website view en/doc/manuals/tazlito.en.html @ rev 577
Typo in tazlito manual
| author | Pascal Bellard <pascal.bellard@slitaz.org> |
|---|---|
| date | Thu Feb 11 15:44:43 2010 +0100 (2010-02-11) |
| parents | fc71738c7469 |
| children | 38126ff9ba02 |
line source
1 <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
2 "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
3 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
4 <head>
5 <title>Tazlito Manual - SliTaz Live Tool</title>
6 <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
7 <meta name="description" content="" />
8 <meta name="expires" content="never" />
9 <meta name="modified" content="2008-07-18 14:00:00" />
10 <style type="text/css"><!--
11 body { font: 90% sans-serif, vernada, arial; margin: 0; }
12 #header { background: #f0ba08; color: black; height: 50px;
13 border-top: 1px solid black; border-bottom: 1px solid black; }
14 #content { margin: 0px 50px 26px 50px; }
15 h1 { margin: 14px 0px 0px 16px; }
16 li { line-height: 1.4em; }
17 pre { padding: 5px; color: black; background: #e1e0b0; }
18 pre.script { padding: 10px; color: black; background: #e8e8e8;
19 border: 1px inset #333333; }
20 code { font-size: 100%; color: #669900; background: transparent; }
21 hr { color: white; background: white; height: 1px; border: 0; }
22 --></style>
23 </head>
24 <body bgcolor="#ffffff">
25 <div id="header">
26 <h1><font color="#3e1220">Tazlito Manual</font></h1>
27 </div>
28 <hr />
29 <!-- Start content -->
30 <div id="content">
32 <h2>NAME</h2>
33 <p>
34 Tazlito - SliTaz Live Tool.
35 </p>
37 <h2>SYNTAX</h2>
38 <pre>
39 tazlito [command] [list|iso|flavor] [dir]
40 </pre>
42 <h2>DESCRIPTION</h2>
43 <p>
44 Tazlito is a small utility to extract a LiveCD, rebuild the
45 ISO image and regenerate the root filesystem of the LiveCD.
46 Tazlito can also generate a distribution from a list of packages
47 previously downloaded. To run, Tazlito uses the configuration file
48 /etc/tazlito/tazlito.conf or a tazlito.conf found in the
49 current directory that can be easily generated.
50 It specifies the name of the ISO, volume, maintainer and
51 the paths of the packages to distribute and the generated ISO.
52 Tazlito can also set up a directory containing additional files
53 which will be copied to the LiveCD when generating the distribution.
54 </p>
55 <p>
56 Tazlito is distributed under the free GNU licence GPL V3,
57 installed by default on SliTaz and installed/sucessfully tested
58 on Debian GNU/Linux. You will find additional information
59 about creating a LiveCD in the Handbook.
60 </p>
62 <h2>COMMANDS</h2>
64 <a name="usage"></a>
65 <h3><font color="#6c0023">usage</font></h3>
66 <p>
67 The 'usage' command displays a summary of available commands
68 with a short description:
69 </p>
70 <pre>
71 # tazlito usage
72 </pre>
74 <a name="stats"></a>
75 <h3><font color="#6c0023">stats</font></h3>
76 <p>
77 Stats displays the configuration variables, the paths to the
78 various files and directories, and information on the ISO image:
79 </p>
80 <pre>
81 # tazlito stats
82 </pre>
84 <a name="gen-config"></a>
85 <h3><font color="#6c0023">gen-config</font></h3>
86 <p>
87 The 'gen-config' command allows you to generate a configuration
88 file ready to be edited. By default the file is created in
89 the current directory, but can be in another directory
90 if specified via the command line:
91 </p>
92 <pre>
93 # tazlito gen-config
94 # tazlito gen-config /path/to/distro
95 </pre>
97 <a name="configure"></a>
98 <h3><font color="#6c0023">configure</font></h3>
99 <p>
100 This command configures the system configuration
101 file or one found in the current directory:
102 </p>
103 <pre>
104 # tazlito configure
105 </pre>
107 <a name="gen-iso"></a>
108 <h3><font color="#6c0023">gen-iso</font></h3>
109 <p>
110 The 'gen-iso' command can generate a
111 new LiveCD image following modifications and additions to the
112 root filesystem of the cdrom. To function, this command needs
113 a directory containing the distro-tree of the Live system.
114 This tree can easily be built with the 'extract-distro' command,
115 modified and rebuilt via:
116 </p>
117 <pre>
118 # tazlito gen-iso
119 </pre>
121 <a name="gen-initiso"></a>
122 <h3><font color="#6c0023">gen-initiso</font></h3>
123 <p>
124 The 'gen'initso' command will do the same work as 'gen-iso',
125 but it rebuilds the initramfs compressed system prior.
