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1.2     ! jdf         1: **Contents**
        !             2: 
        !             3: [[!toc levels=3]]
        !             4: 
1.1       jdf         5: # Building NetBSD installation media
                      6: 
                      7: ## Creating custom install or boot floppies for your architecture e.g. i386
                      8: 
                      9: Sometimes you may want to create your own boot or install floppies for i386
                     10: instead of using the precompiled ones, or tailor the ones built by the NetBSD
                     11: build system. This section outlines the steps to do so.
                     12: 
                     13: The overall idea is to have a filesystem with some tools (sysinst, ls,
                     14: whatever), and embed this filesystem as some sort of ramdisk into a NetBSD
                     15: kernel. The kernel needs to include the `md` pseudo device to be able to hold a
                     16: ramdisk. The kernel with the ramdisk can then be put on removable media or made
                     17: available via the net (using NFS or TFTP).
                     18: 
                     19: To perform the following steps, you need to be running a kernel with the `vnd`
                     20: pseudo device enabled (this is the default for a GENERIC kernel).
                     21: 
                     22:  1. First, you must create a valid kernel to put on your floppies, e.g.
                     23:     INSTALL. This kernel must include the `md` pseudo device, which allows
                     24:     embedding a ramdisk. See [[Compiling the kernel|guide/kernel]] for kernel
                     25:        building instructions.
                     26: 
                     27:  2. The next step is to create the ramdisk that gets embedded into the kernel.
                     28:     The ramdisk contains a filesystem with whatever tools are needed, usually
                     29:        [init(8)](http://netbsd.gw.com/cgi-bin/man-cgi?init+8+NetBSD-5.0.1+i386) and
                     30:     some tools like sysinst,
                     31:        [ls(1)](http://netbsd.gw.com/cgi-bin/man-cgi?ls+1+NetBSD-5.0.1+i386), etc.
                     32:        To create the standard ramdisk, run `make` in the
                     33:     `src/distrib/i386/ramdisks/ramdisk-big` directory (for NetBSD 3.x:
                     34:     `src/distrib/i386/floppies/ramdisk-big`).
                     35: 
                     36:        This will create the `ramdisk.fs` file in the directory. If you want to
                     37:        customize the contents of the filesystem, customize the `list` file.
                     38: 
                     39:  3. Now, the ramdisk gets inserted into the kernel, producing a new kernel which
                     40:     includes the ramdisk, all in one file. To do so, change into the
                     41:     `src/distrib/i386/instkernel` directory (for NetBSD 3.x:
                     42:     `src/distrib/i386/floppies/instkernel`) and run `make`.
                     43: 
                     44:  4. The next step is to make one or more floppy images, depending on the size of
                     45:     the kernel (including the ramdisk). This is done by changing into
                     46:     `/usr/src/distrib/i386/floppies/bootfloppy-big`, and running `make` again.
                     47: 
                     48:        This will create one or two (depending on the size of kernel) files named
                     49:        `boot1.fs` and `boot2.fs`
                     50: 
                     51:  5. Last, transfer these files to the floppies with the commands
                     52: 
                     53:         # dd if=boot1.fs of=/dev/fd0a bs=36b
                     54:         # dd if=boot2.fs of=/dev/fd0a bs=36b
                     55: 
                     56:  6. Put the first floppy in the drive and power on!
                     57: 
                     58: ## Creating a custom install or boot CD with build.sh
                     59: 
                     60: Creating custom install or boot CDs is easy with `build.sh`. The NetBSD base
                     61: system includes the
                     62: [makefs(8)](http://netbsd.gw.com/cgi-bin/man-cgi?makefs+8+NetBSD-current)
                     63: tool for creating filesystems. This tool is used to create iso-images. Creating
                     64: iso-images includes these tasks:
                     65: 
                     66:  1. Release build
                     67: 
                     68:         #./build.sh release
                     69: 
                     70:  2. CD-ROM iso-image build
                     71: 
                     72:         #./build.sh iso-image
                     73: 
                     74: The `build.sh` iso-image command will build a CD-ROM image in
                     75: `RELEASEDIR/MACHINE/installation`
                     76: 
                     77: **Warning**: For now not all architectures are supported. The mac/68k ports
                     78: doesn't boot for now.
                     79: