live-build (7)

lb COMMAND [-h|--help] [-u|--usage] [-v|--version] [--breakpoints] [--conffile] [--debug] [--force] [--quiet] [--verbose]

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/>.

Shared live-build options

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

-h, --help

display help and exit.

-u, --usage

show usage and exit.

-v, --version

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.

--breakpoints

run with breakpoints.

--conffile

use custom configuration file.

--debug

show debug information.

--force

force helper execution, even if stage file exists.

--quiet

be quiet.

--verbose

be verbose.

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.

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

lb_local(1)

helper for using a local live-build

lb_testroot(1)

ensure that a system is built as root

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

lb_bootstrap_cache(1)

cache bootstrap stage

lb_bootstrap_cdebootstrap(1)

bootstrap a Debian system with cdebootstrap(1)

lb_bootstrap_debootstrap(1)

bootstrap a Debian system with debootstrap(8)

Chroot commands

lb_chroot_apt(1)

manage /etc/apt/apt.conf

lb_chroot_cache(1)

cache chroot stage

lb_chroot_debianchroot(1)

manage /etc/debian_chroot

lb_chroot_devpts(1)

mount /dev/pts

lb_chroot_dpkg(1)

manage /sbin/dpkg

lb_chroot_hacks(1)

execute hacks in chroot

lb_chroot_hostname(1)

manage /bin/hostname

lb_chroot_hosts(1)

manage /etc/hosts

lb_chroot_install-packages(1)

install queued packages into chroot

lb_chroot_interactive(1)

make build interactive

lb_chroot_linux-image(1)

manage /etc/kernel-img.conf

lb_chroot_hooks(1)

execute local hooks in chroot

lb_chroot_local-includes(1)

copy local files into chroot

lb_chroot_packages(1)

queue install of packages into chroot

lb_chroot_local-patches(1)

apply local patches against chroot

lb_chroot_local-preseed(1)

use debconf local preseeding file

lb_chroot_packagelists(1)

queue install of package lists into chroot

lb_chroot_proc(1)

mount /proc

lb_chroot_resolv(1)

manage /etc/resolv.conf

lb_chroot_selinuxfs(1)

mount /selinux

lb_chroot_archives(1)

manage /etc/apt/sources.list

lb_chroot_sysfs(1)

mount /sys

lb_chroot_sysv-rc(1)

manage /usr/sbin/policy-rc.d

lb_chroot_task-lists(1)

install task lists into chroot

Binary commands

lb_binary_chroot(1)

copy chroot into chroot

lb_binary_debian-installer(1)

install debian-installer into binary

lb_binary_disk(1)

install disk information into binary

lb_binary_grub(1)

installs grub into binary

lb_binary_grub2(1)

installs grub2 into binary

lb_binary_includes(1)

copy files into binary

lb_binary_iso(1)

build iso binary image

lb_binary_linux-image(1)

install linux-image into binary

lb_binary_local-hooks(1)

execute local hooks in binary

lb_binary_local-includes(1)

copy files into binary

lb_binary_local-packagelists(1)

install local package lists into binary

lb_binary_manifest(1)

create manifest

lb_binary_checksums(1)

create binary checksums (md5, sha1, and/or sha256)

lb_binary_memtest(1)

installs a memtest into binary

lb_binary_net(1)

build netboot binary image

lb_binary_rootfs(1)

build rootfs image

lb_binary_syslinux(1)

installs syslinux into binary

lb_binary_tar(1)

build harddisk binary image

lb_binary_hdd(1)

build binary hdd image

lb_binary_win32-loader(1)

installs win32-loader into binary

Source commands

lb_source_debian(1)

download sources

lb_source_debian-live(1)

copy debian-live config into source

lb_source_disk(1)

install disk information into source

lb_source_iso(1)

build iso source image

lb_source_checksums(1)

create source checksums (md5, sha1, and/or sha256)

lb_source_net(1)

build source net image

lb_source_tar(1)

build source tarball

lb_source_hdd(1)

build source hdd image

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.

/etc/live/build.conf

/etc/live/build/*

live-boot(7)

live-config(7)

This program is a part of live-build.

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 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 <[email protected]>.

live-build was written by Daniel Baumann <[email protected]>.