126 The initramfs contains the root filesystem and
127 must be rebuilt if modified:
128 </p>
129 <pre>
130 # tazlito gen-initiso
131 </pre>
133 <a name="list-flavors"></a>
134 <h3><font color="#6c0023">list-flavors</font></h3>
135 <p>
136 The 'list-flavors' command downloads (if necessary) and displays
137 a list of the different flavors available. You can force the
138 download with the --recharge option:
139 </p>
140 <pre>
141 # tazlito list-flavors
142 # tazlito list-flavors --recharge
143 </pre>
145 <a name="get-flavors"></a>
146 <h3><font color="#6c0023">get-flavor</font></h3>
147 <p>
148 The 'get-flavor' command downloads (if necessary) and prepares the
149 files for 'gen-distro' to generate a flavor:
150 </p>
151 <pre>
152 # tazlito get-flavor particular-flavor
153 </pre>
155 <a name="show-flavors"></a>
156 <h3><font color="#6c0023">show-flavor</font></h3>
157 <p>
158 The 'show-flavor' command displays the description of the
159 flavor and its size after regeneration. The options
160 --brief and --noheader reduce the output displayed:
161 </p>
162 <pre>
163 # tazlito show-flavor particular-flavor
164 # tazlito show-flavor particular-flavor --brief
165 # tazlito show-flavor particular-flavor --brief --noheader
166 </pre>
168 <a name="gen-flavor"></a>
169 <h3><font color="#6c0023">gen-flavor</font></h3>
170 <p>
171 The 'gen-flavor' command creates a description file of a new
172 flavor from the results of generating a distro (gen-distro).
173 The .flavor file can then be sent to slitaz.org:
174 </p>
175 <pre>
176 # tazlito gen-flavor new-flavor
177 </pre>
179 <a name="gen-liveflavor"></a>
180 <h3><font color="#6c0023">gen-liveflavor</font></h3>
181 <p>
182 The 'gen-liveflavor' command creates a description file of a new
183 flavor from the results of generating a distro based on the
184 current system. The --help option provides more information:
185 </p>
186 <pre> # tazlito gen-liveflavor
187 # tazlito gen-liveflavor --help
188 </pre>
190 <a name="upgrade-flavor"></a>
191 <h3><font color="#6c0023">upgrade-flavor</font></h3>
192 <p>
193 The `upgrade-flavor' command refreshes a flavor file by updating the
194 list of packages with the latest versions available:
195 </p>
196 <pre>
197 # tazlito upgrade-flavor this-flavor
198 </pre>
200 <a name="extract-flavor"></a>
201 <h3><font color="#6c0023">extract-flavor</font></h3>
202 <p>
203 The 'extract-flavor' command converts a flavor into an easily modifiable
204 tree structure in /home/slitaz/flavors which can be managed with
205 mercurial:
206 <a href="http://hg.slitaz.org/flavors">http://hg.slitaz.org/flavors</a>.
207 </p>
208 <pre>
209 # tazlito extract-flavor this-flavor
210 </pre>
212 <a name="pack-flavor"></a>
213 <h3><font color="#6c0023">pack-flavor</font></h3>
214 <p>
215 The 'pack-flavor' command converts a tree structure in /home/slitaz/flavors
216 into a flavor file (.flavor). It is inverse of 'tazlito extract-flavor':
217 </p>
218 <pre>
219 # tazlito pack-flavor this-flavor
220 </pre>
222 <a name="extract-distro"></a>
223 <h3><font color="#6c0023">extract-distro</font></h3>
224 <p>
225 The 'extract-distro' command is used to extract an ISO image
226 from the LiveCD to rebuild the structure of the root cdrom
227 and system. It is then possible to make the desired changes
228 or additions and rebuild the ISO image via 'gen-iso' or
229 'gen-initiso'. Example of use:
230 </p>
231 <pre>
232 # tazlito extract-distro slitaz-cooking.iso
233 </pre>
235 <a name="gen-distro"></a>
236 <h3><font color="#6c0023">gen-distro</font></h3>
237 <p>
238 The <em>Generate Distribution</em> command can generate the
239 distro-tree and an ISO image via a list of packages. To function,
240 this command needs a list of packages, a directory containing
241 all the (.tazpkg) packages on the list, and a directory to
242 generate the distribution. The list of packages can be extracted
243 from a flavor by the 'get-flavor' command. If one uses the
244 LiveCD, the options --cdrom and --iso= permit the regeneration
245 of packages that place files in /boot without being obliged
246 to download them and recovers the additional files of the
247 LiveCD. The path to the various directories are configured
248 in the configuration file and packages can be downloaded
249 from the SliTaz mirrors or generated by Tazwok. To generate
250 a distribution:
251 </p>
252 <pre>
253 # tazlito gen-distro
254 # tazlito gen-distro --cdrom
