[Server-devel] Current State of the XS Build Process

[Daniel Wyatt Margo]

I'll take this step-by-step, from start to finish:

1.) First, we build a liveCD image of the school server.
- It has some packages. Information about those packages, and the
kickstart script that controls the build, can be found at
http://dev.laptop.org/git.do?p=projects/livecd-data;a=summary .
- It has some configuration files. The scripts to package them are at
http://dev.laptop.org/git.do?p=projects/xs-config;a=summary , and the
package is at fedora.laptop.org/olpc-local/i386 . Installing this package
symlinks the configuration files into the system root -- this is easier
for development, because it keeps the actual files in a centralized
location.
- It has some custom scripts. Currently, the only ones I've heard about
are xs-callhome and init.d/dhcpd . I packaged xs-callhome at
http://dev.laptop.org/git.do?p=projects/xs-callhome;a=summary , and the
package is at fedora.laptop.org . I will package dhcpd later.
- It may require some postscript configuration, but we are trying to
minimize this as much as possible.

2.) The current live image is at xs-dev.laptop.org/xs . You can put it on
a USB key, if you have the livecd-creator tools installed, by logging in
as root and typing: /usr/bin/livecd-iso-to-disk <path/to.iso>
</dev/usbdevice, usually /dev/sdb1> .

3.) Boot off the live USB key (you may have to configure your BIOS to boot
off USB.) You will probably see a lot of NetworkManager spam -- this is
normal, we're going to take NetworkManager out next build. Login as root
with no password and run /usr/bin/liveinst . This can take a long time.

4.) Reboot off the hard disk. Skip firstboot config if anaconda presents
it to you (we'll kill it later.) Congratulations, you've installed the
school server!

Currently there are some files missing (E.g. libertas drivers) that we
need to package into the build, and there is some post-configuration that
needs to be done (E.g. networking). This is meant to be more of a "heads
up, here's our status." Next week you should see much more thorough
documentation, a complete package, and some cronjobs to automate the build
process.

If anyone is aware of any important, *unpackaged* configuration scripts or
files on schoolserver.laptop.org, let me know. It is very important that
we start getting everything packaged.

-- Daniel Margo