[Buildroot] Creating a bootable filesystem image?

[Buildroot] Creating a bootable filesystem image?

[Sam Liddicott]

I'm trying to get round the error that that loopback moount presumes LBA geometry which is not how the disk image was formatted.

I've just been scripting disk partition/installs of  dualboot linux/freedos partitions and learned a lot, but I did't get chance to put it into buildroot today, sorry.

Sam

-----Original Message-----
From: Arun Reddy <reddyac@gmail.com>
Sent: 14 April 2008 17:57
To: Sam Liddicott <sam@liddicott.com>
Cc: Sebastian <bastisoft@arcor.de>; Buildroot List <buildroot@uclibc.org>
Subject: Re: [Buildroot] Creating a bootable filesystem image?

Hi Sam, 

Just to be clear are you referring to the same script "build-ext3-img" script? If so can I get some more information on what exactly it is you are trying to fix with it? 

I would like to point out that I was also able to bypass the error Sam and I mentioned by simply moving my .iso image from the .../binaries/uclibc folder and placing it somewhere else. Using the script, it then made use of the actual rootfs.i386.ext2 image. Unfortunately I am still getting the error that there is no space.

arun

On Fri, Apr 11, 2008 at 12:11 PM, Sam Liddicott <sam@liddicott.com> wrote:
I've managed to understand lba and chs freakery.

The disk image chs mapping that gub ses is not the one used bye the mount the copied the files.
 
I've spent the best part of a day this week playing with lba and chs mappings and think that on Monday I can fix the script.

Sam


From: Arun Reddy <reddyac@gmail.com>
Sent: 11 April 2008 19:51
To: Sebastian <bastisoft@arcorde>
Cc: Buildroot List <buildroot@uclibc.org>

Subject: Re: [Buildroot] Creating a bootable filesystem image?

Sebastian and Buildroot members

I will try this as soon as I can. Right now I am not near my machine with my build system. If anyone can please try this out for themselves to give further feedback I would greatly appreciate it. This might be something I can submit as a bug if everyone is experiencing it. Thank you and I will let you know about my results as soon as I can

Arun

On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 10:44 AM, Sebastian <bastisoft@arcor.de> wrote:
Hello Arun,

 I tried to create an ext2 file system myself (i486 architecture without any applications enabled).

 The first two questions I answered with return, the last one with /home/basti/linux/buildroot/binaries/uclibc/ and then I noticed that the fdisk command gave the same error message as you wrote.

 But it doesn't create a partition, so I create one myself: (n)ew, (p)rimary, (1), return, return, (w)rite. Then it tries to install grub which fails for me, as it can't find /boot/grub/stage1 on the image. If I could provide these files, it should work, as grub recognizes the partition.

 Maybe you could try to build no ISO image at all, just the ext2 (ext3) root file system. I have really no idea why it tries to copy your iso file onto the image, as it is not to be placed there.

 Best regards,
Sebastian


? ? ? ?Sebastian,

 ? ? ? ?Thanks for the information, I do understand it much clearer
 ? ? ? ?now. I am attempting to run the script and find out whether my
 ? ? ? ?input will result in the bootable filesystem I want. When
 ? ? ? ?running build-ext-img, I input

 ? ? ? ?Enter the path to the image:

 ? ? ? ?I input "/root/buildroot/scripts/" since that is where the
 ? ? ? ?filesystem image is located.

 ? ? ? ?Enter the name of the image file:

 ? ? ? ?I input "buildroot.img"

 ? ? ? ?Enter the path to the root filesystem that you want to install
 ? ? ? ?the image

 ? ? ? ?I

[The entire original message is not included]
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[Buildroot] Creating a bootable filesystem image?

[Arun Reddy]

Thank you for the explanation, that clears things up. I was able to actually
get the bootable image created by playing around with the formulas for the
CHS.

I appear to be left with one more error which Sebastian pointed out which is
that /sbin/grub cannot be located. I checked that directory and noticed grub
wasn't there, but found it in /usr/sbin/grub. I changed this accordingly in
the script but I still get the same error back. Does anyone know why this is
occurring and what I can do to get grub noticed? Thank you.

Arun

On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 1:29 PM, Sam Liddicott <sam@liddicott.com> wrote:

