path: root/febootstrap.pod

=head1 NAME

febootstrap - Bootstrap a basic Fedora system (like Debian debootstrap)

=head1 SYNOPSIS

 febootstrap [--options] REPO TARGET [MIRROR]

=head1 EXAMPLES

 febootstrap fedora-10 /tmp/f10
 febootstrap rawhide /tmp/rawhide
 febootstrap rawhide /tmp/rawhide http://mymirror/rawhide/x86_64/os
 febootstrap --groupinstall="Mail Server" fedora-10 /tmp/mailserver

=head1 DESCRIPTION

febootstrap creates a Fedora root filesystem, based on the Fedora
version specified by I<REPO> under the directory specified by
I<TARGET>.  Optionally I<MIRROR> can point to a local mirror
(otherwise the public Fedora mirrors are used).  I<REPO> names are
C<fedora-I<VERSION>> (eg. C<fedora-10>) or C<rawhide>.

febootstrap does I<not> need to be run as root.  If for some reason
you do run it as root, then it works slightly differently and may have
side effects such as stopping or starting system daemons.

For more advanced needs, take a look at L<mock(1)>, C<livecd-creator>
and I<thincrust.net>'s C<appliance-creator>.

The normal output is a root directory located at I<TARGET> and
a fakeroot logfile at C<I<TARGET>/fakeroot.log>.

=head1 OPTIONS

=over 4

=item B<-i package>

=item B<--install=package>

=item B<-g "group">

=item B<--groupinstall="group">

Specify the package or group to install.  To list multiple packages or
groups, you must give multiple C<-i> or C<-g> options.  Group names
can contain spaces, so use quotes where necessary.

These are passed directly to C<yum install> or C<yum groupinstall>
commands, and thus any dependencies are also resolved by yum.  You can
also use shell globs and filenames here, as with ordinary yum.

If no packages or groups are given, then we install the C<Core> group
which is a small working Fedora installation (but by no means
minimal).  Use C<yum groupinfo Core> to list the packages currently in
the C<Core> group.

=item B<--no-clean>

Normally febootstrap will clean up the yum repository
(C</var/cache/yum> inside the image).  This contains the downloaded
RPMs and metadata.  However if you give the C<--no-clean> option, then
the yum repository is left.  This is useful if you want to run further
yum commands inside the filesystem by hand.

=back

=head1 REPOSITORIES

You can list available repositories by visiting this URL:

L<http://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/mirrorlist?repo=help&arch=i386>

(If necessary replace C<i386> with your architecture, but it seems
unlikely that this list will change based on architecture).

=head1 FAKEROOT LOGFILE

When febootstrap is run as non-root (the normal case) we use fakeroot
so that yum thinks it is running as root.  Fakeroot keeps track of
"real" file permissions in a log file which is saved into the target
directory as C<I<TARGET>/fakeroot.log>.

You can use the fakeroot logfile in a number of ways:

=over 4

=item *

Run

 fakeroot -i fakeroot.log command

in order to run a command with the faked file permissions.  If the
command will make updates, then do:

 fakeroot -i fakeroot.log -s fakeroot.log command

=item *

Generate an initramfs (compressed cpio) file containing the correct
permissions using the tool C<febootstrap-to-initramfs>.

=item *

Apply the permissions to the target directory using the forthcoming
tool C<febootstrap-fix-root> (requires root).

=back

=head1 COMPARISON TO debootstrap

febootstrap cannot do cross-architecture installs (C<debootstrap
--foreign>).  The reason is that C<%pre> and C<%post> scripts cannot
run.  It may be possible to defer running of scriptlets (which is
basically how debootstrap works), and patches to do this are welcomed.

febootstrap cannot do 32-on-64 bit installs.  The reason is that
fakeroot and fakechroot do not load the correct preload library.  This
is really a bug in fakeroot/fakechroot, which we think would be easy
to fix.  (debootstrap deals with this case the same as for
C<--foreign> installs - see previous point).

=head1 OTHER RESTRICTIONS AND BUGS

Some C<%post> scripts do not run correctly.  The most common case is
C</sbin/ldconfig>.  Since this binary is statically linked, fakeroot
and fakechroot's LD_PRELOAD hack does not work, so effectively
ldconfig tries to update the system cache.  You will see the following
error:

 /sbin/ldconfig: Can't create temporary cache file /etc/ld.so.cache~: Permission denied

This error is mostly harmless.  Just run C</sbin/ldconfig> the first
time you boot into the newly created Fedora system.

Another error you will see is with C</usr/sbin/glibc_post_upgrade>
which is caused for the same reason - this binary is statically
linked.  We have examined what this binary does, and it is not really
necessary for installs.  If it makes you happier, you can run it the
first time you boot the new system.

febootstrap recreates the repository anew each time, and this causes
yum to download all the RPMs every time.  This is very wasteful, and
we should provide a way to cache the repository.

=head1 HOME PAGE

L<http://et.redhat.com/~rjones/febootstrap>

=head1 SEE ALSO

L<febootstrap-to-initramfs(8)>,
L<febootstrap-minimize(8)>,
L<fakeroot(1)>,
L<fakechroot(1)>,
L<yum(8)>,
L<rpm(8)>.

=head1 ALTERNATIVES

L<mock(1)>,
L<http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FedoraLiveCD/LiveCDHowTo>,
L<http://thincrust.net/>,
L<debootstrap(8)>,
C<ubuntu-vm-builder>.

=head1 AUTHORS

Richard W.M. Jones <rjones @ redhat . com>

=head1 COPYRIGHT

(C) Copyright 2009 Red Hat Inc.,
L<http://et.redhat.com/~rjones/febootstrap>.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.