Manpages

NAME

live-build - the live systems tool suite

SYNOPSIS

lb COMMAND [-h|--help] [-u|--usage] [-v|--version] [--breakpoints] [--conffile] [--debug] [--force] [--quiet] [--verbose]

DESCRIPTION

live-build is a set of scripts to build live system images. The idea behind live-build is a tool suite that uses a configuration directory to completely automate and customize all aspects of building a Live image.

The COMMAND is a name of a live-build command (see below).

More documentation about how to use live-build is available in the individual manpages for each helper and in the manual at <https://live-team.pages.debian.net/live-manual/>.

OPTIONS

Shared live-build options
The following command line options are supported by all live-build programs.
-h, --help

display help and exit.

-u, --usage

show usage and exit.

-v, --version

output version information and exit.

Common live-build options
The following command line options are supported by most live-build programs. See the man page of each program for a complete explanation of what each option does.
--breakpoints

run with breakpoints.

--conffile

use custom configuration file.

--debug

show debug information.

--force

force helper execution, even if stage file exists.

--quiet

be quiet.

--verbose

be verbose.

LIVE-BUILD COMMANDS

We divide live-build into high level ("porcelain") commands and low level ("plumbing") commands.

Here is the complete list of all available live-build commands. See their man pages for additional documentation.

HIGH-LEVEL COMMANDS (PORCELAIN)

We separate the porcelain commands into the main commands and some ancillary user utilities.

Main porcelain commands
lb config(1)

creates configuration for live-build

lb bootstrap(1)

executes the first build stage, creating (bootstraping) a basic Debian root filesystem

lb chroot(1)

executes the second build stage, building the live OS filesystem

lb installer(1)

executes the third build stage, obtaining installer components (optional)

lb binary(1)

executes the fourth build stage, generating a binary image

lb source(1)

executes the fifth build stage, generating a source image (optional)

lb clean(1)

cleans up system build directories

Ancillary Commands
lb(1)

generic live-build script execution wrapper

lb build(1)

alias for all build stages

LOW-LEVEL COMMANDS (PLUMBING) - BUILD STAGE COMPONENTS

The actual work of live-build is implemented in the low-level commands, called plumbing. They are not supposed to be used by end users, they should stick with porcelains as they ensure that all the different plumbing commands are executed in the right order. However, if you intend to reuse live-build commands in your own scripts, then the plumbings might be of interest for you.

Note that the interface (set of options and the semantics) to these low-level commands are meant to be a lot more stable than Porcelain level commands. The interface to Porcelain commands on the other hand are subject to change in order to improve the end user experience.

Bootstrap stage specific commands
lb bootstrap_archives(1)

applies apt archive configuration

lb bootstrap_cache(1)

in save mode, saves to cache a copy of the generated bootstrap directory, and in restore mode, restores from cache a previously generated copy

lb bootstrap_debootstrap(1)

creates (bootstrap) a basic Debian root filesystem using debootstrap(8)

Chroot stage specific commands
Note: The following chroot_ prefixed commands are used in building the live OS filesystem. Another set of similarly prefixed files are listed separately (see further down).
lb chroot_cache(1)

in save mode, saves to cache a copy of the chroot directory, and in restore mode, restores from cache a previously generated copy

lb chroot_firmware(1)

compiles a list of firmware packages to be installed in the live OS root filesystem

lb chroot_hacks(1)

executes local hacks against the live OS root filesystem, if any are provided

lb chroot_hooks(1)

executes local hooks against the live OS root filesystem, if any are provided

lb chroot_includes(1)

copies a set of local files from the config directory into the live OS root filesystem, if any are provided

lb chroot_install-packages(1)

installs into the live OS root filesystem any packages listed in local package lists

lb chroot_interactive(1)

pauses the build process and starts an interactive shell from the live OS root filesystem, providing an oportunity for manual modifications or testing; note that this is (currently) usually executed with several chroot prep modifications applied (see description of these further down)

lb chroot_linux-image(1)

compiles a list of kernel images to be installed in the live OS root filesystem

lb chroot_live-packages(1)

installs a set of live system specific packages to the live OS root filesystem

lb chroot_package-lists(1)

compiles a list of packages provided in the user´ local config to be installed in the live OS root filesystem

lb chroot_preseed(1)

installs pre-configured answers to certain install prompts into the live OS root filesystem

Installer stage specific commands
lb installer_debian-installer(1)

obtains and sets up Debian installer(d-i) components

lb installer_preseed(1)

installs pre-configured answers to certain install prompts

Binary stage specific commands
lb binary_checksums(1)

creates checksums (md5, sha1, and/or sha256) for live image content

lb binary_chroot(1)

duplicates the chroot directory, to place a copy of what whould be the completed live OS root filesystem to one side, allowing the original to continue to be used in executing certain parts of the remainder of the build process

lb binary_disk(1)

creates disk information files to be added to live image

lb binary_grub(1)

installs grub into live image to provide image boot capability

lb binary_grub2(1)

installs grub2 into live image to provide image boot capability

lb binary_hdd(1)

compiles the final live image into an hdd image file

lb binary_hooks(1)

executes local hooks against the live image, if any are provided

lb binary_includes(1)

copies a set of local files from the config directory into the live image, if any are provided

lb binary_iso(1)