> I'm trying to get round the error that that loopback moount presumes LBA
> geometry which is not how the disk image was formatted
>
> I've just been scripting disk partition/installs of dualboot linux/freedos
> partitions and learned a lot, but I did't get chance to put it into
> buildroot today, sorry.
>
> Sam
>
> ------------------------------
> From: Arun Reddy <reddyac@gmail.com>
> Sent: 14 April 2008 17:57
> To: Sam Liddicott <sam@liddicott.com>
> Cc: Sebastian <bastisoft@arcor.de>; Buildroot List <buildroot@uclibc.org>
>
> Subject: Re: [Buildroot] Creating a bootable filesystem image?
>
> Hi Sam,
>
> Just to be clear are you referring to the same script "build-ext3-img"
> script? If so can I get some more information on what exactly it is you are
> trying to fix with it?
>
> I would like to point out that I was also able to bypass the error Sam and
> I mentioned by simply moving my .iso image from the ../binaries/uclibc
> folder and placing it somewhere else. Using the script, it then made use of
> the actual rootfs.i386.ext2 image. Unfortunately I am still getting the
> error that there is no space.
>
> arun
>
> On Fri, Apr 11, 2008 at 12:11 PM, Sam Liddicott <sam@liddicott.com> wrote:
>
> > I've managed to understand lba and chs freakery.
> >
> > The disk image chs mapping that gub ses is not the one used bye the
> > mount the copied the files.
> >
> > I've spent the best part of a day this week playing with lba and chs
> > mappings and think that on Monday I can fix the script.
> >
> > Sam
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> > From: Arun Reddy <reddyac@gmail.com>
> > Sent: 11 April 2008 19:51
> > To: Sebastian <bastisoft@arcorde>
> > Cc: Buildroot List <buildroot@uclibc.org>
> > Subject: Re: [Buildroot] Creating a bootable filesystem image?
> >
> > Sebastian and Buildroot members
> >
> > I will try this as soon as I can. Right now I am not near my machine
> > with my build system. If anyone can please try this out for themselves to
> > give further feedback I would greatly appreciate it. This might be something
> > I can submit as a bug if everyone is experiencing it. Thank you and I will
> > let you know about my results as soon as I can
> >
> > Arun
> >
> > On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 10:44 AM, Sebastian <bastisoft@arcor.de> wrote:
> >
> > > Hello Arun,
> > >
> > > I tried to create an ext2 file system myself (i486 architecture
> > > without any applications enabled).
> > >
> > > The first two questions I answered with return, the last one with
> > > /home/basti/linux/buildroot/binaries/uclibc/ and then I noticed that the
> > > fdisk command gave the same error message as you wrote.
> > >
> > > But it doesn't create a partition, so I create one myself: (n)ew,
> > > (p)rimary, (1), return, return, (w)rite. Then it tries to install grub which
> > > fails for me, as it can't find /boot/grub/stage1 on the image. If I could
> > > provide these files, it should work, as grub recognizes the partition.
> > >
> > > Maybe you could try to build no ISO image at all, just the ext2 (ext3)
> > > root file system. I have really no idea why it tries to copy your iso file
> > > onto the image, as it is not to be placed there.
> > >
> > > Best regards,
> > > Sebastian
> > >
> > >
> > >        Sebastian,
> > > >
> > > >        Thanks for the information, I do understand it much clearer
> > > >        now I am attempting to run the script and find out whether my
> > > >        input will result in the bootable filesystem I want. When
> > > >        running build-ext-img, I input
> > > >
> > > >        Enter the path to the image:
> > > >
> > > >        I input "/root/buildroot/scripts/" since that is where the
> > > >        filesystem image is located.
> > > >
> > > >        Enter the name of the image file:
> > > >
> > > >        I input "buildroot.img"
> > > >
> > > >        Enter the path to the root filesystem that you want to
> > > > install
> > > >        the image
> > > >
> > > >        I
> > >
> > >
>
> [The entire original message is not included]
>
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[Buildroot] Creating a bootable filesystem image?

[Sam Liddicott]

I've managed to understand lba and chs freakery.

The disk image chs mapping that gub ses is not the one used bye the mount the copied the files.

I've spent the best part of a day this week playing with lba and chs mappings and think that on Monday I can fix the script.

Sam


-----Original Message-----
From: Arun Reddy <reddyac@gmail.com>
Sent: 11 April 2008 19:51
To: Sebastian <bastisoft@arcor.de>
Cc: Buildroot List <buildroot@uclibc.org>
Subject: Re: [Buildroot] Creating a bootable filesystem image?

Sebastian and Buildroot members

I will try this as soon as I can. Right now I am not near my machine with my build system. If anyone can please try this out for themselves to give further feedback I would greatly appreciate it. This might be something I can submit as a bug if everyone is experiencing it. Thank you and I will let you know about my results as soon as I can.

Arun

On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 10:44 AM, Sebastian <bastisoft@arcor.de> wrote:
Hello Arun,

 I tried to create an ext2 file system myself (i486 architecture without any applications enabled).

 The first two questions I answered with return, the last one with /home/basti/linux/buildroot/binaries/uclibc/ and then I noticed that the fdisk command gave the same error message as you wrote.

 But it doesn't create a partition, so I create one myself: (n)ew, (p)rimary, (1), return, return, (w)rite. Then it tries to install grub which fails for me, as it can't find /boot/grub/stage1 on the image. If I could provide these files, it should work, as grub recognizes the partition.

 Maybe you could try to build no ISO image at all, just the ext2 (ext3) root file system. I have really no idea why it tries to copy your iso file onto the image, as it is not to be placed there.

 Best regards,
Sebastian


? ? ? ?Sebastian,

 ? ? ? ?Thanks for the information, I do understand it much clearer
 ? ? ? ?now. I am attempting to run the script and find out whether my
 ? ? ? ?input will result in the bootable filesystem I want. When
 ? ? ? ?running build-ext-img, I input

 ? ? ? ?Enter the path to the image:

 ? ? ? ?I input "/root/buildroot/scripts/" since that is where the
 ? ? ? ?filesystem image is located.

 ? ? ? ?Enter the name of the image file:

 ? ? ? ?I input "buildroot.img"

 ? ? ? ?Enter the path to the root filesystem that you want to install
 ? ? ? ?the image

 ? ? ? ?I input "/root/buildroot/binaries/uclibc/" since this is where
 ? ? ? ?my filesystem image (rootfs.i386.ext2) is located.

 ? ? ? ?When the script runs, it looks like everything is ok at first,
 ? ? ? ?but eventually I get the warning stating Device contains
 ? ? ? ?neither a valid DOS partition table, nor Sun, SGI... etc. It
 ? ? ? ?builds a new DOS disklabel for me, so I go ahead and continue.
 ? ? ? ?I also get a warning that there is an invalid flag 0x0000 of
 ? ? ? ?partition table 4 that will be corrected by w(rite) which I go
 ? ? ? ?ahead an accept. I then type q to quit and continue building
 ? ? ? ?the bootable FS.

 ? ? ? ?I am finally left with

 ? ? ? ?cp: writing /root/buildroot/scripts/temp/rootfs.i386.iso: No
 ? ? ? ?space left on device.

