Re: [gentoo-soc] Re: GSoc 2009 : Making the cluster LiveCD bootable from USB

[Eric Thibodeau]

Tom Stellard wrote:
> On Sun, Mar 29, 2009 at 7:45 PM, Eric Thibodeau <kyron@××××××××.com> wrote:
>
>> I'll top-post this one since there are some errors in the LiveCD-Howto (a
>> mix of two approaches I had). The HOWTO doesn't take clearly into
>> consideration the fact that there can actually be 2 resulting CDs (normal
>> and minimal). The process goes as follows:
>>
>> A) Build NFSroot Image:
>>   1,2,3: build stage images
>>   4: build nfstoot image
>>      The real PITA here is generally kernel + AuFS related. The package and
>> kernel cache deletion steps are _required_ between rebuild, otherwise
>> catalyst uses cached packages and things just won't work. There might be new
>> features to fix that in newer catalysts.
>>
>>
>
> When you say the package and kernel cache deletion steps are you
> talking about this command:
> find /var/tmp/catalyst/packages/ -regextype posix-extended -regex
> '.*(beowulf|aufs|ldap-auth|torque|diradm).*' -exec rm -f {} \
>
> Should I delete the caches after every call to catalyst, or just after
> LiveCD steps 3 and 4?
>
Deleting the contents of /var/tmp/catalyst/kerncache/ was needed to 
force rebuilding the kernel-dependent modules such as AuFS. This implies 
NFSRoot stage4 or livecd's livecd-stage2. This was the only way I had 
found to force catalyst to rebuild the modules correctly. IIRC, simply 
deleting the binary package didn't work because catalyst wouldn't mount 
the kerncache folder if kernel building wasn't required (or something to 
that effect). The result was that the emerge call on kernel-dependent 
packages would then fail.
>
>> B) Build LiveCD
>>   1,2,3: build stage images selecting the spec files that reflect the
>> desired end CD (minimal or with desktop). The main difference are some USE
>> flags, I'm not even sure the differentiation is still relevant.
>>   4: build livecd-stage1
>>   5: a) bind-mount the nfsroot image into the livecd's playgournd
>>       b) build the livecd-stage2 using catalyst.
>>
>> The rational behind 5 a) is that the LiveCD is actually built in 5 b) and
>> pulls in everything that will reside in
>> /var/git/clustering-livecd/catalyst/livecd/2008.0/overlay/ . This is the way
>> to include "extra files" in the CD which aren't part of a regular Gentoo
>> system.
>>
>> I'm sorry for the confusion, hope this clarifies the process and answers
>> your questions.
>>
>> Eric
>>
>> Tom Stellard wrote:
>>
>>> I was finally able to build an x86 live CD image, but there are a few
>>> things about the build process I don't understand.  Here are the
>>> directions for building the live CD as I understand them:
>>>
>>> 1. Build nfsroot using these spec files in this order:  stage1.spec,
>>> stage2.spec, stage3.spec, nfsroot_stage4.spec
>>>
>>> 2. Bind mount nfsroot to
>>>
>>> /var/git/clustering-livecd/catalyst/livecd/2008.0/overlay/tftproot/nfsroot/x86
>>>
>>> 3. Start building the live CD using these spec files in this order:
>>> stage1.spec  stage2-desktop.spec  stage3-desktop.spec
>>>
>>> 4.Unmount nfsroot
>>>
>>> 5. Run catalyst with these spec files: nfsroot_stage4.spec
>>> livecd-stage1-minimal.spec
>>>
>>> 6. Bind mount nfsroot again
>>>
>>> 7. Run catalyst with this spec file: livecd-stage2-minimal.spec
>>>
>>> My questions are:
>>> Why is it necessary to bind mount nfsroot in step 2?
>>> Why do we run nfsroot_stage4.spec again in step 5?
>>>
>>> Thanks.
>>>
>>> -Tom Stellard
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>