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diff --git a/build_tools/larch7/larch0/docs/html/larch_intro.html b/build_tools/larch7/larch0/docs/html/larch_intro.html deleted file mode 100644 index dfed676..0000000 --- a/build_tools/larch7/larch0/docs/html/larch_intro.html +++ /dev/null @@ -1,316 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - -<html> -<head> -<meta http-equiv="Content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> -<title>Introduction</title> -<!-- (en) Add your meta data here --> - -<link href="css/larchdocs.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"/> -<!--[if lte IE 7]> -<link href="css/yaml/core/iehacks.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> -<![endif]--> -</head> - -<body> -<!-- skip link navigation --> -<ul id="skiplinks"> - <li><a class="skip" href="#col1">Skip to main content (Press Enter).</a></li> -</ul> - -<div class="page_margins"> - <div class="page"> - <div id="top"><div id="tm"></div></div> - <!-- begin: #col1 --> - <div id="col1" role="main"> - <div id="col1_content"> - <div id="header" role="banner"> - <h1><span><em>live Arch Linux</em> builder</span></h1> - </div> - - <!-- begin: #col3 navigation column --> - <div id="col3" role="complementary"> - <div id="col3_content"> - <img class="indent2" alt="larch logo" src="css/screen/larch150x.png" width="150" height="150" /> - <div class="vlist"> - <ul> - <li><a href="index.html"><h6>Table Of Contents</h6></a></li> - <li><a href="larch_features.html"><h6>Next:</h6> - <div class="indent1">Features</div></a></li> - </ul> - </div> - </div> - </div> - <!-- end: #col3 --> - -<div class="larchdocs"> -<h2 id="pagetitle" level="1">Introduction</h2> - -<blockquote> -<h3>Warning</h3> - -<p><em>Before we get started I should point out that most of the -<em>larch</em> scripts must be run as root in order to do their work, -and that much of this work consists of deleting and overwriting files -and even complete directories. If just one of these is wrong it might make -quite a mess of your system. That is quite normal for an installer, -but you will be using it on a system that -is already configured and this is somewhat risky - if you set up your -configuration wrong (or if you or I made some other mistake ...), you -might find you have destroyed some important data and/or your system -doesn't work any more. But that's life - <strong>Share and -Enjoy!</strong></em> -</p> -</blockquote> - -<p>Below is the general introductory blurb, but for those who want to jump -straight in and try it out I would suggest the following pages as possible -starting points: -<ul> - <li><a href="larch_quick.html" >Quick Start with the GUI</a> - </li> - <li><a href="larch_quick-console.html" >Quick Start on the command line</a> - </li> -</ul> -</p> - -<h3><a name="live_system"></a>What is a <em>live</em> system?</h3> - -<p><em>larch</em> is a collection of scripts designed around the creation and -use of custom <em>live</em> CD/DVD/USB-stick versions of <em>Arch Linux</em>. -A <em>live</em> operating system is one which can reside on a removable medium -and boot on (ideally) any computer (of compatible architecture) into which -it is inserted. This can be useful in quite a variety of situations, for -example for testing purposes, for rescue purposes on machines whose -installed operating system is broken, or as an installation medium (many -linux distributions use <em>live</em> systems as installers). But there -are also situations where a permanently installed <em>live</em> system -can offer advantages over a normal installation, perhaps because of the -compression or because a <em>live</em> system is quite robust - it is -in essence read-only, and can be quite insensitive to hardware changes. -</p> - -<p>The main features of the <em>larch</em> system are listed on the -<a href="larch_features.html">Features</a> page, among the most -significant might be the use of <a href="profiles.html">'profiles'</a> -to define the characteristics of the system to be built, the ability -to write to various media with a choice of bootloaders and the -<a href="larch_sessionsave.html">session saving</a> possibilities, -allowing changes made during a <em>live</em> 'session' to be saved -back to the boot device (as long as it is writable!). -</p> - -<h3><a name="requirements"></a>Build system requirements</h3> - -<p><em>larch</em> has been designed to work without extensive demands on -the build system. Although it has been developed under <em>Arch Linux</em>, -<em>larch</em> should run on other <em>GNU/Linux</em> systems. By means -of a sort of bootstrapping, the required software has been kept to a -minimum - many of the build functions are carried out on the newly -installed <em>Arch</em> system using <em>chroot</em>. -For example, you do not need support for <em>squashfs</em> or <em>aufs</em> -on the build system. But basic utilities which are normally available on any -<em>GNU/Linux</em> system, such as <em>bash</em>, <em>mkfs.vfat</em>, -<em>mkfs.ext2</em>, <em>blkid</em> and <em>sfdisk</em> - and of course -<em>chroot</em> - are assumed to be present (on <em>Arch</em> that is packages -'bash', 'dosfstools', 'e2fsprogs', 'util-linux-ng' and 'coreutils'). -</p> - -<p> The <em>larch</em> scripts are written mainly in python, but snippets -of bash crop up here and there. -In addition to python you must also have the pexpect module available -(in <em>Arch</em> the 'python-pexpect' package). The (optional) GUI -requires pyqt. I'm not sure what the oldest supported versions are, -development was done using python-2.6 and pyqt-4.7. -I think python-2.5 should be alright, and I have heard that -pyqt-4.4 probably doesn't work. -</p> - -<h3><a name="cli_gui"></a>Command line vs. GUI</h3> - -<p> -The basic functionality of <em>larch</em> is provided by command-line scripts, -but a graphical user interface is available, to make it easier to see what -options are available and to avoid the need to remember and not mistype -obscure command line parameters. In addition to providing a front-end to the -main scripts the GUI also provides help with organising the configuration -files. -</p> - -<h3><a name="overview"></a>Overview</h3> - -<p>One design aim was easy customization, so that even relatively inexperienced -users could build personalized <em>live</em> CDs (etc.), containing whatever -packages they wanted and with their own personal configurations. The resulting -medium should also be usable for installation purposes, so that one has a -customized <em>Arch Linux</em> installation/rescue medium. As the content can -be chosen freely, a comfortable working environment is possible - in contrast -to the rather Spartan standard <em>Arch</em> installation CD. However, note -that it is also possible, using the officially supported <em>archiso</em>, to -produce a customized <em>Arch Linux</em> installation/rescue medium (see the -corresponding <em>Arch wiki</em> page). The approach taken by the two projects -is somewhat different so do have a look at both. Note that at the latest since -version 7, <em>larch</em> makes no pretence of a 'KISS' approach. The code is, -I'm afraid, rather complicated. The resulting <em>live</em> system should, -however, be very close to a normal non-<em>live Arch Linux</em> system (as -far as the <em>squashfs + aufs</em> basis allows). -</p> - -<p><em>larch</em> offers a flexible approach to building your -<em>live</em> media. You can use 'profiles' to determine what gets installed, -and how it is configured. The advantage of this method is that all your -specifications are kept together in a folder which can be used to rebuild the -same or a similar system at a later date. Alternatively you can do a normal -<em>Arch Linux</em> installation (if there is such a thing!) and then make a -<em>live</em> medium from this. You can even 'livify' your existing -installation (though it might be worth tidying it up a bit first ...). -</p> - -<p>The use of <em>squashfs</em> in the resulting system means that the space -occupied will be significantly less than in the 'raw' state, normally about a -third of the original. As a result of this design, it is not possible to write -directly to the system - which would seem to be quite a drawback, though in -some situations it can even be an advantage. The use of <em>aufs</em> (a -'unification' file-system, originally based on <em>unionfs</em>) allows the -resulting system to appear writable in spite of its actual read-only nature, -by using a writable 'overlay' in <em>tmpfs</em> (a memory-based file-system). -</p> - -<p>Normally any changes made to the system while running would be lost on -shutdown, but by saving the overlay to the boot medium (which is of course -only possible on devices which are actually writable, such as USB sticks), -data persistence can be achieved even though the basic system is actually -not writable. In spite of the different file-system structure of the -<em>live</em> system, it should behave almost identically to a normal Arch -installation in most respects. You can, for example, perform package -management as usual, but the changes are saved in the overlay, rather than -in the underlying system. Of course as the number of changes grows, so -does the size of the overlay, and at some point this will become -problematical. How <em>larch</em> manages this is explained in the -<a href="larch_sessionsave.html">session saving</a> section. -</p> - -<p>Hardware detection is provided by the same <em>udev</em> approach as is -used in a standard <em>Arch Linux</em> system. -</p> - -<p>The <em>larch</em> project comprises several components. The scripts for -building a <em>larch live</em> medium are in the <em>larch</em> package, which -need not itself be installed in the <em>live</em> system, though it may be -useful (and is indeed installed by default). Scripts and data for the -<em>live</em> environment are provided in the -<em>larch-live</em> package, which must be installed in the <em>live</em> -system. There is also an optional installer (<em>larchin</em>) which can -install the <em>live</em> system to hard disk, providing a convenient way -to install a ready-configured <em>Arch Linux</em> system. -</p> - -<p>As with <em>Arch Linux</em> in general <em>larch</em> is not really -designed for beginners - you should know your way around a -<em>GNU/Linux</em> system (preferably <em>Arch</em>!), and be aware of the -dangers of running such programs, such as corrupting your whole system. -In any case, I hope that the -documentation will be clear enough to help anyone who wants to exploit -<em>larch</em> to the full (feedback is welcome!).