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Fedora6MinimalChroot

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<msonsuz> I started this page because I wanted a different way of installing Fedora Core on colinux instead of Qemu.

The best way is using bootCD. So I tried that first. At the moment it does not work with bootcd. It askes for driver when starting.

Another way is using anaconda directly. With that option I am further. It start with DVD but at the moment it does not recognize the harddisk.

Another way is using chroot. That's the way I will show here. In this case it installs on an empty partition a new installation of fedora. After that you can use the installed partition as a new bootdevice (You need host linux os with smart). I am using working fedora :)

If you can improve please do. If you have questions ask at techdesk100 (at) hotmail (dot) com.

Extra information[]

This page is for intermediate colinux users. Beginners can better use this page

Link[]

TOOLS

WEBSITES

PREPARATION[]

OK I am starting with the following setup 

/dev/hda1	host linux os
/dev/hda2	linux partition where we will install a clean Fedora Core 6 installation
/dev/hda3	Fedora Core 6 DVD
/dev/hdb	512mb swap file
  • Create an extra image 1gb (1024*1024*1024*1) file by using the following command in the dosprompt (windows XP):
fsutil file createnew c:\Linux\Distro\ext3_disk_1gb.img 1073741824
  • Here is an example colinux.conf file:
############################################
# MAKE SURE THERE IS AN EXTRA LINE AT THE END
# OF THE BATCH FILE
#
# initrd should only be used at first start
# to install kernel modules for example when
# you upgrade your colinux
############################################

############################################
# DEFAULT
############################################
# set your runlevel to text-only mode or graphical mode
# root=/dev/hda1 fastboot 1 (single-user mode)
# root=/dev/hda1 fastboot 3 (text-only mode)
# root=/dev/hda1 fastboot 5 (graphic mode)
############################################

kernel=vmlinux
initrd=initrd.gz
mem=256
root=/dev/hda1 fastboot 5

############################################
# Drives
############################################
#cobd0=C:\Linux\Distro\image
#hda1=:cobd0
############################################

hda1=\DosDevices\C:\Linux\Distro\host.img
hda2=\DosDevices\C:\Linux\Distro\ext3_disk_1gb.img
hda3=\DosDevices\C:\Linux\Distro\DIST_FC6-i386-DVD.iso
hdb1=\DosDevices\C:\Linux\Distro\swap_512mb

############################################
# Ethernet
############################################
#eth0=slirp,00:ff:00:00:00:00
#eth0=pcap-bridge,"LAN", 00:ff:00:00:00:00
#eth0=tuntap,TAP,00:ff:00:00:00:00
############################################

eth0=tuntap,"TAP",00:ff:00:00:00:00
# please leave this as last line. Otherwise last of macadress goes as input for boot
  • startup colinux
  • format image to ext3
mkfs -t ext3 /dev/hda2
  • mount drives
mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/disk
mount /dev/hda3 /mnt/cdrom
  • create some directories which we need to send stuff from host os
mkdir /mnt/disk/dev /mnt/disk/proc/ /mnt/disk/sys
mount --bind /dev /mnt/disk/dev
mount --bind /proc /mnt/disk/proc
mount --bind /sys /mnt/disk/sys

Fedora minimal install[]

INSTALL FROM INTERNET USING SMART


  • install smart (fedora core installs also fedora-package-config-smart)
yum install smart
  • update channels. Fedora directly shows channels
smart update
  • I choose
'Fedora Core 6 - i386 (core)' 
'Fedora Core 6 - i386 - Updates (updates)'
'Fedora Core 6 - i386 (extras)'
'Fedora Core 6 - Development (development)'
  • update again Will get metadata xml files
smart update
  • For minimal install we need to know which rpms we need (groupinfo is not available in smart so we need to do it from yum)
BASE_RPMS=`
	yum groupinfo Base | 
	sed -n '/Mandatory Packages/,/Optional Packages/p' | 
	sed -e '/Mandatory Packages/d' -e '/Default Packages/d' -e '/Optional Packages/d' |
	tr -d '\n'
  • Now you know which rpms to install so install it to disk
smart -o rpm-root=/mnt/disk install $BASE_RPMS


