Bug#618000: Support for ISO files in loopback
On 2011-03-13 10:55, Nicolas George wrote:
> GRUB 2 has a "loopback" driver that allows it to read files in ISO 9660
> images stored in a file. Using this feature, it is possible to make an USB
> stick bootable and install several live systems on it by simply copying the
> ISO file. But this requires some cooperation from the initrd: it must find
> the relevant ISO file and mount it in loopback.
>
> Casper-based CDs have support for this mechanism if they get
> "iso-scan/filename=/path/to/file.iso" on the kernel command line.
>
> GRML live CDs go a little further, since they have a
> "/boot/grub/loopback.cfg" with a complete GRUB 2 configuration.
>
> Support for booting from a loopback ISO image would be nice in
> debian-installer too.
I'd also very much like to see this. In the age of cheap large flash
drives, being able to boot various ISO images from a single stick is
much more economical and convenient than the one-ISO-per-stick approach
of the hybrid ISO images.
For example, I have a single 32GB USB stick where I can currently boot
the regular installers of GRML, System Rescue CD, Ubuntu, etc., except
Debian.
My workaround currently is to additionally download the kernel/initrd
from hd-media which then proceed to find the ISO, but that's an extra
two steps and you don't get the "fancy" boot menu provided by the Hybrid
ISO installer (with all the extra options such as Expert Install, Rescue
mode, etc.)
>
> As far as I know, it would only require, when looking for installation
> media, to scan the kernel command line for an option specifying a filesystem
> and a file, mount that filesystem and setup that file to loopback.
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