</p> - -<p><b>Space Requirements:</b> -You need quite a lot of space to create a <em>live Arch Linux</em> system. -Bear in mind that a complete <em>Arch Linux</em> system is installed, then, -additionally, a compressed ('squashed') version is made, and then perhaps -even a CD image (<em>iso</em>). -Building for a USB-stick requires slightly less space, as the iso-image is -not built. If building a <em>live</em> version of the currently running -<em>Arch Linux</em> system, much less space is required as no new -system must be installed - but there are additional problems with this -approach which make it generally not the best way (see -<a href="larchify.html#existingSystem">the section dealing -with this</a>). -</p> - -<h3><a name="larch_installation"></a>Installation of the <em>larch</em> build -system</h3> - -<p>The recommended way of installing <em>larch</em> is by means of the setup -script, see <a href="larch_quick-console.html">here</a> for details. -This installs all the necessary packages to a working directory, and it -should also work on non-<em>Arch</em> linux systems. -</p> - -<p>The <em>larch</em> package may, however, be installed in the normal -<em>Arch Linux</em> way using <em>pacman</em>. This method will only work on -an <em>Arch</em> system, of course. The <em>larch</em> repository is at -<a href="ftp://ftp.berlios.de/pub/larch/larch7.2/i686/"> -<strong>berlios</strong></a>. -</p> - -<p>The <em>larch</em> command line scripts need to be started as root, and -each has a usage message (run with the '-h' option). The gui should be -started as a normal user (it uses <em>sudo</em> to get administrator -permissions when needed). -</p> - -<h3><a name="larch_profiles"></a>Profiles</h3> - -<p>A <em>larch</em> 'profile' is a directory containing the information -needed to build a particular 'flavour' of <em>Arch Linux</em> as a -<em>live</em> system - which packages to install, and how it should be -set up. For details see <a href="profiles.html">Profiles</a>. -</p> - -<h3><a name="stages"></a>The stages of the build process</h3> - -<p>The starting point is an <em>Arch Linux</em> installation. This can -be an already existing one from which you want to make a <em>live</em> -version, or - the recommended approach - you can use the -'Installation' stage of the <em>larch</em> system -(using the <strong>larch-archin</strong> script) to prepare this. -This script downloads all the desired packages (if they are not already -in the host's package cache) and installs them to a directory on the host -(the default is '/home/larchbuild'). See <a href="archin.html">this page</a> -for details. -</p> - -<p>Once we have the <em>Arch Linux</em> installation this can be -processed to build the basis components for the <em>live</em> medium. The -installation is compressed into a <em>squashfs</em> archive, and a second -<em>squashfs</em> archive is built, which will function as a sort of -'patch' file for the basic installation, containing a few necessary -adjustments for running as a <em>live</em> system and also the -customizations specified in the <em>profile</em>. The other important -component is the <em>initramfs</em>, which also needs to be adapted -to boot the <em>live</em> system. This processing is performed by the -<strong>larch-larchify</strong> script, see -<a href="larchify.html">this page</a> for details. -</p> - -<p>When the 'larchification' has been completed, the components can -be packed together onto a boot medium together with a bootloader. The -<strong>larch-live_iso</strong> script creates an <em>iso</em> file, which -can then be written to a CD or DVD, the <strong>larch-live_part</strong> -script sets up a bootable partition on a disk(-like) device, such as a -USB stick. See <a href="medium.html">this page</a> for details. -</p> - -</div> - - - <div class="topref"><a href="#top">Top</a></div> - </div> - <!-- begin: #footer --> - <div id="footer"> - <div id="footer-content" role="contentinfo">© 2010 Michael Towers<br /> - Page layout assisted by <a href="http://www.yaml.de/">YAML</a> and - <a href="http://www.kuwata-lab.com/tenjin/">pyTenjin</a> - </div> - </div> - <!-- end: #footer --> - </div> - <!-- end: #col1 --> - <div id="bottom"><div id="bl"><div id="bm"></div></div></div> - </div> -</div> -<!-- full skiplink functionality in webkit browsers --> -<script src="css/yaml/core/js/webkit-focusfix.js" type="text/javascript"></script> -</body> -</html> |