[arch-releng] [RFC] [PATCH] [archiso] README: add: Transfer ISO file to target medium

[Keshav P R]

On Mon, Apr 16, 2012 at 23:11, Gerardo Exequiel Pozzi
<vmlinuz386 at yahoo.com.ar> wrote:
> Please review, since my english is not the best. Thanks.
> (Otherwise I will merge in about one week)
>
> Signed-off-by: Gerardo Exequiel Pozzi <vmlinuz386 at yahoo.com.ar>
> ---
>  README |  115 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  1 file changed, 115 insertions(+)
>
> diff --git a/README b/README
> index 5df3128..f5577bb 100644
> --- a/README
> +++ b/README
> @@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ INDEX
>   * hooks/archiso_loop_mnt
>  * Boot parameters (only for configs/releng)
>   * etc/rc.conf
> +* Transfer ISO file to target medium (configs/releng)
>  * Build requirements
>  * Image types generated by mkarchiso.
>  * File format for aitab.
> @@ -147,6 +148,120 @@ if nothing is specified on command line.
>
>
>
> +*** Transfer ISO image to target medium (configs/releng)
> +
> +ISO images names consist of: archlinux-<YYYY>.<MM>.<DD>-<TYPE>-<ARCH>.iso
> +
> +Where:
> +    <YYYY> Year
> +    <MM> Month
> +    <DD> Day
> +    <TYPE> netinstall | core
> +    <ARCH> i686 | x86_64 | dual(*)
> +
> +(*) "dual" includes both i686 and x86_64 architectures.
> +
> +
> +** To -> CD / DVD / BD
> +Note: All ISO images are booteable on a PC-BIOS via "El Torito" in no-emulation mode,
> +      All x86_64 ISO images are booteable on a PC-EFI via "El Torito" in no-emulation mode.
> +
> +Nomeclature:
> +    <B> scsibus number
> +    <T> target number
> +    <L> lun number
> +    (Note: see cdrecord -scanbus, for these numbers)
> +
> +
> +1) Write it directly using your favorite recording program.
> +# cdrecord dev=<B>,<T>,<L> -dao archlinux-<YYYY>.<MM>.<DD>-<TYPE>-<ARCH>.iso
> +
> +
> +** To -> USB Flash Drive (USB-key) / Memory card (SD) /
> +         Hard-Disk Drive (HDD) / Solid-State Drive (SSD)
> +
> +Note: These steps are the general workflow, you can skip some of them,
> +      using another filesystem if your bootloader supports it,
> +      or installing to another directory than "arch/".
> +      Just ensure that main boot params options (archisolabel= and
> +      archisobasedir=) are set correctly according to your setup.
> +
> +Nomeclature:
> +<DEV-TARGET>:   Device node of the drive where ISO contents should be copied
> +                (example: /dev/sdx)
> +<DEV-TARGET-N>: Device node of the partition on <DEV-TARGET>
> +                (example: /dev/sdx1)
> +<MNT-TARGET-N>: Mount point path where <DEV-TARGET-N> is mounted
> +                (example: /mnt/sdx/1)
> +<ISO-SOURCE>:   Path to the ISO file archlinux-<YYYY>.<MM>.<DD>-<TYPE>-<ARCH>.iso
> +                (example: ~/archlinux-2012.04.16-netinstall-x86_64.iso)
> +<FS-LABEL>:     Represents the filesystem label of the <ISO-SOURCE>
> +                (example: ARCH_201204 [for all ~/archlinux-2012.04.*.iso])
> +
> +
> +* PC-BIOS (MBR):
> +
> +1) Create one partition entry in MBR (of type "b" for FAT32 or "83" for EXTFS)
> +   and mark it as "active" (booteable).
> +# fdisk <DEV-TARGET>
> +
> +2) Create a FAT32 or EXTFS filesystem on such partition and setup a label.
> +# mkfs.vfat -F 32 -n <FS-LABEL> <DEV-TARGET-N>
> +# mkfs.ext2 -L <FS-LABEL> <DEV-TARGET-N>
> +
> +3) Mount target filesystem.
> +# mount <DEV-TARGET-N> <MNT-TARGET-N>
> +
> +4) Extract ISO image on target filesystem.
> +# bsdtar -x --exclude=isolinux/ --exclude=EFI/ -f <ISO-SOURCE> -C <MNT-TARGET-N>
> +
> +5) Install syslinux bootloader on target filesystem.
> +# extlinux -i <MNT-TARGET-N>/arch/boot/syslinux
> +
> +6) Unmount target filesystem.
> +# umount <MNT-TARGET-N>
> +
> +7) Install syslinux MBR boot code on target drive.
> +# dd bs=440 count=1 conv=notrunc if=/usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin of=<DEV-TARGET>
> +
> +

The above + /efi/archiso files (extracted from efiboot.img) should
work well for UEFI. No need for specifically GPT in the USB. MBR
(partition table, not boot code) is very well supported by UEFI Spec.

> +* PC-BIOS (ISOHYBRID-MBR):
> +
> +This method is the most easily, quick and dirty,
> +but is the most limited if you want to use your target medium for other purposes.
> +
> +1) Dump ISO file to target medium.
> +# dd if=<ISO-SOURCE> of=<DEV-TARGET>
> +
> +
> +* PC-EFI (GPT) [x86_64 only]
> +
> +Note: Using here a GPT partition mode, but MBR should also work.
> +      Optionally you can use your favorite EFI boot manager instead of an efi-shell+startup.nsh.
> +
> +1) Create one partition entry in GPT (of type "ef00")
> +# gdisk <DEV-TARGET>
> +
> +2) Create a FAT32 filesystem on such partition and setup a label.
> +# mkfs.vfat -F 32 -n <FS-LABEL> <DEV-TARGET-N>
> +
> +3) Mount target filesystem.
> +# mount <DEV-TARGET-N> <MNT-TARGET-N>
> +
> +4) Extract ISO image on target filesystem.
> +# bsdtar -x --exclude=isolinux/ --exclude=arch/boot/syslinux/ -f <ISO-SOURCE> -C <MNT-TARGET-N>
> +
> +5) Extract efiboot.img on EFI/ on target filesystem.
> +# mcopy -s -i <MNT-TARGET-N>/EFI/archiso/efiboot.img ::/EFI <MNT-TARGET-N>/
> +
> +6) Remove uneeded efiboot.img
> +# rm <MNT-TARGET-N>/EFI/archiso/efiboot.img
> +
> +7) Unmount target filesystem.
> +# umount <MNT-TARGET-N>
> +

Even GPT+SYSLINUX should work for BIOS booting.

- Keshav

PS: Which iso(s) at http://releng.archlinux.org/isos/ (upto
2012.04.12_16-00-01-testing) has efiboot.img in them?