Kadischi Project FAQ
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Kadischi FAQ
Is there a maintainer for this project at the moment?
No, there is no official maintainer. We do have several people like JasperHartline working on Kadischi. If you are interested in becoming the maintainer, you will be granted cvs access by ElliotLee . And furthermore, read about how to participate on LiveCD project.
How was the project started?
The project was started as one of the Googles Summer of Code projects. Darko Ilic was the previous maintainer. The name for the project came from ElliotLee.
What are the passwords when I use the kickstart files in ks_examples/?
The password set for user "root" in minimal-livecd.cfg is "livecd".
The password set for user "root" and "kadischi" in standard-livecd.cfg is "kadischi".
The password set for user "root" in xen-livecd.cfg is "kadischi".
How do I add my own packages for building a custom LiveCD with Kadischi?
For Fedora Core 6 repository users, you will need createrepo.
To install it, run:
yum install createrepo
After modifying comps.xml to reflect your groups and/or packages
place your packages in the repository and then build the repodata like so:
createrepo -g Fedora/base/comps.xml .
This would apply if we have our repository in /pub/i386 and our current working directory is /pub/i386. createrepo package in Core is a standalone utility for creating repository data
for both Anaconda, and yum.
For Fedora Core 4 repository users, you will need to install the anaconda-runtime utilities. These utilities are necessary since Kadischi uses Anaconda a lot! To install them run:
yum install anaconda-runtime
You will need pkgorder and genhdlist.
Place your packages into the repository you are using and modify modify $PATH to include the needed values. Since anaconda will not be running in it's normal environment, simply export these variables:
export PYTHONPATH=/usr/lib/anaconda
export PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib/anaconda-runtime
If you have a dedicated build machine for Kadischi just modify ~/.bash_profile and append /usr/lib/anaconda-runtime to the PATH. Likewise set and export PYTHONPATH to /usr/lib/anaconda.
We want to run genhdlist first:
genhdlist --hdlist <basedir>/<productpath>/base/hdlist --productpath <productpath> <basedir>
An example, if we have our repository in /pub/i386/Fedora we use:
genhdlist --hdlist /pub/i386/Fedora/base/hdlist --productpath Fedora /pub/i386
Next, what we want is:
pkgorder <basedir> <arch> <productpath> > <basedir>/<productpath>/pkgorder.txt
For example, a repo is in /pub/i386/Fedora we use:
pkgorder /pub/i386 i386 Fedora > /pub/i386/Fedora/pkgorder.txt
This will provide us with installation package orders for Anaconda.
Next, we want:
genhdlist --withnumbers --fileorder <basedir>/<productpath>/pkgorder.txt --hdlist <basedir>/<productpath>/base/hdlist --productpath <productpath> <basedir>
For example, our repo is in /pub/i386 we use:
genhdlist --withnumbers --fileorder /pub/i386/Fedora/pkgorder.txt --hdlist /pub/i386/Fedora/base/hdlist --productpath Fedora /pub/i386
This gives us our header lists we need for Anaconda.
Alternatively, you can also look into the buildinstall utility to simplify
more of the process. Kadischi/Anaconda will use the file <basedir>/<productpath>/base/comps.xml for standard package selections. Modify it with your new categories, new packages and settings and build! (Thanks to ignacio for pointing out comps.xml!)
How do I create an installable LiveCD or LiveDVD using Kadischi?
This section is reduntant in some way related to "How do I add my own packages in the LiveCD" FAQ.
However, to simplify this procedure, I will elaborate on the process here, and give an example.
To create an installable LiveCD or LiveDVD media using Kadischi, simply include the kadischi
RPM package as part of the LiveCD or LiveDVD's installaing payload along with packages anaconda,
grub. How you do this is by first adding the kadischi package to your repository
and by adding an entry in your comps.xml file, then rebuild the repository metadata.
An example entry in repository/repodata/comps.xml would look like this:
<group>
<id>kadischi</id>
<name>Kadischi</name>
<description>Kadischi LiveCD creation utilities</description>
<default>true</default>
<uservisible>true</uservisible>
<packagelist>
<packagereq type="mandatory">kadischi</packagereq>
<packagereq type="mandatory">anaconda</packagereq>
<packagereq type="mandatory">grub</packagereq>
<packagereq type="mandatory">chkconfig</packagereq>
<packagereq type="mandatory">system-config-securitylevel-tui</packagereq>
<packagereq type="mandatory">ntsysv</packagereq>
<packagereq type="mandatory">zenity</packagereq>
</packagelist>
</group>
After saving the comps.xml file, use createrepo to rebuild the metadata, like so:
createrepo -g repodata/comps.xml .
When you complete building the LiveCD or LiveDVD, boot it and an option should be available to you in the
Applications > System Tools menu called Install Fedora Core within Gnome.
If you have built a LiveCD or LiveDVD without any desktop environment, you can still install
to the HDD by invoking Kadischi from the shell, like so:
kadischi http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/6/i386/os/
You are free to choose any repository mirror you want and any repository for that matter
not neccessarily the Fedora Core 6 repository as shown in the example above.
How can I report a bug or request a feature?
Bug Reporting, Testing, and Quality Assurance
Before you file a bug, please read through the list of current and previous bugs for Kadischi to determine if your bug has already been filed.
If your bug does not exist,enter a bug report using the Bugzilla
If your bug exists and has not been fixed, add additional information to the existing bug.
If your bug exists and has been fixed, upgrade to the version in the bug report to determine if the bug was properly fixed.
If it was not, reopen the bug.
Feature requests can also be made via Bugzilla.
How can I help?
Procedures
- join the livecd mailing list ,(introduce yourself :) )
- use irc too if you can, we are at irc.freenode.net #fedora-livecd
- Use Kadischi to create a Fedora Core based LiveCD or LiveDVD. The first time it may not be as easy as you would expect, but once you get familiar with Kadischi , everything will be smooth.
- use the mailing list to describe your difficulties
Common Problems
Error: No build dir defined. Edit config file option BUILDDIR
Please see: Configuration section.
Kadischi build stalls or freezes when using an HTTP or FTP mirror
You may be using a slow server or the route between you and the server could be congested. Try using a different mirror closer to your area.
Error: No bootloader specified in /etc/kadischi/kadischi.conf, bailing!
Edit the /etc/kadischi/kadischi.conf and specify a bootloader you wish to use, depending on your installation it could be elsewhere.