7 The tool `mic` is used to create and manipulate images for Linux distributions.
8 It's composed of three subcommand: create, convert, chroot. Subcommand `create`
9 is used to create images with different types, including fs image, loop image,
10 live CD image, live USB image, raw image, etc. For each image type, there is a
11 corresponding subcommand. (Details in the following sections)
13 It supports native running in many mainstream Linux distributions, including:
15 * Fedora (13 and above)
16 * openSUSE (11.3 and above)
17 * Ubuntu (10.04 and above)
18 * Debian (5.0 and above)
26 So far we support `mic` binary rpms/debs for many popular Linux distributions,
27 please see the following list. And you can get the corresponding repository on
29 `<http://download.meego.com/live/devel:/tools:/building>`_
31 If there is no the distribution you want in the list, please install it from
43 *Tips*: Debian 6.0 can use the repository of Debian 5.0.
50 1. Add devel:tools:building repo:
53 $ sudo cat <<REPO > /etc/yum.repos.d/devel-tools-building.repo
54 > [devel-tools-building]
55 > name=Tools for Fedora
56 > baseurl=http://download.meego.com/live/devel:/tools:/building/Fedora_<VERSION>
59 > gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-meego
62 Also you can take the repo file on devel:tools:building as example. For example,
64 `<http://download.meego.com/live/devel:/tools:/building/Fedora_13/devel:tools:building.repo>`_.
74 $ sudo yum install mic
78 1. Add devel:tools:building repo:
81 $ sudo zypper addrepo http:/download.meego.com/live/devel:/tools:/building/openSUSE_<VERSION>/ devel-tools-building
91 $ sudo zypper update libzypp
96 $ sudo zypper install mic
98 Ubuntu/Debian Installation
99 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
100 1. Append repo source:
103 $ sudo cat <<REPO >> /etc/apt-sources.list
104 > deb http://download.meego.com/live/devel:/tools:/building/<Ubuntu/Debian>_<VERSION>/ /
110 $ sudo apt-get update
115 $ sudo apt-get install mic
119 First, get the source of mic (`<TBD>`_). Then unpack the tar ball, and use make
120 to process the installation.
125 $ tar xzvf mic.tar.gz
141 A global configure file for mic is provided as `/etc/mic/mic.conf`, where you
142 can specify the program options statically.
143 Below is a sample file which is presented in the source: ::
149 ; settings for create subcommand
151 cachedir= /var/tmp/mic/cache
155 ; proxy = http://proxy.yourcompany.com:8080/
156 ; no_proxy = localhost,127.0.0.0/8,.yourcompany.com
159 ; settings for convert subcommand
162 ; settings for chroot subcommand
164 For the further development, there are four sections on mic.conf, and [common]
165 is for general setting, [create], [convert], and [chroot] are prepared for the
166 options of mic subcommands: create, convert, and chroot.
168 While you only need set [create] section properly for practice, since other
169 section would be not effective currently.
171 +---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
173 +=========+===================================================================+
174 | tmpdir | temporary directory used to put _instroot and others |
175 +---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
176 | cachedir| directory where cached repos will reside also downloaded packages |
177 +---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
178 | outdir | where your images will reside once they are created |
179 +---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
180 | pkgmgr | default backend package manager, including yum/zypp |
181 +---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
182 | arch | default repo architecture, like i586, armv7l |
183 +---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
187 It's recommended to use `--help` or `help <subcmd>` to get the help message, for
188 the tool is more or less self-documented.
192 Subcommand *create* is used for creating images. To create an image, you should
193 give the sub-sub commands which presents the image type you want, and also you
194 should provide an argument which presents the kickstart file for using, such
197 $ sudo mic create fs test.ks
199 The supported image types can be listed using `mic create --help` ::
202 livecd create livecd image
203 liveusb create liveusb image
204 loop create loop image
207 For each image type, you can get their own options by `--help` option, like
208 `mic cr fs --help`. Meanwhile, there are some common options that can be used
209 by all image types, see following table:
211 +------------------+----------------------------------------------------------+
213 +==================+==========================================================+
214 | -o/--outdir | specify directory where the images reside |
215 +------------------+----------------------------------------------------------+
216 | -a/--arch | specify repo architecture, like i586, armv7l, etc |
217 +------------------+----------------------------------------------------------+
218 | -c/--config | specify the custom configure file for mic |
219 +------------------+----------------------------------------------------------+
220 | --release | generate release package: image, ks, pkg-list, MANIFEST |
221 +------------------+----------------------------------------------------------+
222 | --logfile | specify log file to record the output |
223 +------------------+----------------------------------------------------------+
224 | --local-pkgs-path| directory where local packages can be used when creating |
225 +------------------+----------------------------------------------------------+
226 | --pkgmgr | specify backend package manager |
227 +------------------+----------------------------------------------------------+
229 *Tips*: the common options can be normally put before sub-sub command, but also
230 can be after them, such as: ::
232 $ sudo mic cr --outdir output fs test.ks
236 $ sudo mic cr fs test.ks --outdir output
240 Subcommand *chroot* is used to chroot an image file. Given an image file, you
241 can use `mic chroot` to chroot inside the image, and then you can do some
242 modification to the image. After you logout, the image file will keep your
243 changes. It's a convenient way to hack your image file.
247 $ sudo mic chroot test.img
249 Running 'mic convert'
250 ---------------------
251 Subcommand *convert* is used for converting an image to another one with
252 different image type. Using `convert`, you can get your needed image type
253 comfortably. So far converting livecd to liveusb and liveusb to livecd is
258 $ sudo mic convert test.iso liveusb
262 When you encounter some errors, and you want to know more about it, please use
263 debug/verbose output to get more details in the process by adding `-d/-v`. And
264 it's recommended to add `-d/--debug` or `-v/--verbose` like: ::
266 $ sudo mic -d cr fs test.ks