Running LiveCD from network?

[Chris Adams]

I have a PXE boot environment set up for installing Fedora/RHEL.  Has
anyone looked at making the LiveCD loadable from the network?  If not,
are there any pointers that might help?

[Cain, Brian (GE Healthcare)]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [e-mail] 
> [mailto:[e-mail]] On Behalf Of 
> Chris Adams
> Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 9:33 AM
> To: [e-mail]
> Subject: [Fedora-livecd-list] Running LiveCD from network?
>
> I have a PXE boot environment set up for installing Fedora/RHEL.  Has
> anyone looked at making the LiveCD loadable from the network?  If not,
> are there any pointers that might help?

Mohammed Khan did some work a while back.  I wasn't able to get it to
work (failed at the pivot root), but I dig very deep on it.  It works
for him, so it's worth looking at.

https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-livecd-list/2007-June/msg00021.ht
ml

-Brian

[Jerry Vonau]

Cain, Brian (GE Healthcare) wrote:
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: [e-mail] 
> > [mailto:[e-mail]] On Behalf Of 
> > Chris Adams
> > Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 9:33 AM
> > To: [e-mail]
> > Subject: [Fedora-livecd-list] Running LiveCD from network?
> >
> > I have a PXE boot environment set up for installing Fedora/RHEL.  Has
> > anyone looked at making the LiveCD loadable from the network?  If not,
> > are there any pointers that might help?
>
> Mohammed Khan did some work a while back.  I wasn't able to get it to
> work (failed at the pivot root), but I dig very deep on it.  It works
> for him, so it's worth looking at.
>
> https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-livecd-list/2007-June/msg00021.ht
> ml
>
> -Brian
>
> --
> Fedora-livecd-list mailing list
> [e-mail]
> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-livecd-list

I'm happy someone else thinks like me. I posted to the anaconda list, a 
hack using nsf as the storage point for the live image, but that only 
did an install.(July/Aug 07). If that is what you want, it works. I'm 
currently playing around with anaconda's loader to see if I can get that 
to run the livecd, seems to me like a good starting point, with a gui 
for dmc's persistent work. With anaconda's hardware detection, I'm 
hoping to make a portable persistent live-usb disk. I've been (very) 
slowly porting the livecd's initrd parts to C code for anaconda's 
loader. I've got a mix of shell and C that currently can mount the 
livecd, and use that in place of the stage2.img file. (boy is it hard to 
keep up with some of the changes going on) Next is to get the run-init 
part to work without freaking out anaconda. Any interested?

Jerry

[Jeremy Katz]

On Mon, 2008-01-28 at 10:59 -0600, Jerry Vonau wrote:
> Cain, Brian (GE Healthcare) wrote:
> > > I have a PXE boot environment set up for installing Fedora/RHEL.  Has
> > > anyone looked at making the LiveCD loadable from the network?  If not,
> > > are there any pointers that might help?
> >
> > Mohammed Khan did some work a while back.  I wasn't able to get it to
> > work (failed at the pivot root), but I dig very deep on it.  It works
> > for him, so it's worth looking at.
> >
> > https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-livecd-list/2007-June/msg00021.ht
> > ml
>
> I'm happy someone else thinks like me. I posted to the anaconda list, a 
> hack using nsf as the storage point for the live image, but that only 
> did an install.(July/Aug 07). If that is what you want, it works. I'm 
> currently playing around with anaconda's loader to see if I can get that 
> to run the livecd, seems to me like a good starting point, with a gui 
> for dmc's persistent work. With anaconda's hardware detection, I'm 
> hoping to make a portable persistent live-usb disk. I've been (very) 
> slowly porting the livecd's initrd parts to C code for anaconda's 
> loader. I've got a mix of shell and C that currently can mount the 
> livecd, and use that in place of the stage2.img file. (boy is it hard to 
> keep up with some of the changes going on) Next is to get the run-init 
> part to work without freaking out anaconda. Any interested?

Rather than hijacking anaconda pieces (and the doom that is the anaconda
initrd), the better approach is probably to get to where we can use the
standard mkinitrd pieces to build the live initrd.  This likely is going
to involve switching the initrd over to using bash as opposed to nash as
its interpreter.  I started some work in this area, but realistically,
it's going to take some large-ish changes.

