Creating a live cd using isolinux

basica · 08-30-2013, 11:54 PM

I've been working on LFS and wanted to see if I could turn it into a bootable ISO but I am unsure of how to go about it exactly.

From what I understand, the file system will basically be in an initrd file? If so, how do I create that from my system? I understand it uses CPIO or something? If someone can point me in the right direction, I'd greatly appreciate it.

yancek · 08-31-2013, 12:24 AM

I've not used LFS so I'm not sure what is expected there. The standard way to create a bootable iso is to have all the proper sub-directories and files you need in one directory with the boot files and a menu properly written. Standard command:

Code:

mkisofs -o lfs.iso -b isolinux/isolinux.bin -c isolinux/boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table LFS-dir

If everything is in the right place and properly written, it should create a bootable iso file named lfs.iso from the directories/files in the LFS-dir directory. There are other ways, this is just one I've used.

basica · 08-31-2013, 02:20 AM

Thanks, but what about the isolinux.cfg file? From what I see it points to a kernel, which is straightforward enough but then it points also to a initrd file, that's the thing I am stuck on unfortunately.

yancek · 09-01-2013, 08:12 PM

On most systems, there is an initrd file also in the /boot directory where the kernel resides although sometimes in the / of the filesystem. I've never used LFS but I expect that somewhere in the creation of your LFS you would need to create it.