How to make a live CD/DVD from your harddisk installation

[nimam]

* How can the name of live-session-user be changed from 'ubuntu' to our own?
* How can we use Ubuntu's own splashimage in grub for booting from cd?

[capink]

* How can the name of live-session-user be changed from 'ubuntu' to our own?

There are two ways to do this:
1. You can add the following parameter to your grub boot entry:

username=whatever_username_you_want

2. You can edit the file ${WORK}/rootfs/etc/casper.conf change the following entry:

export HOST="ubuntu"

into:

export HOST="whatever_username_you_want"

Note: If you do both methods, the first method will override the second one. That is, the username in your boot entry will override the username in /etc/casper.conf

* How can we use Ubuntu's own splashimage in grub for booting from cd?

To be able to use Ubuntu's splash Image you need to have the same exact kernel version in your system. IThis is not usually the case because the kernel in the splash image is usually older than your system kernel (if you are updating your system you will most likely have a newer version).

Supposing that you have the same kernel version as that of Ubuntu splash image, you have to do the following two steps:

1. Create the following directory:

sudo mkdir /casper

and place the splash image into it

2. Add the following entry to your grub menu:

title		RAM Session
root		(hd0,2)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-$(uname -r) BOOT=casper ro quiet splash
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-$(uname -r)

The text highlighted in blue should match the corresponding parts of your main system entry.



One the other hand, if your kernel is newer. You will have to extract the following two files from the splash image:

/boot/vmlinuz-....
/boot/initrd.img-.....

and place those two files in your /boot directory


Then you will add this entry to your grub file:

title		RAM Session
root		(hd0,2)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-$(uname -r) BOOT=casper ro quiet splash
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-$(uname -r)

The text highlighted in blue should match the corresponding parts of your main system entry.

The text highlighted in red should match version of the two files you extracted from the splash image.

[DemonBob]

For Intrepid

In step A.3

sudo apt-get install mkisofs grub squashfs-tools linux-ubuntu-modules-$(uname -r) qemu

should be

sudo apt-get install mkisofs grub squashfs-tools linux-headers-$(uname -r) qemu

linux-ubuntu-modules was merged with linux-headers i believe.

Posting from a custom Intrepid Live cd as we speak


Questions:
1. Does the toram work in this guide?
2. You got any easy to follow guides on making a custom boot splash/grub splash?

[capink]

For Intrepid

In step A.3

sudo apt-get install mkisofs grub squashfs-tools linux-ubuntu-modules-$(uname -r) qemu

should be

sudo apt-get install mkisofs grub squashfs-tools linux-headers-$(uname -r) qemu

linux-ubuntu-modules was merged with linux-headers i believe.

Thanks for posting this information. I will add it to the guide

1. Does the toram work in this guide?

It is working for me in Debian lenny with live-initramfs. If I remember correctly, it did work with casper and gutsy (not so sure) when I first wrote this guide. I do not have hardy or intrepid so I am not sure.

2. You got any easy to follow guides on making a custom boot splash/grub splash?

There is a link in the final notes section. The link is not working currently but it is still stored in google cache.

[armageddon08]

ok.......I used remastersys to transfer my hdd install to dvd. Now, I can boot off the dvd and install the system very well. After installation when I can't boot into Ubuntu. It says..

Grub Loading
Stage1.5
Error15

What does this mean?

In my original system I had a custom grub splash image installed. Is that causing any problem?

[DemonBob]

For those of you making your own distro.

You can edit /etc/lsb_release to edit distro information, version number and stuff.

DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=8.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=intrepid
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu intrepid (development branch)"

[chris4585]

hey I've been continuously building onto my rootfs and recreating iso's etc..
but There's been a update with these packages:

linux-headers-2.6.24-19 linux-headers-2.6.24-19-generic
linux-image-2.6.24-19-generic linux-libc-dev

I'm not sure what I'd have to do to update my CD dir.. I don't want to screw up my cd dir

Also I've tried to change my user@host but editing the /etc/casper.conf didnt work

here's the contents of the file:

# This file should go in /etc/casper.conf
# Supported variables are:
# USERNAME, USERFULLNAME, HOST, BUILD_SYSTEM

export USERNAME="open"
export USERFULLNAME="Live session user"
export HOST="box"
export BUILD_SYSTEM="Ubuntu"

EDIT: wouldnt I just delete my CD dir and recreate it completely? If so I think that'd be easier

[capink]

I'm not sure what I'd have to do to update my CD dir.. I don't want to screw up my cd dir

You just chroot into your CD dir and apply the updates. Before doing so you will have to set the enviroment:

export WORK=~/work
export CD=~/cd
export FORMAT=squashfs
export FS_DIR=casper

sudo mount -o bind /dev/ ${WORK}/rootfs/dev

sudo mount -t proc proc ${WORK}/rootfs/proc

sudo chroot ${WORK}/rootfs /bin/bash

Commands in Blue are done within a chroot.

