built debian-live iso using Version: 2.0~a16-1, but cannot login when booting from the corresponding burnt DVD

["Alan W. Irwin" <irwin@beluga.phys.uvic.ca>]

Today I tried building a debian live iso for the first time.  (The idea is
to check out the problematic debian testing Intel X stack on my debian lenny
desktop production computer before doing a permanent install of debian
testing on that computer).

The iso appeared to be generated without obvious errors.  When I burn that
iso to a dvd, boot with that dvd, and use the live menu item the boot
messages that roar by look okay to me with no obvious errors. kdm comes up
with a window giving me an opportunity to login. (which is a quick check
that my X configuration is fine).  However, the documented default username
and password of "user" and "live" do not work. ctrl-ALT-F1 puts me in a
console, but I also cannot login there with that combination of username and
password.  So I am completely stuck as to how to use the iso and
corresponding DVD that I have generated!

If Version: 2.0~a16-1 of live-helper has a different default username or
password than what is documented ("user" and "live") please let me know.

Here are some urther details of the build process if there is no trivial
answer to the username and password question:

My system is debian lenny, but I couldn't get lh_build to work for that
really old version of live-helper.  (If anybody wants details of that
failure , I can give them.) I therefore built and installed the sid version
using the appropriate apt-src commands and dpkg --install for

po4a
debhelper
live-helper

in that order as required by the build dependencies.  There were no obvious
errors in any of the builds or installs, and the following command
gives the expected result:

dpkg --status live-helper |grep Version
Version: 2.0~a16-1

In a fresh directory, I have invoked the live build process as follows:

lh config -b iso -a amd64 -p kde \
--debian-installer-distribution daily \
--distribution sid \
--mirror-bootstrap "http://mirrors.kernel.org/debian/"; \
--mirror-chroot "http://mirrors.kernel.org/debian/"; \
--bootstrap-flavour minimal \
--debian-installer live

I also followed a recommendation in the FAQ and did the following:

mkdir -p config/chroot_local-includes/usr/bin
cp dexconf config/chroot_local-includes/usr/bin

where dexconf is the debian lenny version of that script which I
have modified to generate (I have tested this) a correct xorg.conf
for my particular monitor and video card (intel g33 chipset integrated
graphics).

I am completely new to building live iso's, so the above parameters are what
I inferred from reading the documentation but may need improvement.  My goal
is to build a KDE Live! version which I can later install to disk if I
like the result.  I also want to use the mirrors.kernel.org/debian/ mirror
when putting the iso together. I am assuming that the use of
"--debian-installer-distribution daily" is the correct thing to do to get
the latest installer (once I am ready to use that to install to disk).

IF anybody has suggestions for improvements in realizing those goals,
I would be happy to try them.

After the above command, I ran (as root)

lh build >& lh_build.out

(The compressed version of that output file is 55K if anybody would
like me to send it to them.)

There were no obvious errors in that output file, and a binary.iso file was
generated which I could mount loopback, and which I could burn to DVD using
k3b (which verified the overall checksum in the burnt DVD).  I also mounted
that burnt DVD, cd'ed to the top-level directory, and used the following
command to verify the individual files.

md5sum -c md5sum.txt |grep -v ': OK'

(I also did the same when the iso file was mounted loopback.)

So all seems well except that when I boot with that DVD
and hit the live menu item, kdm nor console let me login
with the default username/password.

Note, I have never used a live DVD before so if there is some test
you would like me to do when booting from that DVD, you should be pretty
explicit about the exact commands you want me to run.

Alan
__________________________
Alan W. Irwin

Astronomical research affiliation with Department of Physics and Astronomy,
University of Victoria (astrowww.phys.uvic.ca).

Programming affiliations with the FreeEOS equation-of-state implementation
for stellar interiors (freeeos.sf.net); PLplot scientific plotting software
package (plplot.org); the libLASi project (unifont.org/lasi); the Loads of
Linux Links project (loll.sf.net); and the Linux Brochure Project
(lbproject.sf.net).
__________________________

Linux-powered Science
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