Jeremy

[Jerry Vonau]

Jeremy Katz wrote:
> On Mon, 2008-01-28 at 10:59 -0600, Jerry Vonau wrote:
> > Cain, Brian (GE Healthcare) wrote:
> > > > I have a PXE boot environment set up for installing Fedora/RHEL.  Has
> > > > anyone looked at making the LiveCD loadable from the network?  If not,
> > > > are there any pointers that might help?
> > >
> > > Mohammed Khan did some work a while back.  I wasn't able to get it to
> > > work (failed at the pivot root), but I dig very deep on it.  It works
> > > for him, so it's worth looking at.
> > >
> > > https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-livecd-list/2007-June/msg00021.ht
> > > ml
> >
> > I'm happy someone else thinks like me. I posted to the anaconda list, a 
> > hack using nsf as the storage point for the live image, but that only 
> > did an install.(July/Aug 07). If that is what you want, it works. I'm 
> > currently playing around with anaconda's loader to see if I can get that 
> > to run the livecd, seems to me like a good starting point, with a gui 
> > for dmc's persistent work. With anaconda's hardware detection, I'm 
> > hoping to make a portable persistent live-usb disk. I've been (very) 
> > slowly porting the livecd's initrd parts to C code for anaconda's 
> > loader. I've got a mix of shell and C that currently can mount the 
> > livecd, and use that in place of the stage2.img file. (boy is it hard to 
> > keep up with some of the changes going on) Next is to get the run-init 
> > part to work without freaking out anaconda. Any interested?
>
> Rather than hijacking anaconda pieces (and the doom that is the anaconda
> initrd), the better approach is probably to get to where we can use the
> standard mkinitrd pieces to build the live initrd.  This likely is going
> to involve switching the initrd over to using bash as opposed to nash as
> its interpreter.  I started some work in this area, but realistically,
> it's going to take some large-ish changes.

But I like anaconda's initrd, ;-) Cool, that is a whole pile less 
convoluted that playing in C, looking forward to your progress. Got an 
svn sandbox somewhere?

Jerry

[Jeremy Katz]

On Mon, 2008-01-28 at 13:05 -0600, Jerry Vonau wrote:
> Jeremy Katz wrote:
> > On Mon, 2008-01-28 at 10:59 -0600, Jerry Vonau wrote:
> > > Cain, Brian (GE Healthcare) wrote:
> > > > > I have a PXE boot environment set up for installing Fedora/RHEL.  Has
> > > > > anyone looked at making the LiveCD loadable from the network?  If not,
> > > > > are there any pointers that might help?
> > > >
> > > > Mohammed Khan did some work a while back.  I wasn't able to get it to
> > > > work (failed at the pivot root), but I dig very deep on it.  It works
> > > > for him, so it's worth looking at.
> > > >
> > > > https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-livecd-list/2007-June/msg00021.ht
> > > > ml
> > >
> > > I'm happy someone else thinks like me. I posted to the anaconda list, a 
> > > hack using nsf as the storage point for the live image, but that only 
> > > did an install.(July/Aug 07). If that is what you want, it works. I'm 
> > > currently playing around with anaconda's loader to see if I can get that 
> > > to run the livecd, seems to me like a good starting point, with a gui 
> > > for dmc's persistent work. With anaconda's hardware detection, I'm 
> > > hoping to make a portable persistent live-usb disk. I've been (very) 
> > > slowly porting the livecd's initrd parts to C code for anaconda's 
> > > loader. I've got a mix of shell and C that currently can mount the 
> > > livecd, and use that in place of the stage2.img file. (boy is it hard to 
> > > keep up with some of the changes going on) Next is to get the run-init 
> > > part to work without freaking out anaconda. Any interested?
> >
> > Rather than hijacking anaconda pieces (and the doom that is the anaconda
> > initrd), the better approach is probably to get to where we can use the
> > standard mkinitrd pieces to build the live initrd.  This likely is going
> > to involve switching the initrd over to using bash as opposed to nash as
> > its interpreter.  I started some work in this area, but realistically,
> > it's going to take some large-ish changes.
>
> But I like anaconda's initrd, ;-) Cool, that is a whole pile less 
> convoluted that playing in C, looking forward to your progress. Got an 
> svn sandbox somewhere?

What I had is pretty out of date, but should be clonable from
http://katzj.fedorapeople.org/git/mkinitrd.git iirc.

Jeremy

My patches still work on Fedora 7 (including latest livecd-tools from 7
updates). We do builds almost every week w/ pxe-based boots of the
live"cd".

I have not tried to see what the delta is if any in Fedora 8.

