live-helper(7)
NAME
live-helper - the Debian Live tool suite
SYNOPSIS
lh COMMAND [-h|--help] [-u|--usage] [-v|--version] [--breakpoints] [--conffile] [--debug] [--force] [--quiet] [--verbose] or lh_COMMAND [-h|--help] [-u|--usage] [-v|--version] [--breakpoints] [--conffile] [--debug] [--force] [--quiet] [--verbose]
DESCRIPTION
live-helper is a set of scripts to build Debian Live system images. The
idea behind live-helper is a framework 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-helper command (see below).
More documentation about how to use live-helper is available in the individual manpages for each helper and in the manual at <http://live.debian.net/manual/>.
OPTIONS
- Shared live-helper options
- The following command line options are supported by all live-helper programs.
- -h, --help
display help and exit.
- -u, --usage
show usage and exit.
- -v, --version
output version information and exit.
- Common live-helper options
- The following command line options are supported by most live-helper 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.
- If a program's name starts with "lh_", and the program is not on the list below list, then it is not part of the live-helper package, but it should still work like the other programs described on this page.
LIVE-HELPER COMMANDS
We divide live-helper into high level ("porcelain") commands and low
level ("plumbing") commands.
Here is the complete list of all available live-helper 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
- lh_config(1)
create configuration for live-helper
- lh_bootstrap(1)
create the first stage by bootstrapping a basic debian system
- lh_chroot(1)
create the second stage by customizing the chroot
- lh_binary(1)
create the third stage by generating a binary image
- lh_source(1)
create the optional fourth stage by generating a source image
- lh_clean(1)
clean up system build directories
- Ancillary Commands
- lh(1)
generic live-helper wrapper
- lh_build(1)
alias for all stages
- lh_local(1)
helper for using a local live-helper
- lh_testroot(1)
ensure that a system is built as root
LOW-LEVEL COMMANDS (PLUMBING)
The actual work of live-helper 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-helper 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 commands
- lh_bootstrap_cache(1)
cache bootstrap stage
- lh_bootstrap_cdebootstrap(1)
bootstrap a Debian system with cdebootstrap(1)
- lh_bootstrap_copy(1)
bootstrap by copying the host system
- lh_bootstrap_debootstrap(1)
bootstrap a Debian system with debootstrap(8)
- Chroot commands
- lh_chroot_apt(1)
manage /etc/apt/apt.conf
- lh_chroot_cache(1)
cache chroot stage
- lh_chroot_debianchroot(1)
manage /etc/debian_chroot
- lh_chroot_devpts(1)
mount /dev/pts
- lh_chroot_dpkg(1)
manage /sbin/dpkg
- lh_chroot_hacks(1)
execute hacks in chroot
- lh_chroot_hooks(1)
execute hooks in chroot
- lh_chroot_hostname(1)
manage /bin/hostname
- lh_chroot_hosts(1)
manage /etc/hosts
- lh_chroot_install-packages(1)
install queued packages into chroot
- lh_chroot_interactive(1)
make build interactive
- lh_chroot_linux-image(1)
manage /etc/kernel-img.conf
- lh_chroot_local-hooks(1)
execute local hooks in chroot
- lh_chroot_local-includes(1)
copy local files into chroot
- lh_chroot_localization(1)
install localization packages into chroot
- lh_chroot_local-packages(1)
queue install of local packages into chroot
- lh_chroot_local-patches(1)
apply local patches against chroot
- lh_chroot_local-preseed(1)
use debconf local preseeding file
- lh_chroot_packages(1)
queue install of packages into chroot
- lh_chroot_packageslists(1)
queue install of packages lists into chroot
- lh_chroot_preseed(1)
use debconf preseeding file
- lh_chroot_proc(1)
mount /proc
- lh_chroot_resolv(1)
manage /etc/resolv.conf
- lh_chroot_selinuxfs(1)
mount /selinux
- lh_chroot_sources(1)
manage /etc/apt/sources.list
- lh_chroot_symlinks(1)
convert symlinks
- lh_chroot_sysfs(1)
mount /sys
- lh_chroot_sysvinit(1)
configure sysvinit
- lh_chroot_sysv-rc(1)
manage /usr/sbin/policy-rc.d
- lh_chroot_tasks(1)
install tasks into chroot
- Binary commands
- lh_binary_chroot(1)
copy chroot into chroot
- lh_binary_debian-installer(1)
install debian-installer into binary
- lh_binary_disk(1)
install disk information into binary
- lh_binary_encryption(1)
encrypts rootfs
- lh_binary_grub(1)
installs grub into binary
- lh_binary_includes(1)
copy files into binary
- lh_binary_iso(1)
build iso binary image
- lh_binary_linux-image(1)
install linux-image into binary
- lh_binary_local-hooks(1)
execute local hooks in binary
- lh_binary_local-includes(1)
copy files into binary
- lh_binary_local-packageslists(1)
install local packages lists into binary
- lh_binary_manifest(1)
create manifest
- lh_binary_md5sum(1)
create binary md5sums
- lh_binary_memtest(1)
installs a memtest into binary
- lh_binary_net(1)
build netboot binary image
- lh_binary_rootfs(1)
build rootfs image
- lh_binary_silo(1)
installs silo into binary
- lh_binary_syslinux(1)
installs syslinux into binary
- lh_binary_tar(1)
build harddisk binary image
- lh_binary_usb-hdd(1)
build binary usb-hdd image
- lh_binary_win32-loader(1)
installs win32-loader into binary
- lh_binary_yaboot(1)
installs yaboot into binary
- Source commands
- lh_source_debian(1)
download sources
- lh_source_debian-live(1)
copy debian-live config into source
- lh_source_disk(1)
install disk information into source
- lh_source_iso(1)
build iso source image
- lh_source_md5sum(1)
create source md5sum
- lh_source_net(1)
build source net image
- lh_source_tar(1)
build source tarball
- lh_source_usb-hdd(1)
build source usb-hdd image
CONFIG FILES
Many live-helper 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-helper commands, some additional files can be used to configure the behavior of specific live-helper 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, lh_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-helper use pairs of values or slightly more complicated variable
assignments.
Note that live-helper 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-helper 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-helper
program. That means they have to follow the normal shell syntax. You
can also put comments in these files; lines beginning with "#" are
ignored.
SEE ALSO
HOMEPAGE
More information about live-helper and the Debian Live project can be found in the homepage at <http://debian-live.alioth.debian.org/> and in the manual at <http://live.debian.net/manual/>.
BUGS
Report bugs by submitting a bugreport for the live-helper package in the Debian Bug Tracking System at <http://bugs.debian.org/> or write a mail to the mailinglist at <debian-live@lists.debian.org>.
AUTHOR
- live-helper was written by Daniel Baumann <daniel@debian.org> for the
Debian project.