ISO/README.rst
nl6720 45a5d229b3
Create directories and copy files to the FAT image using mtools instead of mounting the file system
- mtools supports SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH.
- The image file is operated on directly instead of mounting the file system. This is a prerequisite to limit the commands that run with root privileges. Related to https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/archiso/-/issues/40 .
- Add a reminder comment to not get rid of the dosfstools dependency, since a mformat made FAT image can fail to boot on some systems.
2020-09-02 22:31:04 +03:00

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archiso
=======
The archiso project features scripts and configuration templates to build installation media (*.iso* images) for BIOS
and UEFI based systems on the x86_64 architecture.
Currently creating the images is only supported on Arch Linux.
Requirements
============
The following packages need to be installed to be able to create an image with the included scripts:
* arch-install-scripts
* dosfstools
* e2fsprogs
* libisoburn
* mtools
* squashfs-tools
For running the images in a virtualized test environment the following packages are required:
* edk2-ovmf
* qemu
For linting the shell scripts the following package is required:
* shellcheck
Profiles
========
Archiso comes with two profiles: **baseline** and **releng**. While both can serve as starting points for creating
custom live media, **releng** is used to create the monthly installation medium.
They can be found below `configs/baseline/ <configs/baseline/>`_ and `configs/releng/ <configs/releng/>`_
(respectively). Both profiles are defined by files to be placed into overlays (e.g. *airootfs* -> *the image's /*).
Create images
=============
Usually the archiso tools are installed as a package. However, it is also possible to clone this repository and create
images without installing archiso system-wide.
As filesystems are created and various mount actions have to be done when creating an image, **root** is required to run
the scripts.
When archiso is installed system-wide and the modification of a profile is desired, it is necessary to copy it to a
writeable location, as */usr/share/archiso* is tracked by the package manager and only writeable by root (changes will
be lost on update).
The examples below will assume an unmodified profile in a system location (unless noted otherwise).
It is advised to consult the help output of **mkarchiso**:
.. code:: bash
mkarchiso -h
Create images with packaged archiso
-----------------------------------
.. code:: bash
mkarchiso -w path/to/work_dir -o path/to/out_dir path/to/profile
Create images with local clone
------------------------------
Clone this repository and run:
.. code:: bash
./archiso/mkarchiso -w path/to/work_dir -o path/to/out_dir path/to/profile
Testing
=======
The convenience script **run_archiso** is provided to boot into the medium using qemu.
It is advised to consult its help output:
.. code:: bash
run_archiso -h
Run the following to boot the iso using BIOS:
.. code:: bash
run_archiso -i path/to/an/arch.iso
Run the following to boot the iso using UEFI:
.. code:: bash
run_archiso -u -i path/to/an/arch.iso
The script can of course also be executed from this repository:
.. code:: bash
./scripts/run_archiso.sh -i path/to/an/arch.iso
Installation
============
To install archiso system-wide use the included **Makefile**:
.. code:: bash
make install
Optionally install archiso's mkinitcpio hooks:
.. code:: bash
make install-initcpio
License
=======
Archiso is licensed under the terms of the **GPL-3.0-or-later** (see `LICENSE <LICENSE>`_).