 ? ? ? ?I examined the script and noticed when installing software to
 ? ? ? ?the image, ${IMAGE} is mounted to ${IMAGE_PATH}/temp, then
 ? ? ? ?${ROOT_PATH}/* is copied to that location, and then the temp
 ? ? ? ?folder is unmounted and removed. Am I getting that there is no
 ? ? ? ?space on the device because it is trying to copy to a folder
 ? ? ? ?where the image is mounted? Or did I not correctly interpret
 ? ? ? ?the inputs correctly above? Thanks for answering these. I
 ? ? ? ?should point out I am using Snapshot from 4-1-2008.


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[Buildroot] Creating a bootable filesystem image?

[Arun Reddy]

Hi Sam,

Just to be clear are you referring to the same script "build-ext3-img"
script? If so can I get some more information on what exactly it is you are
trying to fix with it?

I would like to point out that I was also able to bypass the error Sam and I
mentioned by simply moving my .iso image from the .../binaries/uclibc folder
and placing it somewhere else. Using the script, it then made use of the
actual rootfs.i386.ext2 image. Unfortunately I am still getting the error
that there is no space.

arun

On Fri, Apr 11, 2008 at 12:11 PM, Sam Liddicott <sam@liddicott.com> wrote:

> I've managed to understand lba and chs freakery.
>
> The disk image chs mapping that gub ses is not the one used bye the mount
> the copied the files.
>
> I've spent the best part of a day this week playing with lba and chs
> mappings and think that on Monday I can fix the script.
>
> Sam
>
>
> ------------------------------
> From: Arun Reddy <reddyac@gmail.com>
> Sent: 11 April 2008 19:51
> To: Sebastian <bastisoft@arcorde>
> Cc: Buildroot List <buildroot@uclibc.org>
> Subject: Re: [Buildroot] Creating a bootable filesystem image?
>
> Sebastian and Buildroot members
>
> I will try this as soon as I can. Right now I am not near my machine with
> my build system. If anyone can please try this out for themselves to give
> further feedback I would greatly appreciate it. This might be something I
> can submit as a bug if everyone is experiencing it. Thank you and I will let
> you know about my results as soon as I can
>
> Arun
>
> On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 10:44 AM, Sebastian <bastisoft@arcor.de> wrote:
>
> > Hello Arun,
> >
> > I tried to create an ext2 file system myself (i486 architecture without
> > any applications enabled).
> >
> > The first two questions I answered with return, the last one with
> > /home/basti/linux/buildroot/binaries/uclibc/ and then I noticed that the
> > fdisk command gave the same error message as you wrote.
> >
> > But it doesn't create a partition, so I create one myself: (n)ew,
> > (p)rimary, (1), return, return, (w)rite. Then it tries to install grub which
> > fails for me, as it can't find /boot/grub/stage1 on the image. If I could
> > provide these files, it should work, as grub recognizes the partition.
> >
> > Maybe you could try to build no ISO image at all, just the ext2 (ext3)
> > root file system. I have really no idea why it tries to copy your iso file
> > onto the image, as it is not to be placed there.
> >
> > Best regards,
> > Sebastian
> >
> >
> >        Sebastian,
> > >
> > >        Thanks for the information, I do understand it much clearer
> > >        now. I am attempting to run the script and find out whether my
> > >        input will result in the bootable filesystem I want. When
> > >        running build-ext-img, I input
> > >
> > >        Enter the path to the image:
> > >
> > >        I input "/root/buildroot/scripts/" since that is where the
> > >        filesystem image is located.
> > >
> > >        Enter the name of the image file:
> > >
> > >        I input "buildroot.img"
> > >
> > >        Enter the path to the root filesystem that you want to install
> > >        the image
> > >
> > >        I input "/root/buildroot/binaries/uclibc/" since this is where
> > >        my filesystem image (rootfs.i386.ext2) is located.
> > >
> > >        When the script runs, it looks like everything is ok at first,
> > >        but eventually I get the warning stating Device contains
> > >        neither a valid DOS partition table, nor Sun, SGI... etc. It
> > >        builds a new DOS disklabel for me, so I go ahead and continue.
> > >        I also get a warning that there is an invalid flag 0x0000 of
> > >        partition table 4 that will be corrected by w(rite) which I go
> > >        ahead an accept. I then type q to quit and continue building
> > >        the bootable FS.
> > >
> > >        I am finally left with
> > >
> > >        cp: writing /root/buildroot/scripts/temp/rootfs.i386.iso: No
> > >        space left on device.
> > >
> > >        I examined the script and noticed when installing software to
> > >        the image, ${IMAGE} is mounted to ${IMAGE_PATH}/temp, then
> > >        ${ROOT_PATH}/* is copied to that location, and then the temp
> > >        folder is unmounted and removed. Am I getting that there is no
> > >        space on the device because it is trying to copy to a folder
> > >        where the image is mounted? Or did I not correctly interpret
> > >        the inputs correctly above? Thanks for answering these. I
> > >        should point out I am using Snapshot from 4-1-2008.
> > >
> > >
>
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[Buildroot] Creating a bootable filesystem image?

[Arun Reddy]

One more message before I await some more feedback. Following Sebastian's
advice, I am trying to play around with buildroot's menuconfig to try to
make the FS image larger. I have gone into:

Target filesystem options -> ext2 root filesystem.

There are three selections: size in blocks, inodes, reserved blocks
percentage. They are all set to 0 right now for auto calculation. Clearly
autocalculation is only making the FS "big enough" and adding the extra
features from GRUB simply won't fit.

Rather than ask what you guys selected, can anyone direct me on where I can
find out more information about these buildroot options, or a buildroot
guide on how to properly select the FS size? Or do you guys think I should
just experiment and make them a large size to see if this works? I think the
former is better since I would actually know what these options do. Thanks!

