Re: Recovery NFS-root
"Russell Coker - mailing lists account" <bofh@coker.com.au> writes:
> I often have to install moderate numbers of Linux PCs for various clients. I
> don't install the base Debian system and then install packages because it's a
> time-consuming and error-prone process (this is no criticism of Debian, but I
> just can't remember the 1000 settings that go into a fully configured Linux
> server). So I have an archive that's ~40meg (about 100meg uncompressed) of a
> complete system that I just dump onto a computer via FTP.
I did similar for Eagle Linux m68k. It has a life file system on CD
and a complete base.tgz. One can boot completly (with a ram disk) from
CD rom to eigther install the system or repair it. A complete
installation thus takes only about 15 minutes.
> I've setup a 29meg set of files that I mount via NFSroot to allow me
> to install the afore-mentioned archive. This NFSroot setup has all
> the basic utility programs that I may need to install and configure
> a system, including the full networking setup and ssh (I sometimes
> want to talk a client through the installation and then possibly
> take over through the 'net). While this NFSroot setup is far from
> complete, I believe that it has the promise of being useful to other
> people (maybe it doesn't delong in the Debian distribution proper,
> but I think that if I stick it on an anon-FTP site it'll get
> downloaded), so I'd like to distribute it in an appropriate way.
> What would you suggest? Is there any conveniant way of making tar
> archive of a root fs from a bunch of .deb files?
I think its a bad idea to release this in binary form. The Package
would be quite big (~50 MB packed) and would change every time some
base Package is changed (or it would be outdated). Since its intended
for pools (i.e. not single machines) we can be sure that at least the
server is installed. A Package that builds the nfs root from an
existing system could be quite small and can be run easily by the user
every time the base is updated. The Package should provide mechanisms
to include additional files, exclude certain files from the root and
exchange some files with different Versions.
May the Source be with you.
Mrvn
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