On Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:36:30 +0200, Michael Prokop wrote: >> - Does debootstrap download packages? If yes, where does it place >> downloaded packages? > > Yes, they are located in /var/cache/apt/archives of the target > system. > >> - Since grml-debootstrap also install packages defined in >> /etc/debootstrap/packages into the chroot system, is it a good idea to >> bind mount /var/cache/apt/archives into the chroot system as well, so as >> to save the downloading and cleaning up? > > I'm not sure about that, I've to check this out in reallife usage. :) > But if you have any patches or implementation details it would be > great if you could share them with us.
The bind mounting /var/cache/apt/archives is a trick that I've been using for years. Never cause me any problem. Since the bind mounting apt configure files are dangerous, thus adding a bind-mount option is not necessary, I think it is pretty safe to add the following line at the end of function mount_target() in grml-debootstrap mount --bind /var/cache/apt/archives $MNTPOINT/var/cache/apt/archives then umount it somewhere during clean up. Each Debian system would have such /var/cache/apt/archives directory, so I think it is pretty safe to do so. This will allows us to do grml-debootstrap over and over without downloading Debian packages more then once. In fact, this is what I do before calling grml-debootstrap: mount -o bind /path/to/my/customized/debootstrap /etc/debootstrap So that I can keep my own customized /etc/debootstrap without worrying it interfering with grml-debootstrap default settings, and the troubles when upgrading grml-debootstrap. >> - furthermore, I think over 99% people would have same apt/sources.list >> and apt/preferences in host and chroot system. If so, would it be a >> good idea for the same bind-mount option bind mount >> /etc/apt/sources.list & /etc/apt/preferences into the chroot system as >> well? > > No, that's a bit dangerous as a default IMO (because there might be just > too many problematic situations when booting a grml based on unstable > and installing a Debian/stable system). > > But you can use /etc/debootstrap/etc/.... to copy files from the source > to the target system, check out the grml-debootstrap manpage. Ah, good idea. Then please add '--dereference' whenever 'cp' files from host into chroot system. I want to symlink them into /etc/debootstrap/etc/ instead of copying them over. Further, not for this release, please log to bts to add an option to remove packages. There are packages that I don't need, e.g., nano, tasksel, tasksel-data, gcc-4.2-base, etc. An option that allows us to remove would be nice. Thanks, -- Tong (remove underscore(s) to reply) http://xpt.sourceforge.net/techdocs/ http://xpt.sourceforge.net/tools/ _______________________________________________ Grml mailing list - [email protected] http://lists.mur.at/mailman/listinfo/grml join #grml on irc.freenode.org grml-devel-blog: http://grml.supersized.org/