Arun

On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 9:57 AM, Arun Reddy <reddyac@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Sam,
>
> Just to be clear are you referring to the same script "build-ext3-img"
> script? If so can I get some more information on what exactly it is you are
> trying to fix with it?
>
> I would like to point out that I was also able to bypass the error Sam and
> I mentioned by simply moving my .iso image from the .../binaries/uclibc
> folder and placing it somewhere else. Using the script, it then made use of
> the actual rootfs.i386.ext2 image. Unfortunately I am still getting the
> error that there is no space.
>
> arun
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 11, 2008 at 12:11 PM, Sam Liddicott <sam@liddicott.com> wrote:
>
> > I've managed to understand lba and chs freakery.
> >
> > The disk image chs mapping that gub ses is not the one used bye the
> > mount the copied the files.
> >
> > I've spent the best part of a day this week playing with lba and chs
> > mappings and think that on Monday I can fix the script.
> >
> > Sam
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> > From: Arun Reddy <reddyac@gmail.com>
> > Sent: 11 April 2008 19:51
> > To: Sebastian <bastisoft@arcorde>
> > Cc: Buildroot List <buildroot@uclibc.org>
> > Subject: Re: [Buildroot] Creating a bootable filesystem image?
> >
> > Sebastian and Buildroot members
> >
> > I will try this as soon as I can. Right now I am not near my machine
> > with my build system. If anyone can please try this out for themselves to
> > give further feedback I would greatly appreciate it. This might be something
> > I can submit as a bug if everyone is experiencing it. Thank you and I will
> > let you know about my results as soon as I can
> >
> > Arun
> >
> > On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 10:44 AM, Sebastian <bastisoft@arcor.de> wrote:
> >
> > > Hello Arun,
> > >
> > > I tried to create an ext2 file system myself (i486 architecture
> > > without any applications enabled).
> > >
> > > The first two questions I answered with return, the last one with
> > > /home/basti/linux/buildroot/binaries/uclibc/ and then I noticed that the
> > > fdisk command gave the same error message as you wrote.
> > >
> > > But it doesn't create a partition, so I create one myself: (n)ew,
> > > (p)rimary, (1), return, return, (w)rite. Then it tries to install grub which
> > > fails for me, as it can't find /boot/grub/stage1 on the image. If I could
> > > provide these files, it should work, as grub recognizes the partition.
> > >
> > > Maybe you could try to build no ISO image at all, just the ext2 (ext3)
> > > root file system. I have really no idea why it tries to copy your iso file
> > > onto the image, as it is not to be placed there.
> > >
> > > Best regards,
> > > Sebastian
> > >
> > >
> > >        Sebastian,
> > > >
> > > >        Thanks for the information, I do understand it much clearer
> > > >        now. I am attempting to run the script and find out whether
> > > > my
> > > >        input will result in the bootable filesystem I want. When
> > > >        running build-ext-img, I input
> > > >
> > > >        Enter the path to the image:
> > > >
> > > >        I input "/root/buildroot/scripts/" since that is where the
> > > >        filesystem image is located.
> > > >
> > > >        Enter the name of the image file:
> > > >
> > > >        I input "buildroot.img"
> > > >
> > > >        Enter the path to the root filesystem that you want to
> > > > install
> > > >        the image
> > > >
> > > >        I input "/root/buildroot/binaries/uclibc/" since this is
> > > > where
> > > >        my filesystem image (rootfs.i386.ext2) is located.
> > > >
> > > >        When the script runs, it looks like everything is ok at
> > > > first,
> > > >        but eventually I get the warning stating Device contains
> > > >        neither a valid DOS partition table, nor Sun, SGI... etc. It
> > > >        builds a new DOS disklabel for me, so I go ahead and
> > > > continue.
> > > >        I also get a warning that there is an invalid flag 0x0000 of
> > > >        partition table 4 that will be corrected by w(rite) which I
> > > > go
> > > >        ahead an accept. I then type q to quit and continue building
> > > >        the bootable FS.
> > > >
> > > >        I am finally left with
> > > >
> > > >        cp: writing /root/buildroot/scripts/temp/rootfs.i386.iso: No
> > > >        space left on device.
> > > >
> > > >        I examined the script and noticed when installing software to
> > > >        the image, ${IMAGE} is mounted to ${IMAGE_PATH}/temp, then
> > > >        ${ROOT_PATH}/* is copied to that location, and then the temp
> > > >        folder is unmounted and removed. Am I getting that there is
> > > > no
> > > >        space on the device because it is trying to copy to a folder
> > > >        where the image is mounted? Or did I not correctly interpret
> > > >        the inputs correctly above? Thanks for answering these. I
> > > >        should point out I am using Snapshot from 4-1-2008.
> > > >
> > > >
> >
>
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[Buildroot] Creating a bootable filesystem image?

[Guillaume Dargaud]

I normally just use dd to transfer the filesystem image onto a larger one.
Say you have /dev/sdc2 which is 500Mb and rootfs.powerpc.ext2 which is 10Mb 
like in my case. I just do
dd if=rootfs.powerpc.ext2 of=/dev/sdc2

There may be some hidden problems with that, but I never ran into them. Even 
a subsequent chkdsk runs without errors (you'd assume it would at least tell 
you the free space is missreported).

If you really want an ext2 at a specific size, just do the opposite:
dd if=/dev/sdc2 of=- | bzip2 > test.ext2.bz2

You may be able to use a loopback mount to do this, but I haven't tried it.
-- 
Guillaume Dargaud
http://www.gdargaud.net/

[Buildroot] Creating a bootable filesystem image?

[Sam Liddicott]

There is a script in scripts which does most of this which I psoted a patch for recently.

The script still needs modifying to use LBA mode not CHS which I will do soon, or you could...

