From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Aug 26 10:55:25 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CB88B1065693 for ; Thu, 26 Aug 2010 10:55:25 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from uqs@spoerlein.net) Received: from acme.spoerlein.net (acme.spoerlein.net [IPv6:2001:470:9a47::1]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4ACCC8FC18 for ; Thu, 26 Aug 2010 10:55:25 +0000 (UTC) Received: from acme.spoerlein.net (localhost.spoerlein.net [IPv6:::1]) by acme.spoerlein.net (8.14.4/8.14.4) with ESMTP id o7QAtJM5077839 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO); Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:55:19 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from uqs@spoerlein.net) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/simple; d=spoerlein.net; s=dkim200908; t=1282820120; bh=sop+i8EMe/I3EVFQY+1f0ugJsdvthAXkihkyx1m7QX8=; h=Date:From:To:Cc:Subject:Message-ID:References:MIME-Version: Content-Type:In-Reply-To; b=QMFE0OxKSOjQ67N98DdSsosLK+gHQztKd6aL5jRzOTq0XzKwFBZuSNVxsyssm6OdH 3JkVF68ayV5a0UtCnPP1cs07QgR/dvdyIDov3T//JTDjeEm8+6z1sSrM8WUMUsA1vg IA5mIgGO9IL7Ehd2M8dcplyVOCo21PLly2SOnEos= Received: (from uqs@localhost) by acme.spoerlein.net (8.14.4/8.14.4/Submit) id o7QAtJgS077838; Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:55:19 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from uqs@spoerlein.net) Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:55:19 +0200 From: Ulrich =?utf-8?B?U3DDtnJsZWlu?= To: Ed Schouten Message-ID: <20100826105519.GB50726@acme.spoerlein.net> Mail-Followup-To: Ed Schouten , hackers@freebsd.org References: <20100822185029.GV2978@hoeg.nl> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20100822185029.GV2978@hoeg.nl> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.20 (2009-06-14) Cc: hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: A simple and hopefully usable FreeBSD live CD X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2010 10:55:25 -0000 On Sun, 22.08.2010 at 20:50:29 +0200, Ed Schouten wrote: > I think I already mentioned it on some of the lists, but I've spent some > time creating a better FreeBSD live CD (or at least I tried to). > Basically the CD is just a stock FreeBSD installation (base + manpages + > kernel) with a small mfsroot between the boot process to let it use > unionfs and tmpfs before calling into /sbin/init. > > You can just run adduser, dhclient and fire up a SSH daemon. It's > exactly the same as an installation of FreeBSD on a harddisk, with the > only exception that any changes don't survive a reboot. It also has a > copy of all the installsets, which means you can do installations and > recoveries. Hi Ed, I did something similar quite a while back, but never finished the installation part that I envisioned back then. What I had in mind was: - base system sitting on the ISO image, unaltered - this base system (binaries, manpages, etc.) will be copied over during installation (after, partitioning, newfs, etc. create fstab and rc.conf afterwards). - a unionfs layer on top with the LiveCD parts *plus* useful packages. Consider it more of a rescue CD lookalike The advantages would be access to way more useful tools (license permitting) and reduced storage size, as the binaries are re-used and there's no need for additional "install sets". ISTR that DragonflyBSD went a similar route and of course Ubuntu has this option (but they don't have the base/package distinction). Depending on the target media size (think about 2GB USB drives), you can add tons of packages that you deem useful. Btw, I had made the unionfs "override" layer persistent (storing it on the first FAT32 partition that could be found) if the user choose so before shutdown, so additionally installed packages or altered rc.conf settings survived reboots. The unionfs parts were kinda flaky during the 4.x/5.x days and I had quite some panics. Anyways, my vote is for integrating sth. like this with the new pcbsd installer and catapulting our installer into the 21st century! Uli