Build Machine for Amahi Express

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Please Note:

• Since this article is a "work in progress", information in this article will be fluid for sometime, your patience will be appreciated. The author has never been down this path before.
• Any advice or suggestions you may have please post to the Amahi Wiki "Express Disc" Forum.
• The "Category" link, "Amahi Express Collection", at the bottom of this page provides links to other reference information relating to the "Amahi Express" subject area.

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This article contains specifications, construction steps, and implementation information for a "build machine" for the "Amahi Express Installation Disc". The intent of the machine is to aid in the development and building of new Amahi Express Installation disc images.

Recommended Configuration

• Latest full version of the Fedora ( this article will reference Fedora 18 ) DVD.
• As modern of a computer as possible ( machine for this article used: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 3.0 GHz, 4GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Disk ).
• External storage facility ( i.e. external USB drive (1 TB?), Amahi share, Amahi ownCloud directory) with storage greater that the size of the build machine.
• Backup software ( author used CloneZilla Livd CD with 1TB external drive) to store last working build machine image.
• Lots of patience, a meticulous nature, know how to consult "Dr. Google" (a lot).

Fedora Installation

When installing Fedora it will be assumed that a "Desktop installation" path will be performed. Following are recommendations to be considered during the installation process.

• During the installation select the GNOME GUI environment, at some point it will be required in the disc build process.
• Highly recommend installing some GNOME extensions (GNOME Extensions) in order to provide a "classic windowing" environment.
• The Fedora "Anaconda Installer" has changed completely since Fedora 14. A "Hub and "Spoke" node model is used for it now instead of a "wizard-like" install. Please make sure all nodes (i.e. network config.) are properly configured before proceeding with the installation.
• Here is a disk partitioning plan to consider:

 /boot partition: "standard partition"(no LVM), ext3 format, size 250 MB ( Fedora recommendation).
  swap partition: "standard swap (no LVM)", swap format, size 2 times existing system RAM ( i.e. 2 x 4GB = 8GB ).
 /(root partition): LVM partition, ext4 format, size set to the remaining space for the hard drive(s).

• Ensure that Fedora updates are done after the DVD installation.
• Create "mount points" for use later.

bash code
​mkdir -p /media/optdrive mkdir -p /media/usbdrive mkdir -p /media/usbstick​

Local Fedora Repositories

To reduce the amount of software packages that might have to be downloaded during a disc build process, local Fedora "base" and "updates" repositories should be used. These local repositories (repos) have an added advantage, the build machine can receive its' software updates ( i.e. yum -y update ) from them.

The repos in this example will be stored in the "/opt" directory. What is this directory normally used for? I am so glad you asked.

According the the "Filesystem Hierarchy Standard" (FHS) definition:

"The root directory for Software Collections is normally located in the "/opt/ directory" to avoid possible
 conflicts between Software Collections and the base system installation."

 It is recommended to have the directory hierarchy conform to the following layout: 

  /opt/provider/application-version/

  where: - "provider" is the provider (vendor) name registered with the Linux Foundation.
         - "application-version" indicates the software collection version. This can be done via one name
           or an ordered organization of subdirectories. 

Construct the Repositories

• Start a "terminal session" and switch to the "root" user.
• Create local repository directory structures.

bash code
​mkdir -p /opt/fedora/f18/i386/base mkdir -p /opt/fedora/f18/i386/updates​

• Mount the Fedora DVD.

bash code
​mount -o loop /dev/sr0 /media/optdrive​

• Copy rpm packages to the local "base" repo directory structure.

bash code
​cp -av /media/optdrive/Packages/* /opt/fedora/f18/i386/base​

• Copy the main "comps xml" file to the local repo directory structure.

bash code
​cp /media/optdrive/repodata/*comps*.xml /opt/fedora/f18/i386/base/comps.xml​

• Install the "createrepo" utility.

bash code
​yum -y install createrepo​

• Go to the local "base" repo and generate the "base" repo files.

bash code
​cd /opt/fedora/f18/i386/base<br> createrepo .​

Please notice the "dot" after createrepo, it's important.

• Populate the "updates" repo.

 /bin/rsync -auvrt --delete --exclude=debug/ --exclude=drpms/ rsync://mirrors.kernel.org/fedora/updates/18/i386/
  /opt/fedora/f18/i386/updates

Please note this will take several hours to complete. Do it at night and check the next day.

• Go to "updates" repo and generate the "updates" repo files.

bash code
​cd /opt/fedora/f18/i386/updates<br> createrepo .​

Create the "yum" Repository Files

• Start a terminal sessions and switch to the root user.
• Go to the /etc yum configuration directory.

bash code
​cd /etc/yum.repos.d​

• Using a text editor create the "f18-base-local.repo" file and insert the following text, and then save the file.

Text
​[f18-base-local] name=Fedora 18 local base repository baseurl=file:///opt/fedora/f18/i386/base gpgcheck=1 gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-18-primary enabled=1​

• Using a text editor create the "f18-updates-local.repo" file and insert the following text, and then save the file.

Text
​[f18-updates-local] name=Fedora 18 local updates repository baseurl=file:///opt/fedora/f18/i386/updates gpgcheck=1 gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-18-primary enabled=1​

• Disable all of the existing default repositories by editing each ".repo" file and setting "enabled=0" (from 1).

Test the Repositories

• Start a terminal sessions and switch to the root user.
• Enter the following commands.

bash code
​yum clean all yum repolist​

• Something like this with other stuff will be displayed.

Text
​repo id f18-base-local f18-updates-local​

Refreshing a Repository

• Now the updates repo will need to be updated on a regular basis. This can be done manually or a script file that is run on a nightly basis with the following commands.

# rsync to download new rpms

/bin/rsync -auv --delete --exclude=debug/ --exclude=drpms/ rsync://mirrors.kernel.org/fedora/updates/18/i386/
 /opt/fedora/f18/i386/updates

# go to the updates directory and rebuild the repo database

cd /opt/fedora/f18/i386/updates
createrepo .

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