:
> > On Tue, 2006-03-14 at 22:53 +0100, Matthias Langer wrote:
> > > 2.) Pack my 'stage4' (which is about 300MB) image on the live-cd itself.
> > > I guess this should be possible with catalyst ...
> > 
> > You don't need catalyst for this and would be wasting your time.
> > 
> > What I would do is this:
> > 
> > #1. extract the CD contents to a temporary directory, let's say /tmp/cd
> > #2. mkdir /tmp/cd/stages
> > #3. cp stage4.tar.bz2 /tmp/cd/stages
> > #4. mkisofs -J -R -l -V "My 2006.0 w/ stage4" -o /tmp/mycd.iso -b
> > isolinux/isolinux.bin -c isolinux/boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size
> > 4 -boot-info-table /tmp/cd
> > #5 burn /tmp/mycd.iso to a CD
> > 
> 
> Well, thanks a lot for pointing this out; However, i guess this may be a
> silly question, but how should i exactly perform #1 ?

Umm... mount the CD and use "cp"...

-- 
Chris Gianelloni
Release Engineering - Strategic Lead
x86 Architecture Team
Games - Developer
Gentoo Linux

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Re: [gentoo-catalyst] 'stage4 tarball'

[Matthias Langer]

On Wed, 2006-03-15 at 11:09 -0500, Chris Gianelloni wrote:
> On Wed, 2006-03-15 at 14:17 +0100, Matthias Langer wrote:
> > On Wed, 2006-03-15 at 07:49 -0500, Chris Gianelloni wrote:
> > > On Tue, 2006-03-14 at 22:53 +0100, Matthias Langer wrote:
> > > > 2.) Pack my 'stage4' (which is about 300MB) image on the live-cd itself.
> > > > I guess this should be possible with catalyst ...
> > > 
> > > You don't need catalyst for this and would be wasting your time.
> > > 
> > > What I would do is this:
> > > 
> > > #1. extract the CD contents to a temporary directory, let's say /tmp/cd
> > > #2. mkdir /tmp/cd/stages
> > > #3. cp stage4.tar.bz2 /tmp/cd/stages
> > > #4. mkisofs -J -R -l -V "My 2006.0 w/ stage4" -o /tmp/mycd.iso -b
> > > isolinux/isolinux.bin -c isolinux/boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size
> > > 4 -boot-info-table /tmp/cd
> > > #5 burn /tmp/mycd.iso to a CD
> > > 
> > 
> > Well, thanks a lot for pointing this out; However, i guess this may be a
> > silly question, but how should i exactly perform #1 ?
> 
> Umm... mount the CD and use "cp"...
> 
Sorry, that was a rather dumb question; i thought that i have to mess
around with the sqashfs image ...

By the way, i've stumbled over the
file /usr/share/doc/catalyst-2.0_rc40/examples/stage4_template.spec. So
what i want to know is if it is better to build a stage4 in a chrooted
environment fom a stage3 (as i allready did), or use catalyst ?

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Re: [gentoo-catalyst] 'stage4 tarball'

[Matthias Langer]

On Wed, 2006-03-15 at 19:17 +0100, Matthias Langer wrote:
> On Wed, 2006-03-15 at 11:09 -0500, Chris Gianelloni wrote:
> > On Wed, 2006-03-15 at 14:17 +0100, Matthias Langer wrote:
> > > On Wed, 2006-03-15 at 07:49 -0500, Chris Gianelloni wrote:
> > > > On Tue, 2006-03-14 at 22:53 +0100, Matthias Langer wrote:
> > > > > 2.) Pack my 'stage4' (which is about 300MB) image on the live-cd itself.
> > > > > I guess this should be possible with catalyst ...
> > > > 
> > > > You don't need catalyst for this and would be wasting your time.
> > > > 
> > > > What I would do is this:
> > > > 
> > > > #1. extract the CD contents to a temporary directory, let's say /tmp/cd
> > > > #2. mkdir /tmp/cd/stages
> > > > #3. cp stage4.tar.bz2 /tmp/cd/stages
> > > > #4. mkisofs -J -R -l -V "My 2006.0 w/ stage4" -o /tmp/mycd.iso -b
> > > > isolinux/isolinux.bin -c isolinux/boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size
> > > > 4 -boot-info-table /tmp/cd
> > > > #5 burn /tmp/mycd.iso to a CD
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > Well, thanks a lot for pointing this out; However, i guess this may be a
> > > silly question, but how should i exactly perform #1 ?
> > 
> > Umm... mount the CD and use "cp"...
> > 
> Sorry, that was a rather dumb question; i thought that i have to mess
> around with the sqashfs image ...
> 
> By the way, i've stumbled over the
> file /usr/share/doc/catalyst-2.0_rc40/examples/stage4_template.spec. So
> what i want to know is if it is better to build a stage4 in a chrooted
> environment fom a stage3 (as i allready did), or use catalyst ?
> 
Maybe i can answer this question myself, at least partly: I'm i right
when i think that the stage4-spec-file is more intended for building
costumized live-cd's ?

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Re: [gentoo-catalyst] 'stage4 tarball'

[Chris Gianelloni]

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On Wed, 2006-03-15 at 19:33 +0100, Matthias Langer wrote:
> > By the way, i've stumbled over the
> > file /usr/share/doc/catalyst-2.0_rc40/examples/stage4_template.spec. So
> > what i want to know is if it is better to build a stage4 in a chrooted
> > environment fom a stage3 (as i allready did), or use catalyst ?
> > 
> Maybe i can answer this question myself, at least partly: I'm i right
> when i think that the stage4-spec-file is more intended for building
> costumized live-cd's ?

No, that would be livecd-stage1 and livecd-stage2.  The stage4 target
creates a tarball.

-- 
Chris Gianelloni
Release Engineering - Strategic Lead
x86 Architecture Team
Games - Developer
Gentoo Linux

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