Livemedia-creator- How to create and use a Live CD

Note
If you simply want to burn a pre-made ISO to a disc, visit http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora to download a LiveCD or LiveDVD, then see the install guide or burning how-to for further instructions.

livemedia-creator

Documentation

• Livemedia Creator: http://weldr.io/lorax/livemedia-creator.html
• Kickstart: https://github.com/rhinstaller/pykickstart/blob/master/docs/kickstart-docs.rst

Setup Environment

Cloud Base/Vagrant

If using the cloud base or vagrant images, install the needed kernel modules:

# dnf install kernel-modules-$(uname -r)

Install Mock

You should always do all work in mock, this will allow you to ensure that the compose environment matches the target environment.

# dnf install mock
# usermod -a -G mock <user>

Setup Build Environment

To setup a Fedora 39 x86_64 environment use mock to setup and install tools.

Init Environment

$ mock -r fedora-39-x86_64 --init
$ mock -r fedora-39-x86_64 --install lorax-lmc-novirt vim-minimal pykickstart livecd-tools

Get kickstarts

The official Fedora kickstarts are stored in a git repository. The 'master' branch is for Rawhide; there are branches for each release as well. You can use a kickstart from this repository (on the correct branch for whatever release you want your live image to be) as a base. You could also take a fully flattened kickstart from a recent official live image compose task as a base.

If you wanted a different arch or release you would use the correct mock configuration file.

SELinux

If your system is using SELinux, it needs to be set to Permissive mode while running lorax.

$ sudo setenforce 0

Running a Compose

Go into your prepared environment to do a compose.

$ mock -r fedora-39-x86_64 --shell --enable-network --isolation=simple
<mock-chroot> sh-5.2#

If you need to copy files into mock then you can do that with

$ mock -r fedora-39-x86_64 --copyin filename /builddir

Copying to builddir puts the file in the working dir of the mock environment.

Flatten a Kickstart

The official Fedora spins are composed from templates. Flattening fully resolves the templates to a valid kickstart which can be fed to livemedia-creator. After copying a base kickstart into the mock environment, you can flatten it with e.g.:

<mock-chroot> sh-5.2# ksflatten --config fedora-live-soas.ks -o flat-fedora-live-soas.ks

Create the Live Image

Run livemedia-creator with the flattened kickstart and relevant options. This creates a Sugar on a Stick live iso that also has EFI/Mac booting support.

<mock-chroot> sh-5.2# livemedia-creator --ks flat-fedora-live-soas.ks --no-virt --resultdir /var/lmc --project Fedora-soas-Live --make-iso --volid Fedora-SoaS-39 --iso-only --iso-name Fedora-SoaS-39-x86_64.iso --releasever 39 --macboot

Example Output

<mock-chroot> sh-5.2# livemedia-creator --ks /flat-fedora-live-soas.ks --no-virt --resultdir /var/lmc --project Fedora-soas-Live --make-iso --volid Fedora-Soas-39 --iso-only --iso-name Fedora-Soas-39-x86_64.iso --releasever 39 --macboot
2023-11-22 16:41:11,591: Starting installer, one moment...
2023-11-22 16:41:11,591: terminal size detection failed, using default width
2023-11-22 16:41:11,591: anaconda 39.32.6-2.fc39 for Fedora-soas-Live 39 (pre-release) started.
2023-11-22 16:41:11,591: 16:41:11 Not asking for VNC because of an automated install
2023-11-22 16:41:11,591: 16:41:11 Not asking for VNC because we don't have Xvnc
2023-11-22 16:41:13,369: Processing logs from ('127.0.0.1', 38824)
2023-11-22 16:42:20,119: Starting automated install..................................................................
2023-11-22 16:42:20,119: 
2023-11-22 16:42:20,119: ================================================================================
2023-11-22 16:42:20,119: ================================================================================
2023-11-22 16:42:20,119: Installation
2023-11-22 16:42:20,119: 
2023-11-22 16:42:20,119: 1) [x] Language settings                 2) [x] Time settings
2023-11-22 16:42:20,119:        (English (United States))                (US/Eastern timezone)
2023-11-22 16:42:20,119: 3) [x] Installation source               4) [x] Software selection
2023-11-22 16:42:20,119:        (https://mirrors.fedoraproject.o         (Sugar Desktop Environment)
2023-11-22 16:42:20,119:        rg/mirrorlist?repo=rawhide&arch=
2023-11-22 16:42:20,119:        $basearch)
2023-11-22 16:42:20,119: 5) [ ] User creation
2023-11-22 16:42:20,119:        (No user will be created)
2023-11-22 16:42:20,119: 
2023-11-22 16:42:20,119: ================================================================================
2023-11-22 16:42:20,119: ================================================================================
2023-11-22 16:42:20,120: Progress
2023-11-22 16:42:20,120: 
2023-11-22 16:42:20,120: Setting up the installation environment
2023-11-22 16:42:20,120: .
2023-11-22 16:42:20,120: Configuring storage
2023-11-22 16:44:24,665: .
2023-11-22 16:44:24,666: Running pre-installation scripts
2023-11-22 16:44:24,666: .
2023-11-22 16:44:24,666: Running pre-installation tasks
2023-11-22 17:15:31,230: Rebuilding initrds
2023-11-22 17:15:31,230: dracut args = ['--xz', '--add', 'livenet dmsquash-live dmsquash-live-ntfs convertfs pollcdrom qemu  qemu-net', '--no-hostonly', '--debug', '--no-early-microcode'] 
2023-11-22 17:15:31,251: rebuilding boot/initramfs-6.7.0-0.rc2.22.fc40.x86_64.img
2023-11-22 17:16:44,012: Building boot.iso
2023-11-22 17:16:44,052: running x86.tmpl
2023-11-22 17:17:15,011: Disk image erased
2023-11-22 17:17:27,071: SUMMARY
2023-11-22 17:17:27,071: -------
2023-11-22 17:17:27,071: Logs are in /builddir
2023-11-22 17:17:27,071: Results are in /var/lmc

Compose Results

The resulting images will be located in the mock chroot. Copy them somewhere outside of the mock-chroot.

$ cp /var/lib/mock/fedora-39-x86_64/root/var/lmc/*.iso $HOME

Note: The location will be different based on your mock configuration.

Cleanup

We can now safely clean up the build environment and set SELinux back to enforcing.

$ mock -r fedora-39-x86_64 --clean
$ sudo setenforce 1