Sam

-----Original Message-----
From: John Voltz <john.voltz@gmail.com>
Sent: 07 April 2008 20:29
To: Buildroot List <buildroot@uclibc.org>
Subject: Re: [Buildroot] Creating a bootable filesystem image?

You need a bootloader like grub to kickstart everything. Buildroot will build grub for you. You have to do a little tweaking of /boot/grub/menu.lst to point grub at your kernel. You can look inside /scripts/create-ext3-img to see what needs to be done, or just use that script to do your bidding.

John


On Mon, Apr 7, 2008 at 2:58 PM, Arun Reddy <reddyac@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi everyone,

I was able to create a filesystem image and .iso using buildroot.

In experimenting with booting up the new kernel on a virtual machine (VirtualBox), I found that I needed to convert my rootfs.i386.ext2 filesystem image to a .vdi file (using VirtualBox software).
 I tried booting the .vdi alone, but unfortunately I encountered an immediate error that stated "no bootable medium could be found." To get passed this error, I mounted the .iso as well along with my .vdi file. Using some help from the mailing list members, I got passed a few minor problems during bootup, and got the kernel running with a shell.

With that milestone complete, I now want to avoid using both the .iso and the harddisk (.vdi) together. I just want to be able to convert the rootfs.i386.ext2 to a .vdi file and run that alone. The fact that this .vdi cannot boot alone leads me to believe the filesystem that buildroot creates for me is not bootable. (I may have missed an important part in my reading, but either the filesystem absolutely needs an .iso to work, or it is used for the user to chroot into it and boot from there).

My question is, does anyone know if there is a way to configure buildroot to make rootfs.i386.ext2 bootable? Please note that I disabled RAMDISK in the kernel .config before compiling buildroot because I don't need to use one

[Buildroot] Creating a bootable filesystem image?

[Arun Reddy]

Hi John,

Thanks a lot for pointing me to that script... the comments are well made
and tell me exactly what it does. In this case, this works for an ext3 file
system. Would the best approach be to modify it and change all ext3 code to
ext2 and run it to see what it does?

Hi Sam,

I will certainly look for that script that you mentioned if the previous
method does not work.

Thank you.

On Mon, Apr 7, 2008 at 1:07 PM, Sam Liddicott <sam@liddicott.com> wrote:

> There is a script in scripts which does most of this which I psoted a
> patch for recently.
>
> The script still needs modifying to use LBA mode not CHS which I will do
> soon, or you could...
>
> Sam
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Voltz <john.voltz@gmail.com>
> Sent: 07 April 2008 20:29
> To: Buildroot List <buildroot@uclibc.org>
> Subject: Re: [Buildroot] Creating a bootable filesystem image?
>
> You need a bootloader like grub to kickstart everything. Buildroot will
> build grub for you. You have to do a little tweaking of /boot/grub/menu.lst
> to point grub at your kernel. You can look inside /scripts/create-ext3-img
> to see what needs to be done, or just use that script to do your bidding.
>
> John
>
>
> On Mon, Apr 7, 2008 at 2:58 PM, Arun Reddy <reddyac@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I was able to create a filesystem image and .iso using buildroot.
>
> In experimenting with booting up the new kernel on a virtual machine
> (VirtualBox), I found that I needed to convert my rootfs.i386.ext2
> filesystem image to a .vdi file (using VirtualBox software).
>  I tried booting the .vdi alone, but unfortunately I encountered an
> immediate error that stated "no bootable medium could be found." To get
> passed this error, I mounted the .iso as well along with my .vdi file. Using
> some help from the mailing list members, I got passed a few minor problems
> during bootup, and got the kernel running with a shell.
>
> With that milestone complete, I now want to avoid using both the .iso and
> the harddisk (.vdi) together. I just want to be able to convert the
> rootfs.i386.ext2 to a .vdi file and run that alone. The fact that this .vdi
> cannot boot alone leads me to believe the filesystem that buildroot creates
> for me is not bootable. (I may have missed an important part in my reading,
> but either the filesystem absolutely needs an .iso to work, or it is used
> for the user to chroot into it and boot from there).
>
> My question is, does anyone know if there is a way to configure buildroot
> to make rootfs.i386.ext2 bootable? Please note that I disabled RAMDISK in
> the kernel .config before compiling buildroot because I don't need to use
> one
>
> _______________________________________________
> buildroot mailing list
> buildroot at uclibc.org
> http://busybox.net/mailman/listinfo/buildroot
>
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[Buildroot] Creating a bootable filesystem image?

[Arun Reddy]

Hi everyone,

I was able to create a filesystem image and .iso using buildroot.

In experimenting with booting up the new kernel on a virtual machine
(VirtualBox), I found that I needed to convert my rootfs.i386.ext2
filesystem image to a .vdi file (using VirtualBox software).
I tried booting the .vdi alone, but unfortunately I encountered an immediate
error that stated "no bootable medium could be found." To get passed this
error, I mounted the .iso as well along with my .vdi file. Using some help
from the mailing list members, I got passed a few minor problems during
bootup, and got the kernel running with a shell.

With that milestone complete, I now want to avoid using both the .iso and
the harddisk (.vdi) together. I just want to be able to convert the
rootfs.i386.ext2 to a .vdi file and run that alone. The fact that this .vdi
cannot boot alone leads me to believe the filesystem that buildroot creates
for me is not bootable. (I may have missed an important part in my reading,
but either the filesystem absolutely needs an .iso to work, or it is used
for the user to chroot into it and boot from there).

My question is, does anyone know if there is a way to configure buildroot to
make rootfs.i386.ext2 bootable? Please note that I disabled RAMDISK in the
kernel .config before compiling buildroot because I don't need to use one.

Thank you in advance for your responses!

Arun
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[Buildroot] Creating a bootable filesystem image?

