Tazlito Manual¶
NAME¶
Tazlito — SliTaz Live Tool.
SYNTAX¶
tazlito [command] [list|iso|flavor] [dir]
DESCRIPTION¶
Tazlito is a small utility to extract a LiveCD, rebuild the ISO image and regenerate the root filesystem of the LiveCD.
Tazlito can also generate a distribution from a list of packages previously downloaded.
To run, Tazlito uses the configuration file /etc/tazlito/tazlito.conf
or an easily generated tazlito.conf
found in the current directory.
It specifies the name of the ISO, volume, maintainer and the paths of the packages to distribute and the generated ISO.
Tazlito can also set up a directory containing additional files which will be copied to the LiveCD when generating the distribution.
Tazlito is distributed under the free GNU licence GPL v.3, installed by default on SliTaz and installed/successfully tested on Debian GNU/Linux. You will find additional information about creating a LiveCD in the Handbook.
COMMANDS¶
usage¶
The usage
command displays a summary of available commands with a short description:
# tazlito usage
stats¶
stats
displays the configuration variables, the paths to the various files and directories, and information on the ISO image:
# tazlito stats
gen-config¶
The gen-config
command allows you to generate a configuration file ready to be edited.
By default the file is created in the current directory, but can be in another directory if specified via the command line:
# tazlito gen-config
# tazlito gen-config /path/to/distro
configure¶
This command configures the system configuration file or one found in the current directory:
# tazlito configure
gen-iso¶
The gen-iso
command can generate a new LiveCD image following modifications and additions to the root filesystem of the CD-ROM.
To function, this command needs a directory containing the distro-tree of the Live system.
This tree can easily be built with the extract-distro command, modified and rebuilt via:
# tazlito gen-iso
gen-initiso¶
The gen-initiso
command will do the same work as gen-iso
, but it rebuilds the initramfs compressed system prior.
The initramfs contains the root filesystem and must be rebuilt if modified:
# tazlito gen-initiso
list-flavors¶
The list-flavors
command downloads (if necessary) and displays a list of the different flavors available.
You can force the download with the --recharge
option:
# tazlito list-flavors
# tazlito list-flavors --recharge
get-flavor¶
The get-flavor
command downloads (if necessary) and prepares the files for gen-distro to generate a flavor:
# tazlito get-flavor particular-flavor
show-flavor¶
The show-flavor
command displays the description of the flavor and its size after regeneration.
The options --brief
and --noheader
reduce the output displayed:
# tazlito show-flavor particular-flavor
# tazlito show-flavor particular-flavor --brief
# tazlito show-flavor particular-flavor --brief --noheader
gen-flavor¶
The gen-flavor
command creates a description file of a new flavor from the results of generating a distro (gen-distro).
The .flavor
file can then be sent to slitaz.org:
# tazlito gen-flavor new-flavor
gen-liveflavor¶
The gen-liveflavor
command creates a description file of a new flavor from the results of generating a distro based on the current system.
The --help
option provides more information:
# tazlito gen-liveflavor
# tazlito gen-liveflavor --help
upgrade-flavor¶
The upgrade-flavor
command refreshes a flavor file by updating the list of packages with the latest versions available:
# tazlito upgrade-flavor this-flavor
extract-flavor¶
The extract-flavor
command converts a flavor into an easily modifiable tree structure in /home/slitaz/VERSION/flavors
which can be managed with mercurial: http://hg.slitaz.org/flavors.
For example on cooking you will have the work directory in /home/slitaz/cooking
.
# tazlito extract-flavor this-flavor
pack-flavor¶
The pack-flavor
command converts a tree structure in /home/slitaz/VERSION/flavors
into a flavor file (.flavor
).
It is inverse of extract-flavor:
# tazlito pack-flavor this-flavor
extract-distro¶
The extract-distro
command is used to extract an ISO image from the LiveCD to rebuild the structure of the root CD-ROM and system.
It is then possible to make the desired changes or additions and rebuild the ISO image via gen-iso or gen-initiso.
Example of use:
# tazlito extract-distro slitaz-cooking.iso
gen-distro¶
The Generate Distribution command can generate the distro-tree and an ISO image via a list of packages.
To function, this command needs a list of packages, a directory containing all the (.tazpkg
) packages on the list, and a directory to generate the distribution.
The list of packages can be extracted from a flavor with the get-flavor command.
If one uses the LiveCD, the options --cdrom
and --iso=
permit the regeneration of packages that place files in /boot
without being obliged to download them and recovers the additional files of the LiveCD.
The path to the various directories are configured in the configuration file and packages can be downloaded from the SliTaz mirrors or generated by Cookutils.
To generate a distribution:
# tazlito gen-distro
# tazlito gen-distro --cdrom
# tazlito gen-distro --iso=slitaz.iso
# tazlito gen-distro package-list
clean-distro¶
Removes all files generated or extracts of the structure of the LiveCD:
# tazlito clean-distro
check-distro¶
This command simply verifies if files installed by the packages are present on the system:
# tazlito check-distro
writeiso¶
This command will write the current filesystem to a cpio archive (rootfs.gz
) and then generate a bootable ISO image.