Please let me know if there is interest... I will be happy to look at
getting the patches to work w/ Fedora 8.

Also, I had to make minor tweaks to make patches work w/ Fedora 7's
updated livecd-tools package.. I can post the updated patches here if
anyone is interested.

Thanks,

MFK
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [e-mail]

[mailto:fedora-livecd-list-
> [e-mail]] On Behalf Of Jeremy Katz
> Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 2:20 PM
> To: [e-mail]
> Subject: Re: [Fedora-livecd-list] Running LiveCD from network?
>
> On Mon, 2008-01-28 at 13:05 -0600, Jerry Vonau wrote:
> > Jeremy Katz wrote:
> > > On Mon, 2008-01-28 at 10:59 -0600, Jerry Vonau wrote:
> > > > Cain, Brian (GE Healthcare) wrote:
> > > > > > I have a PXE boot environment set up for installing

Fedora/RHEL.
> Has
> > > > > > anyone looked at making the LiveCD loadable from the network?
>
> If not,
> > > > > > are there any pointers that might help?
> > > > >
> > > > > Mohammed Khan did some work a while back.  I wasn't able to get
>
> it to
> > > > > work (failed at the pivot root), but I dig very deep on it.  It
>
> works
> > > > > for him, so it's worth looking at.
> > > > >
> > > > > https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-livecd-list/2007-
>
> June/msg00021.ht
> > > > > ml
> > > >
> > > > I'm happy someone else thinks like me. I posted to the anaconda
>
> list, a
> > > > hack using nsf as the storage point for the live image, but that
>
> only
> > > > did an install.(July/Aug 07). If that is what you want, it works.
>
> I'm
> > > > currently playing around with anaconda's loader to see if I can
>
> get that
> > > > to run the livecd, seems to me like a good starting point, with a
>
> gui
> > > > for dmc's persistent work. With anaconda's hardware detection,

I'm
> > > > hoping to make a portable persistent live-usb disk. I've been
>
> (very)
> > > > slowly porting the livecd's initrd parts to C code for anaconda's
> > > > loader. I've got a mix of shell and C that currently can mount

the
> > > > livecd, and use that in place of the stage2.img file. (boy is it
>
> hard to
> > > > keep up with some of the changes going on) Next is to get the

run-
> init
> > > > part to work without freaking out anaconda. Any interested?
> > >
> > > Rather than hijacking anaconda pieces (and the doom that is the
>
> anaconda
> > > initrd), the better approach is probably to get to where we can

use
> the
> > > standard mkinitrd pieces to build the live initrd.  This likely is
>
> going
> > > to involve switching the initrd over to using bash as opposed to
>
> nash as
> > > its interpreter.  I started some work in this area, but
>
> realistically,
> > > it's going to take some large-ish changes.
> >
> > But I like anaconda's initrd, ;-) Cool, that is a whole pile less
> > convoluted that playing in C, looking forward to your progress. Got
>
> an
> > svn sandbox somewhere?
>
> What I had is pretty out of date, but should be clonable from
> http://katzj.fedorapeople.org/git/mkinitrd.git iirc.
>
> Jeremy
>
> --
> Fedora-livecd-list mailing list
> [e-mail]
> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-livecd-list

[Chris Adams]

Once upon a time, Jeremy Katz  said:
> Rather than hijacking anaconda pieces (and the doom that is the anaconda
> initrd), the better approach is probably to get to where we can use the
> standard mkinitrd pieces to build the live initrd.  This likely is going
> to involve switching the initrd over to using bash as opposed to nash as
> its interpreter.  I started some work in this area, but realistically,
> it's going to take some large-ish changes.

Do you mean changing the standard mkinitrd-generated images to use bash
instead of nash, or using nash for the livecd init?

[Jeremy Katz]

On Mon, 2008-01-28 at 19:10 -0600, Chris Adams wrote:
> Once upon a time, Jeremy Katz  said:
> > Rather than hijacking anaconda pieces (and the doom that is the anaconda
> > initrd), the better approach is probably to get to where we can use the
> > standard mkinitrd pieces to build the live initrd.  This likely is going
> > to involve switching the initrd over to using bash as opposed to nash as
> > its interpreter.  I started some work in this area, but realistically,
> > it's going to take some large-ish changes.
>
> Do you mean changing the standard mkinitrd-generated images to use bash
> instead of nash, or using nash for the livecd init?

More the former... but sort of both :)

Jeremy