[livemedia-discuss] Re: Using live tools to make a base OpenSolaris?

[Eric Boutilier]

On Thu, 24 Aug 2006, Dave Miner wrote:
> Eric Boutilier wrote:
>> [ Note: Cross-posting to livemedia-discuss and appliances-discuss ]
>>
>> On opensolaris-announce, Dave Miner wrote:
>>> I'm pleased to announce that the Live Media project has at long last
>>> opened.  If you're interested in building live CD/DVD versions of
>>> OpenSolaris, come join us.  The project opening includes access to a
>>> prototype kit for constructing your own live DVD from a Solaris Express
>>> image.
>>>
>>> Project page:
>>> http://www.opensolaris.org/os/project/livemedia/
>>
>> Based on what I've read about the Solaris Express and Belenix
>> live kits, in theory (I think) one could do one of the
>> following to create a small base "distro" suitable for
>> layering CSW, spec-files-extra, or CCD server appliance
>> packages on top of:
>>
>> - Perform the Belenix remastering procedure, omitting the
>>     /usr/foss hierarchy. (I'm going to try this -- it sounds
>>     fairly simple to do thanks to the tools/docs provided.)
>>
>> - Perform the OpenSolaris Live Media Kit procedure using a
>>     netinstall image of one of the small server metaclusters
>>     instead of the SX DVD image.
>>
>
> I'm not sure what this would buy you beyond just installing the small
> metacluster with the standard installer, since the construction process
> in each case makes a number of mods oriented at running off of a
> read-only root, but I'm probably not understanding exactly what you're
> trying to do.

Mainly anything that a live CD is good for -- something like a security
auditing is a good example[1]. But also any kind of distro really (IOW
including ones aimed at hard drive installation) because having a LiveCD
option is becoming a really popular thing in general. (Though the latter
assumes that the live CD comes with an HD installer.)

[1]: http://techrepublic.com.com/5254-6257-0.html?forumID=99&threadID=190959&messageID=2062993&id=4398493

> Anyway, you should be able to use a smaller metacluster with livekit and
> the SX DVD image; just change the metacluster passed to proc_toc.pl to
> the one you want.  The metacluster could easily be be moved to a
> parameter in the config file.  Though this may have issues with getting
> sufficient drivers installed.

Ah, thanks, that's definitely better for people who can easily
download/acquire the SXCR DVD image.

For people who would prefer to download just CD 1 though, is it safe to
assume the small metacluster netinstall image would work too?

Eric

>
>> What other additional challenges would there be?
>>
>> - Getting it to work with hdinstaller or something similar.
>>
>> - Dependency gaps: Packages from spec-files-extra and CCD
>>     repos have lots of dependencies on bits from the SFW, X,
>>     and JDS/GNOME consolidations. CSW (Blastwave) packages
>>     might also. On the other hand, focusing on non-GUI packages
>>     (such as server apps) makes things a lot easier in this regard.
>>
>
> Yeah, the dependency issues are usually the hard part.
>
> Dave
>