Making a Client CD-ROM

Using Linux Live

1. Download the latest linux-live-x.y.z.tar.gz and precompiled kernel from ftp://ftp.slax.org/Linux-Live/ (you may, of course, prefer to compile your own kernel to Linux Live specifications).
2. Untar the linux-live tarball into /tmp.
3. If you downloaded the precompiled kernel, move it to /boot, and make sure that you can boot your client partition using this kernel (you may need to run mkinitrd to create an initial ramdisk).
4. cd /tmp/linux-live-x.y.z
5. Modify the tools/liblinuxlive script, deleting all the users options for mount (the ed command g/,users/s///g will do the trick).
6. Edit the cd-root/boot/isolinux/isolinux.cfg file, adding noauto to the APPEND line.
7. Edit the .config file, setting LIVECDNAME="contest", USENTFS3G=no and KERNEL=a.b.c, where a.b.c is the version number of the kernel being used.
8. Clean up log files and configuration files that will need to be rebuilt when the CD boots:
   • Fedora Core 7:

     rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf
     > /etc/modprobe.conf     # clear the file without deleting it
     > /etc/sysconfig/hwconf
     for i in `find var/log -type f`
     do
         > $i
     done

9. Run ./build (defaults are okay).
10. cd /tmp/live_data_nnnn/contest (where nnnn is a four-digit number chosen by the build script, which creates the directory).
11. Run ./make_iso.sh to create the CD-ROM image, /tmp/contest.iso.
12. Burn the image to a CD-ROM:

    cdrecord -v fs=8m dev=/dev/cdwriter -data /tmp/contest.iso

Using BBLCD [Obsolete]

[Note: As of this writing, bblcd does not support devfs, so it cannot be used to create a bootable CD-ROM for a distribution that relies on devfs (e.g., Gentoo).]

The CD-ROM image can be created on any machine with a CD writer; it does not have to be the same machine on which the original client partition was made.

1. Create the contest directories:

   mkdir /usr/local/contest /usr/local/contest/image
   cd /usr/local/contest

   [You may, of course, place your contest directories anywhere you like.]
2. Untar the bblcd distribution:

   tar xvfj bblcd-version.tar.bz2 

   This creates a directory named bblcd-version. The version used for the following steps was 0.7.10.
3. Copy the client image files into the contest/image directory. One way is to create a tarball, contest.tar.gz, from the image, copy it to the /tmp directory of the CD writer machine, and untar it into the image directory:

   cd /usr/local/contest/image
   rm -fr *     # if needed
   tar xvfz /tmp/contest.tar.gz 

4. If the kernel for the CD uses udev, create in /dev the minimal devices necessary to boot the CD:

   (cd /dev; tar cf - hda hdc tty0 tty1 ram0 ram1 null) \
     | (cd /usr/local/contest/image/dev; tar xvf -)

5. Remove excess files from the image to save space:
   • Fedora Core 2/3 client:

     tmp/* tmp/.[^.]* usr/* root/* root/.[^.]* opt/knoppix/*.tar.gz var/cache/man/*/*.bz2 var/log/*.[0-9] var/log/*/*.[0-9] var/log/Xorg* var/spool/up2date/* var/cache/yum/* var/lib/rpm/* etc/sysconfig/hwconf

   and zero out any remaining files under var/log:

   for i in `find var/log -type f`
   do
       > $i
   done

6. cd /usr/local/contest/bblcd-version
7. Configure bblcd to create a 2.88MB boot image:

   make -C bootdsk floppy-288

8. Set the fstab to be used on the bootable CD. Edit the file mkisofs.input/etc/fstab:
   • Add the usr.sqsh, shm, pts, and sys entries from the image /etc/fstab
   • Uncomment the usr.sqsh entry
   • Comment out the line /dev/fd0 entry
9. Configure bblcd:

   make config

   Option		Value
   [1] Path to root of master distribution:		/usr/local/contest/image
   [2] Path to kernel:		/usr/local/contest/image/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8-1.521
   [3] Path to modules source directory:		/usr/local/contest/image/lib/modules/2.6.8-1.521custom
   [4] List of modules:		kernel/drivers/block/loop.ko
   [A] [4] Make /etc writable:		yes

   [Note: Values for options [2], [3] and [4] are given as for a Fedora Core 2 image; adjust accordingly.]
10. Prepare the image to run from a CD-ROM:

    make prep

    Just go through items 1-6 in order.

    Item [2] can be skipped (home directories will be NFS-mounted from the server).

    For item [5] a varfiles.cfg file containing just the line "include ." will suffice (all excess files have already been removed).

    For item [6], just follow the directions and add the line

    test -e /sbin/boot.bblcd && source /sbin/boot.bblcd

    to the initial boot script, just after /proc is mounted.
    • Fedora Core 3/5: Add the line

      chmod a+rx /var

      after the "test -e ..." line in the initial boot script.
11. Create the CD image (bblcd.iso):

    make iso

12. Burn the image to a CD-ROM:

    cdrecord -v fs=8m dev=/dev/cdwriter -data ./bblcd.iso