packer-lfs

This is a work-in-progress/proof-of-concept with the goal of using Packer to automate the build of a low-overhead GNU/Linux system based on Linux From Scratch version 7.5.

Assuming it is successful, it could become the basis for a new LFS live CD.

Development status

The build scripts are capable of building VirtualBox images we refer to as "stage 0" and "stage 1" (see below). These are not yet complete builds of LFS; still, they are already useful as starting points for anyone wanting to do a manual LFS build by following along in the book.

Obviously there is a lot left to do!

Stages

The build is done in stages; the product of each stage is a VirtualBox OVF image with companion .vmdk file.

stage 0: This creates a small Debian installation with just the tools necessary to build LFS. It includes everything through the end of chapter 2. The "root" login is available with password "packer".

stage 1: This builds on stage 0 by downloading packages and patches, then setting up the "lfs" user (with password "lfs"). It includes everything through the end of chapter 4.

stage 2: This will build on stage 1 by extracting and building the software that was previously downloaded to /mnt/lfs/sources, corresponding with the instructions in chapter 5.

stage 3: ...

stage 4: Profit.

Building

packer build lfs-stage0.json
packer build lfs-stage1.json
# Haven't figured out an automatic way of avoiding the timestamp yet...
mv output-lfs-stage1/packer-lfs-stage1{-*,}.ovf
packer build lfs-stage2.json

Notes

During stage 0 the sudo package is installed, and during stage 1 the lfs user is given sudo privileges when it is created. This makes it possible for the lfs user to initiate the shutdown step at the finalization of stage 2.

During stage 1, after the [wget-list] (http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/view/stable/wget-list) and [md5sums] (http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/view/stable/md5sums) files are downloaded from the LFS website, they are patched to allow downloading Linux 3.13.9, the latest version in the 3.13.x branch at this writing. (From [LFS section 3.2] (http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/view/stable/chapter03/packages.html): "The Linux kernel is updated relatively often, many times due to discoveries of security vulnerabilities. The latest available 3.13.x kernel version should be used, unless the [errata page] (http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/errata/stable/) says otherwise.")

It is expected that extra steps will be required to keep the SSH server available, since Packer's automation depends on SSH. We will cross that bridge when we get to it...