INSTALL FROM DVD USING SMART


  • install smart (fedora core installs also fedora-package-config-smart)
yum install smart
  • update channels
smart update
  • remove channels
smart channel --remove-all
  • add dvd as repository
smart channel --add dvd type=rpm-md baseurl=file:///mnt/cdrom
  • update. Will get metadata xml file
smart update
  • For minimal install we need to know which rpms we need (groupinfo is not available in smart so we need to do it from yum)
BASE_RPMS=`
	yum groupinfo Base | 
	sed -n '/Mandatory Packages/,/Optional Packages/p' | 
	sed -e '/Mandatory Packages/d' -e '/Default Packages/d' -e '/Optional Packages/d' |
	tr -d '\n'
  • Now you know which rpms to install so install it to disk
smart -o rpm-root=/mnt/disk install $BASE_RPMS


INSTALL FROM INTERNET USING YUM


  • Just one commando. Slower than smart
yum --installroot=/mnt/disk groupinstall Base


INSTALL FROM DVD USING YUM


The problem with yum and DVD is that yum needs a repo. For this you have to create one, and it should be at the same dir as the RPMS. The DVD is a readonly file. You can copy all RPMS to a local dir and create there a repo, or you can do the following workaround. First create repo of RPMS and put that in local dir. Make the local dir the baseurl. Load metadata from baseurl in yum. Change baseurl to RPMS location. Install what you need, but make sure yum does not load metadata again.

  • For minimal install we need to know which rpms we need (groupinfo is not available in yum local)
BASE_RPMS=`
	yum groupinfo Base | 
	sed -n '/Mandatory Packages/,/Optional Packages/p' | 
	sed -e '/Mandatory Packages/d' -e '/Default Packages/d' -e '/Optional Packages/d' |
	tr -d '\n'
  • create file /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora-local.repo
touch /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora-local.repo
  • edit '/etc/yum.repos.d/fedora-local.repo'
[localrepo]
name=Fedora Core 6 - My Local Repo
baseurl=file:///Repo
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
#gpgkey=file:///path/to/you/RPM-GPG-KEY
  • create directory /Repo on host
mkdir /Repo
  • install createrepo
yum install createrepo
  • create repo from RPMS dir
createrepo -o /Repo /mnt/cdrom/Fedora/RPMS
  • clean the metadata
yum --disablerepo=core,extras,updates clean metadata
  • update the metadata
yum --disablerepo=core,extras,updates update metadata
  • edit '/etc/yum.repos.d/fedora-local.repo' and change baseurl

before 

[localrepo]
name=Fedora Core 6 - My Local Repo
baseurl=file:///Repo
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
#gpgkey=file:///path/to/you/RPM-GPG-KEY

after 

[localrepo]
name=Fedora Core 6 - My Local Repo
baseurl=file:///mnt/cdrom/Fedora/RPMS/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
#gpgkey=file:///path/to/you/RPM-GPG-KEY
  • install rpms to disk
yum --installroot=/mnt/disk --disablerepo=core,extras,updates install $BASE_RPMS

FINALIZING[]

  • log into new fedora core installation

chroot /mnt/disk

  • create new /etc/fstab:
# example file change to you own needs
/dev/hda1	/		ext3	defaults 	1 1
/dev/hda2	/mnt/disk	ext3	defaults	1 1
devpts		/dev/pts 	devpts	gid=5,mod=620	0 0
tmpfs		/dev/shm	tmpfs	defaults	0 0
proc		/proc		proc	defaults	0 0
sysfs		/sys		sysfs	defaults	0 0
/dev/hdb1	swap		swap	defaults	0 0
  • create file for ethernetcard settings
touch /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
  • edit '/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0'
# example file change to you own needs
# File: /etc/sysconfig/network-script/ifcfg-eth0
DEVICE=eth0
ONBOOT=yes
BOOTPROTO=static
IPADDR=10.0.0.100
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
GATEWAY=10.0.0.10
#HWADDR=00:ff:00:00:00:00
  • password for root is default empty. If you want to create one you get an error 'passwd: Authentication token manipulation error'
  • edit '/etc/passwd' and change line with root so it wil say that you have a password

before 

root:*:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash

after 

root:!:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
  • create password for root
passwd root
  • exit chroot
  • unmount
umount /mnt/disk/dev
umount /mnt/disk/proc
umount /mnt/disk/sys

Other steps[]

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