LANG=

apt-get update

apt-get upgrade

exit

sudo umount ${WORK}/rootfs/proc

sudo umount ${WORK}/rootfs/sys

sudo umount ${WORK}/rootfs/dev

Also I've tried to change my user@host but editing the /etc/casper.conf didnt work

here's the contents of the file:

I have never tried doing it but according to the man pages this should do it. make sure that you are changing the casper.conf file in the CD tree, not the one in your root partition.

Also there is another way to change the username in my previous post. You can check it.

EDIT: wouldnt I just delete my CD dir and recreate it completely? If so I think that'd be easier

Yes that would do it. But you don't have to because you can upgrade your cd tree as illustrated above.

[chris4585]

You just chroot into your CD dir and apply the updates. Before doing so you will have to set the enviroment:

export WORK=~/work
export CD=~/cd
export FORMAT=squashfs
export FS_DIR=casper

sudo mount -o bind /dev/ ${WORK}/rootfs/dev

sudo mount -t proc proc ${WORK}/rootfs/proc

sudo chroot ${WORK}/rootfs /bin/bash

Commands in Blue are done within a chroot.

LANG=

apt-get update

apt-get upgrade

exit

sudo umount ${WORK}/rootfs/proc

sudo umount ${WORK}/rootfs/sys

sudo umount ${WORK}/rootfs/dev

I have never tried doing it but according to the man pages this should do it. make sure that you are changing the casper.conf file in the CD tree, not the one in your root partition.

Also there is another way to change the username in my previous post. You can check it.





Yes that would do it. But you don't have to because you can upgrade your cd tree as illustrated above.

I think we got terms mixed up

Ok, what I meant by CD dir is /home/chris/CD/ not /home/chris/work/rootfs/

What I meant was do I need to change which kernel to boot from the /home/chris/CD/ as we create in the step D. Prepare The CD directory tree and E. Build the CD/DVD or does it even matter at all, because I had to install the same kernel on my host system and my grub did not change so is it just a update on the same kernel?

sorry for all the confusion

and if that isnt true then..

my simplist guess is just move my /home/chris/CD/ to somewhere else (just in case I need it) and recreate my CD tree, not my rootfs

I've tried editing /home/chris/work/rootfs/etc/casper.conf and made a ISO after words but the host and user did not update on the iso

I have never tried doing it but according to the man pages this should do it. make sure that you are changing the casper.conf file in the CD tree, not the one in your root partition.

So.. you mean /home/chris/work/rootfs/ ?

because in the CD tree /home/chris/CD/

here is what I have:

.
|-- boot
| |-- grub
| | |-- menu.lst
| | `-- stage2_eltorito
| |-- initrd.gz
| |-- memtest86+.bin
| `-- vmlinuz
|-- casper
| |-- filesystem.manifest
| |-- filesystem.manifest-desktop
| `-- filesystem.squashfs
`-- md5sum.txt

and I dont see casper.conf

Thanks for the help

[capink]

I think we got terms mixed up

Ok, what I meant by CD dir is /home/chris/CD/ not /home/chris/work/rootfs/

What I meant was do I need to change which kernel to boot from the /home/chris/CD/ as we create in the step D. Prepare The CD directory tree and E. Build the CD/DVD or does it even matter at all, because I had to install the same kernel on my host system and my grub did not change so is it just a update on the same kernel?

Actually you are right. If the updates have a new kernerl version you will have to repeat step D after the doing all the steps in my previous post. That is because the kernel in /home/chris/CD/boot must be the same version as the one in the squashfs. You will not have to edit grub menu.list because it does not refernce the kernel version (in step D the kernel is renamed to vmlinuz). And finally, you will also have to repeat step E.

sorry for all the confusion

and if that isnt true then..

my simplist guess is just move my /home/chris/CD/ to somewhere else (just in case I need it) and recreate my CD tree, not my rootfs

You will have to recreate both because as I pointed out earlier, the kernel on /home/chris/CD/boot must match the kernel in the squashfs.

I've tried editing /home/chris/work/rootfs/etc/casper.conf and made a ISO after words but the host and user did not update on the iso



So.. you mean /home/chris/work/rootfs/ ?

Yes I mean /home/chris/work/rootfs/. Sorry for the confusion, it was my mistake.