Image Creation For Beginners

Revision as of 08:22, 22 November 2010

Creating a MeeGo Image

Here are the simple steps on how to create a MeeGo image.

For more in-depth information, go to the main Image Creator developer's guide: Image Creation

STEP 1 - Download Meego Image Creator (MIC)

MeeGo Image Creator is the tool we use to create MeeGo images. To get it you can:

• Download MIC source from Gitorious:

http://meego.gitorious.org/meego-developer-tools/image-creator

• Or, for Debian Squeeze, add the following line to /etc/apt/sources.list and install (using apt-get) mic2:

deb http://repo.meego.com/tools/repos/debian/5.0/ /

More on installation dependencies and options on downloading MIC, go to the 'Installation' section here: Image_Creation#Requirements

STEP 2 - Get MeeGo .ks File

KickStart (.ks) configuration files are passed to MIC to create images. KickStart files specify what repos to pull from, what packages to include, what post-scripts to run and what type of images to create.

• The official MeeGo .ks files for ARM based Nokia N900 are here: http://repo.meego.com/MeeGo/builds/trunk/ <version>/handset/images/meego-handset-armv7l-n900/
• The official MeeGo .ks files for Intel Atom based netbook and handset (Moorestown) are here: http://repo.meego.com/MeeGo/builds/trunk/ <version>/{netbook,handset,ivi}/images

You can download and use them as a base for the MeeGo images you create. Modify these .ks files as you wish to create tailored images.

We will use the netbook kickstart file to create a MeeGo netbook image: http://repo.meego.com/MeeGo/devel/trunk/images/meego-preview-netbook-core.ks

It seems that the "@Core" and "@Base" have been renamed to "@Meego Core" and "@Meego Base" so i suggest you to edit the .ks file to rename the package with the good name.

STEP 3 - Create MeeGo Livecd Image

MIC has to be run with root privileges using 'sudo'.

Here is the command to create a MeeGo livecd image you can burn onto a CD.

sudo mic-image-creator --config=default.ks --format=livecd --cache=mycache

A file named meego-1.0-default-XX.iso is created. This ISO image is a hybrid image and can be either written to a disk device or burned onto a cd.

STEP 4 - Create MeeGo LiveUSB Image

To create a MeeGo liveusb image that you can transfer to a USB stick.

sudo mic-image-creator --config=default.ks --format=liveusb --cache=mycache

A file named meego-1.0-default-XX.usbimg will be created. To burn it onto a USB stick, run the following command:

sudo mic-image-writer meego-1.0-default-XX.usbimg

This image has a FAT file system and can be mounted easily on Windows and other OSes.

---FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON MIC, PLEASE VISIT THE MIC DEVELOPER'S GUIDE HERE: Image Creation---

Configure Proxy and Other Variables

~/.mic2_site.conf is a configuration file that can make your life easier by specifying proxy settings, cache directories, and other variables that you normally would have to re-type in your command-line.

Copy and paste this into a file called: ~/.mic2_site.conf

Replace with your own relevant values.

[main]
cachedir=/home/user1/mycache
tmpdir=/home/user1/mystorage/tmp
outdir=/home/user1/mystorage
proxy=http://my.proxy.com:911/
no_proxy=localhost,127.0.0.0/8,.mysite.com,172.16.0.0/16

cachedir = directory where the cached repo(s) will reside. With this variable set, you do not need to pass the --cache flag in the command-line.

tmpdir = temporary directory used by mic2 when creating images. With this variable set, you do not need to pass the --tmpdir flag in the command-line.

outdir = where your images will reside once they are created. With this variable set, you do not need to pass the --outdir flag in the command-line.

proxy = specify your proxy if you're behind a behind a firewall.

no_proxy = specify what domains should not sure the proxy setting.

Note: When specifying proxy and no_proxy, you do not need to use the --proxy flag in your .ks files when referring to repos.

---FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON MIC, PLEASE VISIT THE MIC DEVELOPER'S GUIDE HERE: Image_Creation---