booting livecd ISO files and livecd-iso-to-disk.sh

[Joe Boyle]

Hi all,

I've been digging into the problem of trying to book livecd ISO images
directly using GRUB2.  I understand that this isn't intended to work "out
of the box" given the existence of the livecd-iso-to-disk script.  However,
I'm hoping to skip writing ISO contents to a partition. I don't understand
the obstacles yet, but I'm willing to contribute to finding a solution.

So, Is there a reason the livecds created by livecd creator could not be
extended to support a more sophisticated initrd/initramfs which was able to:

a) locate and mount the HDD partition containing the ISO,
b) loopback mount the ISO,
c) set the root and continue booting?

Is livecd-iso-to-disk a temporary workaround or is this the intended
endgame for booting ISOs?

I've experimented some with dracut and mkinitramfs in an effort to better
learn the available alternatives but haven't successfully hacked a
livecd-creator ISO into booting.  Currently, my problem is that my
initrd/initramfs/dracut images and corresponding kernels all fail to bring
up the /dev entries for my HDD devices.  Even with an emergency shell, I
cannot locate the ISO image.

Any/all input would be appreciated.

Sincerely,
Joe