255 # tazlito gen-distro --iso=slitaz.iso
256 # tazlito gen-distro package-list
257 </pre>
259 <a name="clean-distro"></a>
260 <h3><font color="#6c0023">clean-distro</font></h3>
261 <p>
262 Removes all files generated or extracts of the structure
263 of the LiveCD:
264 </p>
265 <pre>
266 # tazlito clean-distro
267 </pre>
269 <a name="check-distro"></a>
270 <h3><font color="#6c0023">check-distro</font></h3>
271 <p>
272 This command simply verifies if files installed
273 by the packages are present on the system:
274 </p>
275 <pre>
276 # tazlito check-distro
277 </pre>
279 <a name="writeiso"></a>
280 <h3><font color="#6c0023">writeiso</font></h3>
281 <p>
282 This command will write the current filesystem to a cpio archive
283 (rootfs.gz) and then generate a bootable ISO image. Writeiso can
284 be used in a HD install or in live mode and will also archive your
285 current /home directory. This command lets you easily remaster and
286 build your own LiveCD image, just boot, modify any files, and then:
288 </p>
289 <pre>
290 # tazlito writeiso [gzip|lzma|none]
291 # tazlito writeiso gzip
292 # tazlito writeiso gzip image-name
293 </pre>
295 <a name="frugal-install"></a>
296 <h3><font color="#6c0023">frugal-install</font></h3>
297 <p>
298 Perfom a frugal installation into /boot/frugal and add a GRUB entry
299 if needed. Frugal mode will make SliTaz work completely in memory
300 (RAM) - useful to test a distro without burning an ISO or to have a
301 rescue system ready to use when the computer powers on. To install
302 all needed files from a distro tree or an ISO image:
303 </p>
304 <pre>
305 # tazlito frugal-install
306 # tazlito -fi slitaz.iso
307 </pre>
309 <a name="check-list"></a>
310 <h3><font color="#6c0023">check-list</font></h3>
311 <p>
312 Checks if the distro-packages.list is updated with the latest package
313 versions.
314 </p>
315 <pre>
316 # tazlito check-list
317 </pre>
319 <a name="repack"></a>
320 <h3><font color="#6c0023">repack</font></h3>
321 <p>
322 Recompresses the rootfs with the best possible compression:
323 </p>
324 <pre>
325 # tazlito repack slitaz.iso
326 </pre>
328 <a name="merge"></a>
329 <h3><font color="#6c0023">merge</font></h3>
330 <p>
331 Combines several flavors like nested Russian dolls. Each rootfs is a
332 subset of the previous. The first rootfs is extracted from the ISO image
333 used in the third argument. The flavor will then be chosen to launch at
334 startup according to the amount of RAM available:
335 </p>
336 <pre>
337 # tazlito merge 160M slitaz-core.iso 96M rootfs-justx.gz 32M rootfs-base.gz
338 </pre>
340 <a name="emu-iso"></a>
341 <h3><font color="#6c0023">emu-iso</font></h3>
342 <p>
343 The emu-iso command uses the Qemu emulator to start and run SliTaz.
344 Qemu is used to test the newly built ISO image without burning to a
345 cdrom or booting into frugal mode:
346 </p>
347 <pre>
348 # tazlito emu-iso
349 # tazlito emu-iso path/to/image.iso
350 </pre>
352 <a name="burn-iso"></a>
353 <h3><font color="#6c0023">burn-iso</font></h3>
354 <p>
355 Burn-iso will guess the cdrom device and its speed, and wodim
356 (part of cdrkit) will begin to burn an ISO image. The default
357 ISO image is the one in the current configuration file,
358 but it's possible to specify a different image via the
359 command line:
360 </p>
361 <pre>
362 # tazlito burn-iso
363 # tazlito burn-iso slitaz-hacked.iso
364 </pre>
366 <h2>FLAVORS</h2>
367 <p>
368 A <i>.flavor</i> file contains just a few KB of information needed to
369 (re)manufacture a custom LiveCD of SliTaz.
370 </p>
372 <a name="rebuild-flavor"></a>
373 <h3><font color="#6c0023">Manufacture a flavor</font></h3>
374 <p>
375 You can choose the flavor to (re)manufacture from among those available:
376 </p>
377 <pre>
378 # tazlito list-flavors
380 List of flavors
381 ================================================================================
382 Name ISO Rootfs Description
383 ================================================================================
384 base 6.9M 13.1M Minimal set of packages to boot
385 core-3in1 31.5M 105.6M SliTaz core system with justX and base alternatives
386 core 31.5M 104.6M SliTaz core system
387 eeepc 31.2M 105.4M SliTaz eeepc system
388 justX 16.1M 51.2M SliTaz with a minimal X environnement
389 </pre>
390 <p>
391 We will start by remanufacturing the <i>eeepc</i> flavor which uses 105.4M of RAM
392 and has a CD-ROM size of 31.2M.
