[CentOS] Created a custom/minimal CentOS 5.x install ISO

[Digimer]

On 10-05-19 11:03 PM, Kahlil Hodgson wrote:
> On 05/20/2010 11:40 AM, Gordon Messmer wrote:
>> On 05/19/2010 02:37 PM, Digimer wrote:
>>>
>>>      I've been googling for ways to do this, figuring it must be somewhat
>>> straight forward, but my google-fu is weak it seems. Can someone point
>>> me to a how-to or doc on rolling your own CentOS derivative ISO?
>>
>> You can look around for documents on revisor.  I use the attached
>> configuration files to generate installable trees.
> ...
>> Once you have revisor installed and the config files in place, you need
>> a kickstart file that specifies what packages you want installed.
>> Provide that to revisor and it will build the image using the packages
>> specified in the kickstart file.
>>
>> # revisor --yes --kickstart=/home/gordon/deploy/kickstart/centos5
>> --model=c5-x86_64 --install-tree --cli
>
> Great stuff Gordon!  The graphical interface usually crashes on me but
> the CLI seems to be pretty solid.
>
> Digimer, some pointers to understanding the sprawl of configuration files.
>
> 1. --model=c5-x86_64  defines the section in revisor.conf that is used
>
> 2. That section defines
>
> 	main = /etc/revisor/conf.d/revisor-c5-x86_64.conf
>
> which is the yum configuration file.  Here you define the repositories
> that are going to be sourced for the build.  These can be base repos,
> updates, non-centos repos, local repos, local caches, whatever you want.
> (Running createrepo on /var/yum/cache can be a starting point for
> building snapshot installers for known 'good' systems).
>
> 3. --kickstart=/home/gordon/deploy/kickstart/centos5 is the kickstart
> file which you use to (principally) define which packages 'must' be
> present on the new install disk.  Dependency resolution is performed so
> you will usually get more than you specify, and you will get the most
> up-to-date packages depending on the repos you specified above.  There
> are some options in revisor.conf to control this.
>
> Keep in mind that you are effectively rolling your own distribution this
> way and, depending on the quality of the rpms, the more you deviate, the
> more likely you are to break things (as I have done a couple of times).
>
> Happy Coaster Burning:-)
>
> Kal

Thank you both!

   So let me see if I've got this straight (sorry, I'm coming from a 
Debian background)...

1. I need to create my own local repo which revisor will draw from.
2. Create my own kickstart file (already done, actually)
3. Run revisor as you've both discussed.

   My goal is to create a much smaller DVD, more than anything. I won't 
be adding any custom RPMs, but I do want to add some existing ones not 
on the normal DVD (ie: DRBD). Is there a way, after parsing the 
kickstart script, to get a list of RPMs that weren't used? Or does 
revisor only pull from the repo the RPMs required to satisfy the 
kickstart script already?

   Lastly, I've got a few kickstarts I've added to a re-rolled vanilla 
CentOS ISO that I choose at boot-time. On that stock~ish DVD, if I type 
"linux" at the command line, I get the normal CentOS install. Do I 
understand properly when I guess that now this will choose the kickstart 
I used with revisor?

   Thanks again! This is quite new territory for me so I appreciate the 
help.

-- 
Digimer
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