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-rw-r--r--docs/README.altbootmethods128
-rw-r--r--docs/README.bootparams127
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diff --git a/docs/README.altbootmethods b/docs/README.altbootmethods
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+INDEX
+-----
+
+* Alternative boot methods (configs/releng)
+ * ISO in loopback mode
+ * ISO in memdisk mode
+ * Network booting (PXE) [first stage]
+ * DHCP + TFTP
+ * DHCP + HTTP
+ * HTTP/NFS/NBD [second stage]
+
+
+
+*** Alternative boot methods (configs/releng)
+
+ISO images names consist of: archlinux-<YYYY>.<MM>.<DD>-<ARCH>.iso
+
+Where:
+ <YYYY> Year
+ <MM> Month
+ <DD> Day
+ <ARCH> i686 | x86_64 | dual(*)
+
+(*) "dual" includes both i686 and x86_64 architectures.
+
+
+** ISO in loopback mode.
+
+Note: Described method is for using with GRUB2.
+ GRUB2 is installed on target media and archlinux-<YYYY>.<MM>.<DD>-<ARCH>.iso
+ is at path <TARGET-PATH> on disk <D> and partition <P>,
+ where filesystem is labeled as <TARGET-FS-LABEL>.
+
+menuentry "Arch Linux (x86_64)" {
+ set isofile="/<TARGET-PATH>/archlinux-<YYYY>.<MM>.<DD>-<ARCH>.iso"
+ loopback loop (hd<D>,<P>)$isofile
+ linux (loop)/arch/boot/x86_64/vmlinuz archisolabel=<FS-LABEL> img_label=<TARGET-FS-LABEL> img_loop=$isofile
+ initrd (loop)/arch/boot/x86_64/archiso.img
+}
+
+menuentry "Arch Linux (i686)" {
+ set isofile="/<TARGET-PATH>/archlinux-<YYYY>.<MM>.<DD>-<ARCH>.iso"
+ loopback loop (hd<D>,<P>)$isofile
+ linux (loop)/arch/boot/i686/vmlinuz archisolabel=<FS-LABEL> img_label=<TARGET-FS-LABEL> img_loop=$isofile
+ initrd (loop)/arch/boot/i686/archiso.img
+}
+
+
+** ISO in memdisk mode.
+
+Note: Described method is for using with SYSLINUX. Anyway MEMDISK from SYSLINUX can work
+ with other bootloaders.
+ SYSLINUX is installed on target media and archlinux-<YYYY>.<MM>.<DD>-<ARCH>.iso
+ is at path <TARGET-PATH>.
+ On 32-bit systems, is needed to pass vmalloc=nnM to the kernel, where nn is the size
+ of the ISO image plus 64 MiB (or 128 MiB).
+
+
+LABEL arch_x64
+ LINUX memdisk
+ INITRD /<TARGET-PATH>/archlinux-<YYYY>.<MM>.<DD>-<ARCH>.iso
+ APPEND iso
+
+LABEL arch_x32
+ LINUX memdisk
+ INITRD /<TARGET-PATH>/archlinux-<YYYY>.<MM>.<DD>-<ARCH>.iso
+ APPEND iso
+
+
+** Network booting (PXE).
+
+All ISOs are ready to act as PXE server, some manual steps are needed
+to setup the desired PXE boot mode.
+Alternatively it is possible to use an existing PXE server following the same logic.
+Note: Setup network first, adjust IP adresses, and respect all slashes "/".
+
+First stage is for loading kernel and initramfs via PXE, two methods described here:
+
+* DHCP + TFTP
+
+Note: All NIC firmwares should support this.
+
+# dnsmasq --port=0 \
+ --enable-tftp \
+ --tftp-root=/run/archiso/bootmnt \
+ --dhcp-range=192.168.0.2,192.168.0.254,86400 \
+ --dhcp-boot=/arch/boot/syslinux/gpxelinux.0 \
+ --dhcp-option-force=209,boot/syslinux/archiso.cfg \
+ --dhcp-option-force=210,/arch/
+
+* DHCP + HTTP
+
+Note: Not all NIC firmware supports HTTP and DNS (if domain name is used).
+ At least this works with iPXE and gPXE.
+
+# dnsmasq --port=0 \
+ --dhcp-range=192.168.0.2,192.168.0.254,86400 \
+ --dhcp-boot=http://192.168.0.7/arch/boot/syslinux/gpxelinux.0 \
+ --dhcp-option-force=209,boot/syslinux/archiso.cfg \
+ --dhcp-option-force=210,http://192.168.0.7/arch/
+
+
+Once the kernel is started from PXE, SquashFS files and other misc files
+inside "arch" directory must be loaded (second stage). One of the following
+methods can be used to serve the rest of live-medium.
+
+* HTTP
+
+# darkhttpd /run/archiso/bootmnt
+
+
+* NFS
+
+# echo "/run/archiso/bootmnt 192.168.0.*(ro,no_subtree_check,no_root_squash)" >> /etc/exports
+# rc.d start rpcbind nfs-common nfs-server
+
+
+* NBD
+
+Note: Adjust ARCH_201207 as needed.