compiles the final live image into an iso file

lb binary_linux-image(1)

copies the linux-image into the live image

lb binary_loadlin(1)

bundles a copy of loadlin into the live image

lb binary_manifest(1)

creates manifest of packages installed into live OS filesystem, and list of packages to be excluded by a persistence mechanism installing the live OS to disk

lb binary_memtest(1)

bundles a copy of memtest into the live image

lb binary_netboot(1)

compiles the final live image into a netboot tar archive

lb binary_package-lists(1)

processes local lists of packages to obtain and bundle into image (from which they could later be installed if not already)

lb binary_rootfs(1)

wraps up the completed live OS root filesystem into a virtual file system image

lb binary_syslinux(1)

installs syslinux into live image to provide image boot capability

lb binary_tar(1)

compiles the final live image into a tar archive

lb binary_win32-loader(1)

bundles a copy of win32-loader into the live image and creates an autorun.inf file

lb binary_zsync(1)

builds zsync control files

Source stage specific commands
lb source_checksums(1)

creates checksums (md5, sha1, and/or sha256) for source image content

lb source_debian(1)

downloads source packages for bundling into source image

lb source_disk(1)

creates disk information files to be added to source image

lb source_hdd(1)

compiles the final source image into an hdd image file

lb source_hooks(1)

executes local hooks against the source image, if any are provided

lb source_iso(1)

compiles the final source image into an iso file

lb source_live(1)

copies live-build config into source

lb source_tar(1)

compiles the final source image into a tar archive

LOW-LEVEL COMMANDS (PLUMBING) - CHROOT PREP COMPONENTS

The notes above under the section regarding build-stage specific low-level plumbing commands also apply here.

The following chroot_ prefixed commands are used throughout the various primary stages of the build process to apply and remove modifications to a chroot root filesystem. Generally these are used to apply modification that setup the chroot for use (execution of programs within it) during the build process, and later to remove those modification, unmounting things that were mounted, and making the chroot suitable for use as the root filesystem of the live OS to be bundled into the live image.
lb chroot_apt(1)

manages apt configuration; in apply mode it applies configuration for use during build process, and in remove mode removes that configuration

lb chroot_archives(1)

manages apt archive source lists; in apply mode it applies source list configurations suitable for use of the chroot in the build process, and in remove mode replaces that with a configuration suitable for the final live OS

lb chroot_debianchroot(1)

manages a /etc/debian_chroot file

lb chroot_devpts(1)

manages mounting of /dev/pts

lb chroot_dpkg(1)

manages dpkg; in apply mode disabling things like the start-stop-daemon, and in remove mode enabling them again

lb chroot_hostname(1)

manages the hostname configuration

lb chroot_hosts(1)

manages the /etc/hosts file

lb chroot_proc(1)

manages mounting of /proc

lb chroot_resolv(1)

manages configuration of the /etc/resolv.conf file

lb chroot_selinuxfs(1)

manages mounting of /sys/fs/selinux

lb chroot_sysfs(1)

manages mounting of /sys

lb chroot_sysv-rc(1)

manages the /usr/sbin/policy-rc.d file

lb chroot_tmpfs(1)

manages configuration of dpkg to use a tmpfs filesystem

lb chroot_upstart(1)

manages use of upstart /sbin/initctl program; in apply mode blocking execution through a dpkg diversion, and in remove mode enabling execution again

CONFIG FILES

Many live-build commands make use of files in the config/ directory to control what they do. Besides the common config/common, which is used by all live-build commands, some additional files can be used to configure the behavior of specific live-build commands. These files are typically named config/stage or config/stage_helper (where "stage" of course, is replaced with the name of the stage that they belong to, and "helper" with the name of the helper).

For example, lb bootstrap_debootstrap uses files named config/bootstrap and config/bootstrap_debootstrap to read the options it will use. See the man pages of individual commands for details about the names and formats of the files they use. Generally, these files contain variables with values assigned, one variable per line. Some programs in live-build use pairs of values or slightly more complicated variable assignments.

Note that live-build will respect environment variables which are present in the context of the shell it is running. If variables can be read from config files, then they override environment variables, and if command line options are used, they override values from config files. If no value for a given variable can be found and thus is unset, live-build will automatically set it to the default value.

In some rare cases, you may want to have different versions of these files for different architectures or distributions. If files named config/stage.arch or config/stage_helper.arch, and config/stage.dist or config/stage_helper.dist exist, where "arch" is the same as the output of "dpkg --print-architecture" and "dist" is the same as the codename of the target distribution, then they will be used in preference to other, more general files.

All config files are shell scripts which are sourced by a live-build program. That means they have to follow the normal shell syntax. You can also put comments in these files; lines beginning with "#" are ignored.

FILES

/etc/live/build.conf
/etc/live/build/*

SEE ALSO

live-boot(7)

live-config(7)

This program is a part of live-build.

HOMEPAGE

More information about live-build and the Live Systems project can be found on the homepage at <https://wiki.debian.org/DebianLive>.

BUGS

Bugs can be reported by submitting a bugreport for the live-build package in the Bug Tracking System at <http://bugs.debian.org/> or by writing a mail to the Live Systems mailing list at <debian-live [AT] lists.org>.

AUTHOR

live-build was written by Daniel Baumann <mail [AT] daniel-baumann.ch>.