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LIVE-BUILD(7) Live Systems Project LIVE-BUILD(7)

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 <http://live-systems.org/manual/>.

OPTIONS

Shared live-build options

The following command line options are supported by all live-build programs.

display help and exit.
show usage and exit.
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.

run with breakpoints.
use custom configuration file.
show debug information.
force helper execution, even if stage file exists.
be quiet.
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)
create configuration for live-build
lb_bootstrap(1)
create the first stage by bootstrapping a basic debian system
lb_chroot(1)
create the second stage by customizing the chroot
lb_binary(1)
create the third stage by generating a binary image
lb_source(1)
create the optional fourth stage by generating a source image
lb_clean(1)
clean up system build directories

Ancillary Commands

lb(1)
generic live-build wrapper
lb_build(1)
alias for all stages
helper for using a local live-build
ensure that a system is built as root

LOW-LEVEL COMMANDS (PLUMBING)

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 commands

cache bootstrap stage
bootstrap a Debian system with debootstrap(8)

Chroot commands

manage /etc/apt/apt.conf
cache chroot stage
manage /etc/debian_chroot
mount /dev/pts
manage /sbin/dpkg
execute hacks in chroot
manage /bin/hostname
manage /etc/hosts
install queued packages into chroot
make build interactive
manage /etc/kernel-img.conf
execute local hooks in chroot
copy local files into chroot
queue install of packages into chroot
apply local patches against chroot
use debconf local preseeding file
queue install of package lists into chroot
mount /proc
manage /etc/resolv.conf
mount /selinux
manage /etc/apt/sources.list
mount /sys
manage /usr/sbin/policy-rc.d
install task lists into chroot

Binary commands

copy chroot into chroot
install debian-installer into binary
install disk information into binary
installs grub into binary
installs grub2 into binary
copy files into binary
build iso binary image
install linux-image into binary
execute local hooks in binary
copy files into binary
install local package lists into binary
create manifest
create binary checksums (md5, sha1, and/or sha256)
installs a memtest into binary
build netboot binary image
build rootfs image
installs syslinux into binary
build harddisk binary image
build binary hdd image
installs win32-loader into binary

Source commands

download sources
copy debian-live config into source
install disk information into source
build iso source image
create source checksums (md5, sha1, and/or sha256)
build source net image
build source tarball
build source hdd image

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 <http://live-systems.org/> and in the manual at <http://live-systems.org/manual/>.

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@lists.debian.org>.

AUTHOR

live-build was written by Daniel Baumann <mail@daniel-baumann.ch>.

2016-07-28 20160601