+
+# cat << EOF > /tmp/nbd-server.conf
+[generic]
+[archiso]
+ readonly = true
+ exportname = /dev/disk/by-label/ARCH_201207
+EOF
+# nbd-server -C /tmp/nbd-server.conf
diff --git a/docs/README.bootparams b/docs/README.bootparams
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+INDEX
+-----
+
+* Boot parameters (initramfs stage)
+ * hooks/archiso
+ * hooks/archiso_pxe_common
+ * hooks/archiso_pxe_nbd
+ * hooks/archiso_pxe_http
+ * hooks/archiso_pxe_nfs
+ * hooks/archiso_loop_mnt
+
+
+
+*** Boot parameters (initramfs stage)
+
+** hooks/archiso
+
+* archisolabel= Set the filesystem label where archiso files reside.
+ Default: (unset)
+* archisodevice= Set the device node where archiso medium is located.
+ Default: "/dev/disk/by-label/${archisolabel}"
+* archisobasedir= Set the base directory where all files reside.
+ Default: "arch"
+* aitab= Set the path for "aitab" file.
+ Default: ${archisobasedir}/aitab
+* copytoram= If set to "y" or just "copytoram" without arguments,
+ all SquashFS are copied to "RAM".
+ Default: (unset)
+* checksum= If set to "y" or just "checksum" without arguments,
+ performs a self-test of all files inside ${install_dir},
+ and continue booting if ok.
+ Default: (unset)
+* cow_label= Set the filesystem label where COW (dm-snapshot)
+ files must be stored.
+ Default: (unset)
+* cow_device= Set the device node where COW (dm-snapshot) files
+ must be stored.
+ Default: (unset) or "/dev/disk/by-label/${cow_label}"
+* cow_directory= Set a directory inside ${cow_device}.
+ Default: "/persistent_${archisolabel}/${arch}"
+* cow_persistent= Set if snapshots are persistent "P" or non-persistent "N".
+ Default: "N" (if no ${cow_device} is used) otherwise "P".
+* cowspace_size= Set the size of tmpfs /cowspace. This space is used for
+ Copy-On-Write files of dm-snapshot.
+ Size is in bytes (suffix with "k", "m" and "g") or
+ in percentage of available RAM.
+ Default: "75%"
+* cowfile_size= Set the size for all files to be used as COW (dm-snapshot),
+ in percentage of the ro-device.fs file. This is mostly useful
+ when cow_device= is used and filesystem does not support
+ sparse files (ie VFAT).
+ Default: "100%"
+* copytoram_size= Set the size of tmpfs. This space is used for
+ copy of all SquashFS images used, if copytoram=y.
+ Size is in bytes (suffix with "k", "m" and "g") or
+ in percentage of available RAM.
+ Default: "75%"
+* dm_snap_prefix= Set a prefix for device-mapper snapshot node names.
+ Default: "arch"
+* arch= Force an architecture type (i686 | x86_64).
+ Do not set it for normal operations.
+ Useful for running a 64 bit kernel / 32 bit userspace.
+ Default: (architecture of running kernel)
+
+
+** hooks/archiso_pxe_common
+
+* ip= This parameter is setup automatically by PXELINUX
+ when option "IPAPPEND" is set to 1 or 2 in config.
+ ip=<client-ip>:<boot-server-ip>:<gw-ip>:<netmask>
+ Default: (set via PXE server)
+* BOOTIF= This parameter is setup automatically by PXELINUX
+ when option "IPAPPEND" is set to 2 or 3 in config.
+ BOOTIF=<hardware-address-of-boot-interface>
+ Default: (set via PXELINUX)
+* copy_resolvconf= Copy /etc/resolv.conf from initramfs to live-enviroment.
+ Set to "n" to skip them.
+ Default: "y"
+
+
+** hooks/archiso_pxe_nbd
+
+* archiso_nbd_name= Set NBD export name used by the server.
+ Default: archiso
+* archiso_nbd_srv= Set an IP address where NBD reside.
+ If ${pxeserver} is used, PXE IP will be used.
+ Default: (unset)
+
+
+** hooks/archiso_pxe_http
+
+* archiso_http_srv= Set an HTTP URL (must end with /) where ${archisobasedir}
+ is found with all *.sfs files.
+ In the IP/domain part if ${pxeserver} is used, use PXE IP.
+ Default: (unset)
+* archiso_http_spc= Set the size of tmpfs where *.sfs files are downloaded.
+ Default: "75%"
+
+
+** hooks/archiso_pxe_nfs
+
+* archiso_nfs_srv= Set the NFS-IP:/path of the server
+ In the IP part if ${pxeserver} is used, PXE IP will be used.
+ Default: (unset)
+* archiso_nfs_opt= Set NFS mount options separated by comma.
+ Default: (unset, see below)
+ These are the implicit options:
+ port = as given by server portmap daemon
+ rsize = 1024
+ wsize = 1024
+ timeo = 7
+ retrans = 3
+ acregmin = 3
+ acregmax = 60
+ acdirmin = 30
+ acdirmax = 60
+ flags = hard, nointr, noposix, cto, ac
+
+
+** hooks/archiso_loop_mnt
+
+* img_label= Set the filesystem label where archiso-image.iso.
+ Default: (unset)
+* img_dev= Device where archiso-image.iso reside.
+ Default: (unset) or "/dev/disk/by-label/${img_label}"
+* img_loop= Full path where archiso-image.iso is located on ${img_dev}
+ Default: (unset)