[John Voltz]

You need a bootloader like grub to kickstart everything. Buildroot will
build grub for you. You have to do a little tweaking of /boot/grub/menu.lst
to point grub at your kernel. You can look inside /scripts/create-ext3-img
to see what needs to be done, or just use that script to do your bidding.

John


On Mon, Apr 7, 2008 at 2:58 PM, Arun Reddy <reddyac@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> I was able to create a filesystem image and .iso using buildroot.
>
> In experimenting with booting up the new kernel on a virtual machine
> (VirtualBox), I found that I needed to convert my rootfs.i386.ext2
> filesystem image to a .vdi file (using VirtualBox software).
> I tried booting the .vdi alone, but unfortunately I encountered an
> immediate error that stated "no bootable medium could be found." To get
> passed this error, I mounted the .iso as well along with my .vdi file. Using
> some help from the mailing list members, I got passed a few minor problems
> during bootup, and got the kernel running with a shell.
>
> With that milestone complete, I now want to avoid using both the .iso and
> the harddisk (.vdi) together. I just want to be able to convert the
> rootfs.i386.ext2 to a .vdi file and run that alone. The fact that this .vdi
> cannot boot alone leads me to believe the filesystem that buildroot creates
> for me is not bootable. (I may have missed an important part in my reading,
> but either the filesystem absolutely needs an .iso to work, or it is used
> for the user to chroot into it and boot from there).
>
> My question is, does anyone know if there is a way to configure buildroot
> to make rootfs.i386.ext2 bootable? Please note that I disabled RAMDISK in
> the kernel .config before compiling buildroot because I don't need to use
> one.
>
> Thank you in advance for your responses!
>
> Arun
>
> _______________________________________________
> buildroot mailing list
> buildroot at uclibc.org
> http://busybox.net/mailman/listinfo/buildroot
>
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[Buildroot] Creating a bootable filesystem image?

[Sebastian]

Hello Arun,

 > My question is, does anyone know if there is a way to configure 
buildroot to make rootfs.i386.ext2 bootable? Please note that I disabled 
RAMDISK in the > kernel .config before compiling buildroot because I 
don't need to use one.

This is because rootfs.i386.ext2 is only a file system image, not a hard 
disk image. It is missing the boot sector of the disk, which contains 
the Master Boot Record and the partition table. The BIOS on i386 does 
only execute the first sector on the disk (the MBR code) which usually 
only boots from the active partition. So you need a bootloader, as the 
kernel itself is not able to be loaded this way.

Like John said, you can use GRUB. But if you only want to boot a ext2 
partition, you can easily get away with Extlinux. It is a syslinux 
derivate with support for ext2 (and ext3) instead of FAT. It installs 
only into the partition (not into the master boot record), which means 
you should be fine by creating and activating the partition containing 
your ext2 image.

The changes in scripts/build-ext3-img references ext3 only while 
creating the file system. So you only need to change that if you want to 
use grub.

Best regards,
Sebastian

[Buildroot] Creating a bootable filesystem image?

[Arun Reddy]

Sebastian,

Thanks for the information, I do understand it much clearer now. I am
attempting to run the script and find out whether my input will result in
the bootable filesystem I want. When running build-ext-img, I input

Enter the path to the image:

I input "/root/buildroot/scripts/" since that is where the filesystem image
is located.

Enter the name of the image file:

I input "buildroot.img"

Enter the path to the root filesystem that you want to install the image

I input "/root/buildroot/binaries/uclibc/" since this is where my filesystem
image (rootfs.i386.ext2) is located.

When the script runs, it looks like everything is ok at first, but
eventually I get the warning stating Device contains neither a valid DOS
partition table, nor Sun, SGI... etc. It builds a new DOS disklabel for me,
so I go ahead and continue. I also get a warning that there is an invalid
flag 0x0000 of partition table 4 that will be corrected by w(rite) which I
go ahead an accept. I then type q to quit and continue building the bootable
FS.

I am finally left with

cp: writing /root/buildroot/scripts/temp/rootfs.i386.iso: No space left on
device.

I examined the script and noticed when installing software to the image,
${IMAGE} is mounted to ${IMAGE_PATH}/temp, then ${ROOT_PATH}/* is copied to
that location, and then the temp folder is unmounted and removed. Am I
getting that there is no space on the device because it is trying to copy to
a folder where the image is mounted? Or did I not correctly interpret the
inputs correctly above? Thanks for answering these. I should point out I am
using Snapshot from 4-1-2008.

On Tue, Apr 8, 2008 at 2:33 PM, Sebastian <bastisoft@arcor.de> wrote:

> Hello Arun,
>
> of course you can use a ext3 file system, if your kernel only uses ext2.
>
> Ext3 is fully backwards-compatible to ext2, which means you can use any
> ext2 driver to access ext3 file systems. Grub uses an ext2 file system
> driver, so it can read ext3, too. I don't know which kind of storage device
> you are using; ext3 is an ext2 file system with a journal. Journalling saves
> a lot of time when you need to fsck the device (and use a journal-capable
> [ext3]-driver for writing, of course), but the file system will write a lot
> more often onto the device, too - this matters if you use a flash device or
> something that wears out. If you read-only mount your file system, the
> journal isn't used at all.
>
> I mean: You can use the ext3 file system as-is, but you waste some KB (or
> MB for larger disks) of space. It won't hurt, though, and grub can use ext2
> and ext3.
> It's just that i personally dislike grub and wanted to say that there are
> alternatives (extlinux) around. ;-)
>
> Best regards,
> Sebastian
>
>  Hi Sebastian,
> >
> > Thank you for this email. Would you be willing to explain why I would
> > need to change ext3 in order to use grub? Can grub not work on ext3
> > filesystem? I just picked ext2 in the kernel configuration as a test but I
> > can really use any filesystem I want (ext2, ext3, etc). So if the script
> > will create for me a bootable ext3 filesystem cannot I just use that as it
> > is?
> >
> > On Tue, Apr 8, 2008 at 3:02 AM, Sebastian <bastisoft@arcor.de <mailto:
> > bastisoft at arcor.de>> wrote:
> >
> >    Hello Arun,
> >
> >     > My question is, does anyone know if there is a way to configure
> >    buildroot to make rootfs.i386.ext2 bootable? Please note that I
> >    disabled
> >    RAMDISK in the > kernel .config before compiling buildroot because I
> >    don't need to use one.
> >
> >    This is because rootfs.i386.ext2 is only a file system image, not
> >    a hard
> >    disk image. It is missing the boot sector of the disk, which contains
> >    the Master Boot Record and the partition table. The BIOS on i386 does
> >    only execute the first sector on the disk (the MBR code) which
> > usually
> >    only boots from the active partition. So you need a bootloader, as
> > the
> >    kernel itself is not able to be loaded this way.
> >
> >    Like John said, you can use GRUB. But if you only want to boot a ext2
> >    partition, you can easily get away with Extlinux. It is a syslinux
> >    derivate with support for ext2 (and ext3) instead of FAT. It installs
> >    only into the partition (not into the master boot record), which
> > means
> >    you should be fine by creating and activating the partition
> > containing
> >    your ext2 image.
> >
> >    The changes in scripts/build-ext3-img references ext3 only while
> >    creating the file system. So you only need to change that if you
> >    want to
> >    use grub.
> >
> >    Best regards,
> >    Sebastian
> >    _______________________________________________
> >    buildroot mailing list
> >    buildroot at uclibc.org <mailto:buildroot@uclibc.org>
> >    http://busybox.net/mailman/listinfo/buildroot
> >
> >
> >
>
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[Buildroot] Creating a bootable filesystem image?

[Arun Reddy]

Thanks! There is certainly no hurry so please only try if you have free
time. I will attempt some of the suggestions you stated here in the
meantime.

Arun

On Tue, Apr 8, 2008 at 3:38 PM, Sebastian <bastisoft@arcor.de> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> just to make it short and to let you know I got your mail:
>
> I have no idea, but I'll look into it tomorrow (if I'm not forgetting it),
> but that'll be in about 16 hours.
>
> Some ideas: Adding a partition table to the image might make it larger
> than it was before and copying the data that exactly fit before might not
> fit afterwards. I have no idea why the error message contains your .iso
> file. Another thing is, that grub takes some space on any disk it is
> installed onto:
>
> The first 446 bytes of the MBR are overwritten (the remaining 64 bytes
> contain the partition table and a magic number), the following sectors are
> not allowed to contain a partition, so these are used for grub's boot code,
> and inside your /boot partition some files are copied inside (everything
> under /boot/grub). So this might be a reason, too. (Extlinux just installs
> the boot code into the partition and optionally needs a /boot/extlinux.conf
> file for configuration.)
>
> Try to make the image somewhat larger (you can select the size in make
> menuconfig).
>
> I'll look into it tomorrow, when I am through my university chores...
>
> Best regards,
> Sebastian
>
>
> Arun Reddy schrieb:
>
> > Sebastian,
> >
> > Thanks for the information, I do understand it much clearer now. I am
> > attempting to run the script and find out whether my input will result in
> > the bootable filesystem I want. When running build-ext-img, I input
> >
> > Enter the path to the image:
> >
> > I input "/root/buildroot/scripts/" since that is where the filesystem
> > image is located.
> >
> > Enter the name of the image file:
> >
> > I input "buildroot.img"
> >
> > Enter the path to the root filesystem that you want to install the image
> >
> > I input "/root/buildroot/binaries/uclibc/" since this is where my
> > filesystem image (rootfs.i386.ext2) is located.
> >
> > When the script runs, it looks like everything is ok at first, but
> > eventually I get the warning stating Device contains neither a valid DOS
> > partition table, nor Sun, SGI... etc. It builds a new DOS disklabel for me,
> > so I go ahead and continue. I also get a warning that there is an invalid
> > flag 0x0000 of partition table 4 that will be corrected by w(rite) which I
> > go ahead an accept. I then type q to quit and continue building the bootable
> > FS.
> >
> > I am finally left with
> >
> > cp: writing /root/buildroot/scripts/temp/rootfs.i386.iso: No space left
> > on device.
> >
> > I examined the script and noticed when installing software to the image,
> > ${IMAGE} is mounted to ${IMAGE_PATH}/temp, then ${ROOT_PATH}/* is copied to
> > that location, and then the temp folder is unmounted and removed. Am I
> > getting that there is no space on the device because it is trying to copy to
> > a folder where the image is mounted? Or did I not correctly interpret the
> > inputs correctly above? Thanks for answering these. I should point out I am
> > using Snapshot from 4-1-2008.
> >
> > On Tue, Apr 8, 2008 at 2:33 PM, Sebastian <bastisoft@arcor.de <mailto:
> > bastisoft at arcor.de>> wrote:
> >
> >    Hello Arun,
> >
> >    of course you can use a ext3 file system, if your kernel only uses
> >    ext2.
> >
> >    Ext3 is fully backwards-compatible to ext2, which means you can
> >    use any ext2 driver to access ext3 file systems. Grub uses an ext2
> >    file system driver, so it can read ext3, too. I don't know which
> >    kind of storage device you are using; ext3 is an ext2 file system
> >    with a journal. Journalling saves a lot of time when you need to
> >    fsck the device (and use a journal-capable [ext3]-driver for
> >    writing, of course), but the file system will write a lot more
> >    often onto the device, too - this matters if you use a flash
> >    device or something that wears out. If you read-only mount your
> >    file system, the journal isn't used at all.
> >
> >    I mean: You can use the ext3 file system as-is, but you waste some
> >    KB (or MB for larger disks) of space. It won't hurt, though, and
> >    grub can use ext2 and ext3.
> >    It's just that i personally dislike grub and wanted to say that
> >    there are alternatives (extlinux) around. ;-)
> >
> >    Best regards,
> >    Sebastian
> >
> >        Hi Sebastian,
> >
> >        Thank you for this email. Would you be willing to explain why
> >        I would need to change ext3 in order to use grub? Can grub not
> >        work on ext3 filesystem? I just picked ext2 in the kernel
> >        configuration as a test but I can really use any filesystem I
> >        want (ext2, ext3, etc). So if the script will create for me a
> >        bootable ext3 filesystem cannot I just use that as it is?
> >
> >        On Tue, Apr 8, 2008 at 3:02 AM, Sebastian <bastisoft@arcor.de
> >        <mailto:bastisoft@arcor.de> <mailto:bastisoft@arcor.de
> >
> >        <mailto:bastisoft@arcor.de>>> wrote:
> >
> >           Hello Arun,
> >
> >            > My question is, does anyone know if there is a way to
> >        configure
> >           buildroot to make rootfs.i386.ext2 bootable? Please note that
> > I
> >           disabled
> >           RAMDISK in the > kernel .config before compiling buildroot
> >        because I
> >           don't need to use one.
> >
> >           This is because rootfs.i386.ext2 is only a file system
> >        image, not
> >           a hard
> >           disk image. It is missing the boot sector of the disk,
> >        which contains
> >           the Master Boot Record and the partition table. The BIOS on
> >        i386 does
> >           only execute the first sector on the disk (the MBR code)
> >        which usually
> >           only boots from the active partition. So you need a
> >        bootloader, as the
> >           kernel itself is not able to be loaded this way.
> >
> >           Like John said, you can use GRUB. But if you only want to
> >        boot a ext2
> >           partition, you can easily get away with Extlinux. It is a
> >        syslinux
> >           derivate with support for ext2 (and ext3) instead of FAT.
> >        It installs
> >           only into the partition (not into the master boot record),
> >        which means
> >           you should be fine by creating and activating the partition
> >        containing
> >           your ext2 image.
> >
> >           The changes in scripts/build-ext3-img references ext3 only
> >        while
> >           creating the file system. So you only need to change that
> >        if you
> >           want to
> >           use grub.
> >
> >           Best regards,
> >           Sebastian
> >           _______________________________________________
> >           buildroot mailing list
> >           buildroot at uclibc.org <mailto:buildroot@uclibc.org>
> >        <mailto:buildroot at uclibc.org <mailto:buildroot@uclibc.org>>
> >
> >           http://busybox.net/mailman/listinfo/buildroot
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
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[Buildroot] Creating a bootable filesystem image?

