Environment variables to configure boot/root/rescue images

Images are eventually generated by the bin/mk_image script which uses file lists as defined in data/*/*.file_list (see file list docu).

The options here are environment variables used by mk_image. They are typically set in Makefile.

Notation: in the reference below, the uppercase FOO is the value of the option (environment variable) lowercase foo.

General options

  • alternatives=1

perform a fix-up of update-alternatives links. (Used only for the zenroot image, for other images the links are maintained manually in the *.file_list files.)

  • disjunct=DISJUNCT (eg. initrd, root)

The image will include only files that are not in the DISJUNCT image. It's basically a deduplication used for inst-sys 'extensions' (like bind, gdb...).

The same thing (but done explicitly by calling the common_tree script) is done in the root+rescue make target to separate initrd, root, and rescue image into 4 disjunct parts.

  • filelist=FILELIST

use SRC/FILELIST.file_list

  • fs=FS (eg. dir, squashfs, cpio, default: none)

Use FS as the filesystem for the image. May end with .gz or .xz for compression.

  • image=IMAGE (mandatory)

Use tmp/IMAGE as temporary directory and image/IMAGE as the final image

  • tmpdir=f

  • kernel=KERNELRPM (eg. kernel-default)

name of kernel RPM, available as <kernel_rpm> in *.file_list

  • libdeps=DEPS (a comma separated list)

run bin/check_libs on the DEPS (in tmp/)

  • mode=MODE (add, keep)

The default mode:

  1. erases the TMPDIR
  2. adds files according to FILELIST
  3. packs the TMPDIR with FS into IMAGE

mode=add skips (1), and mode=keep skips (1) and (2).

  • nolinkcheck=1

don't check for dangling symlinks

  • src=SRC (eg. boot, initrd, rescue, root+rescue, default: IMAGE)

look in the data/SRC directory.

  • tmpdir=TMPDIR

Use tmp/TMPDIR instead of tmp/IMAGE as the temporary directory.

It is similar to RPM BuildRoot as it holds the file tree in the unpacked state just before being packaged (see FS) in the IMAGE.

  • ignore_packages=package1,package2,...

List of packages that should always be ignored. Useful for resolving package ambiguities.

Only valid when building outside OBS.

  • debug=DEBUG (comma separated tags, eg. solv, filedeps, ignore, ignorelibs, pkg, if)

ignore: ignore noncritical errors

  • theme=THEME (default: openSUSE)

select this theme

initrd specific

  • linuxrc=LINUXRC (a full path or a file name in /usr/sbin)

use the specified linuxrc (taken from the running system!). Caveats may apply: please also refer to the linuxrc docs and the troubleshooting section.

  • with_gdb=1|2|3

create an initrd with gdb; if with_gdb=2 start linuxrc from gdb

Obsolete options

They are not used in the current product builds. Code still exists for them but it may be broken.

  • nostrip=1

Used in the Makefile but ignored in the code. FIXME. See also commit c109ec79.

  • dist=8.1, dist=8.1-i386+kde

build for this release