[gentoo-user] Boot Media Admin CD

[gentoo-user] Boot Media Admin CD

[James]

Hello,


On the download pages I found this interesting choice for AMD64::
Boot Media Admin CD::
https://www.gentoo.org/downloads/


Anyone know what an .admin cd. is? Anyone tested it yet?


curiously,
James

Re: [gentoo-user] Boot Media Admin CD

[João Miguel]

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> Hello,
> 
> On the download pages I found this interesting choice for AMD64::
> Boot Media Admin CD::
> https://www.gentoo.org/downloads/
> 
> Anyone know what an .admin cd. is? Anyone tested it yet?
Hmm I hadn't seen it, but it seems pretty similar to the minimal
installation CD, except it has a different logo. In fact, it calls
itself a «minimal installation CD», boots in exactly the same way (boot
prompt, keymap choice, loading tons of modules, etc.)

So I'm guessing it has a few more things than the standard ISO, maybe
some things that were deemed unnecessary for the minimal install, but
that may be useful, I don't know, if you mess up your bootloader, or
maybe it has some statically compiled binaries that you can copy and use
on your main system if something is broken... But that's just a guess.

The easiest way to know the difference may be to mount the ISOs, the
SquashFSs inside, and compare the files...

If you want to try it, you can do:
 $ qemu-system-x86_64 -m 1G -hda admincd.iso -enable-kvm

Thanks for the question. Now I'm curious too :-D
João Miguel

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[gentoo-user] Re: Boot Media Admin CD

[James]

João Miguel <jmcf125 <at> openmailbox.org> writes:


> > On the download pages I found this interesting choice for AMD64::
> > Boot Media Admin CD::
> > https://www.gentoo.org/downloads/
> > Anyone know what an .admin cd. is? Anyone tested it yet?
> Hmm I hadn't seen it, but it seems pretty similar to the minimal
> installation CD, except it has a different logo. In fact, it calls
> itself a «minimal installation CD», boots in exactly the same way (boot
> prompt, keymap choice, loading tons of modules, etc.)

I was thinking it was a boodcd that analyzed your hardware/settings
and throws one directly into a "chrooted environment". That would be
very cool, if that is the goal:: repair/reconfigure of low level missteps...


> So I'm guessing it has a few more things than the standard ISO, maybe
> some things that were deemed unnecessary for the minimal install, but
> that may be useful, I don't know, if you mess up your bootloader, or
> maybe it has some statically compiled binaries that you can copy and use
> on your main system if something is broken... But that's just a guess.

Yes, or it could be a hybrid-customizable (catalyst/aufs/systemrescue) media
project where you spin your own boot/recovery cd/iso sometime after an
install is complete?   Just a wishful guess.... cloning for cluster research
and dev does come to mind (hopeful intentions here) for folks that need to
spin up lots of gentoo images on real hardware. As my work progresses to
'bare metal' clusters on heterogeneous hardware (arm64 is next) VM's are not
a viable option for my needs.   


> The easiest way to know the difference may be to mount the ISOs, the
> SquashFSs inside, and compare the files...
> If you want to try it, you can do:
>  $ qemu-system-x86_64 -m 1G -hda admincd.iso -enable-kvm
> Thanks for the question. Now I'm curious too :-D
> João Miguel

Yep, inquiring minds just want to know. Maybe?::It's preparation for the
upcoming "stage_4" installs?  [1,2] There's quite an impressive list of devs
@1 now part of Gentoo Release Engineering. I sure those folks will "put out"
some amazing new install toys! Either way, an "admin cd" in the installation
media collection for gentoo, does spark excitement and 
curiosities and possibilities, kno?


James

[1] https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Project:RelEng

[2] https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Project:RelEng_GRS