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Oracle Solaris 11 Express Distribution Constructor Guide Oracle Solaris 11 Express 11/10 |
1. Introduction to the Distribution Constructor
2. Design and Build Oracle Solaris Images
Customize Your Image by Editing the Manifests
Further Customize an Image Using Finalizer Scripts
Creating Custom Finalizer Scripts
Characteristics of Finalizer Scripts
Troubleshooting the Distribution Constructor
I Get Error Messages When I Download a Package
How to Debug Manifests With Validation Errors
Debugging Semantic Validation Errors
Additional Installation Information
After you have set up the manifest file that you plan to use and, if desired, customized the finalizer scripts, you are ready to build an image by running the distro_const command.
Note - To run the distro_const command, assume the root role by executing the su - command.
You can use the distro_const command to do either of the following:
Build an image in one step.
Build an image, but pause and restart the build as needed to examine the content of the image and debug the finalizer scripts during the build process.
The full syntax for this command is as follows:
Syntax: distro_const build [-R] [-r step] [-p step] [-l] manifest
To run a complete build of an image without pausing, use the basic distro_const command without options as follows:
# distro_const build manifest
Replace manifest with the name of the manifest file to be used as the blueprint for your image. The build subcommand is required. When you type this command, the distribution constructor pulls the needed packages for the image and builds the image to the specifications that you set up in the manifest file.
You can use the options provided in the distro_const command to stop and restart the build process at various stages in the image-generation process, in order to check and debug your selection of files, packages, and scripts for the image that is being built. This process of stopping and restarting during the build process is called checkpointing.
Checkpointing supports the process of developing and debugging images. You can start building an image, pause at any stage where you want to stop and examine the contents of the image, then resume building the image. Checkpointing is optional.
Note - The checkpointing feature is enabled by default in the manifest file. But a ZFS dataset, or a mount point that correlates to a ZFS dataset, must be specified as the build area.
Alternately, you can disable checkpointing in the manifest file by setting the checkpoint_enable parameter to false.
Use the checkpointing options that are available in the distro_const command as described in the following basic instructions. See, also, the distro_const(1M) man page.
# distro_const build -l manifest
Note - The build subcommand is required.
A checkpoint in the build process occurs after each finalizer script is executed.
This command displays the valid checkpoints at which you can pause or resume building an image. Use the step names provided by this command as valid values for the other checkpointing command options.
For example, the following command confirms which checkpoints are available, given a manifest file named slim_cd_x86.xml.
# distro_const build -l slim_cd_x86.xml
After the command is run, the valid checkpointing steps are displayed. Checkpointing steps can include the following.
Step Resumable Description -------------- --------- ------------- im-pop X Populate the image with packages im-mod X Image area modifications slim-im-mod Slim CD image area modifications ba-init Boot archive initialization slim-ba-config Slim CD boot archive configuration ba-config Boot archive configuration ba-arch Boot archive archiving (64-bit) ba-arch-32 Boot archive archiving (32-bit) slim-post-mod Slim CD post boot archive image area modifications grub-setup Grub menu setup post-mod Post boot archive image area modification gen-slim-cont Generate Slim CD image content list iso ISO image creation usb USB image creation
Note - In the command output, a check in the resumable field indicates that you can restart the build from this step.
# distro_const build -p step manifest
Note - The build subcommand is required. The step and manifest fields are required.
For example, the following command starts building an image and pauses the build before step im-mod modifies the image area:
# distro_const build -p im-mod slim_cd_x86.xml
# distro_const build -r step manifest
Note - The specified step must be either the step at which the previous build stopped executing, or an earlier step. A later step is not valid. The step and manifest fields are required. The build subcommand is required.
For example, the following command resumes building the image where the im-mod modifies the image area:
# distro_const build -r im-mod slim_cd_x86.xml
Note - The manifest argument and the build subcommand are required.
# distro_const build -R manifest
For example, the following command resumes building the image from wherever the build had paused.
# distro_const build -R slim_cd_x86.xml