393 </p>
394 <pre>
395 # tazlito clean-distro
396 # tazlito get-flavor eeepc
397 # tazlito gen-distro
398 </pre>
400 <a name="create-flavor"></a>
401 <h3><font color="#6c0023">Create a flavor</font></h3>
402 <p>
403 To create a flavor, you must:
404 </p>
405 <ul>
406 <li>Either create an ISO image with <b>tazlito gen-distro</b> and then create
407 a flavor file with <b>tazlito gen-flavor</b></li>
408 <li>Either directly create the tree structure that defines the flavor
409 (see <b>tazlito extract-flavor</b>) and then create the flavor with
410 <b>tazlito pack-flavor</b></li>
411 </ul>
413 <a name="publish-flavor"></a>
414 <h3><font color="#6c0023">Post a flavor</font></h3>
415 <p>
416 Because a .flavor file contains just a few KB; it can be easily sent via the
417 mailing list.
418 </p>
419 <p>
420 The results of <b>tazlito extract flavor</b> can also be put in mercurial
421 (http://repos.slitaz.org/flavors). This method is preferred because the
422 tree will be directly visible with the mercurial web interface.
423 </p>
424 <p>
425 This tree includes:
426 <ul>
427 <li>
428 A <b>receipt</b> file discribing the flavor thanks to the variables:
429 <ul>
430 <li>
431 FLAVOR: The flavor name.
432 </li>
433 <li>
434 SHORT_DESC: Short description.
435 </li>
436 <li>
437 VERSION: Free format.
438 </li>
439 <li>
440 MAINTAINER: Email address of maintainer.
441 </li>
442 <li>
443 FRUGAL_RAM: Minimum RAM required (optionnal).
444 </li>
445 <li>
446 ROOTFS_SIZE: Size of rootfs.gz decompressed into RAM (optionnal).
447 </li>
448 <li>
449 INITRAMFS_SIZE: Size of rootfs.gz on the CD-ROM (optionnal).
450 </li>
451 <li>
452 ISO_SIZE: Size of CD-ROM (optionnal).
453 </li>
454 <li>
455 ROOTFS_SELECTION: Optionnal, see <i>Meta flavor</i> below.
456 </li>
457 </ul>
458 </li>
459 <li>
460 The file <b>packages.list</b> containting the list of packages without
461 specifying the version (tazlito uses the lastest available).
462 This file is missing if ROOTFS_SELECTION exists in receipt.
463 <li>
464 The optional <b>mirrors</b> file containing the list of unofficial mirrors
465 (undigest) to be added to include personnal packages.
466 </li>
467 <li>
468 The optional directory <b>rootfs</b> containing the tree to add to the
469 root filesystem rootfs.gz (configuration files usually).
470 </li>
471 <li>
472 The optional directory <b>rootcd</b> containing the tree to add to the
473 root of the CD-ROM.
474 </li>
475 </ul>
476 </p>
478 <a name="tune-flavor"></a>
479 <h3><font color="#6c0023">Adapt a flavor</font></h3>
480 <p>
481 It is often easier to modify an existing flavor than to create one from
482 scratch. To adapt the eeepc flavor for example:
483 </p>
484 <pre>
485 # tazpkg get-install mercurial
486 # cd /home/slitaz
487 # hg clone http://hg.slitaz.org/flavors
488 # cd flavors
489 # cp -a eeepc myslitaz
490 </pre>
491 <p>
492 Files in my-slitaz can then be adapted, and
493 </p>
494 <pre>
495 # tazlito pack-flavor myslitaz
496 </pre>
497 <p>
498 Will simply create the new flavor.
499 </p>
501 <a name="meta-flavor"></a>
502 <h3><font color="#6c0023">Meta flavor</font></h3>
503 <p>
504 A meta flavor contains several flavors like nested Russian dolls. The flavor
505 will be launched at startup according to the amount of RAM available.
506 The ROOTFS_SELECTION variable defines the minimim RAM and corresponding
507 flavor parameters, <a href="http://hg.slitaz.org/flavors/file/tip/core-3in1/receipt">
508 example</a>:
509 </p>
510 <pre>
511 ROOTFS_SELECTION="160M core 96M justX 32M base"
512 </pre>
513 <p>
514 A meta flavor doesn't contain a list of packages (packages.list). SliTaz
515 kernels prior to 2.6.30 do not support meta flavors.
516 </p>
518 <h2>MAINTAINER</h2>
519 <p>
520 Christophe Lincoln <pankso at slitaz.org>
521 </p>
523 <!-- End content -->
524 </div>
525 </body>
526 </html>