The Cereus Linux live image/rootfs generator and installer

This repository is based on void-mklive.

Not all the utilities available here are actually used by us (hence, they aren't adapted for Cereus): mkplatformfs.sh, mkimage.sh, mknet.sh, and release.sh. The main reason is our distribution is currently only focused in desktop usage and that we aren't relying in CI at the moment. However, this might (or not) change in the future.

The source code is mainly hosted on Codeberg with a mirror available on GitHub. Issues and pull requests should be made in Codeberg.

Overview

This repository contains several utilities:

• mklive.sh - The Cereus Linux live image generator for x86.
• build-x86-images.sh - Wrapper script to generate bootable and installable live images for x86.
• mkrootfs.sh - The Cereus Linux rootfs generator for all platforms.
• installer.sh - The Cereus Linux el-cheapo installer for x86.

The following utilities are inherited from void-mklive but are unused at the moment:

• mkplatformfs.sh - The Void Linux filesystem tool to produce a rootfs for a particular platform.
• mkimage.sh - The Void Linux image generator for ARM platforms.
• mknet.sh - Script to generate netboot tarballs for Void.
• release.sh - interacts with GitHub CI to generate and sign images for releases.

Workflow

Generating x86 live ISOs

To generate a live ISO like the officially-published ones, use build-x86-images.sh. To generate a more basic live ISO (which does not include things like cereus-installer), use mklive.sh.

Generating ROOTFS tarballs

ROOTFS tarballs contain a basic Cereus Linux root filesystem without a kernel. These can be useful for doing a chroot install or for chroots and containers.

Use mkrootfs.sh to generate a Cereus Linux ROOTFS.

Dependencies

Note that cereus-mklive is not guaranteed to work on distributions other than Cereus/Void Linux, or in containers.

• Compression type for the initramfs image (by default: liblz4 for lz4, xz)
• xbps>=0.45
• qemu-user-static binaries (for mkrootfs)
• bash

Kernel Command-line Parameters

cereus-mklive-based live images support several kernel command-line arguments that can change the behavior of the live system:

• live.autologin will skip the initial login screen on tty1.
• live.user will change the username of the non-root user from the default cereus. The password remains cereus.
• live.shell sets the default shell for the non-root user in the live environment.
• live.accessibility enables accessibility features like the console screenreader espeakup in the live environment.
• console can be set to ttyS0, hvc0, or hvsi0 to enable agetty on that serial console.
• locale.LANG will set the LANG environment variable. Defaults to en_US.UTF-8.
• vconsole.keymap will set the console keymap. Defaults to us.

Examples:

• live.autologin live.user=foo live.shell=/bin/bash would create the user foo with the default shell /bin/bash on boot, and log them in automatically on tty1
• live.shell=/bin/bash would set the default shell for the anon user to /bin/bash
• console=ttyS0 vconsole.keymap=cf would enable ttyS0 and set the keymap in the console to cf
• locale.LANG=fr_CA.UTF-8 would set the live system's language to fr_CA.UTF-8

Usage

build-x86-images.sh

Usage: build-x86-images.sh [options ...] [-- mklive options ...]

Wrapper script around mklive.sh for several standard flavors of live images.
Adds cereus-installer and other helpful utilities to the generated images.

OPTIONS
 -a <arch>     Set XBPS_ARCH in the image
 -b <variant>  One of base, lxqt, xfce, cinnamon, plasma, fluxbox, or i3wm
               (default: base). May be specified multiple times to build multiple variants
 -d <date>     Override the datestamp on the generated image (YYYY.MM.DD format)
 -t <arch-date-variant>
               Equivalent to setting -a, -b, and -d
 -r <repo>     Use this XBPS repository. May be specified multiple times
 -h            Show this help and exit
 -s            Set the privilege scalation package, one of sudo or doas (default: sudo).
 -V            Show version and exit

Other options can be passed directly to mklive.sh by specifying them after the --.
See mklive.sh -h for more details.

mklive.sh

Usage: mklive.sh [options]

Generates a basic live ISO image of Cereus Linux. This ISO image can be written
to a CD/DVD-ROM or any USB stick.

To generate a more complete live ISO image, use build-x86-images.sh.

OPTIONS
 -a <arch>          Set XBPS_ARCH in the ISO image
 -b <system-pkg>    Set an alternative base package (default: base-cereus)
 -r <repo>          Use this XBPS repository. May be specified multiple times
 -c <cachedir>      Use this XBPS cache directory (default: ./xbps-cachedir-<arch>)
 -k <keymap>        Default keymap to use (default: us)
 -l <locale>        Default locale to use (default: en_US.UTF-8)
 -i <lz4|gzip|bzip2|xz>
                    Compression type for the initramfs image (default: xz)
 -s <gzip|lzo|xz>   Compression type for the squashfs image (default: xz)
 -o <file>          Output file name for the ISO image (default: automatic)
 -p "<pkg> ..."     Install additional packages in the ISO image
 -g "<pkg> ..."     Ignore packages when building the ISO image
 -I <includedir>    Include directory structure under given path in the ROOTFS
 -S "<service> ..." Enable services in the ISO image
 -C "<arg> ..."     Add additional kernel command line arguments
 -T <title>         Modify the bootloader title (default: Cereus Linux)
 -v linux<version>  Install a custom Linux version on ISO image (default: linux-default-cereus metapackage)
 -K                 Do not remove builddir
 -h                 Show this help and exit
 -V                 Show version and exit

mkrootfs.sh

Usage: mkrootfs.sh [options] <arch>

Generate a Cereus Linux ROOTFS tarball for the specified architecture.

Supported architectures:
 i686, i686-musl, x86_64, x86_64-musl,
 armv5tel, armv5tel-musl, armv6l, armv6l-musl, armv7l, armv7l-musl
 aarch64, aarch64-musl,
 mipsel, mipsel-musl,
 ppc, ppc-musl, ppc64le, ppc64le-musl, ppc64, ppc64-musl

OPTIONS
 -b <system-pkg>  Set an alternative base-system package (default: base-cereustrap)
 -c <cachedir>    Set XBPS cache directory (default: ./xbps-cachedir-<arch>)
 -C <file>        Full path to the XBPS configuration file
 -r <repo>        Use this XBPS repository. May be specified multiple times
 -o <file>        Filename to write the ROOTFS to (default: automatic)
 -x <num>         Number of threads to use for image compression (default: dynamic)
 -h               Show this help and exit
 -V               Show version and exit