[Arun Reddy]

Sebastian and Buildroot members

I will try this as soon as I can. Right now I am not near my machine with my
build system. If anyone can please try this out for themselves to give
further feedback I would greatly appreciate it. This might be something I
can submit as a bug if everyone is experiencing it. Thank you and I will let
you know about my results as soon as I can.

Arun

On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 10:44 AM, Sebastian <bastisoft@arcor.de> wrote:

> Hello Arun,
>
> I tried to create an ext2 file system myself (i486 architecture without
> any applications enabled).
>
> The first two questions I answered with return, the last one with
> /home/basti/linux/buildroot/binaries/uclibc/ and then I noticed that the
> fdisk command gave the same error message as you wrote.
>
> But it doesn't create a partition, so I create one myself: (n)ew,
> (p)rimary, (1), return, return, (w)rite. Then it tries to install grub which
> fails for me, as it can't find /boot/grub/stage1 on the image. If I could
> provide these files, it should work, as grub recognizes the partition.
>
> Maybe you could try to build no ISO image at all, just the ext2 (ext3)
> root file system. I have really no idea why it tries to copy your iso file
> onto the image, as it is not to be placed there.
>
> Best regards,
> Sebastian
>
>
>         Sebastian,
> >
> >        Thanks for the information, I do understand it much clearer
> >        now. I am attempting to run the script and find out whether my
> >        input will result in the bootable filesystem I want. When
> >        running build-ext-img, I input
> >
> >        Enter the path to the image:
> >
> >        I input "/root/buildroot/scripts/" since that is where the
> >        filesystem image is located.
> >
> >        Enter the name of the image file:
> >
> >        I input "buildroot.img"
> >
> >        Enter the path to the root filesystem that you want to install
> >        the image
> >
> >        I input "/root/buildroot/binaries/uclibc/" since this is where
> >        my filesystem image (rootfs.i386.ext2) is located.
> >
> >        When the script runs, it looks like everything is ok at first,
> >        but eventually I get the warning stating Device contains
> >        neither a valid DOS partition table, nor Sun, SGI... etc. It
> >        builds a new DOS disklabel for me, so I go ahead and continue.
> >        I also get a warning that there is an invalid flag 0x0000 of
> >        partition table 4 that will be corrected by w(rite) which I go
> >        ahead an accept. I then type q to quit and continue building
> >        the bootable FS.
> >
> >        I am finally left with
> >
> >        cp: writing /root/buildroot/scripts/temp/rootfs.i386.iso: No
> >        space left on device.
> >
> >        I examined the script and noticed when installing software to
> >        the image, ${IMAGE} is mounted to ${IMAGE_PATH}/temp, then
> >        ${ROOT_PATH}/* is copied to that location, and then the temp
> >        folder is unmounted and removed. Am I getting that there is no
> >        space on the device because it is trying to copy to a folder
> >        where the image is mounted? Or did I not correctly interpret
> >        the inputs correctly above? Thanks for answering these. I
> >        should point out I am using Snapshot from 4-1-2008.
> >
> >
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