Writeiso can be used in a HD install or in live mode and will also archive your current /home
directory.
This command lets you easily remaster and build your own LiveCD image, just boot, modify any files, and then:
# tazlito writeiso [gzip|lzma|none]
# tazlito writeiso gzip
# tazlito writeiso gzip image-name
check-list¶
Checks if the distro-packages.list
is updated with the latest package versions:
# tazlito check-list
merge¶
Combines several flavors like nested Russian dolls. Each rootfs is a subset of the previous. The first rootfs is extracted from the ISO image used in the third argument. The flavor will then be chosen to launch at startup according to the amount of RAM available:
# tazlito merge 160M slitaz-core.iso 96M rootfs-justx.gz 32M rootfs-base.gz
build-loram¶
Creates an ISO image flavor for low RAM systems from a SliTaz ISO image.
You can build a flavor with /
always in RAM or where /
resides on the CD-ROM:
# tazlito build-loram slitaz.iso loram.iso
# tazlito build-loram slitaz.iso loram-cdrom.iso cdrom
emu-iso¶
The emu-iso
command uses the Qemu emulator to start and run SliTaz.
Qemu is used to test the newly built ISO image without burning to a CD-ROM or booting into frugal mode:
# tazlito emu-iso
# tazlito emu-iso path/to/image.iso
burn-iso¶
burn-iso
will guess the CD-ROM device and its speed, and wodim (part of cdrkit) will begin to burn an ISO image.
The default ISO image is the one located in the current configuration file, but it’s possible to specify a different image via the command line:
# tazlito burn-iso
# tazlito burn-iso slitaz-hacked.iso
FLAVORS¶
A .flavor
file contains just a few KB of information needed to (re)manufacture a custom LiveCD of SliTaz.
Manufacture a flavor¶
You can choose the flavor to (re)manufacture from among those available:
# tazlito list-flavors
List of flavors
==========================================================================
Name ISO Rootfs Description
==========================================================================
base 6.9M 13.1M Minimal set of packages to boot
core-3in1 31.5M 105.6M SliTaz core system with justX and base alternatives
core 31.5M 104.6M SliTaz core system
eeepc 31.2M 105.4M SliTaz eeepc system
justX 16.1M 51.2M SliTaz with a minimal X environment
We will start by remanufacturing the eeepc flavor which uses 105.4M of RAM and has a CD-ROM size of 31.2M:
# tazlito clean-distro
# tazlito get-flavor eeepc
# tazlito gen-distro
Create a flavor¶
To create a flavor, you must:
- Either create an ISO image with gen-distro and then create a flavor file with gen-flavor
- Either directly create the tree structure that defines the flavor (see extract-flavor) and then create the flavor with pack-flavor
- Either use the online builder
Post a flavor¶
Because a .flavor
file contains just a few KB, it can be easily sent via the mailing list.
The results of extract-flavor can also be put in mercurial. This method is preferred because the tree will be directly visible with the mercurial web interface.
This tree includes:
- A
receipt
file describing the flavor thanks to the variables:FLAVOR
: The flavor name.SHORT_DESC
: Short description.VERSION
: Free format.MAINTAINER
: Email address of maintainer.FRUGAL_RAM
: Minimum RAM required (optional).ROOTFS_SIZE
: Size ofrootfs.gz
decompressed into RAM (optional).INITRAMFS_SIZE
: Size ofrootfs.gz
on the CD-ROM (optional).ISO_SIZE
: Size of CD-ROM (optional).ROOTFS_SELECTION
: Optional, see Meta flavor below.
- The file
packages.list
containing the list of packages without specifying the version (tazlito uses the latest available). This file is missing ifROOTFS_SELECTION
exists in the receipt. - The optional
mirrors
file containing the list of unofficial mirrors (undigest) to be added to include personal packages. - The optional directory
rootfs
containing the tree to add to the root filesystemrootfs.gz
(configuration files usually). - The optional directory
rootcd
containing the tree to add to the root of the CD-ROM.
Adapt a flavor¶
It is often easier to modify an existing flavor than to create one from scratch. To adapt the eeepc flavor for example:
# tazpkg get-install mercurial
# cd /home/slitaz
# hg clone http://hg.slitaz.org/flavors
# cd flavors
# cp -a eeepc myslitaz
Files in myslitaz
can then be changed, and:
# tazlito pack-flavor myslitaz
Will simply create the new flavor.
Tip
You can skip mercurial installation by extracting a flavor. Using the previous example:
# tazlito get-flavor eeepc
# tazlito extract-flavor eeepc.flavor
# cd /home/slitaz/flavors
# cp -a eeepc myslitaz
Meta flavor¶
A meta flavor contains several flavors like nested Russian dolls.
The flavor will be launched at startup according to the amount of RAM available.
The ROOTFS_SELECTION
variable defines the minimum RAM and corresponding flavor parameters, example:
ROOTFS_SELECTION="160M core 96M justX 32M base"
A meta flavor doesn’t contain a list of packages (packages.list
).
SliTaz kernels prior to 2.6.30 do not support meta flavors.
MAINTAINER¶
- Christophe Lincoln <pankso@slitaz.org>
- Pascal Bellard <pascal.bellard@slitaz.org>