Keep standard 30MHzDF and adds the lite configuration

[debian6500.git] / simple-cdd / readme

** Introduction

This uses the simple-cdd package (available on the official Debian repository) to create a custom install CD for the master blade of the TRC6500 system's computing cluster. A number of components are installed automatically (either during install or on first boot) ; the CD also includes useful files for subsequent configuration.


** What the built CD includes

- a selection of useful/required packages
- a selection of custom packages scarcely available elsewhere
- unpacking of config files and scripts during install
- automatic execution of some configuration options

This CD does NOT create an usable operating system. All included systems should be reviewed, but particularly the network configuration (/etc/hosts, DHCP config, TFTP config..), which is partly automated thanks to scripts provided by the TRC6500 exploitation software, which is NOT bundled with this CD. 


** What files we'll be using

- simple-cdd.conf (name is clear enough) should be passed to the build-simple-cdd program
- the entire profiles/ directory is used by build-simple-cdd
- myrc.local is the script executed on first boot
- the local_packages/ directory contains packages not available on the regular repository, or more recent versions of packages available there. 
- the additional_scripts/ directory contains useful scripts included in the trc6500-master-files deb archive, in the /opt/trc6500/script/ folder.
- the deb_build/ folder contains the necessary stuff to build the trc6500-master-files deb package which contains a collection of scripts, config files and config instructions
- TRC6500.pub is a GPG public key added to the OS's keyring during install, corresponding to a makeshift Debian repo from T. Pérennou
- splash-thales.png is a 640*480 image used for the splashscreen


** How build-simple-cdd works

The build-simple-cdd program is to be called like this :
build-simple-cdd --dist wheezy --conf ./simple-cdd.conf

Most options described in the documentation are included in the simple-cdd.conf file. The program will use those (in addition to the default settings) to build a list of what is to be included on the CD. Primarily, it includes itself, profile(s) scripts, and pulls packages (from the <profile>.packages list) from whatever repositories are in /etc/apt/sources.list, or from the ./tmp folder if the packages have already been fetched. 

Additional packages are to be put in the local_packages directory (which is specified in our own simple_cdd.conf). It should be noted that packages placed there simply join the pool of available packages : to actually include them on the CD, they should be added in an itself included profile's packages list (say, profiles/trc6500.packages). The list of packages added this way is :
cpumon dce firmware-bnx2 libcalloc1 libcycle1 libdebug1 libmcore1 raf swb webconfig xcfe

Additional files are included with the all_extras="<path>,<path>" option in our simple-cdd.conf file.

You should look into the provided simple-cdd.conf file ! It is tailored to a quite specific use case, and making your own should be easy enough since the simple-cdd package contains a detailed config file.


** Building the trc6500-master-files deb packages

This package has been put together in replacement of an earlier tarball ; the main benefit to using a deb being easier upgrade of existing systems.

Check out the deb_build/ folder to learn more ; most of it is done by the Makefile.


** Regarding install vectors

To set up a bootable USB key : 
cp <iso file> /dev/<key> && sync
<key> should be the device, not a partition of it. The key will get partitioned like the CD (and how the CD is partitioned is a whole other topic).

To burn your ISO to a CD :
xorriso -as cdrecord -v dev=/dev/sr0 blank=as_needed <iso file>


** Additional documentation
/usr/share/simple-cdd
/usr/share/doc/simple-cdd
/usr/share/doc/installation-guide-amd64 (talks about preseeds)